Sigmund Deaves: Timepiece

Chapter 10: Outburst

In the half a second Sigmund had between him standing up and Jessica Ozark starting her tirade of verbal and physical abuse, he had a brief mental conversation. Above: You've really done it this time, this poor girl thinks you're some kind of stalker with a fondness for unnecessarily complicated plots. Would you mind reminding me why this is happening? Below: We're doing this because it is just soooo much fun! It feels so good, doesn't it? Messing with people who don't know any better. What's the point of having other people around if not to have a little fun with them? Sigmund didn't know why he allowed Below to get so loud sometimes. I have very complex motives for doing this, we needed to make sure that the Timepiece works the way we think it does. In order to do that we needed to understand where Jessica was from six to six thirty. And we did do that. Above: Yeah, I'm not questioning the fact that we need some information from her. But what about all the other stuff? Why did you have to go through Sarah and pretend that you were Jessica's boyfriend? Above knew that it was way more complicated than he was making it sound, however Sigmund realized that he had a point when he said it himself. It's simple, I had to do that because it was faster. Above: Couldn't you just have waited until she walked back into the Chess Room to challenge you for the presidency again? Sigmund prepared his customary mental rebuttal before realizing that he'd need something just a bit more complicated than that. It took him an extra couple of milliseconds to think of something that would make him sound slightly less crazy than he actually was. Well... I'm an enterprising young time traveler now, and I have a very limited lifespan. I cannot just waste that very short lifespan on something that may or may not happen. This piece of evidence might be vital in the future, so I needed it as soon as possible. Above: So your reason for going through something this convoluted just to make sure your new toy was working correctly was... and correct me if I'm wrong... YOLO? This amount of insubordination just simply was not tolerable. That's it, I'm turning this train of thought around. My brain can be working on something better than mindless banter with you. Above: Fine, but I want you to remember that I'm still you, so you harboring negative feeling towards me doesn't bode well for your overall psychological health. Like a light switch, Sigmund's brief introspection ended and time sped back up to its normal speed.

"YOU EVIL, MANIPULATIVE, SPITEFUL BASTARD!!" the fourteen year old girl who had previously seemed completely harmless screamed at the top of her lungs. On the outside, Sigmund attempted to put on a surprised and apologetic expression, but on the inside he was recoiling in indignation. Why is she yelling at me again? He mentally signaled Above to keep any witticism to himself.

"Hang on, I can explain," as far as Sigmund was concerned, he had a perfectly sound and truthful explanation. However, no one in their right mind would believe it. He held up his palms in surrender to further solidify his next statement, "This is all just a big misunderstanding that will be cleared up very shortly."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR EXPLANATIONS!!" and yet, for some reason, she still remained in front of Sigmund and the police hadn't been notified yet. "Wait, actually, I want you tell me why you made those threats, and WHAT DO YOU WANT!?" Jessica was invading Sigmund's personal space; she stood so close that he felt like he was suffocating.

While Sigmund attempted to stop her verbal onslaught, he was slowly getting pushed back toward a wall, at a time like this he was pretty sure he should be trying his very hardest not to physically touch the other person. "It's very complicated, all I wanted was some information, that's all. I would've just left you alone afterwards."

"Yeah, and what would you have done if I hadn't answered your questions in the way I had wanted, huh? What would you have done to Sarah!?" Christ, I really hit a nerve with this Sarah Yadkin girl.