The Street
Vic staggered backward, contemplating whether he was better off just staying on the pavement for a while.
“What’s going on?!” Ash directed her question to the sky as much as anyone else.
Vic responded to Ash, never taking his eyes off of “Meg,” or whatever this was in front of him. “Apparently, this is my friend, Meg.” Vic explained what had happened with his phone, the phone call that didn’t go through, the unsent messages, and Meg’s office.
Wake looked at Meg. “So … Meg, I’ve been hearing your voice for about a week now. Was that you, Meg? Or a different Bob?”
“What day is it?” Meg wasn’t sure that she hadn’t been talking to Wake, but she felt fairly sure it wasn’t her.
“Thursday. The 12th.”
Meg buzzed a little faster. “The 12th? The 12th of what?”
“March. March 12th, 2093.”
Meg appeared to stop moving, and Ash decided that was distinctly worse than any movement Meg had made before. The emptiness at the center of Meg pulled on Ash. She forced herself to look away by turning her body more toward Wake.
Meg’s edges turned slowly. “That was last year.”
Vic, unable to stop the tears, wiped his cheek again and pulled out his phone. “No,” he scrolled to the photo he’d looked at earlier, hopelessly expecting that perhaps showing the photo would snap everything back to the way it was 48 hours before. “This,” he held up the photo. “This was just last month. Remember? We were sending this to John. We said congratulations and whatever.”
Meg shifted directions. “No,” she said carefully. “That was over a year ago.”
Vic didn’t move, but Ash saw something shift in his body. She stepped over to Vic and put an arm under his. She felt his weight shift onto hers as she steadied him.
Wake scrunched his eyes in confusion, staring harder at Meg. “So, I haven’t been hearing you for the last week, but you disappeared a year ago?”
“I don’t know,” Meg’s edges spun sideways. “I was in my office, and then I was nowhere, and then I was here. It happened in no time” (there is no time) “but I also know that I’ve been like this for about a year.”
She buzzed, her edges wavy, almost like sound waves. “I don’t know,” she repeated. “But we can’t stay here. We’re too close to the Breach. I have an idea of somewhere we can go, that might be safe for a while.”
Meg turned toward Wake. He instinctively (not instinctive) pulled a map up on his phone. Meg spun toward Wake a little, as if gesturing toward the map. “There.” A spot on the map glowed bright, just for a moment.
Wake was surprised, not at the glow but the location. “The power station? Why?”
“I’m not sure yet. I might have an idea, maybe I’ll know what it is once we get there. Things are still … fuzzy.”
Wake and Ash looked at each other, confused but curious. Vic was already moving toward the car. “It’s fine. This is all fine. Right? Let’s go.”
Anything to get away from this moment.