Timeline Jumper

Chapter 2: Ticks and Timelines

"Amise! Big sister!"

I sigh as Sabrina comes running up to me. "Now that my mommy is gone, we can find Liam!" Sabrina looks so excited. I really don't want to crush her little heart. "Sabrina, I have to get to school. We can play later, okay?" I say. Then I start walking again. Sabrina runs after me. "That's what you said last time! Please Amise!" Umm, what?

The last time I saw Sabrina, I was walking home from school, not to school. "I don't know what you mean. I'm going to be late." "Please! This is my last tick! You have to believe me!" What is going on? She sounds crazy! I stop again. I'm going to be late for school of she keeps this up...

"What do you mean, 'your last tick?'" I ask. "The nice lady gave them to me! When I lost you and Liam, I was sad. Very sad. The nice lady said that she was magical! She gave me ten ticks to find you guys in another time line so I could be with you! But every time I find you, you don't believe me! I don't just want to force you to come with me, I want you to come because you want to!"

Sabrina takes a big breath. "I just want to live with you and Liam all in a family..." she says sadly. Well, now I feel bad. "Even if I believed you, I still need to get to school." I say. Then she smiles. "No problem." Sabrina fiddles with a watch on her wrist that I hadn't noticed before. Then she says goodbye and runs away.

I finally get to school. When I walk into class, I start apologizing. I slide into my seat, and my teacher is staring at me. Actually, my whole class is staring at me. "I'm so sorry I'm late, I was held up..." I start. Nobody moves. I tilt my head in confusion. I tap the classmate closest to me. She doesn't move. What is happening?

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I walk down the street in search of Sabrina. I can't believe she did this. How did she do it? Why did she do it? I call out to her. "Sabrina! Where are you?" "I'm right here." I yelp and turn around. Sabrina is sitting on the sidewalk, fiddling with her watch again.

"What did you do?" I ask. She giggles. "You said that you would be late for school, so I stopped time!" Sabrina walks up to me and holds out a hand.
I raise an eyebrows at her. "Please just trust me."

I stare at her hand. I don't really trust her. Something is telling me to, though. I grab her hand. "I trust you." I say. Sabrina grins widely. "Thank you." she whispers. Then we are engulfed in a bright light. I squeeze my eyes shut to shield them from these blinding lights.

I feel someone poke me. I open my eyes, and we are in a small living room. The couch is patterned green, with matching throw pillows. A brown coffee table sits in the middle of the room. A TV plays silently on the other side of the coffee table. A young woman sits on the couch, smiling at us. She has a dark complexion, with curly dark hair. Her eyes are a soft brown color.

"Well done Sabrina." The woman smiles at Sabrina. "Ms. Evelyn!" She runs to her and sits on Ms. Evelyn's lap. "Hello, Amise." She nods at me. "Why do you guys keep calling me Amise? My name is Kelly." I say. I'm starting to get a little annoyed. "You are Amise, but in another timeline. You were killed in that timeline. Sabrina and Liam are your younger siblings." Ms. Evelyn explains.

Sabrina starts getting teary eyed. She wipes her eyes and continues with the story. "After you were killed, Liam took my hand and we started to run. It was scary. Those mean people were everywhere! While we were running, Liam got shot in the leg. He couldn't run anymore. I didn't want to leave him." Sabrina starts crying. "I tried to carry him, but he was too heavy for me. He told me to leave him. I didn't want to..." She clings on to Ms. Evelyn and sobs.

"Now, I found poor Sabrina hiding in a small cottage. She was crying under a table. I gave her the ability to time jump. She had ten ticks to find you and Liam. Everytime, you guys didn't believe her, so she went to a new timeline in hopes that one of you would. Now you believe her, so she has hope that Liam will, too." Ms. Evelyn strokes Sabrina's hair. Sabrina lifts her head and stares right at me. "You can help me find Liam, right?"

I squirm under the eyes of the two people in front of me. Do I really want to get mixed up in this crazy stuff? I reconsider, but looking at Sabrina's tear stained face, how could I say no? I'd be a monster.

"Yes. I will help you find Liam."