The End of the World and Other Signs of the End of the World - ONC 2021

August: Attempt #2

My alarm went off at 5:45 in the morning, and my first thought was, do alarms still go off when you're dead?

Because I had to be dead, right? The last thing I remembered was the world ending in a firey mess.

The last thing I remembered was Juliet. My Jules. 

The last thing I remembered was not being able to save her.

Then when I looked at my calendar, I realized something was up. I crossed off the days every morning when I woke up, but July 31st was uncrossed.

Fine. So I'd forgotten to cross it out. That didn't explain why I wasn't dead.

I checked my phone, and there it was on the screen in big white letters. July 31st. Today.

Which meant the whole end of the world thing, regardless of how real it seemed, was a dream.

I gave up puzzling over it and went downstairs for breakfast, trying to shake the feeling of deja-vu. 

In the middle of eating my oatmeal, I got a call. I checked the caller ID and it was like someone had dumped a bucket of ice over my head. 

I'd seen that before. I'd gotten a call at exactly 6:28 from the internship guy in my dream.

I remember in my dream, I'd changed internship guy's contact to Rob, because he'd told me his name and I'd felt rude. He'd said, hey, August, it's Rob from the Centre. You doing all right?

It had to be a coincidence. I picked up. 

"Hello?"

"Hey, August, it's Rob from the Centre. You doing all right?"

What the fuck. Was I psychic? What had happened in that dream?

I tried to calm my thoughts so I wouldn't sound like a nutcase when talking to Rob. "I'm good, man. You?"

"Oh, I'm good, August. Thank you for asking. Now, do you think you'll be busy today?"

"I can clear my schedule. What's going on?" The world's ending, I remembered. That's what's going on.

"We just have a little project we're working on down at the Centre that we think you'd be perfect for. You been outside at all?"

"No, I just woke up."

Rob chuckled. "Of course, of course. You teens and your summers. Well, check it out. The project is really focused on a couple astronomical anomalies, so if you could do a bit of research while you head on over, that'd be great."

"Astrological anomalies?" No, no, no. It was happening exactly like my dream. It was all happening again.

"It's all over the news. You can't miss it. Hey, are you able to get in touch with Juliet Chung?"

"Yeah, sure. We're neighbours."

"If you could bring her with you, that'd be great. We need all hands on deck down here."

"Sure. When do you need us?"

"As soon as possible," Rob said. "See you soon, August."

"Sure, Rob." I hung up and stared at my wall. Holy shit. I predicted the future.

Or did I? My memories of what happened in the dream were way to clear for it to be a dream. They should have started fading by now, but they weren't. They were as persistent as regular memories.

Regular memories. This was a fucking time loop.

It didn't really make sense, but it made more sense than an insanely accurate psychic dream. I was stuck in a time loop.