Chapter 06

"I can't believe I agreed to this," I said.

I was in a police car, sitting in the front seat with my backpack between my legs. The decorated officer, who looks a lot like Jeff Goldblum, was driving the car. At my expense, he had the radio turned on. Thunder boomed in the distance. It was going to rain soon.

"What's wrong, sport?"

"This sucks. A lot of this sucks."

"Try not to think too hard about it. I promise I will only observe from a distance and still be close enough to react if I have to."

"I didn't expect you to follow me around school. I guess I don't have a choice, do I?"

"Not really. But I'm here to only protect you, not disrupt your life. You have a test today, right?"

"Yeah. Biology. I couldn't focus on studying last night. I'm pretty sure I'll fail."

"Hmm. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders. I'm sure you will find a way through it. Just no using drugs to help you out, okay?"

"Did Buckley tell you about that?"

"Yeah, but he said you were innocent. The gun and the drugs were untraceable. That's not a normal occurrence. Everything has a trace. Your gun had no serial number, and the drugs were... questionable."

After that incident, my mother insisted I stay another day. Honestly, I was looking forward to school the next day, so I took a break playing some Terra Forma solo. It was a refreshing distraction.

"It wasn't my gun. It got in my bag. Somehow."

"I believe you. I believe in forensics, and they pretty much proved what you were saying. The gun couldn't even fit in your little hands."

"Thanks. Now I'm a druggie gun freak with tiny hands."

"Ha ha ha. You've got a sense of humor."

"Didn't get it from my mother."

"Father, then?"

I looked away. "I don't really talk about him. Usually because I have no idea who he is or what he's up to. He left a long time ago."

"A familiar story to me. I've seen it a lot over the years. They either leave their children to hurt them... or protect them."

"I don't know what he would be protecting me from."

"Did you maybe think this is the reason why he left?"

Now that he mentioned it, he had a point. Then again, I had nothing tied to my dad. Why go after me now? What had changed since then?

Oh. Yeah. The weird time distortion thing. Was that because of my dad? If it was, there was definitely a missing link. I almost wanted to tell Goldblum what my thoughts were, but I decided against it. If I started talking about how I evaded death three times by reversing time, I'm pretty sure he'd have me placed in a padded room.

"I don't know. I have nothing to do with him, and I want nothing from him. If it was, then the social distancing isn't working."

"I guess that's fair. You have a beautiful mother."

"Relax, Romeo. She's taken. Or will be soon."

"Easy there, sport. I was just saying. She definitely loves you. I wouldn't want to get between that."

"So, you knew my mom when she was an officer?"

"Oh yeah. Becky is an old favorite of mine. When she first joined, she was bright and ready. She pushed past her limits without breaking the law. She had done an excellent job."

"What happened?"

"Your father happened. A few years after the divorce, she dropped out. We lost contact with her except a couple of times when she needed help with something. She's somewhat of a legacy, which is why I was shocked to hear one of the rookies popped a shot off at you. I figured there had to be a misunderstanding. And look, I was right. I testified against him when the captain was deciding what to do with him. He's probably working at McDonald's right now."

"That's gotta burn."

"He deserved it. If he had landed that shot on you, thank God he didn't, then he would be in prison, no doubt."

"I thought officers in blue stuck together like glue."

"Not when you're new and you shoot a kid, too."

"Huh. Noted."

We pulled into the school's parking lot. He was assigned a teacher's spot since he would temporarily be working at the school. Just as I was getting out of the car, a drop of rain hit my nose. It was going to be a wet one today.

"Wonderful..." I muttered.

The school inside was pretty chill, for the most part. I heard some rumors going around about a wild officer going on a frenzy in the office, but no one actually saw what happened. Everyone was in class, so no one saw it was me in the office at the time. I was grateful for that. I didn't want gossip to go around about me in the school. For all I knew, he could have eyes and ears anywhere.

The bell had already rung, and the surge of students tried to push past each other to get inside. There is a small overhang in front of the entrance to the school that isn't anywhere big enough to hold that many students. People were soaked through. I didn't see why they didn't let them stand in the lobby. At least that would eliminate a wet floor problem.

No one noticed me get out of the car. I hastily got inside before I could get too wet to my first class. A few booms of thunder was the mot excitement that came out of it, besides the final exam. My history teacher was as monotone as they came. Our second class came around before we were released to lunch. Goldblum followed me around but kept a good distance to not raise suspicion. I nibbled on chicken nuggets while I looked over my notes for my last class. I probably should have looked at my notes while I wasn't at school. Oh well. Hindsight is twenty-twenty.

The class was quiet besides the pounding rain on the windows. I focused hard on the questions I was reading. It shouldn't be difficult. I knew the equations, but I couldn't figure out how to apply them to the questions.

I was almost relieved when the bell went off. For a second, I thought class had ended. I was wrong. It was the fire alarm. Looking back at the window, I knew it was going to suck being outside right now. I mentally told myself to suck it up and left the room. Walking down the hallway, I ran into John. He said he thought the chemistry lab caught fire from another failed experiment from our "wonderful" chemistry teacher. Go figure.

They lined us up outside as best as they could, but the inclement weather wasn't helping at all. Lots of people were just scattered.

"It's a little chaotic out here."

"No crap. Don't people know how to form lines?"

I looked around for Goldblum, but he was nowhere to be seen. That was strange. I thought he was right behind us when we left.

"This sucks. Why did it have to rain on the day we get a fire alarm?"

"I don't know," I said, looking around. I had a weird feeling there was something else going on. "Can you do me a favor? If you see a guy in a black suit anywhere, let me know."

"Black suit? As in secret agent black suit and white tie?"

"Yeah."

"Found your guy."

"Wait. What?"

He pointed in the direction of the car pickup. A man with short brown hair had just come from the side of the building. After a few seconds, we made eye contact. He started moving toward us.

"John, run," I said.

"What? Why?"

"It's a trap. Run!"

Pulling on his arm, we pushed through students, knocking a couple of them into the mud. We stumbled through the rain with no idea of an escape. I was just running, desperately trying to find some way out. There were teachers everywhere trying to group the students back together with little success. Of course. Lancaster caused the distraction to get me out in the open. He would be hard to track among hundreds of students in the rain.

Wishing I was with Goldblum, we pushed through even more students. No matter how far we got, it felt like he was gaining on us.

"Who is that guy?" John shouted over thunder.

"He wants me!" I said. "He's been following me!"

"Why?"

"I don't know! Just keep running!"

Finally, we were out of the grasp of the wet students. I fell flat on my face into the mud. I could taste dirt.

"Come on!" John said, pulling me up.

We made it to the side of the building hidden behind some tall bushes when someone shouted for us to stop. A gunshot that lined up perfectly with thunder fired in the air. We stopped running. The other side was too far to keep going. He would gun us down with no cover to protect us.

"Raise your hands in the air!"

We slowly raised them.

"Get against the wall."

We turned and walked to the brick wall. Turning, I saw he was completely soaked from the rain. He had a wicked smile on his face that made my skin crawl.

"Finally. It took you long enough, but I have you where I want you."

"What the hell do you want with me?" I shouted, hoping someone would hear me and get help. It was useless. The wind carried my voice away.

"You have no idea how hard you have made this. It should have been simple, but you just kept getting away somehow."

"Getting away? What are you talking about?"

"It shouldn't have taken this long to get you to comply. You should have taken my offer."

"Why? I called them. They had no idea who you were."

"Of course not," he said. "Remember that facial recognition that you had your little friend Mr. Buckley run?"

"What? How did you...?"

He pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket. Even though it was wet, I could see his name in bold letters at the top. But his picture was completely different from what I said it was.

"That's..."

"Impossible?" He laughed. "Nothing is impossible for Shiva."

"Shiva?"

He raised his arm and pulled his sleeve down. A trident wrapped in a snake was tattooed on his wrist.

"I have to say, John. Not many people have been able to do what you can do. You've evaded us for so long, it's almost unbelievable. You just happened to get so lucky every time."

"What are you talking about?"

He looked at his watch. "It's almost time."

He aimed his gun at me. John moved in front of me.

"If you want him, you'll have to take me out, too."

He shrugged. His gun leveled for a moment and fired. John winced.

"A...Ad-Adam?"

He turned around. Blood started spreading on his shirt from his chest. He looked down in shock like he didn't know what was happening.

"No..." I whispered.

He grabbed his chest and coughed. Blood spat onto my face. I grabbed him before he collapsed. I fell onto my knees, looking at the blood still oozing from the wound. I started stammering as I tried to put pressure on it, but he spat up even more blood when I did that.

"It hurts," he managed to say.

"Why? Why did you do that?" I screamed at him. I could barely see through the rain and tears, but he was still smiling.

"He got in the way. It's simple as that. It's not like it will make a difference. He'll be gone, and no one will remember him. Or you."

"Liar! You're a liar!" I started sobbing.

"You don't understand, but you will eventually. Besides, it doesn't matter. He won't remember a thing, and neither will you."

"John, I... I'll..."

"What? What is it?"

"I'll... I'll tell my mom you said hi."

And like that, his body went limp. His head fell away.

"No. No no no no no!"

I stared daggers at Lancaster.

"You're a monster. A monster!"

"I'm no more a monster than any other man. I'm just doing my job."

"I don't understand! What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't worry, Adam. You will understand. You will understand very soon, and you won't remember the pain here."

He looked at his watch. He aimed his gun at me. I could see down the barrel.

"In just a few seconds, it will all be over. Five..."

"Four..."

I didn't want this. I didn't want any of this.

"Three..."

Is this because of my father? Because of me? Did this happen because I went to the police?

"Two..."

I can't let this happen. None of this is supposed to happen. I closed my eyes. I won't let it happen.

"One..."

I felt the icy feeling in my body, except this time it was numbing. It was more like... rejuvenation. Like I had the power. The anger, the pain, the sadness... I wanted to stop it. I want it to stop. Stop. Stop!

"STOP!" My voice boomed over the thunder.

The gun fired, but I felt no pain. Instead, I screamed. I screamed at the bullet, at Lancaster, at John from beyond the grave. It's hard to put into words.

Like a response, the bullet retreated back into the barrel. Drops of rain started rising back into the sky. Lancaster's voice sounded like a tape player on reverse. I stopped screaming, but I didn't let the feeling go. I encouraged it, pushed it. I wanted it to be real, and this time it was. Like it was natural, I raised my hand at Lancaster and visualized pushing him back. Pushing John back. Pushing the back the rain. Pushing back everything that happened.

It was like power was flowing from my brain to my hands, and the whole world responded. Like I was watching from third person, I saw everything that happened go in reverse. It got faster and faster. The chase, the bell, the car ride, playing Terra Forma, the rookie cop, Buckley's office, outside the precinct. It was all a blur.

I fell to the ground. The energetic feeling left. I felt completely dry. My head was throbbing. I felt something wet cover the top of my lip. I touched it with my hand. It was red with blood. My nose tickled. It was bleeding.

"Whoa, dude, are you alright?"

That wasn't John's voice. I looked up. It was Roy. He held his hand out.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think."

I looked around. The sky was clear with the sun falling generally in the west. I looked over at the large building we were in front of. The precinct.

"How?"

I looked at Roy. He was wearing his hoodie. I looked down at my outfit. I looked back at Roy.

"Are... you okay, Adam? Your nose is bleeding."

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm... John. John!"

I looked down the street. I knew John's house was pretty far, but I didn't care. I had to see him.

"I've got to go!"

I started running in the direction of John's house.

"But what about the freaky guy in the suit?"

"Don't worry, I'll just do it later. Thanks, Roy!"

For that run, I had severe tunnel vision. I kept running until it was hard to breathe. I stopped to catch my breath. I heard the sound of a hiss and looked up. The bus stopped and opened its doors about twenty feet away. I jogged to the bus and hopped on. I put a five-dollar bill in the box.

"Thank you, sir," I said, out of breath still.

"Don't mention it. Take a seat and relax. I'll get you where you need to go. That's why you were chasing me down, isn't it?"

I blinked at him, just now catching on to what he was saying. I didn't really see him, but I was really glad he stopped. The bus would take me to the stop close to John's house faster than I could run.

"Uh, yeah. It's really important I get there as soon as possible. Thanks."

I took a seat close to the front. I tapped my foot nervously as I watched the world outside the window. My headache wasn't hurting as bad, but that was probably the adrenaline. My legs were getting weak. I pulled out my phone and tried calling four times. I couldn't reach him. My heart pounded even more.

"Come on. Come on!"

I tried calling one more time with no answer. I gave up and just waited anxiously to get to the stop. The sun was already starting to set. The sky was lighting up a pale orange. I checked the map on my phone. We were just now approaching the stop. As soon as the brakes hit, I was up and jumping out the door.

"Thanks again!" I shouted back.

I thought I was going to fly at the speed I was going. I turned the corner of the street his house was on. I jogged when I saw it coming up. I crossed the street and pushed myself to go the extra smaller distance. I skipped up his steps and pretty much banged on the door.

"John? Are you there?"

I waited at the door. I knocked again. I almost wanted to break in through a window.

The lock clicked, and the door opened. John stood in the doorway.

"Adam? What are you doing here?"

"Oh... Oh, thank god..."

I collapsed on top of John. He held me up. I started sobbing. I put my arms around him and squeezed.

"Adam, what's wrong? Are you okay? Did someone hurt you?"

"You have no idea," I said through sniffling and tears. "I tried calling you. Why didn't you answer?"

"My phone was dead, so I left it charging. Guess I forgot to turn it back on."

"You prick..."

"Adam, what happened?"

"I saw you. I watched you die!"

"What? What the hell, Adam. That's not funny."

"You don't understand. We were being chased, and it was raining, and... you got shot protecting me."

"Shot? Dude, are you high right now?"

"Shut up! I'm serious!"

"I don't know what's going on with you," John said. He crossed his arms. "You've been acting weird since the game. I'm not mad at you, okay?"

"This isn't about that! Well... it is but isn't! You were dead."

"Okay, Adam Wonder. If I got shot, how am I alive?"

"I don't know! That's the part I don't understand! I got so angry and sad, and Lancaster had his gun on me, and I just started screaming. Everything reversed, and now I'm back here again."

"Reversed? What the hell are you talking about?"

"John... I know this is going to sound crazy. Scratch that, I'm going to sound totally insane. It was Thursday, one of the days for our finals. We were inside when the fire alarm went off. It was raining outside, so it was chaos. This guy, Lancaster, he must've triggered the alarm cause then he found me when we were outside. There was so much going on, and you were bleeding, and I just... snapped."

"Okay. You are definitely high right now."

"John, I watched the rain fly back up into the sky. Everything that happened for the past three days hasn't happened yet. You're still alive. It's like someone took my life and rewound it to here. I think it was me."

John scoffed. "Okay, you're right. This is completely insane."

He let go of me and went back inside.

"John, no, listen to me."

"No, I think I'm through. What you're saying is totally ridiculous."

"I know! I don't know how else to explain it."

"But it can't be true. You can't just go backward in time. It's impossible."

"I know it sounds crazy, but I did it, John. I don't know how, but I did it."

He plopped down onto his couch and turned up his TV.

"John?"

"You know, you really had me going with that prank. It was pretty good, not gonna lie. The fake tears and all."

"Fake?"

"But the dying part, that's not funny, Adam. Especially after my mom... after she was gone, and my dad is finally finding love again. That's not cool, bro."

"Dude, I'm not pranking you. I wouldn't make a joke like that, especially to you."

"Well, either way, this isn't funny or cool."

"John, it's not supposed to be. Something happened to me. It was wild! I thought you were gone. You were bleeding in my arms. I don't just make crap up like that."

"Are you sure you're not high? Because you sound like you're on something."

"Oh, shut up. No, I'm not high. I had this crazy almost out-of-body experience."

"Uh-huh." John looked out the window, now bored of the TV.

"If I have to prove it to you, then I can do that. I just need--"

"Adam."

"No, I can do it. I want you to understand. Maybe if we recreate the--"

"Adam," he said again, louder.

"What?"

"Look."

I followed his gaze out the window.

"Yeah, it's raining. Why..."

My words trailed off. I didn't remember it ever raining when Roy and I went to the precinct.

John got up and went back to the front door. He opened it and stepped outside. The rain fell just under the strength of a downpour. I looked up at the sky and finally realized it.

"There are no clouds in the sky," John said. "This should be impossible."

"It wasn't supposed to rain today," I said. "None of this is making any sense."

John turned and looked at me. Recognition went through his eyes. He pulled at his shirt lightly from his chest.

"It was raining that day," he said. He looked down at his shirt. "And I got shot."

He suddenly moved quickly up to me and grabbed my arms softly.

"Adam, tell me what happened. Tell me everything."