Author: Bill Cox
Sirens sound behind him and it feels like the walls are closing in. Always running as fast as he can down the street, but his legs are tiring already despite the adrenalin surging through his body. A small lane leads off into darkness and if he can’t run then hiding is the only option. He veers sharp left and disappears into the murky depths of the lane.
Hiding behind an industrial sized wheelie bin, sheltered from view from the main street, his heart hammering faster than he’s ever felt it beat.
Sirens approach like the cries of fate itself, but eventually fade away into the distance. His heart-rate gradually slows, but hands continue to shake. In an effort to give them something to do, he reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out the talisman. It always calms him. He holds her underwear next to his cheek, feeling the fineness of the lace, smelling the scent of her soap-powder. Hands release their tension. She can always calm him down.
Lucinda moved into the house across from his four months ago. Immediately he was smitten; love at first sight! He used his initiative, following her around discreetly, getting to know her from a distance. He found where she kept her spare keys, let himself into her house. That’s where he got the cherished talisman, something that’s touched her body.
He knows that some people will think him creepy, but when he eventually does approach her, he wants to make sure that she will reciprocate the love he feels for her. It’s like all those romantic movies he watches, where the hero has to overcome the resistance of the heroine. That’s all that’s happening here.
So he decided to check out her workplace too. She’s smart, a scientist, working on some frankly incomprehensible research. What exactly are ‘Repeating Closed Temporal Cascades’ anyway?
He visited the lab, out of hours, using keys he copied after being in her house. He’d been careless though, a little too excited at being in her workplace, touching things he frankly didn’t understand. He played with the settings on a console, set something to fifteen minutes, touched another switch.
There was a jolt, a feeling of disconnection. Then an alarm went off, wailing like a banshee. The Police were quick off the mark, they must have been nearby. He sprinted out of the building, they gave chase and here he is, hiding in a dingy alley.
It’s all quiet now, though, so he decides to leave his little hidey-hole. He stands up and looks around the lane. Funnily enough, a puzzling sense of déjà vu grips him, but he shrugs it off. He walks towards the main street, looking forward to seeing Lucinda again from the safety of his bedroom window.
Then his fifteen minutes are up. Things go fuzzy, time twists around, turning in upon itself. There’s a small fragment of his consciousness aware of his fate, silently screaming against the walls of this prison. Like a fly preserved in amber, he’s trapped in a knot of spacetime, reliving these moments over and over and over, as the world outside continues on, unawares…
Sirens sound behind him and it feels like the walls are closing in. Always running as fast as he can down the street, but his legs are tiring already despite the adrenalin surging through his body. A small lane leads off into darkness and if he can’t run then hiding is the only option. He veers sharp left and disappears into the murky depths of the lane.