NINE TIME MACHINES: Do you want to undo your entire life on planet earth?

CHAPTER 26

That was the cue to end my trip to heaven and return to earth. A notification goes off as I enter, followed by a warning sound. I dry off quickly, carefully detach my hair from my back, then screw the light bulb in place and plug the charger in. It's from Pete. Well, not really from him. We never stopped being friends on Facebook so I still get notifications from time to time. But not for a while, though. Oh, well. That's my cue to stalk. I click on his name, Pete Falona, and dive in. He's updated his status. Just a few white dots on a black background. What the hell! I count them. Twenty-seven to be exact. What is that supposed to mean? That he has nothing left to say? That he's finally stopped sharing for the first time in his life?

I scroll through some of his pictures and get lost in the old world where Pete loved Mary. Oh, I'm such a liar. If he loved me so much then why are there no pictures to prove it? Because you never took any, dummy. And he never encouraged it either. Everything between Pete and I had been one-sided, forced even. Ah! Forget you! My eyes stray to the ad on my right. Stocatta Embassy is offering another work-related lottery. They do it twice each year, and like my mother's shampoo most people get through only in their imagination. Some even walk around telling fake stories, and then get defensive when people ask to see the stamp in their passports. I click on the ad for more information.

A full high school certificate sounds right up my alley. Let's see what else I need. Yeah, I can do this; and that too. Hmmm. Maybe not that. This is where I always get stumped. References, whether personal or employer-based, have a way of eluding me. And now I need two. I wonder if Matron Caine will help. Zero. She'll probably hold a grudge until I pay off her rent. Perhaps the church might. They did it before. Forgiveness is king around those paths. Father Paul shouldn't hold it against me that I left the perfect job he recommended me for. I think back on how many times he could've done just that over the last four years. God knows I gave him reason enough to send me packing. But he never did and I'm almost sure he won't start now. So it's a go.

Yes! I'm going to Stocatta! Why hadn't I thought about this before? It's the perfect thing to get my life in gear. Isn't that what people do when they come here? If things aren't working out in the south, head to the north. Better yet, change the whole damn country. Yes, that's what I'll do, go some place where there's no Pete or my mother to abandon me. It'll be like turning a new page in a storybook and having the emperor give me his best pair of shoes. Yes, dammit! I'm doing it, I promise myself as the pills finally kick in. I'm going to start over tomorrow.