Chapter 11

The Alternate Life

Winter 15, 2005 (Monday)

Myo turns 4 years old today. Trei and Muffy have a small birthday party between the three of them, but Myo enjoys it very much. After the candles are blown and the cake is eaten, Muffy takes her daughter to the wall where several notches can be found. This is where she can measure how tall is Myo getting each year. She squeals with happiness as she sees that Myo has grown so much since her last birthday.

Spring 1, 2006 (Tuesday)

Early in the day, Muffy walks out of the house carrying Myo in her arms. Just like the year before, she is wearing a black dress. Trei still has no clue why she wears that dress on new years, especially since her black dress is usually reserved for funerals. But he doesn't complain much, he feels that it only makes marriage more fun this way.

“Come on sweetheart! We're going to be late!” cried Muffy trying to hurry her husband who has overslept.

“I'm coming!” yelled Trei running out trying to put his jacket on. He then joins his family, and Muffy fixes his tie like usual. He smiles at Myo who is now wearing a new dress. Since she has outgrown the one she wore last year, Trei and Muffy had to go to the city to buy some new clothing for her earlier. She is still dressed like a porcelain doll, but her dress now matches Muffy's a lot more.

They all walk together towards the villa to celebrate New Years Day just like they did last year. But at least this year, Trei has a good idea on what's going on. He doesn't feel lost or scared anymore, he is now walking full of confidence. He takes a look at his wife, and stares at her beautiful face for a while. Muffy looks back, but only smiles back at him.

They arrive at the villa just in time for the party to begin. Sebastian welcomes Trei's family warmly, and allows them to enter the mansion where they are greeted by the warm faces of the villagers of Forget-Me-Not Valley. Unlike last year, Trei is now talking to all his friends about the events of the year that has passed. It was a hard long year for him. Together with his wife and daughter, he was able to overcome any obstacles.

Muffy once again leaves Myo in Trei's care. But this time, he happily accepts her in his arms. He takes the chance to brag about how great is Myo becoming in art, athletics, and farming. Celia who has yet to have a child of her own becomes a little jealous, but she only hopes that she can get married soon. Even though she lives with Marlin, they never got married.

After a while, the crowd moves to the stairway to the second floor. Trei remembers that this is when the young lady of the villa makes her appearance to greet the guests of the villa. Everyone looks up to find Lumina standing up on the top of the stairs.

This time, she is wearing another new dress shaded with pink and white to honor the Spring season. She is also wearing light pink heels which is a new look for her. On the bottom of the stairs, Rock stands awaiting for her descent. When she arrives at the bottom of the steps, Rock takes her hand and kisses it gently like a noble prince.

Everyone is shocked at the new changes. First of all, Rock is not wearing his usual old fashioned clothing. He is now wearing a white tuxedo complete with a white jacket and white shoes. The kissing scene is also new to everyone, and they start whispering if maybe Rock and Lumina are in some sort of serious relationship.

After the whispering has silenced, Lumina takes a deep breath and says, “Hello everyone. And Happy New Year. Once again, welcome to Romana's Villa.” Rock and Lumina look at one another, and smile. They then face the crowd and Lumina announces, “I have a very important announcement to make.” Lumina lifts her right hand revealing a beautiful pink diamond ring that Rock has spent a fortune on. Seeing the ring gave everyone the real reason why Lumina's dress is pink. “Rock and I are engaged!”

The village cheers and whistles loudly, and congratulates then on their engagement. Romana walks out with her usual walking problems, and all the guests silences for a moment to hear her speak. “Hello everyone, I'm sure you all know that I am Romana, your host. As you just heard, my niece is now engaged. Lumina is getting married on the 29th of this month, I hope everyone will attend the ceremony.” Then everyone claps cheerfully honoring their engagement. Lumina and rocks smiles at one another holding hands hoping that they can be as happy as their friends Trei and Muffy.

Trei steps forward, and announces, “I think this calls for a special celebration!” He then pulls out a record that he had bought from Van earlier. He walks over to the record player, and plays the record for the whole village to hear. Everyone prepares for a great song, but they all sweat nervously as they listen to the record. The record plays a childish song from the “Puff the Magic Dragon” soundtrack.

Everyone wonders why he has chosen that song to celebrate an engagement. But Trei decides to liven the mood and say, “Hey, come on everyone! This was always my favorite song when I was a kid. Let's stop being adults for a moment, and sing along!” He begins to sing, but everyone just stands there watching him act like a goof. Muffy isn't upset, but rather, she walks up to him, and sings along. Lumina thought she would help out, so she plays the song on the piano to liven the mood. Rock stands next to his fiance, and sing as well.

One by one, the villagers start to sing as well. Everyone who was an adult knew the song by heart, but they were afraid of being embarrassed to show off their childish side. But now that everyone is singing together, they just sing and laugh off key cheerfully. After the song is over, everyone looks at one another, and laugh out loud. They were all acting goofy, but they had a lot of fun. Trei had an idea, since Rock is not going to play the comedian this year, so he volunteered himself instead.

As the villagers continue to laugh, they hear a knock on a window. Everyone silences, and looks over to see who it is. But they see nothing outside the window. “How strange. I could have sworn that someone was knocking on that window,” said Muffy interrupting the sudden silence.

“Maybe it was a raccoon, or just the wind,” commented Rock.

The only person who can actually see anything is Trei. He stands there in shock as he sees Flik outside the window waving at him. Flik makes a gesture implying that he wants to speak to Trei outside. Trei then starts to walk out the front door, but Muffy stops him. “Trei, where are you going? The party is not over yet!”

“I know, but I just remembered that I forgot something important. Just wait here, I'll be right back.” He then leaves Myo in Muffy's arms, and runs out the door leaving everyone speechless.

“Well, there he goes again. Another new year, and my husband acts weird again.” Everyone nods in agreement.

“I wonder what's bothering him this year? Maybe something he drank last night?” asked Rock.

Everyone leers at Griffin. He sweats nervously and asks, “why is everyone looking at me?”

“Griffin, did you change the recipe of the new years sake again?” asked Muffy.

Griffin waves his hand and says, “no, I swear I didn't! I have nothing to do with Trei's behavior!”

Everyone looks at one another, and just sigh. Outside the mansion, Trei meets up with Flik. He squats down and says, “Hi there! I haven't seen you in almost a year!”

Flik smiles and says, “hi there Trei. I see that you're doing well. So, how are things between you and Muffy?”

Trei stands up happily and says, “everything is great! I was wrong about her, she's a great wife! She may not be the best cook, and she may not be the smartest person on earth. But she's a wonderful person! She and I may not be very alike at all, but that only means that she completes me. And my daughter is an amazing kid, she's good at farming, athletics, and art! I think she'll grow up to be a very talented farmer. I finally realize why I am here, it's because I love Muffy!”

Trei continues to yell and dance around cheerfully, but he suddenly feels concerned when he sees Flik's sad face. He squats down, and asks, “Flik, what's wrong?”

Flik looks up at him and says, “Trei, it's time to go back.”

Trei look at him awkwardly and asks, “What do you mean by that?”

“Your wish is now complete. You know what life is like living in your father's ranch. And now it's time to return to the present. And-” before Flik finishes his explanation, he grabs him again, and starts shaking him around.

As he tightens his grip, he yells, “now listen here you little midget! Do you have any idea what I've been through this entire year!? And now you're telling me it's all going to just go away!? Cause listen up, I don't want to go back! Not after what I've been through! I'm staying right here with Muffy!”

“I'm sorry Trei!” struggled Flik. “But this is not something I can control. It was you who brought yourself here, and I cannot do anything to help you stay. Besides, you need to go back, or else-”

Trei suddenly releases Flik from his grasp. He starts to tremble as he realizes what Flik has been trying to tell him. “Oh my god you're right. I do have to go back! Because now that I think about it, I skipped 5 years. So therefore, none of this actually happened yet!” Trei looks down sadly and continues, “What am I going to do? What's going to happen to this world once I go back?”

“It's going to disappear.” answered Flik. “This world only exists to show you what will happen in the future. Now that you have to go back, everything that happened will just going to vanish.”

Tears starts to fall on the dirt that he is kneeling on. Trei is sad that everything that he has done within the last year will just have been wasted effort. He will no longer be married, and his daughter will not be born. “I. . . I don't want to start all over. It was so hard and painful going through all this once. I just want to continue living this life as it is. I don't want to go back, isn't there anything that I can do to?”

“You know Trei, you don't have to do this all over again,” reminded Flik.

“What do you mean?”

“Remember that you had two options. You can live in Forget-Me-Not Valley, or you can stay in the city. If you don't want to start over, you don't have to.”

Trei then remembers that he did have a choice. He only got to see the life that he lived as a rancher, but not the other life he could have lived. Curious to know what does the other life has in store for him, he asks Flik, “Hey, is there a way that I could see what will happen if I didn't take over my father's ranch?”

Flik looks up at Trei and says, “you should know that if you want to see that, all you need to do is close your eyes, and wish it.”

Trei is skeptical, but he gives it a try anyway. He stands up, and shuts his eyes tightly. He then starts wishing quietly that he was in the future without his father's ranch. He doesn't feel anything change, so he feels that it didn't work. But when he opens his eyes, he finds a great big surprise waiting for him.

As soon as he opens his eyes, he finds himself in a huge office. All the walls are decorated with gray wallpaper and expensive art. The floors are lined with expensive carpeting. He is wearing a gray business suit, his arms and legs are thinner, and his hair is groomed neatly. He runs to a nearby wall mirror, and sees that he has not changed much since he was 21 years old. He finds an enormous desk, and a name plate with his name engraved in it. Below his name, the writing says “CEO” on it. He looks out the enormous window in the back, and sees that he is in the city inside a tall building. Looking at how high he is, he has to be in the 100th floor.

Flik appears in the room shortly, and finds Trei looking through his office happily. “Hi there Trei. How is everything here?”

He looks down at Flik and says, “Wow, this life is great! I am the CEO of this great company! I must have moved up so quickly in this job, and I have that well paying job that I always dreamed about! Forget-Me-Not Valley was a great life, but I don't see anything wrong with this life either!”

Flick felt happy for him for a moment, but then he notices something that Trei does not. “Trei, look at your hands.”

“My hands? What could be wrong with my hands?” He then takes a look at his hands and finally notices what Flik is trying to show him. Something important is missing. “My wedding ring is gone? Where is my wedding ring? Did I lose it?”

“Trei, calm down.” said Flik. “Remember, in this life you never met Muffy.”

The news shocks him. He runs over to his desk, and takes a look at the pictures that lie there. He finds some of himself, or his mother. But he never finds any photographs that implies that he has ever gotten married. He tilts his head down after remembering whet he said to Muffy that Summer evening. Trei never wanted to get married, but all that changed once he met Muffy. If he never had met Muffy, he would have never known what it was like to fall in love.

He puts down the photograph he had in his hand and says, “I get it now. In this life, I live alone. In Forget-Me-Not, I have a family. My two choices are forcing me to choose between a life of riches and luxury, or a life of family.” He then has an idea. “But it's not too late to get married! I am still young, and I'm sure Muffy is still single in Forget-Me-Not Valley!” He picks up the phone and says, “I'll just call the Blue Bar and. . .” Just then, he realizes that there are no phone lines in Forget-Me-Not Valley. The closest phone is all the way in Mineral Town. And without an owner to the farm, there is no longer any way to communicate with Takakura.

He hangs up the phone and says, “I know! I'll just go to Forget-Me-Not Valley! I'll just meet Muffy right now and. . .” Just then, he realizes that he has another problem. Because he skipped so many years, he never figured out the way how to get to Forget-Me-Not Valley. Takakura told him how to get to Forget-me-Not valley 6 years ago. Now that there is no way to get in contact with him. So he cannot go to that small village. Since it's so small compared to other villages and towns, the valley is not even in the maps.

He tilts his head down and says, “Flik, do you know what happens to Muffy in this life? Please, I need to know.”

“I don't know,” answered Flik. “This is a future that you yourself created. I don't know what happens here other than what I can see.”

“I see.” Then Trei has another idea. He turns around to Flik and says, “What if I just go back to the past. . . Then go to Forget-Me-Not Valley. . . Get married with Muffy. . . And come back home to live this life? Takakura said that I can just leave if that life is not for me! So I can just do that, right?”

A shocked look on Flik's face can be seen. However, he is not looking at Trei. Something is behind him that is causing Flik to look that way. Trei becomes curious, and turns around to see what is terrifying Flik. Trei gasps in shock as he sees himself in his desk filling out paperwork. He stands up and walks to this “Other Trei”. He tries to wave his hand in front of him, but he does not notice Trei's hands in front of his face. He tries to tap his shoulder, but his hand passes through the other Trei's body like a ghost.

“Oh my god, what is this?” asked Trei.

Flik climbs the desk, and jumps around trying to get the other Trei's attention. But no matter how long Flik jumps and waves, he cannot be seen either. “I can't believe it. I've only heard rumors about this, but I never thought it was true.” answered Flik. “It's 'Spiritual Vision'!”

“Spiritual Vision? What is that?”

Flik points at Trei and says, “When you made up your choices so many years ago, you only had two of them. One choice was to go to live in your father's ranch. And the other was to stay home, and get a good job.” He then looks at the other Trei and continues to explain, “Normally people would just pick one life, and live with that. But now after you've seen both versions of the future, you've made yourself a third choice. A choice based on combining the best of both worlds. But unlike before, you cannot experience this life. Rather, you can only watch it in the form of a spirit. We can only watch whats going on, and we cannot interfere. Like watching a movie or a play!”

Trei takes another look at the other Trei, and sees that he is wearing a wedding ring. “Look, I'm married in this life! And that's the same wedding ring that I used to have when I was married with Muffy! That means I'm married to Muffy like I wanted, and still living in the city!”

Just then, someone comes bursting in the office. At first, Trei does not recognize this blond woman. She had a black business suit, short hair, and a mean unhappy looking face. But after looking into her green eyes, he realizes that it's Muffy. But a lot has changed about her. She's still pretty, but nothing as attractive as she used to be with long hair, a hair band, and her dresses. The face she has looks like she has been unhappy for a long time.

She passes by Trei, and walks over to the other Trei's desk. He does not notice her burst in, he is too preoccupied with his work. As soon as Muffy arrives at the desk, she slams her fist on the table finally gaining his attention. The other Trei looks up at her, but his expression doesn't change. It's almost like occurrences like this is very normal.

“Trei, what’s wrong with you?” Muffy started yelling. Trei has heard Muffy yelling in Forget-Me-Not Valley many times before, but this tone was much different. There is lots of malice and unhappiness in her voice now. “Why did you tell your secretary not to let me in your office?”

The other Trei puts his paperwork down and says casually, “My apologies. I am very busy and I cannot be disturbed. I have a lot of work to do.”

“Don't give me that! You've been away to Japan for the last 6 weeks, and you never came home! You just went straight back to your little office, and you never even called me!”

The other Trei takes a deep sigh, and starts to put away his paperwork. He then folded his hands and says, “Okay, fine. I'm listening, what is the problem?”

“What is the problem?” snapped Muffy. “Trei, the last couple of years, you've barely been home. All you do is work, work, work. You don't even come home at night, you actually sleep in your office! It's been almost two months since I last seen your face, and I feel that you may not care about me anymore.”

The other Trei takes a deep breath and says, “Is that all? Please understand Muffy that I am not a rancher anymore. I do not work at home, and I need to be away a lot of times. I just can't see why you are unhappy. You have everything that you have ever wanted. Money, power, as much gold, silver, platinum, and gems as you want. You have your own athletic club, and you're the most famous woman in this city. What else could you possibly want."

Muffy tries her best to hold back the tears as she says, “What about a loving husband? Someone who would be there for me when I need him? Love, kisses, or even a sign that you actually think about me when you're in this office. How about a family? We've been married for six years already, and we don't even have any kids yet!”

Trei gasps at the news. He looks at the other Trei, and sees that he shows no care or concern for what Muffy is telling him. But what bother him the most is that Myo was never born, and it looks like he has no interest in a child either. Trei feels angry, and sad at the same time. He has only been listening for a few minutes, and he is already losing his mind.

The other Trei starts to feel annoyed by Muffy's constant ranting, so he says, “Okay fine. If you want to spend some time with me, how about we go on a cruise together. You would like that right?”

Muffy then smiles for a second and yells, “Really!? I would love that very much!”

He pulls out his planner and starts flipping the pages to look for a time that he's free. After a few minutes, he asks, “Let's see, when is our wedding anniversary again?”

Muffy frowns once again and crosses her arms while saying, “Today. . . Remember?”

“Oh yes. Remind me to ask my secretary to send you a gift later.” He then flips a few more pages and says, “Spring is still a bit too cold for a cruise. . . Your birthday is sometime in Summer right?”

Muffy's eye twitched as she says, “Summer fifth.”

“Okay, I got it. I'll make reservations for a week long cruise ready for Summer 5, 2010.”

“2010?! That's more than 4 years from now!” yelled Muffy.

The other Trei puts away his planner and says, “I'm sorry, but I'm booked until then.”

Muffy stamps her feet on the carpet and yells, “Trei, this is not fair! When you proposed to me, you promised me that you would love me forever! This is not love, I am not something that you can own like a trophy or something!”

“And I suppose that you were happier living in that valley shacking up with that old man in the bar,” he said carelessly.

Muffy points at Trei and screams, “Don't you dare talk about Griffin that way! He was like family to me!” She slams both her hands on his desk and demands, “I can't live like this anymore! I want a divorce!!”

The other Trei huffs and says, “Fine. If that will make you happy, talk to my secretary. She'll take care of all the paperwork.”

Muffy's face turned blood red. She turns around and walks out of the office nearly stomping on the floor. Just before she walks out the door, she looks back and says, “I regret the day I married you!” then she slams the door behind her leaving him forever.

Trei trembles as he watches Muffy leave. He then turns around to look at the other Trei. He continues to work like if nothing had happened. Trei couldn't contain his anger anymore, so he ran up to his other self, and starts to swing his fist at him wildly. He forgets that his fists go right through him, or that he cannot feel any pain. Seeing that his anger cannot get through to him, he only feels worse.

“What is wrong with you!!” yelled Trei to the other Trei. Tears fall freely as he continue to swing his fists at him. “Why did you just let her leave! She was your wife damn you! She's supposed to be the most important person in your life! And what about Myo!? Did you forget about your own daughter!” He collapses on the ground after wearing himself out. After a few minutes, he asks Flik, “Is this what I'm going to turn into? Am I going to become like this heartless monster?”

Flik says, “Trei, I told you earlier back in Spring. Everything changes in the future. Having a family made you into a better person. But money and power changes you as well. I'm afraid that you cannot have everything you want. Trying will only make things worse.”

Trei closes his eyes tightly and says, “No more. Please, I don't want to see anymore. I don't want this life. I want Muffy, I want my family back.” He stands up without opening his eyes and yells, “I WANT TO GO TO FORGET-ME-NOT VALLEY!!!”

He can year those words echo in the distance. He slowly opens his eyes and sees that he is no longer in his office. Instead of tall buildings, he can see trees instead. The only walls that he can see are the walls outside of Romana's Villa. As his eyes are closed, he was able to return to the valley one last time.

He notices Flik standing close to him. He kneels down and asks, “Flik tell me! How long do I have left before I go back to the present?”

Flik take a moment to think, and then says, “Midnight tonight. I'm sorry, but I cannot change that.”

“Flik, can I ask you one last thing?” Flik nods, and Trei asks, “My father. Did he travel to the future too? When he was younger I mean.”

Flik nods and says, “Yes he did. I knew your father well. When your father was a teenager, he always wanted to own a farm or ranch. But in this day in age, very few pieces of land were available to fulfill his dream. So he got married and had a child instead. But when you were so young, a plot of land became available. He wanted to live in the country with his family, but your mother did not want to go. But since your father wanted to live in the country that much, your mother allowed him to live there. He wanted to stay with you, but he wanted to know what it would be like to own a ranch.
“That is when I met him. I told him that he would take a trip into the future, and he didn't believe me. But then he traveled to after he had completed his ranch. He spent 10 days in the future, and then he went back. He went back too soon, and he had no idea how unhappy you became during those 10 days. I'm sure that if he knew, he wouldn't have gone to Forget-Me-Not Valley.”

“I see,” said Trei.

Flik nods and concludes, “So, I guess this is goodbye then. This will be the last time we'll meet.”

Trei understands that after this experience, he will no longer need to go traveling to the future. So he and Flik shakes hands, and decides to becomes friends. Flik then vanishes across time where he can go assist someone else who may become lost in time. And Trei goes back into the villa to rejoin the rest of the village, and enjoy the rest of the party.