- Text Size +
Chapter Twenty One

Date Unknown


Yolo, California

The lab is all around me and I am screaming hysterically, tears pouring down my face. I am not cognizant that my hip is shooting jabs of pain down my body. I am on the floor, my nails trying to dig into concrete, my lungs burning. Josh still has me in a pin hold and instead of loosening, it only gets tighter.

“JOSHUA!”

Kal has a scream more impressive than my own, yet Josh does not let me go. Though I am sure I will die from the sheer momentum of my heart breaking, I have enough sanity to fold my fingers into one sure claw and send it searing up and back.

I connect with soft, squishy eyes.

Josh’s scream begins where mine ends. Tears stream down my face as I scramble up and away from him and then back, madly searching for the wallet.

“Courtney.”

Kal says my name gently. Her hand is on my shoulder, but I shrug her away.

“I’ve got to get back,” I gasp.

“Stop.”

“You don’t understand. Ben...my son...I have to get back. They need me. I need them. I---”

I do not finish. I feel a slight prick piercing the sensitive skin on the side of my neck.

I collapse to the ground. I am conscious, but I am immobile. I realize that Kal has used the serum that we have only thus far tested on rats. Only my eyes can move.

“My fucking eyes. She ruptured my eyes! Kal--”

“Enough--” she says coldly.

“What?”

“You didn’t follow orders.”

“I did too! I broke into the blonde idiot’s house and stole the compact out of his safe. I have it plus our back-up module. I---”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“She had to come back.”

“Did she? Was she not in a parallel universe?”

Josh does not answer right away. I am momentarily happy that my theory had been correct. I hadn’t ruined our universe. Instead, I had travelled back in time to one and then forwarded mistakenly into the future of the same universe.

I need to go back. For Ben.

For Nick. Josh is still babbling. I hone in on his ugly worn brown loafers.

“----but she couldn’t stay there. She was a whore. She had a kid with one Backstreet Boy and she was married to another Backstreet Boy, but I discovered she was still fooling around with the first. All she did was spread her legs. Courtney isn’t that type of person. She was living the life of someone and she had no clue what she had gotten into.”

“And how do you know all this?”

Again there is a moment of silence.

“I---I did a brief scale of certain time points in the universe and monitored different events in the fake Courtney’s life. She was a slut. I couldn’t let Courtney’s talents be ruined. She needs to be here with us and work to refine this project. I’m a governmental hero.”

“A governmental hero.” Kal’s voice is dry. “Really.”

“Who knows what could have happened to our research with this breach?”

“And this had nothing to do with your feelings?”

“My feelings?”

“Josh,” Kal is getting impatient again. “You’ve been unstable since she left. I am not blind to human emotion, even if you think I am not capable of some of the more vulnerable reactions. You’re in love with her.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Is that why you’re not looking at me? Is that why you stole the device and went when it had been decided that I would make the trip?”

I cannot see this exchange. My heart is beating rapidly but my body is frozen. Even my tears are unable to spill. Only my mind is whirling.

“I told you before she left that we may face the possibility of her never returning. Even she was aware of the danger.”

“I thought you meant death,” Josh says bitterly. “Not--”

“You’d rather she be dead?”

There is no answer.

“Josh, I’m very sorry, but you have committed one of the biggest violations a scientist could ever commit. You have tained the good name of this lab and our research. You’ve besmirched everything this institution stands for. You did not act in the name of science. You acted of your own selfish needs and desires.”

“So did Court! She didn’t tell the truth. She picked that date and that location just so she could go roll around in bed with the short, big-nosed Backstreet Boy. How would her staying help our research?”

“Granted, I thought that her mental aptitude tests indicated that her scientific mind would reject other outside temptation, but her research is still invaluable. The human mind and the choices that we make as humans is equally important. A long time stay in a parallel universe might have proved to be extremely beneficial to our future travels. But going into such a world to attempt to induce a miscarriage? Ruining people’s lives by becoming a smut mag’s rat? You really are a stalker.”

“But she doesn’t even know about any of that. It---wait. I didn’t tell you any of that. How do you...You didn’t...I don’t…Did you do to me what you did to Court? Do I have it? Get it out! I demand that it comes out now.”

Now it is Kal that doesn’t answer immediately.

“As you are no longer a part of this team, I can not divulge that information.”

“Not apart---what? I’m not fucking joking. Wait, what’s that?””

I cannot see what Kal is holding.

“I’m very sorry Josh, but as I said, your violations require me to do this.”

“What? I don’t---no---no---don’t----”

I hear nothing. Josh’s loafers remain in view. Neither scientist says another word. After a minute Kal’s shoes walk up to him. Both pairs of shoes turn and walk away. The only sound I hear is soles hitting the hard floor, a door opening, and the same door closing with a confident click.

Silence surrounds me.

I am left on the floor wondering what just happened.

I am terrified.