by Sean McMahon
She screamed, a bone-chilling scream that was a mixture of defiance and hate, aiming her weaponised anger at the road ahead. She screamed until there was no more air in her lungs. As the tears streamed down her face, she realised that she could scream forever…after all, there was no air in her lungs to begin with. She closed her mouth, savagely swiping at the tears on her cheeks. That wouldn’t do. She had work to do, and the tears were little more than a hindrance, blurring her vision.
The lake appeared on her right-hand side. That wasn’t possible, was it? She was much further away from Fir Lodge than she should have been, based on her pace. She put it down to her determination, and being distracted, soldiering on regardless. Her boyfriend Greg was waiting for her, and she’d kept him waiting long enough.
*
Just as Hal caught up to Kara at the top of the drive, she flitted out of sight, then reappeared ten metres or so ahead of him, like an old videotape on fast-forward, her bright orange and red outfit shimmering, as if she were out of phase with even him.
“Damn she’s fast,’ he thought, as a piercing scream shattered the peaceful woodland. It was like nothing he had ever heard. Almost like a banshee from that videogame he’d spent far too many hours on, about a monster-hunter in search of his silver-haired daughter, but far more unnerving. If there had been blood in his body, he was certain it would have either frozen from the sound, or erupted from his ears, which he was incidentally covering, despite it making no difference to the decibel level.
He shouted her name, not that any sound could have countered the sheer power emanating from his friend’s clearly agonised soul. He tried to keep up with her, but she flitted again, seemingly gliding in seconds along terrain that was taking him twice as long to traverse by running. He was losing her. He could feel it.
*
Infuriated, Kara suddenly realised she didn’t know the way to the exit of this damn maze. She stopped at a road sign, but it was unhelpfully showing the way to both the river, and the fishing lake. She growled at the sign that was of precisely zero use to her, punching the thick wooden tree that supported the directional signs.
Everything they had learnt dictated that the tree wouldn’t budge, no matter how much force she exerted. Not least because of how far away she was from her past-self, but also because the tree was technically alive, and could not be interacted with in their current out-of-phase state. The tree must have missed the memo, however, as the trunk splintered under the force of her punch. She punched it again, more debris erupting from the spot where her fist had collided with the enormous fir tree.
Hal sprinted around the corner, not out of breath, such things were no longer a concern for him after all, but nonetheless desperate not to lose sight of Kara. And then, with relief, he saw her, standing at the crossroad that led to…somewhere. The timber support of the sign had been broken cleanly in half, along with a significant portion of the tree it was affixed to.
“Did Kara do that?!” he thought, as he began to close the distance between them, but just as he was in arms-reach, she phased again, her outline juddering as if her entire body was undergoing some bizarre form of signal-interference. She was there, and in a flash, she was gone. Hal stood there, alone on the open-road, with no idea as to which path to follow to find his friend, or if, indeed, he should even try.
CHAPTER THIRTY
The End of the Road
11th Restart – Friday Afternoon, 12:52pm
Accepting that what Kara needed more than anything right now was space, Hal reluctantly made his way back to Fir Lodge. Armed with this new information about his untimely demise, he was forced to re-evaluate everything he thought he knew.
He walked through the double entrance doors of the lodge, instantly realising he had no desire to be around his friends right now, deciding instead to head out into the back garden. He continued walking, and, for the very first time, became determined to see just how far the garden went.
After a while, he reached the perimeter, rummaging in his pocket for his trusty, makeshift cigarette-box, extracting the first of the three smokes he had to see him through until the next restart.
“Assuming there’s going to be another restart,’ he thought to himself.
Hal shook his head, once again shaking off the negative notions, forcing them to behave themselves. He couldn’t think like that. Sure, he’d just received a form of closure on what had caused this whole mess, and every movie in the history of ever had taught him that a bright light would probably appear at any moment, beckoning him forth into a potentially peaceful, paradisal, afterlife.
He closed his eyes and contemplated that for a second, draining his cigarette with a grossly-extended, single inhalation, then asked himself if he would be able to accept those terms; if he was ready to leave this place, his friends, Jess and Shelby behind.
Opening his eyes, and exhaling a steady stream of smoke, Hal was relieved to discover that a portal to the beyond had not manifested in front of him.
‘Balls to that,’ he said, as he flicked his dog-end into a hedge, safe in the knowledge that the biodegradable implications were a moot point.
Another thought occurred to him; contrary to the echo of the music, that was hauntingly making its way to his ears from the lodge situated behind him, he realised that for the first time since this nightmare had begun, he was truly alone now.
He lit his second cigarette.
*
Kara had got turned around. The walk (or rather the supercharged time-dilation she was unwittingly utilising to move so quickly) at the beginning of this restart had helped greatly, allowing her to gather her thoughts. She was moving at normal speed now, though her goal had not changed; she needed to be with her family. She needed to be with Greg. Maybe if she could just be around them one last time, she could find some kind of peace. She had to break the chain. She needed to shatter the endless cycle.
Picking a direction at random, she continued towards what she hoped was the exit to this purgatory.
“Could it really be that simple,” she thought, hoping that the secret answer to leaving Fir Lodge behind forever was finally within her reach.
*
Seeing no use in giving in to the prospect of the crippling loneliness that was sure to befall him, Hal decided to go over the sequence of events in his head. Namely, Kara “levelling-up” and achieving things they hadn’t even known were possible.
How was she able to destroy the car mirror, despite her alive-self being so far away from her? Hal theorised it must have had something to do with the following factors and, deciding to indulge in one of his all-time favourite pastimes, he began to formulate a mental list;
“Flash Fact Number One: We were both in contact with each other when Kara collided with Will’s car,” thought Hal.
“Variable Number Two: Kara was clearly experiencing an intense level of emotion at the time of said collision.”
Hal hadn’t had time to consider this before, what with all the commotion during the incident with Robert, but the way Robert had pushed them off of him a couple of restarts ago had all but proven his new theory; that emotional intensity appeared to amplify the blue energy that coursed through their temporally-displaced veins. He continued onwards with his thought process.
“Fact Of The Day Number Three: We may be stronger than we first suspected at the start of a restart than we are by the end of one.”
Hal felt better already. He really loved making lists. He found that formulating them generated a cathartic sense of productivity within him, freeing up the problem-solving section of his brain and allowing him to…
“In contact…The energy!” he thought, excitedly.
His theory implied that their combined density increased whilst they were super-charged. They’d never remained in contact for so long until now, except perhaps at the beginning, during their first restart. But the fact remained that a direct result of extended contact seemed to destabilise them. The way Kara was moving…phasing in
and out of their jointly-perceivable spectrum… he remembered her scream, and shuddered.
*
Kara felt as though her heart had skipped a beat, as she finally reached the wide, open grass-verge that led to the literal exit of this godforsaken place.
She exhaled, her breath shaky and uncertain. But she pulled herself together, and made her way across the grass, walking into the road.
Kara could see the slip-road that would eventually lead to the winding country roads that would, in turn, lead her to the motorway. More importantly, it would lead her to Greg. It would be a long trek, but she was ready.
She continued along the centre of the road, beginning to pick up speed, a gentle jog that quickly became a run. Not needing to stop would be a huge game-changer for the journey ahead, and she found herself smiling. This was the right thing to do.
‘Good luck Hal…I’m sorry…’ she whispered, hoping that he could somehow hear her.
As she zoomed past the “Welcome” sign for the complex of lodges, she heard the tell-tale beginning of a rush of air.
“No…” she thought.
‘NO!’ she screamed.
*
Hal was laying on the picnic bench, taking advantage of the extended privacy afforded to him by the changes Kara has caused to the timeline. The subtle change of obliterating Will’s wing mirror had sent the chronological order of events askew, and his friends were all in the communal living room, retelling the story to each other, trying to figure out what had happened.
It was then that he heard it; the sound of rushing air.
He sat up immediately, legs sprawled out on the top of the picnic table.
‘Kara…what did you do?!’ he said, staring at the sky, then lowering his eyes, looking out across the lawn in front of him, as the static-whiteness bled across it, immersing everything it touched, wiping it from reality.
Hal rolled off the table, his eyes darting from side to side, as the sinister mist stalked him, hunting him down, with the sole intention of reclaiming him. There was nowhere to run. Whatever was happening, he was powerless to stop it. It was way too soon, he had at least thirty odd hours until the next restart was due to occur.
And then, along with everything else, he too was erased from the timeline.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The Edge of Time
12th Restart – Friday Afternoon, 1:14pm
Kara stood a fair distance away from the “welcome” sign to the lodge complex, standing in the centre of the road, staring out across the wide expanse which led, as she’d just learned, precisely nowhere.
The walk to the edge of Pentney Lakes was an unpleasant one. After Hal had gotten his opinions off his chest and finally allowed her to speak, Kara had explained to Hal what she’d discovered. They didn’t exchange a single word for the entirety of the walk, and the tension hanging in the air was thick enough to cut.
Hal was squatting two metres ahead of her in the centre of the road, wary that standing any closer would trigger another restart, and resting his wrists on his legs. He stared pensively, as if he was trying desperately to locate the glimmer in the shield, like the lead-actress in a movie about tributes having a class-system grievance, risking their lives for the entertainment of wealthier districts.
‘What are you looking for exactly?’ said Kara quietly, unsure if he was ready to engage in conversation.
‘I’m not really sure. Something…anything…’ said Hal, as he removed his dead phone from the pocket of his boiler suit, and tossed it towards the deceptively normal-looking open space in front of him. He winced, as the thrown object reached the boundary line, waiting for the inevitable restart that was sure to follow.
Instead, the phone dematerialised into a billion fragments of light-blue sparks as it crossed the threshold, like a celebratory explosion of glitter.
‘Woah,’ said Hal, marvelling at the beauty of their prison door. Suddenly, he noticed a dead weight in his pocket. He reached inside the pocket of his boiler suit a second time, and retrieved a fully-restored facsimile of his phone, which was, of course, still devoid of power.
Hal presented it to Kara, his free hand performing an impromptu jazz-hand-esque shake, which he rounded off with an obligatory “Ta daaaa!”
‘What the fu…how’d you do that?!’ she said, her eyes wide with wonder.
‘Classic misdirection,’ said Hal, ‘I had two phones all along.’
‘Really?!’ said Kara, utterly bewildered that he’d managed to keep that secret for the entirety of twelve restarts.
‘What?’ said Hal. ‘Of course not! You’ve literally been with me this whole time, it was obviously the portal thingy!’
‘Oh,’ said Kara, feeling embarrassed. ‘I knew that.’
‘Uh-huh. Well, you were one-hundred-percent right about one thing, it seems our Restarter…manifestations are bound by the location…we ain’t getting out of Dodge anytime soon.’
Kara slumped to the floor next to him.
‘So, we’re stuck here? We can’t leave?’ she asked, utterly disheartened that her escape-plan had been demolished by her ever-present arch-nemesis; time. ‘We really are dead aren’t we…this confirms it.’
Hal clucked his tongue and thought for a second.
‘Well, clearly yes. But also, maybe it’s not as clear-cut as that?’ said Hal, scrunching his nose at the unfortunate use of the word “cut”, then added ‘but regardless of the finer details, I think it’s pretty obvious what’s happening here.’
Kara stared at him with a patience-level of zero-percent. Hal felt the sharpness of her glare, and spat out his theory.
‘Well, think about it from a global perspective. Having two people with our…condition…roaming around without limitation. Seeing time unfold, possibly interacting and altering the lives of others. It makes sense…as far as any of this makes sense…that our reach would be finite.’
‘Why would time care if we left?’ said Kara, ‘It’s not like we’d be able to alter anyone’s life, or interact with anything at all in fact, not if we were so far away from our past-selves.’
‘You say that, but what if we managed to manipulate our past-selves to stay within our proximity…if they left with us I mean…’ said Hal.
‘But if we managed to do that, we wouldn’t end up being trapped here in the first place!’ scoffed Kara.
‘That’s kind of my point,’ said Hal.
She sat down on the dirt-covered concrete, and allowed herself to fall backwards, now lying on her back in the middle of the road.
‘Time travel is total bullshit,’ she said.
Hal nodded in agreement.
‘Um, Kar’, do you think it’s a good idea to be lying in the middle of the road like that?’
She scowled at him, and he dropped it, as she continued onwards with their previous conversation.
‘As much as I hate that we’re complete prisoners right now, I can see what you mean. You know, that would actually explain a lot about paranormal activity in general. What if ghosts, or Restarters or whatever…what if the reason they haunt specific locations is solely because they’re bound by similar laws and stuff?’
Hal was chuckling.
‘What’d I say?’ said Kara, feeling embarrassed. ‘You think that’s dumb?’
Hal sighed the sigh of someone realising a joke had outstayed its welcome.
‘No, not at all! I actually think that’s a genius theory! It just sounds like something I would say, that’s all.’
‘Clearly you’re a bad influence on me,’ she said with a soft smile, not quite ready to allow herself to laugh just yet, what with everything they were dealing with. ‘So, tell me what happened whilst I was–’
‘Deserting me?’ said Hal, finishing her sentence for her with the only two words she would never have chosen herself.
Kara let that one slide, primarily because he wasn’t totally unjustified in that assessment, and sat quietly as he filled her in on everything he had experienced whi
lst they were apart.
*
Kara listened intently, as she processed the three notable facts that Hal had come up with whilst she had been “busy” on the previous restart, a busyness that Hal had, rather passive-aggressively, defined as her “going rogue.”
As if reading her mind, Hal shot another cannonball her way, as he turned his back on her to face the time-barrier, not wishing to make eye-contact.
‘You really left me in the shit back there you know,’ he said in a quiet, yet forceful tone.
‘I know, I know...look,’ said Kara, ‘I’d just reached a point where I needed to get home. I needed…I need to see my family, to see Greg! It’s been so long since I’ve interacted with another human-being other than, well, you…and, no offence, but it’s driving me insane!’ she said, trying to explain how seeing their murder had completely broken her, and adding ‘I thought that if I could just get away from here–’
‘That you’d break the restart loop, or at least spend your restarts with your family. I get it. I do…’
They sat there in silence for a while, allowing the memories of their last two restarts to wash over them. As the soft wind displaced the leaves of the trees, the afternoon sun cascaded down on them, the shimmer of the heat against the road rising up to create a haze reminiscent of a mirage, not that either of them could feel the heat. Hal noted to himself for the hundredth time that his past self would be burning in this heat, his pale skin forever rebelling in its reluctance to allow for a normal tan, instead resting somewhere between a beetroot-purple and ridiculously-vibrant red. Once again, he took mild solace in the fact that he didn’t have to apply suntan lotion these days, though he did wish that he’d picked up his shades before snuffing it. It was peaceful though, and they allowed their minds to drift.
Several minutes later, or perhaps hours, Kara pulled the rip-chord on their counter-productive daydreaming.