s3.e7

Broken Clock

           It was on a quiet Monday late afternoon in the summer of 1993 when Wes paid his next visit to André. But instead of popping into his office or first talking with his secretary, Mrs. McAllister, Wes approached the door to his future partner’s large residence, after getting buzzed in at the driveway gate.

          The place was one of only six houses, all of them occupied by the wealthy, on the only ridge on Castle Hill that both overlooked the city and was just wide enough to support buildings of significant size. Always trying to keep himself understated after getting rich with his time-traveler ill-gotten gains, his was the smallest manor on the cliffside. It was new, modern, boxy, had solar panels on the roof, and was painted white.

           “Wes…” André said after opening the door. “Right on schedule, again.”

           He showed him inside, and they proceeded to the living room, passing by framed photos of historical sites across the city on the way. The house’s biggest room featured a large screen TV and wide window that offered a view of King Arcade down below. The Red Demon rollercoaster had just been built, its shiny new paint quite the eye candy.

          On the couch was a young boy, bobbing up and down and talking nonsense to himself as Sesame Street played on the television. Wes eyed the lad curiously as he followed André into the kitchen. The “Toys” disk rested on the marble island counter.

          “I finally cracked it,” André remarked. “And I think I know what it is.”

          “Thanks, André…” Wes looked toward the living room and asked, “I take it that’s your younger self in there? I still think it’s all a little weird.”

          “That I’m watching over him so he’s not as neglected as this me was?”

          “Nah. That, I get. I’m just surprised your grandfather let you… Oh, wait…”

           “So, you nearly forgot he vanished last year. I get it. My memory’s going, too. I’m trying to finish the door while I remember its purpose. It’s my aunt raising me now. She had to move back to town, but it kept me in the house and out of the foster system.”

           “And who are you to her? Why’s she okay with leaving yourself to, well, you?”

           “It wasn’t hard to convince her that I was one of her dad’s work friends. I knew things about the guy only someone close would know. Anyway, Wes, I didn’t terribly mind solving your floppy mystery, but seriously, go home soon. I worry that if you stick around in the past much longer, you’ll find yourself in some serious trouble.”

           Wes pocketed the disk and replied, “Are you going to tell me what’s on it?”

           “I’d really rather not get into it here. I left a document on the disk that will tell you what I believe it’s for. But, while you’re here, let me finally tell you something I wish I had told your older self before the incident. Despite everything, I do like you, Wes. You have a witty sense of humor. You’re smarter than you think, and a gifted programmer. But you never grew up, and I regret ever starting our project. You idolized the past, hated the present, and feared the future, and all I did… was further enable you.”

           “Don’t take all the credit. I’ll evidently screw up my life all on my own first.”

           André shook his head and rubbed his eyes. “Couldn’t you have just watched Puff the Magic Dragon, or read The Little Prince a few times before visiting my lab?”

           “You don’t think I have?” Wes clenched his teeth, then grabbed one of the lollipops on the kitchen counter—likely meant for Little André—and stuck it in his mouth just to have something else to focus on before admitting a painful truth. “I went through all of that coming-of-age stuff in my late twenties, when I was supposed to be transitioning to real adulthood. None of it ‘took.’ Nothing’s filled this empty feeling.”

           “Wes…” André sighed and frowned. “I’m sorry about that. But, by now, if you still feel that way even after re-experiencing your childhood twice, I don’t think you’ll find your answers here. I believe you should start by having an honest talk with family.”

           “I don’t know… Maybe.” Wes groaned. “It just feels like mine is a bit… small.”

           “But, didn’t you…” André went quiet and scratched his chin. “I’m sure that the people you do have, like Jace, can help you in their own ways. If you just… reach out.”

           Wes turned back toward the living room. “Speaking of… I have a birthday party to get to. Good luck finding out about your grandfather. Goodbye, Mr. Corathine.”

           A summer Friday spent at the mall arcade made Jace’s belated birthday party a good time for the gang, even if the place was packed and the cabinet wait times were long. Wessy’s still-sullen mood resulting from the reveal that “Jason” would be moving far away, which happened at camp a week ago, only barely put a damper on things.

           “Wes, come on, buddy,” Arthur told his partner as they played the new side-scrolling shooter they had been looking forward to, Metal Slug, with the others watching. “Cheer up. This isn’t a goodbye party. He’ll be around a little longer.”

           “Hurry up and die, guys,” Jared said impatiently. “Me and Colin want a turn.”

           “Celly, Ash—how about a quick round of Hippos?” Sadie asked them.

           “Yeah, all right,” Celeste replied. “Jason, wanna be our fourth?”

           “He’s probably worried about getting in last place against us,” Ash joked.

           “It’s cool, I’m in,” Jace answered, and they headed to the machine. “Just be nice and someone else take the pink hippo. Since it’s my late birthday party and everything.”

           Sadie snickered. “Actually, they finally fixed Pinky. It’s the fastest eater now.”

           Jace joined in, using the yellow hippo this time. After he got into second place, with Ash the winner, Wessy and Arthur walked over, looking for something else to do. Just as he was remembering the first time he had played with the hippos, Jace noticed a familiar pair of faces nearby, in the drivers’ seats for Cruisin’ USA.  

           “Hey, Wes,” he spoke up. “I think that’s Mike and Stu over there.”

           “What, really?” Wessy looked over. “About time one of them showed their face.”

           Jace followed Wessy over to the pair, letting Arthur take his place so the girls could have another full game and Ash had a chance to humiliate her brother. After a short while, Mikey and Stu finished their intense race, and turned about in their seats.

           “Oh, hey guys. Long time no see,” Stu said.

           “Yeah… Hi,” Wessy replied. “I know Gavin and Vanni are leaving, but… where have they been? I haven’t seen them around for weeks.”

           “Gavin didn’t tell ya?” Mikey said, glancing at Stu. “Um, they’ve been staying at an apartment closer to the high school while their house gets cleaned and fixed up. With an uncle, I think? Yeah, we haven’t seen Gavin much, either. Sucks he’s going to L.A..”

           “What the heck’s going on? Why are they moving?” Wessy muttered.

           “Their dad got a job at a movie studio, dude,” Stu replied. “It happens.”

           “Yeah, way too much. Why are parents always trying to break up friendships? You guys and the rest of the gang must be really pissed off about it.”

           Mikey shrugged. “Like I said, it sucks, but we’ll be okay. Us and the other guys, we’re a tight circle. Even Mikey’s ex still likes to hang with us.”

           “You and Janice… broke up?” Wessy asked, like he almost actually cared.

           Mikey replied confidently, “It’s happened before. I’ll win her back.”

           “Gavin should be back by the end of the month,” Stu added. “He and Vanni will be selling off a chunk of their games before they head off. Save up some dough.”

           Wessy moaned before turning away with Jace. “Too many b-day presents…”

           The gang emerged from the crowded arcade a few minutes later, with Jared complaining, “I can’t believe I blew so much coin on that game. It’s friggin’ tough, man!”

           Colin explained as they walked, “They make arcade games hard. Why d’ya think old video games were a challenge? Arcade-difficulty was still the norm back then.”

           “You’re so smart, C-dog,” Jared said with a laugh and patted his shoulder. “You should’a gone to Everette with December. Hey, is what Arty says true? Did ya kiss her?”

           Colin blushed and tried his best to deny it, “N-no way. He’s making stuff up.”

           Arthur chuckled and replied, “Hey, there is a non-zero chance I’m right.”

           Celeste got in on it, “Oh, yeah? What if someone made up rumors about Ash?”

           “Gross. They better not. My sister’s not kissing anyone until college at the earliest.”

           “Ugh, shut up, both of you,” Ash groaned. “Celly, I bet you and Wes sucked face.”

           Celeste laughed, but Wessy fired back, “Don’t even joke! Geez, it never ends…”

           Anxiously trembling just a little bit, Jace spotted Adult Wes, hanging out against a pillar in the food court and wearing his shades again. Over at the gift table, Arthur’s dad chatted with Jared’s, probably about why the mysterious Nick Deckard was so antisocial.

           “You know, you could say hi to them, even just the dads,” Jace suggested to Wes after coming over. “What’s up with you today? You’re… quiet. Having deep thoughts?”

           His arms crossed, Wes grumbled, “Sure. Hey, this is your day. Go enjoy it. You’re definitely twelve by now. I didn’t do the math to figure out when exactly it passed us by, but you’ve earned those presents. And, ya know… I think you had a few growth spurts.”

           Jace grinned a bit, and used his hand to compare his height against Wes.

           “Hey, uh… Mr. Connor? I mean, Mr. Deckard?” Wessy suddenly said in an accusing tone after having snuck up on them. “I know it’s bad to talk to an adult like this and everything, but why does Jason have to move? And why could we never have a sleepover at your place? It’s all kinds of strange, you know? T-that’s… all I’m saying.”

           “Um…” Wes didn’t know how to respond, so he just made up crap. “I’m a very busy businessman. No time for sleepovers. And I got a better job that’s really far away.”

           “It’s just…” Wessy looked down at his feet. “Too much is changing, too fast…”

           Suddenly empathizing with his young self, Wes replied, “I know, little dude. Life is like that sometimes. I… don’t really have a good answer for how to deal with it.”

           Not helping, Jace thought. But not a surprise.

           “Will Jason ever get to visit? Will I even get to see him again?” Wessy sighed.

           “Yeah, probably. Eventually,” Wes muttered. “Look, we’re not leaving quite yet, so just try to enjoy the time you still have. Besides, you have plenty of other friends, kid.”

           Wessy glared at his adult self for a moment before turning and heading over to the others, who now surrounded the gifts and were waiting for the birthday boy as the two dads went to fetch a bunch of pizza slices from Sbarro for everyone.

           “That could’ve gone better, Unk,” Jace groaned. “I get not wanting to interact with him, but since it happened anyway, you should’ve at least given him some piece of life wisdom you’ve learned from all this so far. Or… have you learned nothing?”

           “Hey, I’ve learned… something. But I can’t say anything impactful to Little Wes. It’s just too dangerous, and weird. By the way…” Wes added before Jace walked off, “I noticed a time burst on the latest reading of the apartment. We’re going to go check it out after the party, just to make sure the portal back to 2020 is active again. Okay?”

           “Yeah… Sure, Wes. And… thanks for setting all of that up. I thought for sure you’d just hide the results somehow, so you could stay here forever.”

           “What? That’s crazy. You gotta learn to trust me. Now go get some gifts, Jace.”

           With his actual twelfth birthday party overdue and after having only a very small Christmas morning in a Vegas hotel room, Jace was in a present-opening mood and tore through the ones his new group of friends had gotten him. It was a pretty impressive pile even before he arrived at the last three—though Jared’s present was pretty small.

           Colin had gotten him a copy of Kirby’s Dreamland 2 for Game Boy, while Ash had picked out a stylish collared shirt, which meant something coming from her, what with her newfound love for fashion. From Arthur came a nice Casio digital timepiece, giving Jace something to finally cover up one of his naked wrists, and Sadie gave him one of the coming-of-age presents, a wallet, in a dark blue nearly matching his favorite jacket.

           “Sorry, Jason…” Wessy said as he handed him his copy of the friend circle photo album, also in blue. “For some reason, you don’t fully appear in, like, any of the photos. But I hope it helps you remember us. And you get to see all our history together, too.”

           “We still got time for a group shot,” Jace said and flipped through the album.

           “I know you mostly got practical gifts, but…” Celeste pushed over her shoe-box sized present, “your pair look like they’ve been through a lot. Plus, you did get me socks.”

           Jace pulled out a new pair of black and white sneakers, which looked sort of like a retro version of the modern pair he had brought with him, kept stuffed in his closet. And it was true that the darker shoes Wes got him way back had taken a beating.

           “H-here, Jason…” Jared said and handed over a wrapped circle. “It’s not much, but this was pretty short notice and I had already blown my allowance, so…”

           A new version of the “DANCIN’ J. CONNOR” button was unveiled. In this one, the entire group, including Ash and Celeste, were in pixel form and dancing along with him. The eight little sprites hovered over the words, “AND HIS COOL CREW”. Appreciative of the effort, Jace actually felt himself almost getting emotional inside.

           “I worked with Park and Brian on it,” Jared added. “They also wanted me to pass on a ‘thanks for everything.’ If you don’t like it… I mean, I totally understand.”

           “It’s great,” Jace replied in earnest. “Really, Jared. I’m gonna miss you guys.”

           “Zach will definitely get you something when he gets back,” Sadie mentioned. “You’ve been a reliable friend with good advice, Jason. Even if you’re still kinda quiet.”

           “I’m just glad you didn’t get me a box of spiders, Sadie,” Jace said and put on Jared’s button. “And sorry there’s no cake. But my dad said he’ll get us all ice cream.”

           “Fine with me,” Colin replied. “I’ve had my fill of cake this year already.”

           Jace smiled, and took a mental snapshot of his friends’ faces as they cracked a few jokes and talked about the last year. In the background, it looked like the two other dads were trying to chat up Adult Wes—but they weren’t getting much out of him.

           “Come on out, bud. You’re keeping us waiting,” Wes shouted towards Jace’s room back at the cottage. “Let’s see your new swank getup.”

           “It’s really nothing special,” Jace yelled back. He opened his door and walked out to the dining room, where Wes and Millie were waiting by the empty dinner plates. “But I guess it’s nice getting some new stuff… We didn’t exactly do much clothes shopping.”

           “Lookin’ nice,” Millie said as she got a look at Jace’s new shirt, shoes, and watch. “You kinda got the whole Cookton thing already happening. Too bad you aren’t going.”

           “Well, I will be, just not for another twenty-four years,” Jace replied and came up to the table, where two final gifts were waiting. “I really thought I could get you to go to the party, by the way. Maybe I needed more than a week to convince you.”

           “Still a way from those,” she argued. “Summer camp was a big enough social step for me. Parties are a bit more personal, ya know? But I thrived on the anarchy at camp.”

           “That isn’t how I remember it…” Wes muttered. He lit the candle on one of the three chocolate cupcakes and put it in front of Jace. “Happy unofficial twelfth, kiddo.”

           Jace blew out the flame, and grabbed for Millie’s present, not knowing what to expect since this was the first time he had seen her attend anything birthday-related.

           “It’s hard finding something cool for someone from the future,” Millie said. “But then I thought, what would be impossible to find and enjoy fresh in 2020?”

           Jace opened the box and looked through the care package of various soda flavors and snack special varieties—including food that no longer existed at all in the present.

           Millie explained to Wes, “We got to talking once about all the stuff that’s gone by the year 2020, so I figured we could all get together later on and binge on this junk food you won’t be able to get anymore. Also, it was pretty cheap to fill up the box.”

           Wes thought about it and replied, “That’s actually pretty clever. There’s pretty much nothing that’ll keep for over twenty years. At least that will still taste okay.”

           “Thanks, Millie,” Jace said. “But I bet we could make bank by just selling it all.”

           “Don’t you dare,” she grumbled. “We can’t give up this sort of opportunity!”

           Jace opened up Wes’ gift, pulling out a photo in a nice black frame of the two of them watching the sun set over Royal Valley from Castle Hill, its skyline circa 1996.

           Wes said, “Just something to remember all of this. Careful who you show it to.”

           “Yeah…” Jace replied. “I remember when this was taken. That was a fun day.”

           With night falling, Wes pulled up to the apartment where it all began, and the two of them stepped out of the car to find themselves eyeballed by several of the residents spending the evening outdoors, most of them drinking or smoking.

           Jace asked, “You’re sure you can get inside, right? And that it’s actually empty?”

           Wes took out his old key and replied, “The lock never got changed as far as I know. I’ll give it a try, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll just skip through time and think of a way to get my hands on a key that works. With a quartz, you can fix a lot of problems!”

           Double-checking that his own quartz was in his pocket, Jace replied as they headed upstairs, “I think you need to be careful with all the time-traveling, Wes. You know what Warren says about it only attracting more attention to ourselves.”

           “Yeah, yeah…” he mumbled. “Maybe I should’ve talked to him about this first, too, but I have no idea where he is. You haven’t seen him since camp, right?”

           Jace shook his head. “Nah, and not past the first week.”

           “Well, if this is a bad idea, he’ll probably show up to stop us. If he doesn’t, then there’s no danger, right? We do need to make sure the door-portal’s working.”

           With a deep breath, Wes slid his key into the doorknob and turned it after making sure no one was watching them. They slid inside, where he closed the curtains and turned on the lights. The place was as empty as it had been when he first moved in, but noticeably less clean, with bits of trash left by the prior occupants all over the floor.

           “No wonder they haven’t sold it yet,” Wes said. “They’re being cheap about the cleanup. I guess better staffing is why the place shot up in value by the time I got here.”

           Jace noticed the shotgun pellet impacts still on the door frame and shuddered. Bad memories. But this was also the place where he watched the Back to the Future trilogy with his uncle, and that was all right, even if it was just the prelude to his kidnapping.

           They went through one of the two entrances to the kitchen-dining room, and Wes flicked on the light, revealing that the fridge and stove, as expected, were still there. And so was André’s once-enigmatic red pantry door that had transported them to 1995.

           “There she is…” Wes said from the kitchen doorway. “It should be running. You know, I actually visited André in 1993, when he must’ve been finishing it up. So… the thing is pretty new right now. Huh. I wonder how, exactly, he got it installed in here.”

           “You went to see him without me? Wes—” Jace was cut off by an intense hum.

           Something was burning. There was the scent of ozone in the air, which Jace could remember from a recent event. But the secondary smell was far more pungent.

           “W-what…?” Wes mumbled, and noticed the blood coming from his side at just about the same moment Jace did. “I didn’t even feel that. That’s so… weird.”

           “Wes!” Jace shouted as his uncle lost balance in one of his legs, fell back against the open doorway frame, and then slid down to the floor. “Wes, get up!”

           “S-shit… My legs feel funny… Everything tingles…”

           Heavy footsteps began plodding forward from the dark hallway that led to the bedroom. Confirming his worst fears, Jace saw the glow of two red orbs approach, one of them brighter than the other. Wes managed to crane his head around the frame as Jace fell to the floor, paralyzed by sudden dread. A time cop emerged, his laser rifle still cooling down after unleashing a powerful shot. But this one was different than the rest.

           Not only was he a little bigger, and had a solid black uniform—but the right side of his robotic body was damaged and scorched, and half his face was missing, revealing the metal exoskeleton underneath. If Jace hadn’t already seen Terminator 2, he would have felt even more afraid and unprepared for the menacing, imposing sight.

           “Ah, crap…” Wes groaned. “You guys again? W-well… Time to leave…”

           Wes took out his time quartz and tried to activate his last fail-safe date, but only got an error sound in response. He tried twice more as the cyborg silently watched.

           “Connection error…?” Wes looked back at the cop. “Are you doing that? H-hey, officer, look… I know I haven’t had the best relationship with your fine organization, but we didn’t change that much. Now we’re just trying to leave, so… Can we talk?”

           “Uncle W-Wes… You got shot… T-take this seriously,” Jace stammered.

           Standing above them and now blocking any attempt to run out of the apartment, the cop shook his head coldly and pointed to his neck, which was partially mangled.

           “Lemme guess…” Wes groaned in pain. “Damaged vocalizer? It looks like you just barely outran an explosion… Mind if I call you Arnie? So, Arnie… tanker truck?”

           “Arnie” shook his head again, and then knelt down, one of his knees hitting the floor with enough force to crack it. He took out a small disc, held it in his exposed robotic left hand, and gave it a squeeze to play a holographic three-dimensional security recording for the two to watch. The cop waited patiently, but menacing, as it played out.

           The footage, labeled “GREATER ROYAL VALLEY EAST – AEROPAD” was contained in a wide shot from the far future, where Bladerunner­-esque flying police cars landed or took off from what appeared to be the bottom of a deep shaft lined by lit offices and metal walkways. The time code was close to the ticking present from the year 2882, which shocked Jace more than the sight of a distant era, far removed from everything he knew. Time cops and other staff could be seen walking about on duty, when suddenly, in a flash of light, the bomb from the lab appeared on the aeropad.

           In seconds, alarms blared and evacuations began—not that there was much time to see them through. After the vehicles took to the air, the cop that was dressed in black and now paying a visit to Wes’ apartment ran up to the bomb to take the two quartz on top of it, that if destroyed, would leave a permanent temporal scar in the area and only further devastate their operations. Before he even fully left the frame, the bomb blew up and took out the camera a second later. And with that, the badly-damaged cyborg officer pocketed the holodisk, his origins now explained without the need for any words.

           “Look, I’m sorry about that. But it had to be done, to save the city…” Wes muttered. “We’re not the bad guys here. But if you have to take one of us in…”

           The officer stood back up, pulled out a badge, then crushed and dropped it.

           Wes sighed. “Heh… So it’s personal for you. You went rogue to hunt us down, is that it? Oh, man, I bet your chief is gonna give you an earful when you get back.”

           Tears in his eyes, Jace exclaimed, “How can you crack jokes right now, Wes?!”

           Wes managed a grin and replied assuredly, “Because I know you’ll fix all this.”

           Jace shook his head, got to his feet as Wes also hobbled upward, and tried to reason with the officer, “I know you’re mad, but we really are just trying to get home.”

           Unmoved, the cyborg pressed a button on his rifle to warm up another shot. Like before, it sounded similar to a camera flash filling its capacitors. In seconds, it would…

           Wes suddenly turned around, covering Jace and grabbing him by his shoulders.

           “Remember,” he said quietly through the pain. “Don’t just go back through the door, or you’ll reset everything… Find… another way.”

           Before he could insist that they needed to stick together, Jace was shoved mightily by his uncle. He stumbled backward across the kitchen tile, then tripped. Just a moment before he fell into darkness, he swore he heard the rifle go off.

           After crashing into a metal shelf, Jace tried to pull himself up while trapped in a lightless small room. He bumbled about some, then paused to try and get his heart to calm down and process what just happened. He soon realized that he had been pushed through the portal door—and that he must be back in the present on the other side, in his uncle’s pantry. Now worried that a vengeful time cop would come through next, he found the knob, opened the door, and looked at the hanging rack he had knocked down and the soup cans covering the floor. He slammed the door shut and took a step back.

           His breathing slowly steadying, he turned around and got a look at the room.

           But… it wasn’t actually Wes’ apartment. It was an unfamiliar—and far nicer—kitchen with blue and gray tile, awash in morning light. He could see a backyard through the windows. This was a house. The red pantry door was the same, but its location was very different. His mind on the verge of shutting down, Jace simply stood and stared for a minute before remembering that his phone was in his pocket. With a trembling hand, he took it out to check the time, nearly fumbling the now-modern device in the process.

           Upon unlocking the screen, the time synched up with Apple’s servers again, and reverted to July 24^th, 2020, at 6:55 in the morning. He was back home, in relation to time. Now he just needed to find out where he was. Hopefully, still in Royal Valley.

           No, now I need to save Wes, was his next thought, and he reached for the knob, but stopped when he remembered his uncle’s words, and his explanations about the door from way back. If he went in now, he would emerge into July, 1995 again. Everything he had done in the past would be gone. And, likely, so would Wes.

           Trying not to panic, Jace began to dig through his mind for the first thing he should do, but in his state, he failed to form a single cohesive thought. Before he got very far in trying, he heard a shuffling noise and looked over to the kitchen entrance. A little girl now stood there, about six years old with strawberry-blond hair, in her pajamas and holding a teddy bear. She simply stared at Jace curiously without making a sound.

           “Uh, um… S-sorry,” he murmured, at a loss for words. “Wrong… house.”

           She watched as he unlocked the nearby backdoor and rushed outside into the warm morning air. He went down some stairs, across a backyard full of outdoor toys, through a gate, down a driveway, and got a good look at a familiar neighborhood street.

           At least he was in Desert Tree. And those trees had grown.

           Feeling confused with a frazzled mind, and stuck in an emotional state, Jace’s sense of direction was off. He found himself wandering around the neighborhood while trying to find one of the main roads that could guide him home. His journey had begun in the nicer section of suburbia, starting with the semi-upscale house he had emerged into and fled from, and he was soon seeing mini-mansions.

           By the time it was 7:30 in the morning, early joggers and dog walkers started to pass him by, some of them giving his vintage clothing a double-take. He remembered something about time traveling, at least via door portal, and knew he had to check for a temporal affliction. He knelt down and picked up a rock—and it hit him right away. After only holding it for a few seconds, it “glitched” back into the ground. He picked it up again and tossed it, just to see it vanish in midair and return to its home in the dirt.

           “All right…” he murmured to himself. “It’s fine. That’ll get fixed in… uh, time.” He massaged his face for a moment, adding, “Ugh… Something’s… wrong with my memories… Is this time-travel sickness or something? Maybe I was gone too long…”

           He shook his head about, took a deep breath, and simply tried to focus on his walk. It wasn’t normal confusion, like the kind that came when his alarm clock woke him in the middle of a good dream. Rather, he was getting flashes of strange memories that only almost felt like they belonged to him. Those, coupled with a dissociative state, weren’t doing him any favors in finding his way home. If he still even lived nearby.

           Eventually, he reached Laurie’s house, where he stopped to collect his thoughts. It was only 7:45, and she was a notoriously late sleeper when she had the choice, so he knew he couldn’t ask her for help—and talk nonsense to her—this early.

           He then thought, what if we were never even friends to begin with in this new timeline?

           Seeing her house did make him recall the route, though, and he was able to take the few turns he needed to get home, where Felicity once lived. He approached his residence cautiously, hoping to avoid a Back to the Future Part II situation by breaking in accidentally and finding himself at the business end of a shotgun, again.

           Fortunately, it seemed that he still lived there—albeit with a small change. His earned “My Kid’s on the Honor Roll at DTE” bumper sticker was now on a newer model Nissan Leaf in a blue color, instead of the older red one his mom originally had.

           Looks like Lucy… I mean, Mom, got a new car instead of a pre-owned one…

           It was just past eight when he finally set foot on the driveway and felt the first wave of homecoming melancholy. For his mom, no time would have passed since she last saw him—although if he didn’t hurry inside, she’d soon find an empty bedroom. But he was still a stranger in an unfamiliar timeline. There was no doubt he’d screw up some details in his efforts to blend in and adapt. He’d need to take it one step at a time.

           He noticed the worn scar on the big tree in his yard, and ran his hand across the bark, recalling how Warren had thrown his sword into it while taking out a time cop drone during the Halloween temporal storm. And that memory woke him up some.

           “Time travel!” he gasped. “Duh! Why didn’t I think of it already?”

           He took out his quartz, set the time to several hours before his uncle’s fateful encounter with a big bad, and made sure that the retro cellphone in his other pocket was still powered up and ready to call and warn Wes. He squeezed the crystal, and…

           Nothing happened. It must have been broken again.

           I’ll just reset it, and… his thought ended when he looked at the message on the pink time rock’s holographic display, which read, “ERROR: CANNOT OVERRIDE USER (TIME DISPLACEMENT UNSUCCESSFUL).” This one was beyond him.

           “Oh, man… I could really use your IT skills right now, Wes…” he huffed.

           Then his iPhone rang, for the first time in over a year. He jumped, startled by its now unfamiliar sound. But he also thought that it might even be Wes calling him, if only because he had just said his name out loud and it would be perfect coincidence.

           Instead, the name that filled the screen belonged to Warren. At some point, the time ninja must have added himself into Jace’s modern phone’s contact list, surely.

           His voice cracking a little as he answered, Jace said, “Warren? Where… Where are you? Hey, why’d you disappear on us? You were supposed to protect us, man!”

           The voice on the other end replied, “Protect you?” He snorted. “What are you talking about, J? Hey, so, were you trying to play a weird prank this morning? Is this part of it? Eh, I’m sorry, my guy, but the joke’s kinda going over my head. Like, woosh.”

           It was Warren’s non-digitized voice, all right. But he sounded… younger.

           “Anyway, yeah, Sally said you were in our kitchen, like, messing up the pantry. What’s that all about? You trying to pull off some breakfast vibe check on us, bruh?”

           “Sally…?” Feeling the phone slip out of his hand, Jace said, “I’ll call you back.”

           Having no idea what the hell was going on, Jace ran up to his front door and checked under the stone turtle by one of the potted plants, hoping that the backup key was still there. Luckily, the timeline hadn’t altered that aspect of things, so he was able to use it to get inside—mere moments before he heard his mom’s room’s door open.

           He closed the front door and rushed into his room, which was mostly the same. There were a few different posters on the walls, and his video game collection seemed slightly smaller, but there was nothing too major. It was definitely still his safe space.

           “Jace?” his mom’s warm voice said from behind him. He turned around and froze up as she smiled, welcoming him home. “You’re up early today. Good for you.”

           He couldn’t help it. His face scrunched up, and tears and some snot began to flow. He hugged her tightly, taking her by surprise. She chuckled and patted his back.

           “What’s gotten into you, buddy?”

           “I just… I had a bad d-dream,” he stuttered and pulled himself away, now feeling embarrassed. “I was lost, and it felt like… I’d never get home again…”

           “Aw, sweetie, you’re so sensitive sometimes.” She stepped back and studied his clothes curiously. “Is that… mint-condition retro stuff? Is your uncle buying you that kind of thing again?” She sighed. “I hope he didn’t spend too much on it. I know you two have your fun nostalgia trips together, but, honestly…” She smiled again and put a hand on his head. “Geez, it’s like you shot up overnight. I was starting to get worried.”

           A groan came naturally, “Moooom…”

           “Well, since you’re up early enough, I’ll make my omelet a double. It’ll beat shuffling to the kitchen past eleven and munching on cereal. Maybe it’ll inspire you to get up at a reasonable hour more often!” She turned away, adding, “You should practice waking up early, anyway. That alone is one of the toughest parts of middle school.”

           As soon as she left and he was standing in the middle of his room by himself, a text arrived from Warren, reading, “Not cool trying to scare a six yo >:( You know Sally gets up crazy early to watch cartoons. But not like she scares easy so I guess whatev. She laughed about it. I think too much effort tho for a dumb joke! Explain it to me later, k?”

           Jace wanted to reply that he didn’t even know who Sally was, but then it struck him. Obviously, Warren had a younger sister. But he had never mentioned her to them in the past. And it didn’t explain why he was suddenly a local in 2020.

           Eating proved tricky, as expected. Whenever cheese and egg made it to Jace’s stomach, it stayed, just like the mall pizza from before. It definitely seemed like the glitch couldn’t rescue food once it was inside a “container.” But during the chewing process, it had a chance to return to the plate. Luckily, his mom had yet to see the issue in action, since her eyes were mostly on her iPad as she checked the daily news.

           Just before he could swallow another glob of omelet, it zapped itself back to his plate. Although it was pristine and not technically pre-chewed, Jace reflexively gagged at the thought of trying to eat it a second time. And that, his mother picked up on.

           “Oh, come on,” she bemoaned. “My cooking isn’t that bad. You should eat your protein, Jace. Don’t you have a busy day with your friends coming up?”

           He just shrugged. How would he know? As far as he remembered, he had still screwed up his friendships. Unless… he had been better about that in this universe.

           So far, from what he had seen—not that he had seen much yet—there were no big bombshells about this new reality. Until, with one casual remark as she got up to clean her plate over at the sink, his mom put him into all-encompassing shell shock.

           “You invited your cousin to your game today, right? You know your aunt Sadie keeps trying to get him to be more active. Warren and his video games…”

           Jace felt his first real heart palpitation as his eyes grew wide and he dropped the fork down onto the plate. It can’t be, he thought. That’s impossible… There’s just no way…

           He whipped out his phone, almost flinging it into the ceiling in the process, and began scrolling through his album, rapidly scrolling upwards with a trembling thumb as he looked through his images in reverse chronological order. It was the strangest thing. The few pictures he had taken with Wes in the past were still there, but before all of those… were dozens of photos of Warren, or Jace hanging out with him or Sally.

           His ears ringing from a shift in blood flow as he kept going upward, he saw glimpses of birthday parties, video game nights, and King Arcade visits—he and Warren had even gone to Camp Morning Dew together just a month ago, apparently. But did he hear that second part correctly? Aunt Sadie?! By extension, that had to mean…

           The realization hit him all at once, like a rubber band of memories snapping back into place. It was all true. Warren is my cousin. Sally is my cousin. And Sadie married…

           “N-no way…” Jace gasped. “No freakin’ way… Then… that means… Oh… shit.”

           “Jace, language!” his mother scolded him over the running water. She shut off the tap upon hearing a car pull into the driveway, and looked at Jace. “That must be your dad stopping by. Honey, what are you freaking out about? Is it indigestion again?”

           “And you and Dad are still married…?” he exclaimed.

           She laughed. “Oh, come on, buddy. I know he’s been trying harder than he used to, but I wouldn’t put it like that. I think what we had between us is stuck in the past.”

           His knees wobbly, Jace left half his food behind and followed his mom out into the living room, where she let Mr. Baker inside. He was in his usual brown leather jacket and old blue jeans, but his demeanor was now quite different. Even just based off the quick glance he gave his kid, Jace could see a sense of caring in both his eyes and smile. The divorce was still a thing, but somewhere down the line, Conrad had been turned into a less self-centered and entitled millennial—Jace could see that right away.

           “Hey, kiddo!” he shouted from the door after sharing a few words with Lucy.

           Jace approached, trying his hardest to wipe the blank, stupefied expression off his face but not really succeeding. He only managed to keep a steady gaze up at his dad.

           “He’s a little out of sorts this morning,” Lucy explained. “Had a bad dream, got up ‘too’ early… Um, Jace, your dad just wanted to drop by and see you before he heads off to his important business convention in Las Vegas. And I think he brought a gift.”

           Conrad leaned in a little and said friendly-like, “Sorry we’re missing our weekend together, pal. But we’ll hang out the one after next and make it extra cool, okay? Here, to make it up to you, I got you a little something…” He brought out what was behind his back and handed it to Jace—a mid-size Marvel Avengers Lego set. “Maybe you can, I dunno, build it with Sally or something. She’s really into the brick stuff, right?”

           “T-thanks…” Jace whispered and stared at the box.

           “That’s nice of you, Conrad, but maybe you spoil him a little,” Lucy worried.

           He replied, “Ah, nonsense. Like Wes’ mom says, the kid needs a ‘good creative outlet.’ Okay, Luce…” he checked his smart watch, “I got a flight to catch. See ya later.”

           “Try not to gamble away your savings. Those Legos are expensive.”

           “Har-har. All right, J-Dude. Stay cool this weekend, okay?”

           Conrad ruffled Jace’s hair, gave him another smile, and headed out to his sports car in the driveway. He peeled out upon hitting the road, annoying Lucy.

           “Your dad… was always just a little too much for me,” she said wistfully. She looked at Jace and added, “But, he cares about you, a lot. Remember that.”

           He set down the licensed Lego set and told his mom, “I think I’m going to head over to…” he still couldn’t believe what he was about to say, “… Warren’s house. Um, I do know how to ride a bike, right? Wait… do I even have one?”

           She raised an eyebrow. “Now you’re just being goofy. You know your uncle taught you how to ride when you were six. And it’s in the garage, last I checked.”

           “Y-yeah… Of course. All right. I’m gonna go, and I’ll… see you later. Oh, and by the way… Remind me again… Uh, who’s older? Me or… Warren?”

           “Sheesh, that nightmare did a number on you. You, by four months. Now get your head screwed on, have fun, and remember to check in every half-hour. And Jace!”

           He turned around, expecting her to further accuse him of being weird. “What?”

           “Clean off your plate on the way.”

           After he had taken care of that, he went down into the small garage that his mom had never used for her car, opting to utilize it for storage instead. Shelves lined with boxes and old toys filled the space, mostly unchanged from the old timeline—only now, he could recognize some of the retro junk from his uncle’s childhood room.

           He found a child-sized blue bike in the corner, its tires full of air and free of dust and cobwebs; he must have ridden it frequently. Realizing it could very well glitch out from under him, he made sure to strap on his helmet and ride slowly. He then opened the garage door and rolled out, waving back to his mom in the window on the way.

           “Warren is my cousin…” he repeated a thought out loud as he hit the sidewalk. “And we’ve known each other since we were babies… But if the original Wes and Sadie never… Ugh, gross… If they never had him in the original timeline, then how…”

           He hit the brakes and came to a stop just a block away from his house as another slice of truth hit him hard. Suddenly, in a roundabout and still-bizarre way, everything was starting to make sense. Time Ninja Warren did not actually exist. He was an exile lost in the past, because for some reason, his timeline—which was this, true timeline—had been obliterated by some event or mistake. That would explain the attitude he had towards his dad Wes, whom he had yet to tell the truth to. Another brain explosion.

           “Me and Wes…” Jace continued talking to himself, “we came from a changed timeline…” He looked up at the sunlight coming in through the leaves of the many trees. “This is the original one. Well… closer to the original, at least. Heh…” He smiled at his cleverness. “I’m smart. I’m actually figuring this out pretty fast. Still…” a shudder ran down his spine and he felt queasy again. “Doesn’t change the fact that this is so weird…”

           He started pedaling again, a little too fast and a little too confidently. Almost as soon as his baby hit eight miles an hour, it disappeared and jumped backwards about twenty feet, sending him to the pavement, where he skidded to a halt on his butt.

           “Ow…” he grumbled. “Man, I hate that… This crap needs a patch.”

           He eventually made it back to Warren’s house, suffering only a few bruises on the way. Once he was back in the driveway and had more than a second to check it out, he noticed the gray Tesla Model 3 parked out front. It looked like Wes had now taken his sister’s suggestion at some point and splurged on an all-electric car.

           After leaning his bike against the porch railing, he knocked on the front door of the fancy, but not too big, residence. Several seconds later, a lady with blond hair opened the door. She looked down at him and grinned, and there was not a doubt in Jace’s mind that she was the adult version of Sadie. It was like looking at an image from a computer simulation that could age-up the face of a child.

           “Hi, Jace,” she greeted and let him in. “You’re here early. Did you want to hang out with Warren a bit before your big game today?”

           He didn’t know just what this “big game” could be, nor did he feel like asking. He knew he’d worry about it in due time. For now, he had more important questions on his mind. He watched as his new aunt, Sadie Lorraine—who was once the girl that had spidered him back at camp and was always ready for a rap battle—returned to the living room’s couch and unpaused a broadcast of something on her TV.

           He wandered over and saw that she was watching the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. She glanced at Jace, went back to staring at the big fancy proceedings in the crowded stadium, then eyed Jace again and turned down the volume.

           “Something up, Jace?”

           “Oh, um… I was just wondering if you’ve seen…”

           “Wait, wait, wait.” She paused the broadcast again and moved across the couch, keeping herself up at the armrest with one arm while her other hand grabbed onto Jace’s DANCIN’ button, pulling it closer. “Where did he find that? Wow. That goes way back. What memory box did Wes pull that out from? And your clothes…”

           Remembering what his mom had said about his threads, Jace stuttered, “O-oh, yeah, Wes said I’d look ‘really cool’ in this, uh, outfit. I even got this vintage watch…”

           She sighed and slumped into a cushion. “Talk about a blast from the past. Did I tell you that now he’s starting to buy 90s girls’ clothes and gets Sally to dress up, too? I mean, Warren never went for it, but you kinda still do. I’m not sure why he does it. Same longing for the past as usual, I guess. ‘But honey, clothes are visceral. When you see your kid wearing old stuff, it’s like they step into 1995. For a second, you see yourself.’”

           Fearing a total lack of progress in other areas, Jace replied, “Uncle Wes isn’t, like, obsessed with the 90s, right? He can get pretty intense about it sometimes.”

           She shrugged. “It comes in waves. But I think it mostly happens when he’s working on a new game. You know, since they’re usually retro-inspired.”

           Working on a new game? Jace thought. I’ll have to learn about that later.

           Sadie continued, “You’ve seen how he can get, Jace. He complains about social media and how shallow and manufactured things can be ‘these days,’ but I think he still finds a lot of newer things to enjoy, too. Like I tell him sometimes…” she looked back at the start of the Olympic Games, “‘find something to love in the present you’ve been given. There could always be worse versions of the world out there.’” She smiled again, adding, “But that’s probably a little heavy for you. Oh, what were you about to ask?”

           “Have you seen Uncle Wes today?”

           “Hm, nope. I guess he left for work early.”

           “You mean that isn’t his Tesla out front?”

           Sadie laughed. “No! He has the red one, remember?”

           “… Right, yeah… Um, I’m going to go see Warren.”

           “Sure. Don’t trip on anything in his room. By the way, there’s something different about you. Did you get a new haircut?”

           Jace simply gave her a nod in response, and headed into the nearby hallway, hoping it would lead him to his younger cousin’s sanctuary.

           On the way, he stopped at an open door and peeked inside Sally’s room. It had a bed with pink blankets covered in stuffed animals, but at the moment, she was occupied with her sizable Lego collection. Bricks of all sizes and colors covered her rug, and she was in the middle of them all, building something that looked like a house.

           She looked up, waved, and said quietly, “Hi, Jace.”

           “H-hi…” he replied and waved back. “Um, sorry if I scared you this morning.”

           Proving herself to be a not-very talkative child, she just shrugged and got back to work. Jace looked at her room a moment longer before going to the one at the end of the hall. It was indeed a mess, worse than Wes’ place could get. Clothes and toys were strewn about on the floor as Warren, in his socks, played Xbox from his bed, wearing a headset with a duct-taped microphone which must’ve been damaged in the past.

           Warren glanced over at Jace as he entered, then focused on finishing an intense match in a teen-rated colorful squad shooter—the very same one Jace was just getting into in the other timeline, before Wes picked him up.

           “Freakin’ scrubs, always filling up the servers in the morning,” Warren mumbled when the ‘TEAM BLUE LOSES’ screen popped up. He tossed the controller to the corner of his bed, slapped off his headset, sat up, and studied Jace. “What’s up, cuz?”

           “Do you ever think about cleaning this place?” Jace asked, looking around.

           “Why? My mom will do it eventually.” The eleven-year-old version of Warren gave Jace a scoffing expression after checking out his clothes up and down. “You know, you don’t have to wear that kinda stuff just because my dad gets it for you.”

           “Have you seen him around today?” Jace asked, already knowing the answer.

           “Nah. He must’a gotten up at, like, five again or something. He talks about ‘inspiration’ striking early and runs off to work sometimes like that. Whoa, hold on…”

           The boy with the amber-colored hair and dark outfit pushed himself off his unkempt bed and stood in front of Jace to compare their heights.

           “Oh, no fair, dude. When did you get almost as tall as me? Man, that’s all I had on you the last couple school years. You got all the smarts and good looks between us.”

           Without thinking, Jace blurted out, “Maybe if you didn’t wear dark clothes all the time and stood up straight, you…” He stopped when he realized he was pulling from unfamiliar memories and saw Warren frowning. “… You up for a bike ride?”

           The two rode slowly—or rather, Warren kept at Jace’s pace, whether he wanted to or not. Jace kept scrolling through his photos to see more that had replaced or altered those he had taken before his time-trip. He and his mom had still gone to Vancouver early that summer, but before that were tons of pictures of himself and his pals hanging out. It looked like they were still on good terms, which came as a big relief. And he and Warren were certainly close as cousins. They had probably shared classes together.

           Remembering the time he had walked through the neighborhood with Warren’s older, edgier self, Jace wanted to relive that brief but happy moment with his cousin. And this version of him, while more content, was also a chatterbox. He talked the whole ride, shifting from subject to subject—but avoiding anything dumb like celebrity gossip.

           “Hey, Jace, remember back at summer camp?” he suddenly asked as he pulled up alongside him again. “Spill the straight tea. Did you. And Emiko. Kiss?”

           There was no escaping the alluring topic of camp romances. Twenty-four years later, and some things didn’t change. But Jace didn’t even know that Emiko, the girl he at one point had feelings for, attended, too; there were no such pictures on his phone.

           Nevertheless, Jace was confident it didn’t happen and answered, “No, we didn’t.”

           Warren raised an eyebrow like he didn’t fully believe him, and they soon came to a stop outside DTE’s playground, which Jace stared out at. The equipment was new, modern, and plastic, and the alley where The Dump had been was long gone. But the trees remained, with Bob among the largest in the neighborhood. Jace could almost hear the laughter of classmates in the wind from both of the time periods he had spent there.

           “Okay, so… why are we looking at my mom’s office?” Warren asked Jace.

           He murmured back, “Your mom’s… Oh, yeah, that’s right. She’s a teacher…”

           Like another memory solidifying out of the fog, more facts hit Jace. Sadie had been their fourth-grade teacher. It was sometimes an embarrassing year for the two of them, but not as bad for Jace as his prior fourth grade, taught by the boring Mr. Fitch.

           “You and my dad,” Warren sighed. “Always thinking about the past. So are you ever gonna tell me what that was about this morning? How long were you in the pantry?”

           “Oh, um…” Jace quickly thought of an excuse of sorts. “Just a few minutes. It was some convoluted joke your dad set up, full of references you and me wouldn’t get.”

           Warren stretched and yawned. “Yeah, that sounds like him… Oh! Hey, guys.”

           Jace looked over to see a most impressive squad riding up on the empty street. It even had two more kids than usual, although the additions weren’t strangers to him.

           Jamie, the group’s biracial and dependable nerd, had a stuffed backpack over his shoulders. Chad, who always liked to argue about things and often tried to prove himself to the others, was near Austin, the athletic one—even if he was also a little chubbier than everyone else. And Laurie, Jace’s first real friend. The “girl of the group,” clever with a dry sense of humor. But it was a surprise to see Toby and Emiko with them, and looking pretty chummy at that. In another world, Jace’s tantrums had scared them off before they had a chance to become tight new members of the crew.

           The two were close equivalents to Zach and Ash. Toby was one of the “in” kids at school, the modern version of the “cool guy.” He could be brash, and kept up to date on all the latest internet trends. Jace also sort of had it in for him, because in his head, Toby had won over Emiko after he screwed up his chance. She was a carefree girl with big glasses, who laughed at almost any joke. Her Japanese family having immigrated only two years ago, she was still learning English. And from the looks of it, her closeness with Toby, which had been bordering on infatuation, hadn’t changed too much.

           But that wasn’t the first thing on Jace’s mind. Upon seeing his friends, he acted out on instinct and quickly formed the words he had long wanted to say to them.

           “Jace, what’s up?” Austin asked him. “We were just on our way over, and—”

           “I’m sorry I was such a screw-up jerk to you guys!” Jace loudly exclaimed.

           His friends, and Warren, all looked at each other, then back at him.

           “Geez, Jace, way to be hard on yourself,” Jamie said. “It happens to everyone. So what if you got too many blue shells in Mario Kart last night? It’s just luck.”

           “He also blew up my poor Birdo with bombs, three times…” Emiko bemoaned.

           “Hey. Are we doing the game or what?” Chad sighed. “It’s gonna get hot soon.”

           “What, uh… What game are we doing again?” Jace wondered. “Wait, it’s outside?”

           Laurie huffed. “Stop kidding around. You’re the one who wanted to play so bad.”

           Jamie held out his backpack and opened it up to reveal a whole bunch of laser tag pistols and vests for everyone to see. It was the last thing Jace expected to see.

           “J, no teaming up with Warren today, bro,” Toby said. “You’re too good together.”

           Warren chuckled, smacked Jace’s shoulder, and said, “Heh. Ya got that right.”