Raul opened the door slowly, scanning the room through a crack before fully stepping out. He made a move towards the key, but then he looked at me for confirmation. I nodded that he could take it. As he would very soon find out, it did not matter whether or not we had the key. He grabbed the key and slowly made his way towards the exit, but I stopped him before he left.
"Raul, I should you warn you," I said. "We are going to get ambushed really soon and be 'killed.'"
"I'm guessing this is another one of your future visions?" he replied.
"Yes," I said sheepishly. "The tech-side that were in here earlier are not gone. I don't know how, but they must have noticed that we were in here. Their conversation was a play to bait us out unguarded. They'll be waiting just to the right hallway outside the room."
"So what do we do?" he asked.
"Get hit," I said.
I then stepped in front of Raul and left the room first, trying to both take as many paintballs for him as possible, and to make sure that he does not try and do anything different. When we got close to the hallway they were hiding in, I turned to Raul and motioned that we were just about to get hit. He nodded, and with that, I stepped into the hall. Just as I had thought, the tech-siders jumped out and started spraying wildly, covering not just Raul and I in paint, but the wall behind us too. I felt bad for the janitors that had to clean it all up over the summer.
After the paintballs ran out, one of them stepped in front of the group and looked at us with a grin on his face. He snatched the key, now with a multicoloured rainbow coating, and he tossed it to someone behind him.
"You general thought you could just sneak in here?" he said. "What a joke. Don't make me laugh."
I just stared at him and shrugged.
"I don't know, I guess I did think that we could get away with it," I replied, not exactly remembering how this conversation went in the original past.
"Well you're both idiots for thinking that. Now stop dripping paint onto the floors and leave!" he screamed.
Gladly I thought, as I turned and headed towards the door where Sean and Connor were waiting. Raul tapped my shoulder once we were out of earshot of the tech-siders.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I replied.
"I don't know, maybe because you just got pelted by a million paintballs?"
"Oh please, I knew it was coming. It was intentional."
"Hey, okay that's fine. As long you're alright."
"Thanks for asking though. Appreciate you looking out for me. And thanks for losing the war."
"Well we haven't lost completely yet. Come on, let's finish the job."
Raul then ran out in front of me, leaving a colourful trail of footprints behind him. I smiled and forgot how much fun it was to be back in school; my life not destroyed and in despair. I ran after him, leaving my own trail beside his.
---
We came out the door, and surprised Sean and Connor. They took us in and stared at first in confusion, and then in sad understanding.
"They got us!" Sean said. "Damn!"
"I really thought this was the year," Connor added. "I had high hopes."
"Yeah I'm sorry guys," I said. "They ambushed us in there."
"It's okay, it wasn't your fault," Sean replied.
"Still," I said, feeling a little guilty because it was actually my fault. "It was your guys' graduating year too."
"That's fine," Raul said, coming up behind Sean and Connor. "General will win eventually, even if that not us."
Raul then swung his arms around Sean's and Connor's shoulders, getting paint all over them.
"Oh come on!" Sean exclaimed.
"This was a new shirt!" Connor said.
"Oh it's just a little paint," Raul said with a grin. "Come on, let's see how our guards are doing."
We then headed to the lobby of general-side, Raul still dripping paint onto Sean's and Connor's shoulders, and me heading up the rear. We just lost and we are doing our supposed walk of shame, but for some reason, everyone was smiling. This was what it was, I thought; I missed this friendship. Maybe none of this would have happened if I had not left everyone I thought to myself.
"Hey Nate!" Raul said, looking back. "Hurry up!"
"Coming!" I said, running to catch up with them.
---
As we arrive at the front doors of general-side, I can see through the windows that the flag was gone and people were running around looking frantic.
"How did you miss it?" I heard as Sean opened the doors.
"Hey, it wasn't just me you know. Brian was supposed to be looking too, but he missed it," Jacob said.
"Hey! What gives? Stop selling me out!" Brian exclaimed.
"Guys, what happened?" Raul said, stepping up to Jacob and Brian.
Everyone turned at the sound of Raul's voice, and stared as they took in both Raul's and my painted appearance.
"What happened?" Jacob asked, raising a hand as if to touch some of the paint but then dropping it.
"What do you think?" Raul replied. "Tech-side got us. Ambush."
"Damn! And they took the flag too," Brian exclaimed.
"I guess that's it for this year then. We lost," Raul said. "But it was a good run!"
No one spoke and stared at the floor, a grim silence filling the lobby. I felt that I had to say something; it was partly my fault.
"Guys, general will win eventually. It just won't be us," I said, copying Raul's words from earlier. "Let's just wish the best for the future general-side students."
"Yeah! Hey, at least we're graduating!" Raul said, trying to brighten up the room.
At that, people started looking up and feeling more energetic. People started grinning and laughing as they realized that school was finally done. The silent lobby soon became filled with the noises of celebration. Raul then turned to me and pulled me aside.
"You wanna get out of here? The paint is starting to seep into places it shouldn't," Raul said.
"Yeah, for sure," I replied.
Raul and I then left after saying goodbye to everyone, promising to meet up again during the summer, but knowing that most of us would not. As we exited the general building for the last time, Raul asked the question I had been dreading.
"So are you finally gonna tell me what happened?" he asked.
I still had not decided whether or not to tell him the truth. I was still unsure if he would even believe it if I told him; I barely believed it myself. But lying has never been my strong suit, and he usually saw right through them. My brain swirled with the possibilities, until I just decided to speak and let my unconscious decide for me.
"I'm not really here," I said, deciding to tell the truth.
"What?" Raul replied.
"Well I am, but I'm not this past's version of myself," I said.
"That's not making it any clearer," Raul said, with a confused look on his face. "What do you mean 'this past's version'?"
"So I'm from the..." I began hesitantly. "...future."
Raul stopped and stared at me.
"Did you get hit on the head with a paintball?" Raul said after minutes of silence. "Do we need to go to the hospital?"
"No, I'm being serious," I said a little more assertively. "I'm from the future. I'm actually a lot older and I got sent here after going to this bar."
"Okay, now I'm sure you need to go to the hospital," Raul said, with a concerned look. "Let's get you to a hospital."
"No Raul, come on. I'm telling the truth, I really am..." I stopped as I realized that telling the truth would not work. As the words left my mouth, I realized how ridiculous they would sound to other people. The only other option left was to lie.
"Okay fine, you got me. I was lying," I said.
"I thought so," Raul said, looking a little relieved. "If you wanted to lie, you should have come up with something a little more believable."
"Yeah, I know. But you know I'm not that great at lying," I said.
"I know, that's why you shouldn't lie to me again," Raul replied. "Now tell me what really happened."
"Okay," I said, trying to come up with a believable lie.
"Well?" Raul said.
"So here's what happened," I said, finally thinking of one. "I actually got cornered by the tech-side earlier in the day. They somehow figured out our plan and said that if we didn't lose, that they would tell everyone that I told them what our plan was, and cast me a traitor."
Raul stopped me and looked me in the eyes. I thought he saw through the lie and was going to confront me about it. But that was not the case.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Raul said.
"I don't know. I guess I was too panicked," I replied, relieved that he believed it.
"What they did wasn't against the rules, but it was still a little unethical. I'm sorry you had to go through that alone." Raul said, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"Thanks, but it's fine. It's all over now," I said.
"You know what, you're right. Let's just forget about it and go home!" Raul said. "I need to go take a shower really badly. But I'll see you later. I have something to tell you."
"Sure, yeah." I replied, not remembering what Raul had to say in the original past. "I'll talk to you later."
Raul then ran off ahead, looking back once to wave, before turning a corner and disappearing from view.