Jannik Fink

• Andrew Pfeffer, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2018

The room was dark, with a single overhead light. The only thing it illuminated was a single rectangular wooden desk. Two chairs sat on the far sides of the desk, one empty. A man sat leaning back in the chair with his chin on his chest; his face away from the light. A door, obscured by darkness on the opposite wall, opened with a man quickly walking through. He quietly pushed it shut again and sat down at the empty chair. He opened a portfolio and lay several images out, then sat with both hands flat.
“My name is Doctor Stone,” he pleasantly stated with a slight pause, “Can you tell me yours?”
The man slowly rotated his head from right to left; then raised it and glared at the doctor.
“You already know it,” the quiet and coarse voice answered, “Jannik Fink.”
The strange accent made him uncomfortable, but Stone cleared his throat then continued.
“Do you know what these are photos of?”
Jannik barely leaned forward and began to inspect the images. Only the tip of his nose was visible, and a slight reflection of his eyes darting around.
“The trail I left for you to find me,” he announced while moving back into the shadows.
Stone nodded while grabbing a piece of paper from his portfolio and began writing notes, hiding them with his spare arm.
“Were you really in each of these photos?” he asked while leaning forward over the desk.
Jannik nodded, with a strange aura of smugness about him.
“How? These images are separated by fifty years each.”
Jannik suddenly sat up, causing Stone to slightly jump. He gazed into the doctor’s eyes for a moment before looking behind him. Stone looked behind himself, and turned back to find Jannik’s eyes now slightly glazed over.
“To have eternity in the palm of your hand,” he began to mutter, “And your fingers stretch to the ends of infinity... it is not something you can easily disclose.”
“Then please do your best,” Stone encouraged now confused yet intrigued.
“This dimension is only the third, yet time as we know it ends in the fourth. Everything that is ‘permanent’ here is merely relative in other dimensions. Gravity, time, the fundamental laws of the universe,” Jannik began tapping the desk, “Can be changed on a whim.”
“Who’s whim?” Stone asked.
“I don’t know,” he falls back as if defeated, “I could never find out; there was only a voice speaking to me.”
Stone sat up and looked at his watch; sighed with disappointment. He began to place everything pack in the portfolio.
“I am terribly sorry but I have somewhere else to be.”
While walking towards the door, Jannik cleared his throat.
“About the Agent I killed, right? With the Arcani?”
Stone turned and stared into the reflective eyes, and nodded with a sick feeling in his gut. The door shut and Jannik sat silent in the dark room and a single overhead light.