Vacations in time

It tasted like drinking melted pennies. When he handed me the small shot glass I tried not to picture it as a cup of mercury. There was no smell, but It burned all the way down and the image of a burning ball of metal in my guts stuck in my mind.

" needs salt" I said scraping my tongue across my teeth.

the man who handed me the glass turned and continued his instructions. He didn't strike me as someone with medical training, but I figured that probably wasn't something I should ask.

" Remember, You need to get up and walk around every five minutes then sit down for five so it circulates properly. Someone will come get you shortly"

This of course didn't sound like professional medical advice based in fact, just something to make me do to take up time. I was weary of these people and if I had money I most likely wouldn't ever get involved with them, but desperation makes strange bedfellows. I nodded in acknowledgement and decided that questioning these people was probably a bad idea.

" There is also some clothes in that cupboard under the sink. They have asked that you get dressed for the next step of this process."

After retrieving the glass from my hand he forced a smile and left the room. I couldn't tell if he was bad at using professional courtesy or had problems masking concern. I was left alone, sitting on butcher paper in a hospital gown and desperately trying to frame this whole thing as a great idea I lucked into and not another half baked decision I threw myself into without thinking.

Getting up I went to the cupboard to find a white shirt, socks, underwear, jeans and a jean jacket along with a pair of white shoes. The classic Canadian tuxedo. I put the clothes on, unable to tell how I looked because of all the things in the room they had neglected a clock or a mirror. I reached in the pockets out of Habit and found a little bit of money stuffed in the pants.

I sat back down and went over in my head how I got to this point. This had all started with a friend of mine telling me about an ad for test subjects for various experiments by Lithos Corp. I had nothing else to do and just being fired from yet another minimum wage job, I was desperate for a pay check so I wouldn't lose my apartment.

It had been a week of tests, from blood work to talking to a psychiatrist. When all that was over they had me initial a bunch of non-disclosure paperwork; The stack of papers was thick as a phone book and had wording that made me imagine that if I were to disappear or die a lawyer would argue that section 9 clause C paragraphs one through seven clearly covers the issue to anyone that would be concerned of my whereabouts.

Boredom hit and with no phone I was left alone with my thoughts. If there is one thing I never really had tolerance for it is being alone with my thoughts. I had rarely ever not had my phone and without it my mind took over and I couldn't keep memories from creeping in. I spent the next couple minutes running through what paths I had taken in my life to be put in this situation.

If I had studied harder, If I had gone to college, If I didn't decide to get drunk and tear down main street, I would of never clipped that pedestrian and hit that poll. I could still have my car, my job, my girlfriend. I could be deep in debt with a degree in graphic design or philosophy, working some terrible soul crushing job to pay off the student loan interest.

Half an hour later a short balding man with white hair and a little mustache came in and sat down, his lab coat was hung low as if the coat wasn't his. He reminded me of doctor wily from the Mega-man games. His breath was fresh and minty, which was a relief given how close he sat.

in a professional tone he said "Hi, Mr.Stone, I am one of the scientists on this experiment. It looks like your all set. We are gong to the lab in a moment and from there we will get started"

I tried to read his face and couldn't really get an emotion or sign of what he was thinking from him. They really hadn't told me anything about what I was going to be testing and the papers I signed explicitly said I shouldn't ask questions and never speak of what I was doing or the people I met. My hope was for a super soldier formula or maybe some radioactive spiders to test out, but more than likely it would be some new heart medication.

I followed the scientist down the hallway and into a wing of Lithos corp I hadn't been in yet. We made it down another long hallway so full of twists that I lost track on how to get back after only a minute, and a thought passed through my mind that maybe that was exactly what they wanted. He didn't talk the entire trip and the only sound was his hard soled shoes clapping against the tile floor.

We made it to an elevator and with a quick swipe of a key card the doors opened. we only went up for two or three floors. At least that was my guess, there were no buttons or indicators of any kind inside to give me a hint of where I was going, it was more like riding inside a tin can, every wall smooth and silver.

The door opened and I found myself being led to a barber chair placed in the middle of the room. I took a seat and looked around. The walls were all a strange metallic color like brass and silver mixed and burned in places. in front of me was a door with that same strange texture to it. I heard a light hum like machinery coming to life. There was what looked like a giant death ray warming up against the wall behind me.

"Please remain seated for few minutes while I double check some settings "

before I could speak the scientist walked behind the door on the far end of the room and disappeared behind it. I was left there with the steadily increasing hum of the machine behind me. The light in the room slowly turned purple, then to a green tint then blue. Soon lights started flashing brighter and brighter. Closing my eyes and even covering my face with a hand the light still penetrated. I felt dizzy and light headed like when you stand up to quickly. My stomach started feeling queasy and I was about to yell out when the lights all stopped and I was left in darkness for a few seconds before the normal lights came back on I could feel an slight ache in the back of my head.

"What the hell was that?" I asked myself out loud as the white spots cleared my vision and the room came back to focus.

"That was a brain marker, it makes it easier to erase your memory back to that point in time. think of it as a save point, so no matter what we do from here on out we can reset you to factory default if need be"

I spun around in my seat to find the scientists voice was coming through a speaker somewhere on the ceiling. he sounded much more friendly all of a sudden. Almost the way you would speak to a small child or a dog.

" So can you tell me whats going on now that you can always take it back?"

The speaker buzzed out " At this point I have been cleared to give you all the information you will need to complete this experiment."

He actually sounded happy which was the first emotion I had caught in his voice since meeting him. It threw me off for a moment since most of the people I had met were very sterile and clinical when speaking with me; This was the first conversation that didn't remind me I was a lab rat for hire.

He spoke as if reading from a script " We have found a way to travel in time, so far we can only go backwards in time. You have been selected for multiple reasons including your health, intelligence and . . . lack of direct family to miss you if something goes wrong"

I took a deep swallow and spun in the chair, trying to ignore the after taste of pennies and bile in the back of my throat. The last part about direct family he said in a joking tone so I responded in the same tone.

" so smart and expendable, got it."

Even if he wasn't joking it was fine with me, I mean he wasn't wrong. I had been on my own since I was 18 and didn't really do well at making or keeping friends. I was self reliant or at least that's the story I would tell myself.

The Scientist shuffled out of the other room with a flashlight and a piece of green cellophane. He stood over me and looked me up and down like he was trying to gauge how I was taking the news.

" Our job is to find the rules, the do's and don't of this technology. Work out the bugs and streamline this so it can be sold as vacation packages at least that's what I have been told"

I snorted and shook my head slightly " Vacation packages? "

I furrowed my brow and spoke in a confused sarcastic voice "You have time travel and you want to sell vacations? I mean go kill Hitler for Christ sake warn people about global tragedies."

" you can't use this to stop tragedies. I will give you an example. Say you do go and kill young Hitler. Then he doesn't exist to live his timeline, so when we reach our point in time now he isn't a figure head of evil so we don't go back to stop him. And round and round we go."

You can visit places and have a good time, but any significant change to the past will cause a loop. I promise you one thing , causing a loop will be the last thing you do."

He locked eyes with me on that last sentence and took a long pause before continuing.

He blinked a couple times as if coming out of a trance and returned to his friendly voice "I am going to give you a simple version of how this works real quick then we will get moving."

The scientist turned on the flashlight and pointed it at the wall.

" Light, speed and frequency these are the three factors that need to be measured and controlled for time travel to work. If you can get something close to the speed of light and hit it with the right frequency you can push that object back in time to a controlled destination. First we needed a way to get things up to the speed of light"

He cleared his throat and looked me in the eye to make sure I was getting this. Then he clicked on the flashlight pointing it at the wall.

"The light from this flashlight is going the speed of light, no engine, no propulsion, it just goes that fast with very little energy. Now the tricky part was getting something that could hitch a ride so to speak."

I wanted to say something about light going the speed of light, but I held myself back.

moving the cellophane in front of the light everything turned to a green glow.

"now the color green is moving at the speed of light without any extra energy expended. got it?"

"So I am going to hitch a ride on a light beam into the past?" I asked raising one eye brow

"It's a lot more technical, special light, the chemical you drank and so forth, but this is the basics of how we do this"

"So how do I get a return trip? what sends me back here?"

Pulling out a tuning fork from his pocket he struck it against the side of my chair. you got to love a man who is prepared for any question with a visual example. I wondered if he had aspiration of being a magician at some time in his youth.

"like this tuning forks sound the frequency we hit you with is only temporary and once it slows you and the tuning fork return to your original state of being in time"

I paused and tried to think of a question that would make him produce a beer for me, but I took to long and he read the silence as understanding.

" OK lets light this candle!" He turned and disappeared back behind the door his hard soled shoes clicking every step.

the speaker in the ceiling clicked on again.

" I am going to send you back to 1985. There was a shopping mall a half mile west of here in that time period. I want you to try to find a way to bring souvenir back here with you. holding on to things or wearing them won't bring them back because they are not vibrating the same frequency as you when you return to normal."

Somebody must of been looking at my Netflix watch list. It was filled with 80's classics; The Thing, Aliens, the lost boys, They Live. Have you ever seen 'the stuff'? I saw that one for the first time last week. I wasn't alive during that decade, but I enjoyed the movies because they didn't use CGI and people telling stories with big rubber puppets seemed to satisfy something in me computer graphics never could.

I heard another voice in the back ground coming through the speaker, but I couldn't make out what the voice was saying. Maybe another person in the booth talking to the scientist.

"also This should go without saying, but don't tell people about the future or try any of the other stupid crap you have seen in movies." He said in a more irritated voice then I was expecting.

The large death ray I had noticed earlier started to hum to life, and the chair turned on its own to face me toward it. The room went dark and I could feel some kind of pulse coming from the back of my chair. It vibrated my whole body like I was sitting on a washing machine during the spin cycle. The room shined in a spectrum of colors like light passing through a prism, colors bouncing off of the walls and mingling with others to create other shades or red blue and green.

I was almost enjoying myself until the speaker system came back on.

"Cover your ears and close your eyes please, this last part can do some damage if your not ready for it"

I did as I was told and shut my eyes, Even with them shut colors would bleed through my eye lids and I would catch a flash of blue or red. I adjusted to the vibrating and could barely feel it at all anymore, at least that's the story I was telling my lunch so it wouldn't do it's own traveling. The room felt hot, it had gotten very warm in the last few moments, I would say about 90 degrees and climbing. I started to sweat and became uncomfortable.

I heard a loud pop and then everything went dark, I felt weightless and no longer could feel the chair beneath me. No heat, no sound, no sensation of any kind. Opening my eyes revealed only darkness in every direction. I tried to spit out a hello, but the sound didn't make it out of my throat. I could touch my face with my hand, but could not see them in front of my face. Maybe I was dead? Maybe something went wrong and that pop sound was the entire room giving way to an explosion. I drifted there in limbo for a moment contemplating who was going to miss me now that I was dead. Oh yeah no one.

A bright flash of light suddenly entered my vision and completely blinded me. A second later and gravity found me and pulled me down. I hit the ground with a thud. I only fell a few feet, but I had some back problems and didn't land in a comfortable way. My eyes adjusted and I found myself on top of a hill right about where Lithos corp would be built in about 20 years.

There were corn field's and a little dirt road in view, the fields went right up to a little rock wall that marked the tree line. I made my way down the hill and took the dirt road. It was so quite, I had half expected to hear the soundtrack from footloose the moment I landed or at least some Cyndi Lauper. the dirt under my feel made a crunching noise as I walked. It was a good twenty minutes before I hit pavement. I could see the mall in the distance and walked along the side of the road until I found the parking lot.

I hadn't grown up in this town, so I never actually got to see this mall. In my time all this was part of the grounds of Lithos Corp. I actually think this parking lot is the same that they use now. I made my way to the main entrance and found myself in a large food court. It was a large open space with tables and chairs and along every wall were booths with every type of food you could ever want.

I checked my pocket and found the twenty dollar bill that had been issued to me along with the clothing I was wearing. I thought it was a little strange they had given me an entire outfit at the time, but now it made sense. Everything they gave me must of been treated in a way that they could travel with me. I wondered when they figured that little detail out who the lucky guy was that showed up in another time like the terminator.

I saw a McDonald's in one of the corners and made my way to order something familiar. I was starving and needed something to eat. The burger didn't taste like I was used to, It tasted a lot less salty and more bland then I was used to, still I finished it quickly and made my way to the second floor.

I made my way to the second floor and began my mission. I heard Billy ocean's get outta my dreams playing loudly from a Sam Goody store and I decided that was a good place to get a souvenir. They had these places in my time, but then they were running out of gas and were much more run down than this place looked. I entered and was surprised at the walls of records, everywhere you looked were records, cassette tapes and bright neon signs. Most had people with big hair, leather jackets and bright neon text in crazy fonts. Against one wall were t-shirts and posters. 1985 was a hell of a year for movies. Back to the future, Goonies, Weird science and return of the living dead were all displayed prominently. I couldn't resist getting a back to the future T-shirt and a VHS copy of living dead. bringing them to the register I started to feel a little dizzy. I checked out and made it back to the food court to sit down.

Everything became just slightly discolored, the walls and people had a small blue tint to them and the floor started to look less like white tiles and more gray with yellow lines dividing the ground every few feet. A few minutes later I could see through the walls, the floor and the people walking by. other objects started to take a ghostly form, they looked like modern cars parked in the mall, but ghostly people were passing right through them taking no notice. Getting near a newer Toyota I tried to put my hand through it, it was like moving in water I could push through but there was resistance.

I wasn't paying attention and accidentally bumped into some kid in a leather jacket. It had felt much like the car; like he was only half there. He turned and said "watch it ass.." as he did his eyes went wide. I wondered if I looked to him as he did to me, just a fading image of a person. He reached out his hand and it went through me, it actually kind of tickled. He shrieked in terror and ran screaming "what the hell is that" as he pointed at me and knocked over a few other people in his attempt to get away from me. Everyone then stopped and stared at me, the mall was silent and I could hear the music from Sam Goody loud and clear, I believe it was Mr.Mister.

I broke into a sprint holding my bag of souvenirs tightly. it was like holding jello, I had to keep re-positioning it so it wouldn't sink through my hands. I hit the door with enough force that it flew open. Looking behind me I could see a few interested people had made it out into the lot and were looking at me make my escape. I got to the edge of the parking lot and looked down at the ground. it was the same in both the past and present so I came up with an idea. I pulled the grass up in one chunk as best I could and dug with my bare hands until I had a 6 inch deep hole. It took a few minutes, but the ground felt more solid for some reason. There was just enough room for the plastic bag with my stuff in it and so I stuffed it into the ground and buried it careful to put the patch of grass back to it didn't look to disturbed.

I was jogging by the time I hit the dirt road and could see the outline of two realities. One was the cornfield's waving in the wind, the other was the hallways of Lithos corp that I had walked down only a few hours ago, both in this strange overlay of each other. I got to the hill and could see at the top the Dentist chair in the room. I tried running up the hill, but every step was turning less and less solid. I was up to my hips before I was halfway there and i switch to more of a doggy paddle trying to swim the rest of the way. The building was becoming more solid with every second and I started having trouble seeing through it. Eventually I reached the top sticking a hand out I forced it through the floor and grabbed the bottom of the chair. It was far more solid than the hill had become and with everything I had I pulled myself up through the floor before it became to solid for me to pass through.

I made it back onto the chair just as everything came into sharp focus and became completely solid to the touch.

After a few minutes the scientist came out of the elevator and seemed a little surprised to see me.

"Ah good you made it back" The scientist exclaimed.

"What the hell was that? I wish you would of given me more details on the return trip, that wasn't quite what I was expecting" I said in between gasps for breath.

The scientist cracked a smile "you do know you could of just stayed where you were, reality would of formed around you, as long as your not standing where a solid object is you would of been fine."

" did you bring me anything from the mall?" the scientist asked curiously.

"yeah, its buried at the east edge of the parking lot, or at least it should still be there"

"excellent! I will have someone retrieve the souvenirs and bring them to us. That was smart to bury them."

He seemed to have taken a shine to me. I was a smart lab rat and he seemed to respect me for that.

The scientist hurried into the other room and made a call. I sat with my eyes closed feeling the pain in my chest and noticing I was even hungrier than before. I guess when he had said to not try and hold on to things I had assumed at least food would stay with me. A few minutes later a large man with long brown hair and a security uniform brought in my bag and placed it on the floor in front of me without saying a word, then he turned gave a grunt and disappeared back down the elevator.

The scientist came back out a few minutes later with a clipboard and a look of concern on his face.

"You altered the time events by .0000067 percent that is really cutting it close"

Giving a puzzled look to him I shrugged and asked for a little more information.

The scientist sighed " you were spotted during your return trip by other customers in the mall. They thought they were seeing a ghost. The encounter was reported to the local news paper. thankfully there were no pictures so you avoided television."

"OK so how does that alter events?"

Turning his clipboard he revealed a newspaper clipping with the headline ' spirit spotted at local mall' it had a picture of the guy in the leather jacket I had knocked into with a terrified look on his face.

" That man was so scared by what he saw it threw his life trajectory off balance and he didn't get back on course for another two years"

"so just that one guy? he caused that much of a change?"

The scientist pinched his nose and took a breath "that means he was in a different job for two years that someone else would of had, He didn't make the friend he would of had or meet the girl who would of had his children, so he had children with someone else. There are now people on this planet that didn't exist in our timeline a few hours ago and people who snapped into oblivion. "

He paused for a moment, grabbed the bag from the floor and in a calm tone continued to talk.

"This is all causality and effect my friend. This is part of why we are still in trials. When people start fading you need to get somewhere no one can see you so you don't cause a panic. Its fine to accidentally make small changes, but when you throw people off there life cycle it effects everyone."

" So can we fix it? can we bring those people back?"

the scientist grinned "there are two new people from this accident now alive and breathing, to bring back those other two would essentially murder them. Trading a life for a life isn't something I am interested in and it feels more like playing god than I am allowed to do. "

I spoke in a defensive tone " How do you even know there is a change? I mean wouldn't everything just look normal from your perspective?"

The scientist pointed to the other room.

"In there I have a computer with every piece of data available about every person on the globe for the last fifty years. Before I send a person back I take all that information I stick it on a very special hard drive that is designed to go back one year further than the person I am sending. When the person returns the hard drive returns a few minutes later. I then gather that same data again and have the computer compare the two disks. The percent of difference between them is how much impact you made on the present. "

The scientist took the t-shirt and VHS out of the bag and turned them over in his hand, They were in better condition than I thought they would be after decades in the ground. He took the shirt and VHS in to the other room then reappeared with a sandwich and a soda.

"Here I am sure your hungry, those trips take so much out of my test subjects."

My stomach felt empty, like I hadn't eaten in days. Grabbing the sandwich I don't think it took me more than a minute to finish it. Hunger really does make food taste so much better and even though it was bologna and cheese it was the best bologna and cheese I had ever had. I felt much better After the sandwich and soda.

"hey, so whats next?"

" you rest here for a few minutes, someone will be in to give you another dose like you had earlier."

"So I just swallow some pennies then do sit-ups and we can go again?"

"We used to have cherry flavored, but people didn't like the after taste and it might have caused some anomalies" the scientist joked or at least i hoped he was joking.

"I need to go talk to a colleague for a few minutes. I should be back just as your ready to go again"

I laid back and closed my eyes as I heard the elevator door ding and the scientist left the floor. A plan slowly formed in my head. Honestly it hadn't started to form then, the moment I heard 'time travel' was when I started thinking how I could use this to my advantage. I could go back and change the things that lead to my life being a mess. I could stop my self from driving that night, not clip the girl or hit that poll. I could get it all back!. As long as I still applied for this job I wouldn't be found out. I just needed to change a few records.

I got up and walked toward the door of the other room. Surprisingly there was no lock, for such a secure facility it was strange to have such easy access to sensitive equipment. They probably figured that the locks and guards on the outside were security enough. Making it into the room I could see a large computer in the corner. A Classic off white colored keyboard and mouse were connected to a box about the size of a port-o-potty. I found the monitor sitting on top of a nearby table displaying the word 'PASSWORD' followed by a small box to enter the pass phrase. I tried a few different things like 'Baldguy123' and Science12!' this wasn't getting me anywhere I had zero chance of guessing a strangers password. I started moving things around on the desk looking for some clue. Turning over the keyboard I found a yellow Post-it note with the word 'ScienceGuy83!' I chuckled to myself because of how close I was.

The password let me right in and I found myself on the drive with all the information. This program was surprisingly easy and it only took me a few mistakes to understand how it worked, this was not windows 10. About thirty seconds later I had found the incident I had wanted changed and had deleted it quickly.

I heard the elevator make that ding sound and my heart dropped. I closed what I was doing and took two quick steps toward the door before turning quickly and returned to lock the screen. I came out of the door in the quietest sprint ever done by a human being. As the elevator door opened I took my seat and looked as casual as possible.

A nurse came into view holding another cup of liquid mercury. She smiled handed it to me without a sound and I drank it down handing her back the glass. She took in a breath and I cut her off.

"I know stand for five sit for five" I said in a snippy voice that even I wasn't expecting, Damn nerves.

She nodded turned on her heals and was down the elevator before the taste could settle in my mouth. I think I see all the angles now. My plan seemed solid and all I needed was to go back one more time and finish whatever test the scientist wants me to do.

The next half hour passed slowly, and with no clock I had to guess at intervals of standing and sitting. By my fifth round of standing the elevator made its familiar sound and the scientist re-appeared. He seemed refreshed and in better spirits, a little more hop in his step was definitely noticeable.

"OK kid, how do you feel about disco?" he said with bravado

I made a face like I was mulling something over for a minute.

"I take it you don't like Saturday night fever?"

"I just thought this thing was for time vacations or some crap, like visiting wood stock and stuff"

the scientist rubbed his chin "That's what I have been told"

"well then, I missed a concert right in town about two years ago. I ended up getting the date wrong and missed it by an entire day. " I practically stuck my bottom lip out and teared up as I spoke.

Tapping a finger to his lips and brushing his mustache the scientist spoke

"Actually this would be a good time to test out some of the other equipment we have been trying to get running. We have spent so much time testing different things and trying to make a matrix we haven't tried an actual vacation. I have a phone a few years old and I have been wanting to see what happens when we take pictures in the past and bring them forward , will the image even travel with you or will it be like everything else so far and end up staying in the past"

The scientist went into the other room.

The speaker clicked on

"Let me just call down and get clearance then have them bring me an older phone and a ticket for that concert, I need the date and the name of the concert so I can print you off the right ticket."

I gave the scientist the information he needed and he double confirmed I wasn't already recorded as being at the concert. I was lucky, there were no photos of me there because I was way in the back and since I kept to myself there was no record of me being there. He was very direct about reminding me not to try meeting myself or giving myself the lotto numbers or something stupid.

A few minutes later the same security guard from earlier came in. outdated phone in hand and gave it to the scientist along with some spending cash and the ticket. The guard again turned on his heels without acknowledging me and went back down the elevator. The scientist handed me the stuff and I placed it in my pocket.

"That was fast" I said smiling

"We have a room full of things treated for time travel in case we need them. Treating objects to travel is easy, they aren't as complex as a human body and they stay treated. You however only keep a charge for a couple of hours before it wears off and you come crashing into the present. So we like to have what we may need on hand"

"Okay round two, I'm ready if you are"

The scientist nodded and went behind the door again. the lights dimmed once more.

" I'm going to try and push you closer to town this time. Last time I knew you would end up on that hill in the 80's and that was a good place to start. This time you would appear in my lab and probably scare the crap out of younger me. God knows what that would cause, showing up in a secure building where no one knows who you are."

"Great lets go I am going to miss the opening act"

"Not how time travel works" the scientist reminded me.

the lights dimmed. the chair shook and there was darkness.

I found myself laying on a sidewalk a few streets down from my old apartment. My back was still a little sore from the first trip and it took me a minute to stand. Brushing my self off I got my bearing and tried to think where the other me was at this point in time. It had to be around four in the afternoon, so I was probably just finishing things up for the day at work. I always got home around 4:30 so I would have to work fast.

I ran to my old apartment and grabbed my hide-a-key. Opening the door, the smell of the old place brought back memories. I caught the aroma of bacon cooked that morning with the scent of my Ex's body spray that she wore religiously. Walking from room to room, I had forgotten what terrible taste in decoration I had. Posters hung taped to the walls and a large tye-dyed sheet hung behind the couch with Christmas lights taped around it. The pictures were nice, all these had been thrown out after the accident and it was good to see them again.

I found my ticket old me had printed off and quickly pocketed it. If he can't get in the concert, he can't have the accident, and if he doesn't have the accident everything doesn't fall to pieces. Going over to my printer I pulled the ink cartridge and cables for the printer and stuffed them into my pockets as best I could. If he can't print another ticket he won't be able to go.

Going over to my laptop I signed in and changed the password for my email and deleted the ticket information from the inbox. I also set a calendar appointment to apply for this job no matter what, in the description I left myself a little note about what was going on and a few things only I knew so that past me would take it seriously. I was debating what date I should make the appointment for when I swore I heard foot steps outside. I hurriedly clicked OK only half paying attention "That should do it" I mumbled to myself as I looked out a window. No one there, Just a squirrel or something.

Taking one last look around I made my way to the front door. placing the Hide-a-key back I strolled onto the sidewalk just as my crappy old car pulled up and parked. I watched myself for a moment go up and into the house without a care in the world, I looked so happy, I don't think I have been that happy in a long time.

I made it a few blocks careful to keep my head down for fear of being recognized. I took backstreets and tried to be as inconspicuous as I could as I headed through town. The concert was about a five minute drive so I figured it would be about a ten minute walk.

Thirty minutes later I had made it about half way. My knee started hurting and my back wasn't enjoying all the movement, but I made it to the gates, presented my ticket and was enjoying a beer just as the sun went down.

the concert started and I found a nice place on the grass to sit and watched the show, close to a beer tent just like last time. I remembered the cell phone the scientist had given me and took a few photos of the bands along with video of a few songs I remembered being really good. A few beers in and I was having a really great time. I even remembered to try and get in other peoples photos, the scientist had said something about that I think. I heard a drunken yell in the distance and something about the voice sounded familiar. Have you ever heard your voice on a recording and your mind refused to believe it was you even though you knew it was? That was how I was feeling, except mixed with the knowledge other me was hammered and about to make a big mistake.

How the hell did I get in here? I know i'm stubborn, but I shouldn't of been let in without the ticket. I should of knifed my own tires or broken the windshield, I was hoping I wouldn't need to be that drastic. I watched myself stumble drunkenly, horrified that no one stopped this hot mess from driving.

I needed a plan, I needed a way to stop myself. I tried to approach from behind and reach in to steal my keys from myself. I never realized how bad I smelled until I was about six inches from my own back. The scent of booze and sweat was not pleasant and I added a note in the back of my head to buy more deodorant. Just as I reached my hand in my pants pocket drunker me turned and I could tell he felt something wasn't right. Spinning around he nearly fell over and had to touch a hand to the ground for a second to steady himself before approaching me.

"you got a problem pal? you want to go?"

oh god, I was a much meaner drunk than I thought.

Maybe this is good though. If I fight him and can get the keys away I can still pull this off.

"Actually buddy I am going to kick your ass" I said with a smile.

Drunk me can barely stand so this shouldn't be much of a fight. I charged going low and trying to get my hands around my own waist to grab the keys then run. Unfortunately I hadn't been counting on a right handed hay maker out of the gate. He hit hard and fast, for a belligerent drunk I sure hit hard. I continued to push his waist back shoving my hand in his pocket I could feel the key ring around my finger. I crossed my right leg behind both of his legs and sent him to the ground. The keys came out cleanly and I looked at them in my hand before shoving them in my pocket and running. Leaving drunk me swinging at strangers that had tried to help him up.

I stopped running once I felt concealed by the crowd. I didn't want to draw anymore attention to myself and a man running through a crowd with people yelling behind him was going to draw attention of the security guards.

The final band was wrapping up and I noticed they looked a little dimmer than the other bands, like the lights on the stage were running out of power. It took me a minute to realize I was fading back to my time where this was just a big empty field. I reached for the keys in my pocket and struggled to throw them in a nearby trash can before they became almost completely unmanageable. The printer cable and other things I had take from my apartment slid through my pocket and hit the ground.

I made it into the parking lot before the cars and the lights became a faint shadow of what they had been.The moon was my favorite site I had both a full moon from the night of the concert and a half moon coming into clarity just to the right of the first. It wasn't long before I found myself at the edge of the field in darkness with just one moon.

I felt my stomach rumble and I was mostly sober as I began my walk home. My memories didn't change and I still remember the last two years as is, so I wasn't sure if I changed anything. Still being hopeful I walked to my apartment from two years ago first to check if my stuff was still there. The hide-A-key was gone and after looking in a window I could see the place was not mine. Disappointed I trudged back to my apartment.

I had left all my belonging at the facility in a paper bag so I had no key to get in. I found an open window and managed to fit my way onto the kitchen counter and to the floor. I made myself a quick hot pocket and went to bed. It felt like I had been awake for three days straight, like I had to many experiences to fit into the time frame of one day. It felt like jet lag and I ended up sleeping like a stone for eight hours.

I woke up with a sense of dread deep down in my gut. My head hurt like hell and a look in the mirror showed that bruises will travel through time with you. I felt anxious and had to keep reminding myself that everything was fine and that I got away with it. I kept expecting the time police to show up and throw me in time jail for disrupting the universe.

No one came, I got cleaned up and threw my clothes from the trip in a backpack and took a city bus as close to the facility as I could. The security guard from the previous night was at the guard station and he waved me through as he talked on his radio, probably alerting Dr.Wily I was back.

The scientist greeted me at reception area.

"Hey you made it, how did the camera work out? did you check it yet?"

I had forgotten to check the camera when I got back, I was kind of depressed that my plan didn't seem to work and I only wanted to sleep. I wasn't very concerned about vacation pictures. I handed my back pack to the scientist.

I smiled to mask my disappointment "I haven't checked yet, I was exhausted after the trip I just needed to sleep. I need a way to get back here at the end of it though. That would be my biggest note on the whole experience."

We headed back to his lab making small talk about my trip and how I enjoyed the bands. Before I knew it we were back in the room with me sitting on the barbers chair. We checked the camera and sure enough the pictures and videos were all there. The scientist was pleased.

"This is good news it means we can bring things back!, now I just need to figure out why this works and other things don't and maybe I can get some progress made."

The security guard showed up and the camera was carried off never to be seen again.

" So you didn't run into yourself or anything crazy?" the scientist said in a concerned tone

"nope, didn't see anyone I knew. it was actually kind of strange" I said in my most honest voice.

"And you didn't try any stupid crap you've seen in movies?"

"nope, not a time travel movie fan"

"good" the scientist paused.

The scientist looked close at my forehead.

" hell of bump there, who gave you that one?"

" I tripped at the concert and hit my head, it was dark and couldn't see where I was walking."

" I see"

The scientist sighed and pulled out a small screen of his own and showed me a video. It started out dark with two men facing each other.

"Actually buddy I am going to kick your ass" came out of the speakers loud and clear and my heart sank. I was found out and he knew the whole time.

"I can explain" came flying out of my mouth before I had any words to go behind them.

" no need, you do understand that this is a billion dollar facility right? I mean you do understand that everything from the day you applied for this job was carefully planned. Did you really think I would leave my password under the keyboard? or that I would tell you intricate details of how this all works and not expect you to try to cheat the system? Everyone has something they would change from the past and you are no different."

" I just wanted to change one little thing"

" And you would have, you would of changed things so the accident never happened and your life was to good for you to apply for this job, so you weren't here to stop your self so you got in the accident and round and round you go. "

"What do you mean would have?"

"You assumed you were going alone. I was behind you the whole time. I left five minutes after you were gone. Did you think I would let you go off to that time period where your life fell apart and just trust you wouldn't do anything? HA! you don't get a white coat at a place like this for being gullible. I watched you in your old apartment and once you left I undid all your work. I had extra tickets and I made sure I got one in your younger selves hands. After that I hailed a cab and beat you to the concert. "

I felt stupid and betrayed. It all did seem way to easy in hind sight. I just wanted to believe I would get away with it. My face felt hot and I was turning red with embarrassment.

The scientist paused putting away the screen into his pocket.

"I was at the edge of the field, I could see both of you and I needed to see what you would do. I watched the whole exchange and saw what you were planning. As soon as you started toward the parking lot I fished the keys out of the trash can and ran them back to the really drunk and angry version of you."

I could hear the sense of betrayal in his voice and for a moment I just wanted him to know I was sorry. My eyes started to water, I didn't realize how close I felt I had become with this man as if he was a friend and the hurt in his voice was effecting me.

"I am so sorry" I choked out trying not to start crying

The scientist gave me a soft look and said in a fatherly tone "Things did change slightly however. Because you slowed down the other version of you, the pedestrian you hit wasn't there, so you only hit a poll. Everything else still played out the same, but you didn't hurt anyone so you weren't as severely punished. So that should be a weight off your shoulders I know that had been on your mind a lot according the the psychologist we had you speak to."

" So I didn't cause a loop or any weird problems?" I asked cautiously

"No, not anywhere near what your first trip did. Don't feel to bad about what you did. Everyone wants a do over and I was foolish to put you in that situation"

A sound came from the back room and the scientist held up a finger and went into the other room. I heard that strange other voice I had heard earlier coming from the room, talking to the scientist. the barber chair started vibrating. I found myself stuck to the chair as if pinned down by a giant sheet of glass.

The speaker clicked on.

" That metallic stuff we have been feeding you had one other property I forgot to tell you about. If you put it near certain metal compounds like what we put in the chair your on and then run electricity through the chair the two compound attract in a way that makes them almost impossible to pull apart."

Suddenly I couldn't move any part of my body and even breathing became difficult. I could hear arguing coming from the next room. I tried to listen in but could only hear the muffled voices to rough to make out actual words.

"do it or your going to get your memory wiped, you always get so attached." I heard the strange voice say just as the speaker clicked back on.

The scientist came back on the mic sounding a little more down than before.

" So because of everything that's happened I am going to have to terminate your contract. Thank you for your help you moved the project ahead by quite a bit"

" You're going to electrocute me?" I pushed out as best I could.

The strange voice spoke up, for the first time addressing me directly.

" Not exactly, good bye Mr.Stone"

The lights flashed in that strange spectrum again, brighter and brighter until it felt like it was burning my brain. I tried to scream for him to stop, but my breath was gone. It all went white until it suddenly went black.

I woke up in the chair with a different set of clothes than I remembered coming in the room with. The scientist came out from the other room.

"What were all those lights and why am I in a different set of clothes?" I asked

"Those are the clothes you came in with sir. You have been asleep for the last day while I ran my tests. you may notice some aches and pains, but those will heal up in a day or two. I think I have all the data I need so your free to go. A security member will escort you out."

He seemed sad and part of me had an urge to tell him it was all right. I didn't know where that came from, I had only met the man down stairs a few minutes ago. Ignoring that feeling I nodded casually and watched him walk away.

A security guard came in and walked me out and to the exit. Never speaking a word, he hustled me into a taxi and I was dropped off at home.

All those questions and papers they made me sign and it was a five minute test, technically it was 24 hours and I got paid for all of it, but for me it felt like five minutes. Whatever they did to me I felt good, like some anxiety had been lifted off of my mind.

Soon I was on my phone looking for more job postings. I found a few and applied from my phone. I was feeling lucky today for some reason. My phone buzzed as I was staring at it. There was an event on my calendar. It looked like one I had put there myself. I didn't remember making it, but I opened it anyway.