The Chaos Walker

Bits and Pieces of Us

Regis sat at his workbench, the strange puzzle piece turning over and over in his hands. It was small, metallic, and intricately designed, unlike any puzzle piece he'd ever seen. He sighed, placing it on the table and staring at it, as if willing it to reveal its secrets.

"Where do you fit?" he muttered.

The piece seemed to mock him. He picked it up again, trying to match it to the lines of the project drawings on his desk, then comparing it to the logos on the various tools and apps that they used to troubleshoot prototypes.

Nothing.

Frustrated, he tossed it aside, but it landed perfectly upright, catching the light and casting a small, intricate shadow on the wall.

That was just one conundrum running through his mind since returning to work after cutting short their vacation. Sarah was another.

He hadn't had time yet to process and internalize the blowup with Sarah-ß as he was coming to think of her. He thought about similar arguments with his Sarah, about how their responses were different. Maybe not the words, but at least the emotion behind them felt different, less resentful.

Now that he thought about it, he also hadn't seen any sign of Long Covid symptoms in Sarah-ß. He knew it wasn't fair to hold that against his Sarah (dare he start thinking of her as Sarah-α?), but there was no denying that it added stress to both their lives. He had always tried to be understanding and sympathetic but he had to admit that he liked her better without it. The dark blonde hair with the pink stripe was kind of cute, too.

Ugh, this train of thought was getting uglier by the second. He needed an outside perspective, or maybe just someone he could bounce these thoughts off of. Jenna had offered a listening ear back before the crazy week and this was not work related, so office politics weren't involved. Maybe, she would have some useful insights.

His gaze drifted slowly across the desk, and slowed to a crawl as it passed the enigmatic puzzle piece. While his eyes locked wits with the small irregular shape, his left hand moved of its own volition and picked up his smartphone. In less than a second, his fingers tapped out a text.

"Can we talk? It's about something important."

A few minutes later, Jenna walked in, her expression a mix of curiosity and concern. "Hey, what's up?"

Regis motioned for her to sit. "I need to tell you something, and it's going to sound crazy, but please hear me out."

Jenna sat down, her eyes focused on Regis. "Okay, I'm listening."

Regis took a deep breath. "I've been to an alternate reality. I know it sounds impossible, but it's true. I met another version of Sarah there, and things got really complicated."

Jenna's eyes widened. "An alternate reality? Are you serious?" 

He could see her scrutinizing his face, her focus shifting from one eye to the other.  She was managing to keep her expression mostly neutral, but her body language was all over the place. She finally settled on 'stay and find out more'.

"You had some kind of accident on your week off, didn't you?  Please understand, I'm not calling you crazy, but you do realize that it sounds crazy, right?

Regis nodded. "Yes. I don't fully understand it myself, but I was there. And when I came back, I found this." He pushed the puzzle piece across the polished glass surface of the desk with one finger and knocked it over, flat.

Jenna stared at the piece, then back at Regis. "What does it mean?"

"I don't know yet," Regis admitted. "But I think it's a clue, something to help me understand what's happening. I need your help to figure it out. There was also another version of Sarah. She was so much like my Sarah, but, I don't know, more cooperative. Her hair was completely different also.  Oh, and people drove the way they are supposed to and everyone seemed fine with leaving really young kids home alone for a week with no supervision.  I know this isn't work related, but if I can just get some things settled in my mind, I'll be better able to help the team and really get focused on the project."

Jenna looked conflicted. "Regis, this is a lot to take in. I want to help, but things are different now."  Body language shifted again.  'Stay and find out more' mode shut off, 'I can't help with this' mode kicked in.  

"Nick and I picked up a lot of the slack while you were gone, and we have meetings all day. We have been working really well together. If you need to take a little time getting back in the swing of things, we can keep things moving in the right direction for now."

"She and Nick...are working really well together? I'm gone a week and 'if there is any way I can help' turns into 'Nick and I are working really well together?"

That's what he thought. What he actually said was, "I understand. Thanks for listening."

Just then, Nick walked in, holding a stack of papers. "Hey, Jenna, ready for the meeting?"

Jenna stood up, giving Regis a sympathetic look. "We'll talk more later, okay?"

As she left with Nick, Regis felt the weight of the puzzle piece in his pocket. He didn't remember putting that back in his pocket. It had also never had any weight before, in spite of the appearance of being made of a hard, dark metal. He pulled it out and scrutinized it again. The pattern etched on its ebony surface had changed!

"What the hell?" he thought. "I have to figure this out before I go completely crazy."

"What if I'm already crazy?"  Maybe Jenna was right.  "I might not be able to rely on my own perception of reality anymore."  The boat had hit his head pretty hard.  

"I can't tell Sarah about this, right?  She doesn't need to know about a cute, healthier version of herself," he winced at the thought of how that conversation might play out, especially if she actually believed him.  "If I could find a way to get Jenna back on my side...maybe...."

He was so completely engrossed in the circular track of his thoughts that he barely registered the flash of lightning that split the sky and the downpour that followed it, veiling the world outside the windows in colorless sheets of rain.