People imagined a missing soldier coming home to cheers.
Flags.
Tears.
A spouse running into his arms.
Children screaming "Daddy!"
Sometimes that happened.
Sometimes the soldier returned to a world that had obeyed the cruel rule of time.
Parents died.
Children grew.
Friends moved.
Spouses remarried.
The world did not stop simply because one man could not participate in it.
Isaiah told other returning service members that grief did not mean their rescue had failed.
One evening, two years after his return, Maya had a school ceremony.
Isaiah arrived early.
Thomas was already there saving seats.
He lifted one hand.
"Over here."
Isaiah sat beside him.
Their relationship was strange.
Not friendship exactly.
Not hostility.
Family, perhaps.
The kind nobody would intentionally design.
Lena arrived moments later.
She sat on Thomas's other side.
The auditorium filled.
Maya walked onto the stage with her class.
She spotted them.
Her face lit up.
She waved wildly.
Thomas waved.
Lena waved.
Isaiah raised both hands.
The woman beside him laughed.
"That's your daughter?"
Isaiah smiled.
"Yeah."
She looked at Thomas.
"And his?"
Isaiah glanced at him.
Thomas smiled.
Isaiah nodded.
"Yeah."
The woman looked confused.
Isaiah faced the stage.
"Long story."
After the ceremony, Maya ran toward them.
She hugged Lena first.
Then Thomas.
Then Isaiah.
"I got an award."
"We noticed," Isaiah said.
"For science."
Thomas grinned.
"I helped with that project."
Isaiah looked at him.
"She got a B on the part you helped with."
Thomas stared.
"Traitor."
Maya laughed.
Lena watched the two men.
For a second, sadness crossed her face.
Perhaps she wondered about the life that might have existed if Isaiah's convoy had never been attacked.
Isaiah wondered too sometimes.
But less often now.
Alternate lives were dangerous places to live.
They walked outside together.
The evening was cool.
Maya talked nonstop.
Thomas carried her backpack.
Isaiah carried the certificate.