Finding Finn Reed

VII

Atticus had told me everything about his life. He was born and raised in a town called Sceethe, just a few towns over Intemilly. His mother passed away when he was born, and he was stuck to live with his abusive father. He told me about the abuse he went through. His father didn't understand what Atticus was, and that had angered him. When he was fourteen, he ran away to his uncle. His uncle had been the same as Atticus, they could do what I did. They called themselves 'Time Hoppers'. The name itself bewildered me, I couldn't believe it. Such an ability sounded straight out of a science fiction movie. The ability to manipulate time like that, it was astounding. Atticus explained that certain people were born with a rare gene scientists called Novus Tempus. The gene gave a person the ability to literally split time in as many forms as they'd like. Everybody used it differently however, which is why the gene was so rare. Atticus told me that I was the only other time hopper he had met besides his uncle. He said what had baffled him the most, was how I used my ability of time hopping. His uncle had told him that time hoppers usually used their ability to select certain fragments of time they wanted to go back to. Most people were limited to a short timeframe, however. Some were able to split an entire day into fragments, others only a couple minutes. But not me, my ability was a little more cunning.

Atticus and I stayed up all night and spoke about time hopping. He had told me about the first time he'd experienced it. "It happened out in my fathers field. I was leading some cattle out of the field, when I had slipped and fallen off a steep hill. I shut my eyes so tight, I saw nothing but darkness. When I re-opened my eyes, I was back in the field again, leading the cattle." His story had perplexed me, there was somebody out there, just like me. "What happened when your father found out?" I asked. "He called it a damnation. He tried to kill my uncle when they were younger, I wasn't going to let him kill me, so I left" his presence no longer felt cancerous, he was calm, and spoke normally. I understood why he was tense growing up. To be alone in a world where nobody understands what's going on, it's a dolorous feeling. "It must have been rough, growing up like that" I said, my voice filled with grief. Atticus looked at me and sighed, "It's not a sin, time hopping that is. Only special people get it, people like us." "What happens to people like us? Do they get hunted down and experimented on?" I asked, now beginning to worry. Atticus playfully laughed and said, "On the contraire, scientists are encouraging people like us to come out of the shadows, they want to learn" his face suddenly turned morbid, "But you know why we haven't made ourselves known? It's the same reason you're lover ran out on you." My attention was now directed at Atticus's face. "They wouldn't be able to study us, because despite what people say, the unknown will always anger the masses, am I correct?" I asked. Atticus nodded in agreement. There was no way we would be treated kindly, with the unknown comes the idea of chaos, and resentment. I never understood why people were so afraid of change, but they were.

I checked the time, it was half past midnight. Atticus and I had been sitting on the couch talking for hours and hours. Part of me enjoyed these talks, they were informative, and they made me feel less lonely. "But enough about me, I want to talk about you" Atticus said, staring at me. "There isn't much to talk about, I only began time hopping about six months ago" I sighed. Atticus sat closer to me, and began to explain. "I already told you that I was able to enter your 'dreams'. The fact that I was able to do that already proves you're a different breed. You don't just cut fragments in time, you create fragment in time." I was confused. The topic of time hopping had all been one confusing explanation after another. It all made zero sense. "So I create fragments, what makes that so special?" I asked, in hopes of some enlightenment on the subject. "It's easy to erase a fragment in time and replace it with a new one. But you don't do that. For a while, it was only your sub conscience that did it, which is probably why confused it with dreaming, but you never erased fragments." "So what did I do?" I asked, still in a haze of confusion. Atticus gave me a broad smile, "It's like you're not even listening, you create time, you create parallel worlds." "How is that possible? I don't get it" I said, now shoving my face into a pillow and exhaling. Atticus took a deep breath. "Let's say I went back in time to our encounter at the police station. I would have to split time into two separate fragments. One fragment being our encounter, the other being right now. The time that's happening right now, would seize to exist, so I'd have to replace it with another fragment, in comes the encounter, are you following me?" he asked impatiently. "I think I do, there can't be two encounters of us speaking, so one has to be erased" Atticus's face brightened up, "Yes! So, I simply get rid of the fragment I don't need, and replace it with a fresh new copy." I was beginning to finally understand, it all made sense. It was impossible for two fragments to exist, it only made sense to eradicate one of them.

"So what about me? Can I do that?" I asked. Atticus paused for a while to gather his thoughts. "There is only one real timeline, this one. There is only one you, and one me. You have managed to create other timelines, artificial timelines if you want to call it that." Artificial timelines I thought to myself. It sounded absurd, but considering I've actually experienced it, it only made sense. "And you can't do that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at Atticus. "No, I can't. Like I said before, I can only split time into fragments. You can do that too, but you can also create an entire parallel universe." "How?" I asked. I could tell Atticus didn't know how to respond to my question, his face looked lost, just like my thoughts. "Beats me" he said after a minute of silence, "The only reason I can think of is because you're some sort of god" I rolled my eyes. "There you go again, calling me a 'god'. I'm not a god" I arrogantly said. "Then why don't you explain it to me, hm? How is it that you are able to create a brand new, artificial universe, filled with artificial people? How is it that you can create such an extraordinary thing, and then simply wake up and have it all be gone?" His words had silenced me. I didn't know how to explain it, I don't think I wanted to. "I don't know" I softly whispered. "That's right, you don't" he replied immediately, "Out of all the time hoppers my uncle spoke to me about, never has he met someone who can create universes with just a simple and easy thought." "So how do I bring it to life?" I asked, sounding determined. Atticus laughed loudly, and looked straight into my eyes. "You're the time god, how the hell should I know?" All of this power, and I didn't even know how to use it. I felt completely incompetent. "What about Finn? Is there a way to bring him back?" "Probably. If you can learn how to split time, you might be able to go back and stop him from dying. Or you could create another timeline and just remain there for eternity" he chuckled. I sighed, "An artificial Finn? I'd rather settle for the real one."

I got up from the couch, and headed towards my room. "Where are you going?" Atticus asked. "To bed, I'm exhausted, I'll deal with all of this in the morning." "What about me?" he asked. "The couch is all yours, but I'm locking my doors. I need to sleep all of this off, goodnight" I said as I walked to my room. Atticus mumbled something that sounded like a goodnight, but I wasn't sure. For the rest of the night, I remained in my room, unable to sleep at the thought of being a god. "Don't be ridiculous, like hell if I'm a god" I whispered to myself. I shut my eyes, and greeted the void with a somber bow.

If I'm a god, I will find you Finn Reed.