Corrupted Timelines

Destabilization

"I'm fucking stuck here..." Amelia paced around the room Ina had lent her. "Is this just my present now? Am I changing the past technically? I guess it doesn't really matter since it's just my present now. But I can predict future events," she went back and forth with her own mind. The entire situation was so overwhelming. She was doing what she was told was impossible.

This was uncharted territory for her. She would need to be careful.

'And so is the present.' Those words rang deep in her mind. They didn't sound like an explanation or a warning.

They sounded like a promise.

The weird happenings she had brushed off started to make sense. Gura's handwriting being missing, seeing duplicate phones, and Johnny sitting up in bed.

Was the present beginning to destabilize?

Amelia created her third arm and looked at it. She moved it around, observing it in greater detail than she had before. If the present really was destabilizing, what was going to happen to everyone in it?

The sound of the apartment's front door opening brought her out of her train of thought. It seemed like Ina was back. She'd been out grabbing some more food for the rest of the weekend. They had wanted to spend it in relative peace before they both went back to school next week. She doubted that would happen, though.

Amelia walked over to her bedroom door and opened it. Ina was indeed carrying a few too many groceries. Amelia went over and grabbed on the more unstable ones, helping Ina keep it off of the floor. Until one of the apples in the bag fell onto the floor.

Amelia saw what had happened to it, Ina hadn't. The apple had phased straight through the bag. In another timeline the bag had fallen and the apples were spilled all over the ground. One of those possibilities had just bled through into this timeline.

The present was destabilizing and it was getting worse.

"Oh shit, I thought I kept this thing upright enough," Ina pouted a little. Amelia tried to use her friend's voice to distract herself from the overwhelming despair sinking into her soul.

What should she do now?

"Ame, are you ok? You look really pale," Ina's voice pierced through her mind. She snapped her head upward and looked at her friend.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," she said back. Ina didn't seem convinced.

"You sure? You were acting a little out of it last night." Amelia recalled her cryptic goodbyes to both Ina and Gura. It almost seemed like she was about to kill herself. She cringed internally at her past actions.

"I promise, I'm fine," she needed to talk about this with someone else, "I'm just confused about something." Ina looked at her waiting for some kind of statement. Amelia sighed.

"Have you noticed any weird things happening?" Ina just continued to stare at her.

"What's that supposed to mean, Ame?" she laughed slightly, but stopped when she saw how deathly serious Amelia was being. "What weird things have been happening to you?" she asked with concern.

"Remember how I yelled out Johnny's name the first time we were at the hospital?" Ina nodded, remembering how weird that was. "I saw him sitting up when I yelled that."

Ina had to remind herself not to laugh. It sounded so ridiculous, but something told her that Amelia was serious. "Maybe you should see a doctor. It could be from trauma." Amelia only shook her head. Should she reveal herself?

"It happened again yesterday. He even spoke to me and now I'm really worried." Ina's eyes widened the longer Amelia talked. Whatever this is, it's really bad.