Harrison Home Prologue P1

The air was still as the hour grew later and later, the only pulses within the high-security facility were that of its highest ranking official and another unknown to him. As he sat smugly in his swivel chair within his office on the highest floor, looking down through his full-wall window at the world his family had worked hard to create, Edward Miller was deaf to the footsteps of his undoing coming ever closer.

His desk phone rang, cutting through the silent air with a blast of noise. He grimaced, but answered it; his new secretary had already gone home for the night. "Hello?"

"Yes, is this Mr. Miller?" the voice on the other end was that of a woman.

"Who is this?" he asked.

"I believe we spoke a while ago, a couple days at most. Amelia Harris from Midland U?" the woman answered.

"Ah yes, Miss Harris," Miller grinned upon recalling his previous call with her, "good for you to call, I had completely forgot to inform you that the board has agreed upon your internship here. Your training will begin in a few days time."

"Oh, that's very good news, Mr. Miller..." Amelia answered. "But I had received a call shortly after our conversation telling me that I had been accepted. And I was told to come here as soon as I could in order to start my training."

"What?" Miller's brow creased. "Who called you?"

"I believe she referred to herself as Sharon," Amelia said, "would that be your secretary?"

"Ah..." Miller placed a hand over his mouth pensively. Sharon had been his previous secretary. It had been discovered she had been part of a cult, and he couldn't afford having his company's name soiled, so he got rid of her, permanently. "She may have been my secretary at the time, but she's no longer with us now."

"Was she discharged?" Amelia inquired. "If so, perhaps she had called me with incorrect information in order to spite you."

"That's certainly a possibility..." Miller muttered, though he knew that couldn't be true. "Where are you now? Are you here?"

"Actually, yes." Amelia answered. "There was no guard and the lights were still on, strangely, so I just let myself in. From the directory I know your office is up on the top floor, but none of the doors are marked..."

"Just a moment, I'll let you in." Miller said, and promptly hung up the phone. He got up and rummaged in his pockets for a moment to retrieve a small key. Unlocking his top drawer, he pulled out a silver revolver. This situation was suspicious, much too convenient for this Miss Harris to just be brushed off as unfortunate coincidence. Besides, how could a basic secretary like Sharon have known the outcome of a board meeting that hadn't even happened yet? Unless...

Miller paused in thought, the metal of the revolver cold in his hands. If that Sharon had some sort of future sight... well it certainly wouldn't be the first time he'd heard such a thing. His family had dealt with many 'gifted' individuals in the past; their extermination was their claim to fame after all. Keeping the world safe from such monstrosities. To think he had one right under his nose! That bitch probably took him for a fool because he never noticed! His grip tightened around the revolver before he proceeded to drop it back into the drawer. No matter, one less nuisance to sully the world with their unfair advantages. But that Miss Harris... poor thing, she must be absolutely confused. With a smile, Miller walked up to the door, opening it and looking out into the hallway. A curvaceous young woman stood a short ways away, holding a suitcase and a purse.

"Why, did you carry that all the way here?" he asked, getting her attention.

"Oh!" Amelia raised her head to meet his question. "It's quite alright, I rushed here as quickly as I could so it actually isn't that heavy."

"You poor thing." Miller beckoned her to the room. "To think that Sharon fooled you like that. Had I known, I would've discharged her sooner. This must be such an inconvenience to you."

"Oh no, not at all!" Amelia said, promptly joining him in his office. "It's an honor to get to work with you, Mr. Miller. I had to make sure I met your expectations."

Miller let out a short laugh, closing the door behind her. "Now that's what I call dedication! I adore that about people, and it will surely get you far in this company, Miss Harris."

"Amelia is fine, sir." she said quietly, carefully putting her suitcase down next to a large and bulging filing cabinet.

"Ah, I was just being polite." Mr. Miller said, returning to his desk. "I wasn't sure if you would be comfortable with me using your first name right off the bat."

"Oh, well," Amelia chuckled, "I'm not exactly used to being called Miss. I think it's a little too formal, even for my age."

"Your age?" Mr. Miller repeated, before remembering her original profile. "Ah, that's right, you haven't even reached 30 and already so far into your career. It's actually quite impressive."

"Oh, not really." Amelia waved it off, taking a few steps towards the window. "I think I just made all the right choices. With the right knowledge, anyone could have easily done the same." She stepped forward until she was only a few inches from the window, looking down to the world as it was covered by night, only a few dots of light reminding her of the lives that existed below.

"This view is amazing." she said. "I can imagine you could see the entire city during the day."

"That I can." Mr. Miller nodded, joining her at the window. "There's nothing like gazing upon the city and its people. Knowing that all my family and I have done has helped them live their lives in peace."

"Yes, I've read everything available regarding your family's feats." Amelia nodded, moving towards the desk to check something in her purse. "It's amazing how far you've come. It must have taken many years of time and patience and... sacrifice."

"Indeed." Mr. Miller nodded. "I had heard many stories from my grandparents about their grandparents before them. There's so much history in my work, I'm glad to be able to continue it."

"I hope I'll be able to contribute to your successes once my training is over." Amelia said, rejoining him at the window. "Do you by any chance know what I'll be doing?"

"Ah, yes, the board gave me a list." Mr. Miller said, going and sitting at his desk. He looked into the top drawer and immediately noticed his missing revolver; he paused in his movements, glancing back towards Amelia, who stood looking out the window. "Er, actually, I may have forgotten it in my desk at home. I'll relay it to you when I find it, how does that sound?"

"Sounds like a plan." Amelia said, turning around. "But I think I have an idea as to what my training will entail."

"Really now?" Mr. Miller asked, closing the top drawer and standing. "What do you think?"

"I think it'll take a lot of time, and a lot of work," Amelia began, taking slow steps away from the window and around to the front of Miller's desk, "I may not understand certain things at first, but I'll learn as time goes on. I'll do my best not to make any mistakes, and I'll try to fix any that I do, in hopes that the fruits of my labor will be something I can be proud of."

"I'm sure that whatever you strive to do," Mr. Miller said carefully, "you'll do sufficiently. I can tell you're one to...to do well."

"Thank you, Mr. Miller." Amelia smiled, pulling the silver revolver from her purse and cocking it. "I'm a little proud of my work ethic, really. I always finish what I've started."

Miller swallowed hard. "What are you doing here, Amelia?"

"I'm here with a project in mind." she answered. "And you have information that I need."

"What information could I possibly--?" Miller's mouth ran dry. Amelia smirked. "Why would you want that?! What could you possibly do with it?!"

"I can do the same thing that I did in order to get where I am now." she said, striding closer to the desk, arm firmly in place to hold the revolver steady. "And I'll ensure that the many innocent lives your family has destroyed will be given another chance."

"What innocent lives?!" Miller shouted. "Those people are freaks! Monsters! Dangers to society!! To even consider bringing them back is insanity!! Just who the hell do you think you are?!!" Grabbing a fistful of his hair, Amelia slammed his head down onto his desk. After shouting more in surprise and pain, Miller brought his head back up, only to have the barrel of his revolver shoved into his mouth. She grabbed his hair again in order to keep him from moving away.

"I am Amelia Harris." she said. "And I am your worst nightmare."



After nearly 40 different tries, Amelia had finally come to the most favorable of outcomes for her mission. The timing, the setting, and finally the deed itself had gone almost flawlessly.

As Miller now lay crumpled on the floor, Amelia strode over to the filing cabinet that stood solemnly on the other side of the room. In this age, rarely anyone used paper anymore, so the presence of it seemed arbitrary, but it meant that something was either in it or around it that led to the information she needed. Once she ruled out the materials within it, she clutched the sides of it and gave it a hard shove to the side, quickly revealing a small compartment underneath.

"Here we go." Amelia huffed, crouching down to pry open the compartment. With a click, the cover popped off, and under it was a single black USB. "Old tech for an old geezer." Carefully, she pulled the USB from the compartment and into the palm of her hand. Pulling a thick disc from her purse, she plugged the USB into a port in the side, causing the disc to light up, and soon a holographic display appeared. Instantaneously, file after file on each and every one of the Miller family's victims was brought up before Amelia's eyes. As they sped across the small display, Amelia vaguely counted the number of children that made up the list. She could easily say they made up around 80% of the victims. It made her stomach churn.

Once the initial scan was completed, she tucked the two items back into her purse, and shoved the cabinet back into place. Looking back to Miller's desk, she checked on the body one more time, before going through the drawers. She couldn't find anything else of value to her. So with tossing her brown hair back over her shoulder, she grabbed her belongings and took her time walking out of the building. No one was around; the world was quiet.

Many would view her deed as a crime, but she knew of a great number of others out there that could finally sleep again now that Miller was no more. It was for those people that she took a man's life. And if her project went smoothly, it wouldn't be the last.

Because in order to be prosperous, there must be sacrifice. As much as she hated to admit it, that much she knew was true.



Amelia walked down a few blocks before calling a taxi. She had a special place in mind in order to make her way to the next step of her plan. The one place that never changed: the county park in the next town. Its historical significance kept it untouched for the past several hundred years, which made it perfect for its intended purpose; a safe location for her to take a leap. Specifically, a time leap.

She had discovered it early on in her life, her ability to time travel, when at first hours repeated, then days. When she was thirteen, she began to try to do it consciously, and the more she got the hang of it, the more ideas filled her head. She could fix all her mistakes, make all the right decisions that ultimately led to the perfect life for herself. And that's what she did.

Until she interrupted herself.

In her original timeline, she made herself the perfect life. She married, had children, and lived peacefully, with no fear of being hunted like many of the other 'gifted' people in the world. She had the ability to be hidden as a normal woman. A normal woman with the luckiest of breaks.

But in her interrupted timeline, when she was thirteen and beginning to understand her abilities, her future self visited her, and encouraged her to take a different path. As a regular housewife to her two beautiful kids, the future Amelia had began to look into the possibility of others having the same ability as her. Was she looking for someone to confide in? She never said.

And what she found was sickening. Miller Extermination Corps., one of the largest corporations in the world and known for its shady dealings in unsolved murders and kidnappings, was responsible for the deaths of anyone with unique abilities or strange mutations. They went out of their way to hunt them down and eradicate them, even if they posed no threat. Most of which, as she now confirmed, were children. Children that, like her past self, were still learning. Just because they had powers or strange forms did not automatically make them evil or monsters. Amelia believed that if they were taught, or given the chance to understand what they could do, they could be beneficial to society.

So she passed this idea to her past self, giving her a list of things that would make it possible for her to go back and change the future. Of course, her past self was adamant, saying that it wasn't fair that her future self had the perfect life and she would never experience it if she changed the past. But her future self pleaded her case.

Which would she rather live in? A world where she had to be afraid, or a world where she and hundreds of others could be free? This wasn't just for herself, but for all the young children she had read about. She reiterated a dream her past self had had when she was very young; that she wanted to do something with her life to help people and do good things.

"I am the result of the ideals you have for yourself." she said. "But now you can be the result of the dream you've had for so long. You can do good things by giving others the chance to do good things, those others being kids that never had the chance to prove themselves. Kids like you... You can do amazing things Amelia; don't let your talent go to waste."

It was at that moment that Amelia's original future self began to disappear. The past self had made her decision. And now, fifteen years later, Amelia has completed part one of her many-part plan.



When the taxi pulled up to the park entrance, the taxi driver gave Amelia a weird look before dropping her off. It was past two in the morning and she was stopping at a park with a suitcase in hand. If that didn't look shady, the driver didn't know what was. Regardless, he said nothing, and drove away as Amelia made her way into the lines of well-kept bushes and trees.

The night air sent a shiver through her spine, and she moved her purse to the arm carrying her suitcase so she could close the top of her jacket with her free hand. The Autumn season had been getting colder and colder as the years wore on, especially at night. She picked up her pace to her designated leap spot. As a woman who specialized in time, she hated wasting it.

While the park was filled with paths and brick-lined roads, Amelia had since found a small area that was detached from the rest, off to the far side of the park and near the river. She chose that as her leaping spot. The bricks were worn to drab reds and grays, and were arranged in a patterned circle. Dusting away the fallen leaves with her boot, Amelia stood in the direct center of the circle. She took a deep breath, and looked up to the crescent moon that stood off center in the sky.

The year she stood in was 2843, and Amelia knew the moment she leapt away, it would be a long, long time before she saw this era again. Everything she needed to do was in the past, and she had no idea how long it would take to finally achieve her goal.

Gripping her luggage tightly, she jumped as high as she could into the air, and as her momentum shifted down, she could feel the air around her begin to warp. Looking ahead, she could see the world phase away into a blur of color and a cold wind. A soft ticking echoed through her ears, and she closed her eyes, focusing on that one key moment ten years ago. Those saddened eyes, that soft violet glow as they told her of the blood that would inevitably be on her hands...

"Edwin..."

"Amelia?"