Do-roo-do-do, sh-boom

"Yeah…" Meyline went over to the old clock, "Our management hasn't got any money to buy crap like those on Eyloh [Mall]..." and changed the batteries for a new one hidden behind a slot next to it, before twisting a knob to set it to the supposed time Molly said. "But it's kinda weird," she looks back at him, her head tilted.

"Hm?" he asked, looking at her before walking back to turn off his computer with a flick of the wrist, the screen simply turning into a normal run-of-the-mill glass pane.

"It's kinda weird you mentioned it being 8:12 despite it being 7 over here..." She looked at her watch and opened her phone to double-check.

"But you're right..."

The time was now 8:14.

"Huh, weird..." Molly shrugged, "Maybe the clock's just not working right-"

"No... It was working just as I arrived here. Like, for real..." she said, nodding as if some invisible crowd was raising their eyebrows. "But now that you mention it, something peculiar's going on."

Green hair gave him a serious look, "You heard about the latest news, yeah?"

"Yeah, kinda..." he looked away, reminded of the way he spoke at Nicole- yelled at her without much reason, other than seeing the way she said "nothing".

Was all of it a coincidence? He asks himself again. Everything was fine. By fine, the "fine" when he just gets screamed at even when he completes his work barely late. But when this pale doll chick arrived, everything started to become an acid trip to the rollercoaster called "romance". With the way his heart found the right spot to be in, like a couch's comfy spot or a favorite song that just never loses its charm...

...he found himself falling in love with her.

"But now... this? Some phenomena from Interstellar or Inception. What's going on?!" he thought, clenching his fist as green hair approached him, showing him the time on her phone.

"Also... is it just me or... I felt less sweaty?" Meyline asked, looking at her clothes, and swinging open her jacket to glance at her arms sheathed inside, only having some droplets of perspiration.

"I mean, isn't your apartment like... walking distance?" he asked, going over to grab a towel and spray, going over to his table to wipe any stains off.

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain me having to run through a bunch of people..." she frowned, crossing her arms as she began to bring papers toward the laser shredder. "Though to be serious, I am not as sweaty as before..."

"Don't think it's cold?" he asked, with Meyline answering a definite "Nah, not even..."

She looked at the air conditioners positioned at the very corner of the office, like an introvert going to a party by some extrovert. "I mean... how about you? What do you feel?" she asked.

"I guess I feel... like I just woke up or something... Like my body just went to rewind itself in a video game..."

"What exactly do you mean by the word "rewinding", huh?" Meyline's eyes confusedly looked at Molly, as if she'd been staring at a tomato peel itself without any outside influence.

"I… don't know. It's the best way I could describe it without sounding like a nerd…" was all he could reply to that. The last night was just a waterslide trip to nowhere, so having these types of things occur right now wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that coincidence sure has left the window. Defenestrated thoughts to try and deny "it"; all was just a coping mechanism towards acceptance of the full truth.

"R-right…" Green hair never found any wooden logs to continue the gateway towards this bridge of communication, their ropes dangling already to the list of questions. She simply went back to her seat and continued her work.

Molly, meanwhile, placed one of his earbuds in and walked to a cabinet on his right before asking, "Do me a favor and provide an audio of the latest news?"

"Uhhh…" Meyline switched tabs on her browser and searched for the one with the most views she could find on YouTube before she points with her index finger and seemingly "dragged" it like a mobile application and flicked it elsewhere. Much like skipping rocks, it somehow made a digital splash big enough to make his phone beep as the following audio seeped inside and into Molly's information-begging brain.

"There you go..." she said and thus returned to her daily work, clicky clicking away.

As the same news, everyone pretty much heard- if they have a television and some internet (which of course they do)- Molly begins to lift off the rock he's been living under.

Time.

Temporal.

4th.

As Molly reached over to the handle affixed on the cupboard, his eyes widened as the truth blossomed in a garden of poison ivies. The closer his fingers get, the closer he is to reaching the item he needs for... something.

He soon got a hold of some roll of black leather as well as a miniature staple gun, closing it gently as his face remained locked to the ground.

"What? Got something on your mind?" Meyline asked, taking off her headphones as she gave him a look of concern.

"It's..."

"...surprising, I know..." she cuts him off before he can say it. "I mean, as unbelievable as it is, it's not like we haven't experienced crap like this daily..."

Molly began to spread the roll on the chair, measuring it before he attached a metal spider to the epicenter of it. There were hinges and seven prongs on the side with a visible switch on the side. Upon being pressed, the spider protruded small needles from its appendages as the device did its work...

BANG!

A sound louder than the thunderstorm, a light condensed into a white sphere, a cry not from a being but from space tearing itself apart. Another warp, time already being put into a blender set to the maximum setting, putting more pressure on the mountain a pale doll's presence mere presence made.

Clouds circled on the epicenter of the seismic explosion as the wind reached the office, the curtains dancing as it blew away Molly back at the door and Meyline to the wall behind her.

Reactions were delayed by how sudden it was. Unexpected was something that happened last night, it occurring right in front of them was another league of its own. Like a presenter on stage making a grand entrance or how a teacher makes a surprise examination, "What's this?" was all that they could ever question.

...

Destroyed windows, a shell cracked open, carbon concrete, and multi-alloy- all shattered to reveal a white pearl.

She slowly looked behind, her feet positioned as if she was right about to leave and go somewhere only to meet a dead end, like a rigged maze with nowhere to run.

"Let's go home..." a voice spoke through the smoke, masculine and hoarse, deep but slightly rough like sandpaper.

Just as it clears, the supposed subjects get a clear view: dark blue suit and pants, blonde hair and yellow tie, grey vest, and a disappointed look. The man stared down at her like a father seeing their kid get a low grade on an exam but decided to fetch them regardless of the result.

"Nicole Brynn..." the man continued, before releasing his hands on his pockets.

"Naikhee..."