Entanglement of Time

Chapter 1: Sent Back in Time

Summary: The Core 4 and Kirby and Jill are sent back in time to around the time (specifically sometime before) the 2022 Ghostfaces made their decision. 

______________________________________

The night drapes New York City in a heavy blanket of darkness, the moon casting long, eerie shadows over the deserted streets. In her small room, Tara sits silently, hunched over her desk, her fingers idly flipping through the pages of her psychology textbook. She's working on an assignment, one that's due next week—an analysis of the basic psychology of the human brain under the influence of bipolar disorder. 

But her thoughts are far from the task at hand, wandering through the foggy corridors of her memories, many of which have been shrouded in a haze of trauma and time. 

Tara has never knowingly met anyone with bipolar disorder, or at least she doesn't think she has. Her memory is unreliable, a fragmented collection of moments that seem to slip through her fingers whenever she tries to grasp them. 

Trauma, like a relentless thief, has stolen away much of her past, leaving behind only a few scattered remnants. Happy memories, once bright and vibrant, are now faded and distant, buried deep beneath the weight of the experiences she has tried so hard to forget. Faces and names from her childhood and teenage years blur together in her mind, their details lost to the passage of time and the scars of her experiences. 

The one name that still stands out amidst the confusion is Amber Freeman, a name that brings with it a wave of conflicting emotions. Tara can't seem to remember the last time she shared a genuine smile with Amber, the last time they laughed together, or even the last normal conversation they had as best friends. The memories of Amber are among the few that have survived the trauma, but they are tinged with a pang of sadness and guilt that Tara can't seem to shake. 

She sighs quietly, her hand moving to her forehead in a gesture of weary frustration. "Why do I still think about you?" she whispers to herself, her gaze falling on the small pendant necklace that lies on her desk. 

It's the same necklace she had given to Amber long before the horrific events of 2022, a time that feels like a lifetime ago. The pendant, once a symbol of their unbreakable bond, now serves as a painful reminder of everything that has been lost. 

Tara picks up the necklace, her fingers tracing its delicate chain as she rubs a small, dirty spot off the pendant. As she stares at it, tears well up in her eyes, and soon they are flowing freely down her cheeks. The pain is overwhelming, the guilt suffocating, as she cries quietly, her shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs. 

"Why did you do it, Ambs?" she asks the empty room, her voice trembling as she curls up in her desk chair, hugging her legs to her chest. "Why did I kill you?" 

The question hangs in the air, unanswered, as the tears continue to fall. Tara pulls her legs closer, trying to make herself as small as possible, as if she could somehow disappear into the shadows of the room. Her grief is palpable, a heavy, oppressive weight that she can't escape. 

A soft knock on her bedroom door startles her, and she quickly wipes the tears from her face. Her hand shakes as she reaches for her inhaler, taking a deep puff before standing up and walking slowly to the door. She takes a deep breath, trying to steady herself, before turning the doorknob and opening the door just a crack. 

Jill stands on the other side, her silhouette framed by the dim light of the hallway. There's something about the way Jill tilts her head that sends a shiver down Tara's spine, a gesture that unnervingly reminds her of Amber. Tara's mind races with thoughts of Ghostface, and she can't help but wonder if that head tilt is something all Ghostfaces do instinctively.