Time Loop

by Jill Cooper

  Mom covers her mouth. “I don’t know how you know all this…”

  My voice warbles as I push on. If I stop talking now, I might never be brave enough to talk about it again. “Because I’ve been there. I’ve seen it. And it’s time everyone knows what Patricia is capable of.”

  Mom shakes her head and tears well in her eyes. “You can’t. She’ll…”

  My eyebrows rise. “Kill you? Kill me? I know she’s been forcing you silent all these years. I saw the video you made.”

  Her eyes flash with anger. “You went through my office?”

  “I didn’t have a choice, but I didn’t. The other Lara did. The one who was here before I arrived. The one who was certain Jax framed Dad. But she was wrong. It wasn’t Jax. It was Rex.”

  “Rex?” Mom whispers. “Jax’s brother? We only just met him a few months ago.”

  I nod. “And he recognized Lara. He remembered her from the alley the day he missed the shot on you. And since then, he’s realized what I’ve done. And now he’s coming for us. We have no choice but to go public. If we don’t, we’ll be worse than dead. We’ll be under their control.”

  Mom is frozen in place. “We can’t take them on. Patricia has money. She has power…”

  “Then we go to someone with money and power.” I take Mom’s hands and squeeze them. “Do you want to hear what they do to Jax? How they start experimenting on Molly?”

  Mom’s eyes widen. “No!”

  “It’s true. There’s a link, a genetic connection between my brain and hers. Why wouldn’t they think they can unlock it in her? And for two years they’ll torment her. Until they break her. Until she will do whatever they want.”

  Mom squeezes her eyes tight and sobs. She places her head in her hands and I hug her tight. “No one else can know this,” I whisper in her ear. “If Jax finds out, Rex might suspect.”

  “What?” Mom straightens up. “There’s no way that Jax knows. He would never…” She studies me and then her eyebrows scrunch together. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “He loves you. Maybe he loves you so much he was willing to look the other way so Dad was taken out of the picture. I don’t know what his real motives were. I just know how sorry he is. I think he wanted to protect you and he thought this way was the answer. Don’t be mad at him.”

  “Don’t be mad?” Her voice screeches. “How—”

  “—He has the evidence that connects Rewind to Rex. Now I have it. I just have to go get it.”

  Mom nods. “I’ll go with you.”

  I shake my head. “You have to stay here and protect Molly. They’ll come for her. They know I have the video and the evidence. They’ll want me to trade the evidence for Molly, but it’s a trap. Once they get me, they’ll never let me go.”

  “Oh my God.” Mom squeezes her eyes shut. “I shouldn’t believe this. I shouldn’t believe any of this. I should just call your psychologist and in the morning—”

  “—In the morning it might be too late.” I give her a level stare. “They already tried to snatch Molly once today. Now that they’ve failed they’re going to try again. She can’t go to school tomorrow.”

  “What… What should I do?” Mom thinks, her eyes ticking left and right. “I should take them away, shouldn’t I? I should take Mike and Molly away.”

  I didn’t think of it, but it’s a good idea. “Tonight. While everyone is sleeping. I’ll see you guys out of town.”

  “I won’t ask you to do this.” Mom grabs my shoulder. “You should come with us. We could all fade away. Hide…”

  “And Dad will stay in prison forever for something he didn’t do.” My eyes darken and I watch Mom’s expression crumble.

  Her eyes squeeze shut. “Oh… John…”

  “You loved him once. Now we need to get him out. How you never thought Patricia could be behind this…”

  Her face flashes with defiance. “I didn’t know about Patricia. It’s only been in the coming years that she’s grown so controlling. I had no idea she was capable of this then.”

  I accept her answer because I don’t have any choice. “Go downstairs and serve dinner. When everyone is eating I’ll pack the bags and drop them out front. Just tell Jax I’m sulking or something after breaking a nail.”

  Mom smooths my hair. “Oh Lara, we know you’re not that shallow.”

  “No? Because I feel like I was. I’m just so sorry.”

  “I’m not sure I’ve processed everything you’ve said yet,” Mom admits. “But I am thankful to be alive and have you kids. As for Jax…” She sighs. “I don’t know how I am even going to face him.”

  “He’s not the enemy. He’s stuck in the middle as much as any of us. Keeping what we’re doing from him will save him. If Rex suspects that Jax is going to betray him, who knows what Rex would do?”

  “And you think Jax would? Betray Rex after all this?”

  “He’s been doing all this for ten years to keep you safe. All of us safe. I’d say yes, Jax would give up Rex in a heartbeat, which is why he can’t know. Rex can read people really well, so Jax can’t know. Not yet.”

  Mom nods. “I’ll … save you some dinner.” She pauses at the door. “Please be careful, baby.”

  I smile and her words light me up for a brief moment.

  “I could never forget you,” Mom says as she sneaks out of my room and I wish I could believe those words. Because I know they’re not true.

  Everyone, as it turns out, is forgettable.

  *****

  I pack Molly and Mike’s favorite things along with necessities in one bag. In the other, I pack Mom a change of clothes, plus their passports. I don’t know where she’ll be headed and I think that’s a good thing. I think I shouldn’t know, just in case things go wrong.

  Hunger growls in my belly and I need to go downstairs to grab some dinner. I put on my cozy black hoodie and zip it up. It’s the same one I wore two years ago on that night I headed to the YMCA to pick up the information on Rex. It seems fitting, but it also scares me that history is going to repeat itself.

  No matter what I do, how I go about this, I need to stay out of Rewind’s hands. The moment I do, I’ll end up trapped back in that virtual reality world and this time I might not be lucky enough to get out alive.

  My phone rings and I see that it’s Donovan. “Hey.” I sit down on my bed and let the soothing sound of his voice roll over me.

  “Everything all right over there?” His voice wraps me in comfort and solace.

  “So far. The parents are with the twins and so far there’s been nothing out of the ordinary. How about you? You haven’t told anyone, I hope.”

  “No, of course not. I know the arrangement. What time do you want to meet tonight?”

  I glance at the clock and for a minute I expect to see the hands ticking backward, but luckily they aren’t. Everything is normal. “1AM? I need to make sure everyone is asleep. I’ll call you and give you a location.”

  “Why not just give me one now?”

  “Tonight.” Anxiety nets my stomach. “Promise.”

  “All right, Lara. If you want to be all cloak and dagger, that’s fine with me. You really know how to keep a guy interested.”

  I smile at the phone. “I love you too.” I end the call, holding the phone to my chest; I take a deep, shaking breath.

  Everything is coming to a head. Soon it can all be over, but can it really?

  Can it really be this easy?

  ****

  My belly is stuffed full of dinner and I slide my dirty plate into the dishwasher. I can hear voices in the living room and I move over to the door and push it open. I can’t see what’s going on, but I hear voices.

  “You’ve been acting weird since dinner. What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing. Everything is fine.” Mom is exasperated.

  “Are you sure? You and Lar were upstairs for a while, if there’s something going on…”

  “There’s nothing going on, Jax. I promise.”
r />   Mom is spiraling out of control. If I can hear it in her voice, I’m sure that Jax can hear it too. I push through the door and smile at them. Instead of sitting they are standing and the Great Wall of China might as well be between them. Mom’s arms are crossed and she looks standoffish.

  “I have some homework so I’m going to head off to bed. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” I kiss Jax’s cheek.

  “Night, sweetheart.” He rubs my back. “Thanks for having dinner with us, it was nice.”

  “It’s always nice to be home.” I smile.

  “Okay, now I know something is going on.”

  I laugh. “Can’t a girl appreciate her family once in a while?”

  “I guess so.” Jax’s smile is halfhearted, but it does reach his eyes. “Have a good night.”

  Mom hugs me and I pull her closer to the stairs. “Keep it together,” I whisper. “And I promise this is all going to work out.” I kiss her cheek and it lingers. Then I rush up the stairs to tuck the twins into bed.

  I sit with Mike and we play an abbreviated version of space man vs. the cowboy. Then I tuck him in and kiss his cheek. “Sleep tight and if you see me in the middle of the night remember we’re just playing a game, okay?”

  His eyes widen. “What kind of a game?”

  I grin. “You’ll just have to find out. Good night, Mike.” I tussle his hair and then I head across the hall to Molly’s room. I love Mike, but my affection for Molly goes beyond sibling love. In a lot of ways, I see myself in her. I see what could have been for me unfolding in front of her and I need to protect that.

  Protecting her is a way of protecting myself.

  I sit with her and I brush her hair. Then we spend a few minutes dressing Barbie dolls and giving them fancy names for a royal ball. It’s weird to think that I didn’t grow up having a sister because I fall into it easily. It feels natural to take care of the twins. Finally, I help her into her nightgown and she sits on my lap. Her fingers stroke over the heart shaped locket I wear around my neck.

  “Is it fixed yet?”

  “Not yet. But soon. C’mon, get into bed and I’ll tell you a little secret.”

  Molly loves secrets so she rushes into her bed and I pull the heavy down comforter around her frame. I smother her in kisses and the locket around my neck dangles. Her fingers caress it.

  “Tonight there’s going to be a game. I need you to be quiet and do your best not to say anything or even look around, okay?”

  Molly nods but her expression is more serious than her twin’s. “What kind of game?”

  “An adventure.” I fill my voice with wonder to excite her. My eyes widen. “With Mom.”

  Quietly, her hands clap together. “Like a vacation?”

  I nod. “And if everything goes right, I’m going to join you guys, but you have to do everything Mom says. Even if it sounds kind of weird.”

  Molly nods that she will. “I love you, Lara.” Her arms go around my neck and she gives me a big squeeze.

  I hope what I’m doing is right. I hope that everything goes the way I want it to. But right now, all I can worry about is seeing them off safely. Once they’re gone and on the road, I’ll be able to focus on the task at hand.

  And now I have to focus on getting the family car. You can’t flee town under cover of darkness using the subway. And the car is kept in a garage twenty minutes from here.

  It’s lucky I have an all-expense paid time travel card. It can get you anywhere you want to go in the blink of an eye.

  But first, the bags.

  ****

  I toss the bags out my window so they land behind the tree on our front sidewalk. If you didn’t know they were there, you’d never notice them. I tie my hair back into a ponytail and send Mom a text message that I need the car keys and I’ll meet her near the bathroom.

  While I wait, I wash my face and brush my teeth. All systems seem normal at the Montgomery home, except things are far from normal. What I’m about to do…

  But I don’t have much choice, do I? I threw away my choices when I went back and changed the past the first time. Now I’m desperate to fix my mistakes without giving up the one thing I'm loathed to.

  Mom.

  I open the bathroom door and I see her loitering in the hall. “Mom,” I hiss and motion for her to follow. Once inside, I close the bathroom door. “Did you get it?”

  She nods and slips me the keys. “I don’t know how you’re going to get the car. It’s going to take you twenty minutes there and back.”

  “It’ll take twenty. Not a moment longer. I travel differently than normal people. Just tell Jax I have another headache and I’m going to bed early. By the time he’s ready to check out, I’ll have the car around the corner and then we can move the twins quietly.”

  “You really think this is going to work?” Mom asks and her face is dire.

  “I don’t think we have much of a choice.” I hug her but I don’t linger. If I do, I know I might chicken out on what I know needs to happen.

  “Be careful,” she whispers in my ear.

  With great hesitation, I pull myself away and lock myself in my room. I turn the volume up on my cloud music streamer and angst teen music pumps through the air. It gives me the cover I need to pull up the YMCA website, but there’s no picture. I finally find one thanks to an image search in the web browser.

  Here we go.

  I focus on the image of the YMCA’s door. My eyes hone in on the door handle and it rushes towards me like a speeding train. The air around me pixilated and soft dewdrops of rain pelt against my hood.

  Blinking again, I see I’m standing outside the building. I pull up my hood and check my watch. It’s fifteen minutes in the past.

  Why not? It seems like a good number.

  I use my access card to get into the YMCA even though it’s after hours. There’s a bored lady at the receptionist counter. She flicks through the pages of a magazine with a big yawn. Funny, I don’t remember seeing a receptionist the last time I did this.

  But I hurry past, my wet sneakers squeak on the tile floor as I turn into the women’s restroom. I go through the double doors and see rows of blue lockers. It feels like I just did this yesterday, but, well, I guess I’m doing it today.

  I pull the key from my wallet out and it clicks inside the locker. The duffle bag is still at the bottom and there’s a hoodie hanging on a hook. This time I leave it. I unzip the bag to make sure the evidence and money is still there.

  It is.

  But the one thing that is missing is the note. There’s no note warning me to hide in the shower. Maybe because there’s no one to send it. Maybe everything I’ve done is enough to change the future, so the woman with the purple hair doesn’t have to exist.

  I sure hope so.

  Swinging the duffle bag over my shoulder, I hurry for the door. Pushing through, I see the receptionist is rising from her seat. As I get closer, my eyes fall on the men she’s talking to and my heart stills. My breath catches in my throat and fear rivets through my bones.

  It’s the men from the mall. The thugs that work for Patricia James.

  My eyes lock with one of them and his brow furrows. The creases around his eye pinch together as he raises a finger and points at me.

  Crap.

  I’m frozen as they push the receptionist to the ground and charge towards me. I pivot and run back into the locker room. But this time I can’t hide in the shower because they know I’m here. They know where I am and now I’m a sitting duck without a leg to stand on. I make sure the duffle bag doesn’t slip off of my shoulder as my feet slide.

  I crash down to my knees on the wet tile as I round against the locker and a shot is fired. It grazes past my hair and I crawl through the swinging door into the shower stall area.

  “She’s trapped. Someone go get her.”

  “James is going to reward us pretty handsomely for this trouble maker.”

  Crap. I’m in the thick of it now.

  My eyes gaze aro
und and my breath echoes in my ears as I look for a better vantage point but there isn’t one. I’m surrounded by shower stalls. There are thin, blue shower curtains hanging on hooks, but that’s about it.

  I jump into one of the stalls and pull the shower curtain to block out their view. I have my duffle bag, the evidence I need, so there’s no reason to be here anymore. I can just time travel to five minutes in the past, to across the street and then I can be on my way.

  If I can slow my heart beat down. If I can catch my breath. I’m so nervous I can’t focus. Everything is away from me. Everything is no longer in my control and I hate it.

  I’ve never jumped time under stress and now I wish I had paid closer attention to Rex and all his damn breathing exercises. My hand’s balls into fists and I slam them against the tile backsplash of the shower.

  I rest my forehead against it and focus my mind.

  But the approaching footsteps pull me into the present and the moment is lost. My mind is swirling with panic. I can’t time travel in the midst of a storm. I need quiet. Concentration. Without that, I’m lost in the swirling present.

  I have no chance to formulate a plan.

  The footsteps draw closer and I can see the reflection of feet beneath the shower curtain. They shuffle, one by one, and I can see the large man’s silhouette turn toward the shower curtain. I’m in it now, the do or die moment, where I either get out of this or I’m dead.

  Back in the lab.

  Anger fuels my moment as my mind spirals back into my cell. I remember the fighting exercises Rex forced me to go through and the drills on stances and equipment. Everything he wanted to train me on so I would become his perfect little assassin in a black dress.

  Now it’s do or die and, without planning, I push the shower curtain into the thug’s face and coil my arms around his throat. He screams and his mouth sucks in a bit of the plastic as I spin him around into the stall. His nose slams into the tile with a telltale cracking sound and I let his body go. He falls to his stomach, twisted in the shower curtain, and I grab the gun tucked into his belt.