The Past Is Not For Changing
* New Chapters Added 4/13/04! *
An original fan fic by Kitty
Chapter 1
Katie threw open the door, sopping wet, cold, and tired. Shopping... in an outdoor mall... in the pouring rain... not necessarily a good idea. With agrumble, she trudged herself into the laundry room, kicked off her mud-covered Sketchers, and slowly made her way up the steps into her bedroom, where she promptly slammed and locked the door. She threw her shopping bag onto the bed; she sat down on the bed, making a large muddy wet spot on the sheets, and struggled to rip her drenched socks off and slipped on a new pair. The same process was repeated with Katie's other garments, until she was dressed in her most comfortable jeans, which fell dangerously low on her hips, and a light blue v-necked shirt. Her eyes scanned the shopping bag; she snatched it and retrieved the necklace inside. She stared at the bright blue bauble, in the shape of some Middle Eastern character. It was so beautiful...
Chapter 6
"You know, I could swear I've seen her before," Ringo commented, lookingat Katie, who was still fainted on the car seat. He stared with his head cocked sideways for several minutes, trying to recognize her. For some odd reason, he felt like he knew her face, but couldn't place her. Where had he seen her? After a few minutes, he became frustrated and felt like giving up. The others had become deeply interested as well and stared at her, feeling that for once Ringo was right.
"I was thinking that same thing. She does look familiar, doesn't she?"
"But where? Where have we seen her?" Paul opened his mouth as if to provide a decent answer, causing John, George, and Ringo to shift in their seats anxiously, but Paul just let out a sigh and fell back in his seat, the others following his movements. They all sat a racked their brains for several minutes; Paul, while thinking, tapped the door of her CD player. He looked down at the futuristic contraption and poked the many buttons, finally managing to open the hatch holding the CD. Gently he brushed the glossy surface of the disc with his hand, then pulled it out of the player and held it so everyone could see it.
"Where do you think she got this?"
"I'm not sure," said George, "but have you taken a look at the dates on some of those? They have two dates on them."
They all leaned into the recording, squinting to see the dates in small print on the Revolver album: 1966 and 1997.
"1997? That's odd. That gives us an idea..."
"You don't honestly think that she--"
"Come on, George! 1997! I think that should be telling you something!"
"I wonder what I look like in 1997," John said, mystified, hoping that his future was clear and beautiful, like a sunny spring morning. It was a little hard to imagine himself at age 57. "I'm probably super old-looking!"
"Well, this one here says 1999... and here's a 1996..." Paul said as he flipped through the CD book with Ringo. George sat quietly, craving a cigarette. He needed one now or he was felt he was going to burst. Slowly his hand got into Ringo's pocket and he pick pocketed a box of ciggies, lighting one up and quenching the wild craving that had been nagging him.
"I wonder if my hair is gray? I wonder how Cyn'll look... Will Jules be a doctor, a lawyer, or a rocker like his old dad? Will I have more children? What will their names be?" John continued to prattle, completely absorbed in his future life.
Katie moaned and stirred slightly, putting a hand on her forehead and leaning forward. She had regained most of her senses, but was getting a splitting headache due to the smell of smoke. She rubbed her forehead and temples furiously, hoping to relieve the sting of the migraine creeping up on her.
"Where are we?"
John smiled when he realized that the car wasn't moving anymore. He rolled down the window and managed to jam the upper half of his body out of the opening. "Well, Kate, dear, it seems we're in the middle of a traffic jam, but--"
The rest of what he was saying was suddenly drowned out by a loud wave of high-pitched wails. John frowned and slowly slid back into the car, cursing violently under his breath as he struggled to get the window back up. He looked out to see a large mob of fans filtering through traffic to get to the limousine. Finally he managed to get the window up in the nick of time. The air suddenly filled with the sound of hands pounding against the windows. The boys suddenly became uneasy. "Someday they're going to break through the windows, then we'll be in trouble," Ringo said nervously, moving over to sit with Katie.
Paul smiled falsely and waved at the several fans clambering on the trunk and smacking the tainted window. George closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat, hoping to sleep. John, meanwhile, looked at Katie, who looked like she was going to die. Her face was a pallid, chalky white. She had only seen this sort of thing happen on documentaries, and never once thought of how frightening it was.
"'Ey, Kate," John said, "you all right?"
"Yeah."
They sat quiet for a few moments, when John bit his lower lip and asked her, "Wot's it like in 1997?"
"Oh... well, it's 2003 now."
"So the world's not going to end in 2000?"
"Nope. We all thought that too... but it was the same as any other year, I guess."
"So you are a time traveler!"
"You can put it that way, I suppose... but not really."
"Am I still handsome in 2003?"
Katie frowned and quickly avoided the question. "I ended up in a dressing room? Why?"
"We're makin’ a movie, you see. It's called A Hard Day's Night."
The car finally started to move again, losing all of the crazy fans behind them. Katie thought over how hard it would be to tell John that there wouldn't be a 2003 for him, unless she could stop it. How could she tell him that he would be shot for no reason? That he wouldn't even get the chance to tell his son goodbye? And George, too! How could she tell him that he would die? Nobody told her that fixing the past would be so hard to do.
Katie was up early enough to say a quick farewell to her parents and rush them off, on the grounds that they would miss their plane if they stayed around any longer. Her mother gave her a kiss on the cheek, her father nearly flattened her with a bear hug (but it was definitely not as strong as the Beatle ox hug) and finally they were off to a cruise in the Caribbean. When her parents were out of sight, she looked over her shoulder to the handing pendulum clock; it read only… 7:30 AM?!
Katie moaned loudly. It’ll be forever until she gets to go see the boys! Why was it she got up so early, anyway? Oh, yeah… all of the excitement kept her awake, in a near insomniac state. All she could think about was the opportunity to sit with one of the Beatles! … she hoped she would sit next to John, but any Beatle was just fine!
She plopped down hard on the couch in awkward silence, the light ticking of the clock bringing her into boredom. Every second that ticked by seemed like hours and hours until she could leave to meet John. She sighed softly and closed her eyes, finally feeling the dizzying, tired sensation that had been strangely absent through the night. Her head bobbed gently, beginning to fall to her chest, but she snapped up, resisting the sleep that was drowning her. As she delicately spiraled from consiousness, her body not responding to her anymore, she whispered, "John..."
Her head fell forward limply, in sleep.
***
"Kate..." A voice was calling toher. "Kate..." The voice seemed so distant and yet strangely familiar.... it was a male's voice, but most definately not her father's. Was this a dream? Still feeling a dizzy tingling feeling zinging it's way up her body, it was hard for her to move around without getting a headrush. She gazed at her surroundings; it was a deep black nothingness, an empty, spaceless void, where she predicted she was the only life. The silence she stood in was now like a deafening, ear-piercing scream.
"Kate!" The voice screamed for her this time, and was clear enough for Katie to recognize him. The british accent basically gave it away!
"Paul?" she called out into the deep black, only to get an agonized moan in reply. "Paul!"
She stood in silence, staring up-- or was she looking down?-- which way was up, anyway?
Suddenly, behind her, a hand reached out, drenched in blood, and clamped down hard on her shoulder. It burned like acid and seemed to melt into her now scorched flesh, causing it to smoke lightly. Katie opened her mouth to let out a moan of pain, when she immediately snapped into alertness, panting heavily. She looked up at the figure hovering over her, her kindly grandmother, looking down at her with her hand placed on Katie's shoulder.
"Goodness gracious, dear, you were having a bad dream!"
"W-what?" Katie asked groggily, shaking off the sleep. "What time is it?"
"Oh, you've been sleeping for a few hours now... it's about two o'clock in the afternoon, dear."
Katie cursed violently under her breath and praying her grandma could hear as badly as she said she could. She would have to try and get on the plane! She sighed once more and ran a hand over her forehead, but froze suddenly:
The palms of her hands were smeared with dried blood.
Katie stood hunched over a cup of tea in the kitchen, swirling the steaming drink with a spoon and quietly fuming. She sighed impatiently and with much dismay as she thought of all the fun she could be having with the boys, but no, she had to stay home and make tea for her favourite grandmother! The dripping spoon dove back into the sugar bowl, scooping three more spoonfuls of sweetener into the porcelain cup. Her mind wandered; how was it she overslept, of all things?! Now John was probably wondering where she was, maybe thinking her rude for… snubbing him, in a way. She was all packed… she could perhaps try to get onto the plane… do they have mirrors on planes? Oh well, she’d jump that fence when she came to it. John’s beautiful face came into her head, angering her into shoveling more sugar into the cup and stirring it up violently. They’re probably having the time of their lives, and she was no part of it, and it was all her grandmother’s fault! Besides, Grandma didn’t even like tea!
Her anger flaring like wood thrown into fire, she grabbed the sugar bowl and emptied its contents into the cup, causing it to overflow, much like Katie’s patience. If she didn’t leave for Tokyo in the next five minutes, she was going to go absolutely mad! Snatching the now sticky tea cup, she stood underneath the arch that separated the kitchen from the living room.
“Here you go, grandma dearest, your tea.”
She received no reply, but just silence. Extremely flustered, she tried again.
“Grandma?”
A loud, obnoxious snort dragged a sigh out of Katie. All that work to make her a cup of tea, and she does what? Falls asleep?! Just perfect! Katie closed her eyes and took several deep breaths in and out, trying to relieve some stress. If she didn’t, she would probably end up strangling the old woman.
“Oh, whatever!” Katie cried, throwing the tea cup down, sending clay shards skittering across the linoleum-tiled floor. She stomped out of the kitchen and up the steps, dragging a duffle bag and a bunch of supplies for her trip. Among her many things was a camera, with which she planned on taking plenty of pictures of John. She eyed over her equipment, but stopping on her CD player and book. She recollected how she had promised herself that she wouldn’t bring it again, but since this was a special occasion… and plane trips are long and exhausting, anyway, so it didn’t hurt to have just a smidgeon of entertainment! She just wouldn’t let the boys touch it… a rather simple solution to a complex problem. It was almost like putting a cookie jar on a higher shelf so a child couldn’t get to it before supper and thus ruining their appetite. This, rather, was hiding music from four very handsome, curious boys so they couldn’t get to it before they were supposed to and thus ruining history. Well… it’s not exactly an equal comparison, but you get the general idea.
She threw the CD player and book into her duffle bag and took the next item on the pile; a Beatles book. She also needed reading material… but now was not the time to tell John… she’d have to tell him when he was alone. It would feel awkward to just walk up to him and tell him that he was going to die at an early age… he was a sensitive lad, after all, and Katie would hate to upset him. She opened the book and found the page about John’s death, then nonchalantly tearing it out, as an added insurance policy. Not wanting to throw it out, she folded it and stuffed into her back pocket with her money and passport. She took the duffle bag, slung it over her shoulder, and stood in front of the mirror. After several minutes and not going anywhere, Katie placed a hand on her neck, finding that in her advanced state of frustration, she had forgotten to put the necklace on. She dropped her things and took her necklace off her dresser, throwing it over her head and around her neck. She watched as the mirror seemed to smoke over, but it was unclear as to where she would end up.
She took her things and barreled into the mirror.
“Johnny Boy, wot’s the matter, then?” Paul said, running a comb through his already perfectly styled moptop and smiling at his reflection, knowing how good he really looked. John blankly combed his hair and stared into the mirror, Kate running through his thoughts. It depressed him a little, since he always expected promises to be kept. Maybe he was asking too much of her now, since she had run off for two years until yesterday. It was all so sudden, anyway!
“Nothing.”
“Get on, you know as well as I do that you haven’t been quite… yourself today.”
John turned to his song-writing companion and sighed. “I’ve just got a lot on me mind, y’know.” He turned back around, staring into his reflection’s eyes, like he had done as a child. He thought he saw his face changing (again like his childhood “pastime”), and began to try and blink it off, but suddenly flew backwards in his seat when Kate came charging through and right into his lap. Paul, startled, ran out of the room, thinking it was a thief. John breathed heavily, both extremely happy and startled to see Katie there, placed on his lap, straddling him with her legs. He simply smiled it off and held his arms out to hug her.
“’Ey, Kate! Where ‘ave you been?”
“Sorry… I had some things to do at home,” replied Katie, with a tone of annoyance.
“Well we’re just about to head out to the airport. We’re going to Manila next.”
“Oh really? That’s great!”
“I told Brian you’d be coming with us at some point, so he can be expecting you.”
“But you didn’t tell him about—“
“I told him you were my cousin. How’s your British accent?”
“Uh…”
“Oh well. Forget the accent. Let’s go!”
John gently pushed her off him and picked himself off the ground, guiding her out the door, while being a gentleman and carrying her things.
Chapter 15
Katie sighed as she climbed the steps to enter the plane. After struggling with a clerk about her passport’s dates being wrong, and after arguing with the baggage person to let her take her duffle bag on the plane with her, it was such a relief to get on that all of her nervousness about flying seemed to scatter to the winds. John nudged her, wanting her to move a bit faster, as she was barely creeping up the stairs.
“C’mon, let’s go!”
“I’m sorry, John. I’m going as fast as I can.”
“Really, Johnny, don’t ‘assle ‘er,” Paul said as he pushed John forward. He looked up into the cloudy sky above and smiled peacefully to himself as he finally got into the plane, very happy to be heading to their next destination, the Philippines. After all the death threats in Tokyo and the furor over playing at the Budokan martial arts center, it was good to just get out of there as fast as possible. It just wasn’t fair that they had come because they were asked to and still received threats like they did. But other than that, it was a good reception…
Paul pushed past Katie and plopped down in a seat in the back of the plane; Ringo sat next to Paul, and John sat down next to Brian. Neil and Mal sat together, the same with Tony and Peter, and Katie managed to find a seat by herself. She was adjusting her duffle bag to fit under her legs when a shadow grew over her, causing her to freeze. She looked up and saw George there, looking down at her with a kind smile. He pointed an unknowing finger at the empty seat.
“D’you mind if I—“
“Oh my God, sit down!” Katie bubbled excitedly, patting the seat wildly and at one point yanking on the trim of his suit coat. Of course he could sit with her! What kind of question was that? Katie suddenly remembered her manners and added, “Please.”
George took a seat and closed his eyes, tired after all the hustle of a big city. Hopefully Manila would be a bit quieter and more peaceful that Japan… it was after all the Philippine Islands, and islands did tend to be quite tranquil…
“’Ey Brian,” John mentioned to Mr. Epstein, poking him in the side and then pointing to Katie. “That’s me cousin, there…”
“I see. She looks very nice. … but what has she got there?”
John turned to see that Katie had her CD player on her lap and was just putting her headphones over her ears. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes as well, trying to sleep, like George. At a severe lack of an answer, John pointed out the plane window and yelled out, “Look, a duck!”
George’s eye cracked open to watch Katie operate the strange contraption, wondering if she had any music that he would be making in the future. It was absolutely amazing how far technology would go… to think of records made smaller, and made for on-the-go use as well! It was absolutely fantastic! His hand slowly slithered onto her CD book to snatch it out from under her, but she sharply threw her hand over his and held him back. Her grip became extremely tight, squishing his fingers together. He softly moaned in pain as the sound of the cracking of the bones in his fingers reached his ears, then the stinging sensation spiraled up his shoulder and back to each fingertip.
“George…” Katie scolded, her eyes still closed. Opening them, she glared over at him slyly. “There’s nothing in there.”
“If there’s nothing in there, why won’t you let me see?”
Katie’s grip loosened around his aching fingers, forcing a light, victorious smile out of George. He had won the battle of words, which was a matter of course for a witty, intelligent Beatle. His free hand slipped past her and yanked the book off of her lap, and his pained hand wriggled itself from her grip. As he paged through it, Katie looked over to John and Brian to find that Mr. Epstein was staring at her while John spoke quietly to him.
“Where did she find her clothes? They’re very… unique,” Brian said, taking his eyes off Katie to look at John, who was fiddling with his tie.
“Well, she’s been living in America you know, Brian, so maybe she got that look from some of her friends.”
“I haven’t seen anyone in that style of clothing before. Her shirt is very interesting.”
He stared over to her, dressed in a black form-fitting t-shirt with the image of a Rubik’s Cube printed on it and flare-legged blue jeans. John looked too and smiled when she began to blush and stare out the window, not knowing what they were talking about. She bit her lower lip.
“Is there something wrong with me?” she thought. “Are they done looking at me? I’m so afraid to look… and a bit embarrassed… maybe there’s something on my face. Oh, God! If there’s something on my face and John saw it, I’d just—“
“’Ey, Kate, I ‘ave a question.” She turned her head and looked over to George, who was curiously lookingat a CD that was placed at the very last page of her CD book. “Who’s Prince?”
Katie’s eyes wide with surprise, she snatched the CD book out of his hands and looked to confirm George’s question. It was indeed a Prince album! … a compilation album, The Very Best of Prince. How dreadfully embarrassing! … now Katie remembered why she never let her mother listen to her CD player. She moaned in her misery as her face flushed red, feeling so stupid that she had “the artist formerly known as Prince (the symbol) turned back into regular Prince and then just the Artist” in her CD roster! And on the page next to it, Barry Manilow, of all things! Surely she’d have to yell at her mother about putting things in her CD book without her permission.
“Oh… Well, um…”
“He’s not a very handsome fella, is ‘e?” George commented, pointing at the image that was put onto the disc. Katie lightened up a bit; maybe Prince wasn’t that bad… I mean, her mother made her listen to him all the time in the car, and even if she really didn’t listen, she knew some of the songs had potential to be liked. Never liked like a Beatles song, but still…
“No, he’s really not. He sings all right though, I guess.”
“Can I ‘ave a listen, then?”
Katie sighed and gave it thought. … what if George really likes a song and records it? She’d have a lot on her plate if that were to happen… I don’t think the simple world of the 1960s was ready for Prince’s quite naughty material just yet. It would take about 20 years or so for his type of music to evolve. “If you promise me that you won’t copy anything, yes you can. Deal?”
“You ‘ave yourself a deal, you do.”
Katie and George briefly shook hands as an acknowledgement of their agreement, and Kate loaded the Prince CD into her player and slipped the earphones over George’s ears. She pointed to the play button.
“You do the honours. Press that.”
He followed her instruction and sat for a few moments as the CD whirred into motion, then jumped slightly as a ear-piercing, high-pitched scream reached his ears. George looked at her with an expression that said, “This… is what you call good singing?”
“Wot’s this song called?”
Katie leaned in and placed her ear next to the earphone, recognizing a line of it: It’s hard for me to say what’s right when all I wanna do is wrong. “Hm. I think that song may be called ‘Gett Off’. My mom listens to it all the time.”
“And people in 2003 listen to this… and like it?”
“Well, I don’t exactly… you guys are the only thing I really listen to.” Katie leaned back and closed her eyes again, wanting sleep.
George nodded and continued to listen to Prince, finding him extremely… interesting, for lack of a better word. As the song continued, it just seemed to get naughtier and naughtier! … Is that what the future was; a drunken stupor of sex? But even if it was, it was comforting to know that the Beatles were still popular 40 years after making it big.
… or were they?
“Kate…” George whispered, reaching out to shake her by the shoulder, but hesitating when he found she was sleeping soundly, the gentle sounds of her breath rising around him. He smiled and leaned back, Prince still playing in his ears.
Chapter 16
“Kate…” Paul’s voice was calling to her out of that deep emptiness again… Katie ran forward, feeling the sensation of flooring underneath her feet, and called out to Paul.
“Where are you?”
“I’m here.” There was a long moment of dead silence.
“Where?”
”I told you. I’m here.”
Katie sighed when she was overcome with confusion. Things couldn’t get any weirder… she knew he was there, but speaking in circles! It wouldn’t help her locate him if he was being unclear.
“Paul, show yourself!”
“… I can still move…”
“But where are you?!”
Suddenly, Katie froze where she stood when a pair of arms slithered around her waist. She dared herself not to look down, fearing the sight of his blood-drenched hands. Curiously, there was no burning at his touch; on the contrary, it was quite a warm, enjoyable feeling that spread throughout her body, running through each vein, churning through her blood, relaxing each muscle as it traveled. Her eyes shut tightly when she felt a body rub up against her and hold her close.
“I’m here. You can open your eyes now.”
Katie’s eyes flew open and glanced over to Paul, who had his head rested on her shoulder. She trembled, noticing streaks of blood that ran from his eyes to his chin, and as he stared at her, he blinked to allow fresh blood fell from his eyes like tears. It was agonizing to see him bleeding onto his white suit shirt, stained a rusty reddish-brown, and not even acknowledging it. His smile seemed to turn into a saddened frown in a matter of moments, like he knew what was going on outside the dream world. He relinquished his hold of her waist.
“I think… I think you have to go now,” he whispered to her, backing away. She turned quickly just as he disappeared into the darkness. A rush of dizziness made her unstable; she fell to her knees and reached an arm out, hoping to catch him and drag him back.
“Paul! Paul… wait!”
“Kate? Kate!”
Katie’s eyes snapped open to see Paul leaning over her, his face lined with concern. Behind him, John was standing up on his seat, looking over Paul’s shoulder and staring with just as much worry. “You all right, then?” John asked, while Paul pulled out a handkerchief from his trouser pocket and handed it to her. She took it and looked up to him, not understanding.
“What’s this for?”
Katie ignored his question, ran a hand over her cheek and realized what Paul said was true; her hand came backwet with freshly spilt tears. She took his handkerchief and wiped her eyes, then handed it back. Paul folded it back up and stuffed it back into his pocket and reached a hand out to assist her out of her seat. Already the sound of high-pitched wails was apparent.
“Wait, where’s George? I thought he was sitting with me.”
“Well, ‘e was, until you started cryin’. ‘e thought’d be best if I sat with you, you know.”
“I’m right ‘ere,” George piped in, leaning over the seat and playing with Katie’s hair.
“W-where are we?”
“We’re in Manila,” George told her and moved out of the way as Kate and her bag was helped into the aisle and out of the plane. She took a deep breath of Manila air; instead of it being a calm feeling, the air was extremely tense and saturated in bad vibes. George frowned at this strange feeling and whispered, “Something’s not right here.”
“Tell me about it,” Katie replied in kind, her hand unconsciously slipping into Paul’s, who was right next to her. Paul waved at some fans for a moment, then did a double take and smiled. Kate seemed to be extremely comfortable, especially after her moment of chaos on the plane.
As soon as the crew reached the bottom of the steps, several Manila guards snatched the boys by the shoulders and dragged them towards their car. It was all much too fast! In all the confusion, a guard separated Paul and Katie, so she was left standing on the runway with Neil, Mal, Peter, Tony, Vic, and Brian. She pushed against a guard, hoping to get into the car with the Beatles, but the giant man in an olive green uniform shoved her back into Neil, who was lucky to catch her before she tripped to the ground. Paul glanced back and noticed the situation, wanting to run to her aid, but was shoved into the car and driven off. She sighed in dismay when she saw the car drive off without their baggage.
“Watch yourself, luv. Where are the boys?”
“They were just driven off!”
“Brian, where’ve they taken them?”
Brian wasn’t listening; he was extremely flustered and was pacing back and fourth, trying to figure out a course of action. Katie bit her lower lip in thought. This all seemed vaguely familiar to her somehow… where had the Beatles been taken when they went to Manila?
“That’s it! Neil, I know where they are! Grab the bags and the others and get into the car, quickly!”
She jumped into a car for the others and settled herself as Neil hopped into the car. She leaned forward and shouted to the driver, “Manila Harbour!” But even this was a quiet gesture in comparison to the shouting of the fans outside.
“What would they be doing in the harbour?”
“I can’t quite remember. I think it has something to do with checking their luggage.” She leaned into Neil and put her lips to his ear. “When we get there, get the marijuana out of the bags in the boot and get rid of it.”
“How did you kn—“
“Never mind how I knew, just do it.”
Chapter 17
After what seemed like hours of driving, they finally arrived at the harbour and boarded a boat with the boys, who looked around, obviously very frustrated about the whole thing. She ran up to John and hugged him tightly by the waist.
