The Loop

Chapter Eight

There was a bright light. With much effort, Scully opened her eyes, fighting for sight. She quickly turned around, knowing Mulder would be behind her. Once she fully regained her sight she immediately spotted Mulder, who was standing a few yards away, bent over with his hands on his knees, staring at the ground. He seemed to be trying to catch his breath. Scully hurried over to him.

"Mulder, are you okay?" she asked, resting a hand on his shoulder. He straightened up, drawing in a deep breath and scrunching up his face. Letting out a deep sigh, he opened his eyes and rested them on Scullys.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." he answered with a brisk nod. Scully took her hand back and brought it to cross her chest along with her other.

"Okay, what the hell?" she asked. Mulder looked at her, a bit confused, but then a smile broke out across his face.

"You remember, huh? Everything we just talked about?" Scully glared at him.

"Yeah, I remember. So what does this mean? That we really are stuck in some sort of time loop?" she asked. Mulder nodded his head, that triumphant smile still playing across his lips.

"Yup." he answered. Scully didn't want to believe it. How could this even be possible? You wouldn't think that it would be, but with all of the evidence, how could it not be? Frowning at the ground, Scully had a sudden realization. Her head snapped up to look at Mulder.

"Mulder, the man." she said quickly, then broke out into a sprint towards the bleachers.

"Scully, wait!" she could hear Mulder yelling from behind as he ran to catch up with her, but she didn't stop. She may be able to stop the man from jumping this time.

Scully reached the bleachers, looked up, and saw that the man was already on the other side of the railing. With a deep sense of dread, she knew that she would never be able to reach him in time. Mulder finally caught up to her, kicking up some dust as he came to a quick stop. He was panting quickly, his hand coming to splay across his chest.

"Scully - we won't - be able - to stop him." Mulder said between breaths. Scully turned slightly towards Mulder, but didn't take her eyes off of the man.

"Mulder, we can't just let him jump!"

"Scully, we've already been through this. We won't be able to stop him. We have to figure out what caused him to jump, and then this will all be over." Mulder replied, having finally caught his breath. Scully continued to stare up at the man with a look of horror. "We have to wait until he jumps and then search him. I think we'll only have a few minutes to until this all starts over again." Mulder concluded, so the two of them (Scully reluctantly) stood there and waited for the man to jump.

They watched a minute later as the man jumped, and Scully turned her head so that she wouldn't see him hit the ground. She heard the sickening thud as his body landed, and suddenly Mulder was tugging at her arm.

"Come on, Scully, we don't have that much time." Mulder said, then let go and ran quickly towards the man, turning him over to face up once he reached him. Scully followed him, kneeling down next to the man's body as soon as she got there, and looked him over. She then began to do the only thing she could think of.

"Male, around 40 years of age, died on impact-"

"Scully," Mulder cut her off. "we know how he died. We need to search him quickly to find some clues. Check his coat." he said, then began to search the man's pants pockets. Scully nodded, then reached out and pulled open the man's coat, beginning to look around. The man had two pockets on both sides of the inside of his coat, and after checking the left side - which was empty - Scully reached into the right side, immediately coming into contact with something.

"Mulder," Scully started as she gripped the object, pulling it from the pocket. Once out, she held it in front of her so that Mulder could see it too. "It's a folded piece of paper." she said, turning it around and examining it. Mulder took his hand out of the man's left pants pocket, then, taking his eyes off of the paper Scully was holding, he looked down at something in his hand. His lips curling into a satisfied smile, Mulder brought what he was holding up so that Scully could see it as well.

"This could be the key to our investigation, Scully." Mulder stated, a small smirk forming on his lips. He was holding up a key that he had just retrieved from the man's pocket. Scully glared at Mulder, disapproving of his joke. "What?" Mulder asked, a chuckle slipping out of him as he feigned innocence.

"You know Mulder, I just might have to break up with you." Scully teased, forgetting all about the situation they were currently in. Mulder laughed.

"If I had a nickle." he replied with a smile, then began to examine the key. Disregarding his comment, Scully unfolded the piece of paper. It had a short sentence written inside, which Scully read aloud.

"Fifty grand by sundown." she read, furrowing her eyebrows. "Is this some sort of ransom note?" she brought her gaze to look up at Mulder. He looked at the note, then down at the man, his eyebrows furrowing as he began to think. Scully folded the note back up and put it into her pocket, and Mulder put the key into his. Scully turned her gaze down towards the man as well. What did the note mean? Did this man have to pay or collect the money? What in the hell was going on? As she continued to think, suddenly, everything went black.