Chrono Virus

Chapter 4

Heidi Watts blinked a few times to clear the blinding light of the summer sky away. Buildings and people formed around her as the sounds of a bustling city grew louder. It was a minute before Watts realized she was on a sidewalk. The occupied pedestrians couldn't be bothered to check the condition of the random girl strung along the ground. She climbed to her feet, avoiding the oblivious people trying to walk through her. Only by moving against the wall of a building was she able to avoid the sea of foot traffic.

A comforting breeze blew against her arms, exposed from the short sleeved shirt she had on. The wind scooped up a bunch of dirt and Watts watched as the breeze carried the debris carried to a small park across the street. She followed it, if only to get away from the throng of people suffocating her personal space. Oddly enough, this side of the street was empty. She took a seat on a wooden bench, its green paint chipped and faded from weathering.

Watts smiled at the familiar scents and noises of the city. It was Caff. It was home, the only home she had known before heading off planet, before serving on ships.

Before the Raven.

Wait. How could she be on Caff? Watts frowned.

She looked down to see normal street clothes. Her jeans and boutique shirt definitely didn't fit the bill for her normal ship attire.

She buried her face in her hands. "This makes no sense." She tried to wipe the city away from her eyes, but Caff was as real as... the Raven.

Before she collapsed.

Could Hubbard have dropped her off back at Caff to be cared for? No. She didn't have family on the planet. After the incident with her ex-boyfriend Gavin, all Watts wanted to do was get away. Once the hospital discharged her, it was only one transport stop to the service center. Two signed forms and a thumbprint scan later and Heidi Watts had been assigned to FTL Monitoring Station 22. A mere two hours passed between stepping out of the hospital to being strapped into a seat as her shuttle left the atmosphere. It was summer then as well.

She couldn't explain how or why she was on Caff. She thought back and remembered how the Raven's bridge felt off-balance while Ken and the captain were speaking, like the floor was tilting. She recalled starting to fall, but then the she awoke to the clear, Caff sky. How long could she have been out?

An electronic horn squealed, grabbing her attention. A transport stopped in the middle of the street. The driver was leaning on the horn as a couple stood in traffic. They were arguing. The man made a rude gesture to the driver and pulled the woman onto Watts's side of the street. The transport sped off, and the traffic zipped by once more.

Watts chuckled. Only on Caff. It was the only place she'd heard such a distinctive transport horn. It was unique.

She continued to watch them argue down the sidewalk when a shot of cold rushed through her body. The horn. That horn. The traffic. The couple. It had happened before. The memory flooded her mind, and she was on her feet in seconds. Watts moved away from the bench, taking position behind a tree that was closer to the couple. It took only a single glance to identify the arguing pair. It was Gavin and herself, from six years ago. That was before she was Watts. That was when she was just Heidi.

The ground pulled at Watts, with all it had beckoning her to fall and rest, but the force nearly overtook her as she kept her eyes trained on her ex-boyfriend. His outfit made her shiver: a white t-shirt covered by a blue blazer, and jeans . She gripped the tree to keep upright and made a conscious effort to breathe. Her body couldn't give out. Not now.

Gavin's temper was about to boil over for the final time. The scene between him and her past self was beyond deja vu. It flowed in perfect time to her memory. Her young counterpart widened the distance between them.