The Time Traveler's Wife

The Phone Call and the Bookstore

September 2012

The only thing worse than watching your teenage self be shoved into a locker and not being let out until some custodial cleaner finds you after hours?

Watching your 17-year-old self run away from home following a huge argument with your mom and knowing you were never returning.

It was five years ago, but it still feels so raw.

Carmilla stumbles upon her return to September 2012, gasping from the exertion of the travel, and from feeling totally emotionally drained.

After she gets some clothes on and inhales the rest of a half-eaten sandwich she has in her fridge, she realizes how much she's shaking.

And that all she's been able to hear for the past hour is her racing heartbeat, pounding in her ears. Her breathing is so erratic, her throat feels like it's burning, and her chest aches.

Yup, definitely worse than seeing my bullied teenage years.

Without thinking, she reaches for her phone and dials a number—the last one added to her contacts. It rings and rings. Right as she realizes what she's done and thinks maybe she should hang up, the other end picks up.

"Hello?" a voice asks tiredly.

"L-L...Laura?" Carmilla says, trying and failing to steady her voice.

There's a yawn that sounds like it's being suppressed. "Carm?" A longer yawn. "Carmilla?"

"I—Yeah. I, I just..." Carmilla's eyes widen and she pulls the phone away from her ear to check the time. "Oh, shit. Oh, fuck." She pinches the bridge of her nose and closes her eyes. "It's so late. I'm so sorry."

"One could say it's actually just really early." There's a soft chuckle on the other end and Carmilla immediately feels some tension leave her body.

"It's fine, Carm."

"It's almost five o'clock in the morning," Carmilla sighs, embarrassed.

"More like It's fine o'clock, am I right?" Laura giggles, knowing Carmilla is rolling her eyes. She clears her throat. "Why did you call, though? I assume it wasn't for my awesome comedy material."

Carmilla doesn't answer right away. After all, she'd only met this girl once. And now she was calling her at 4:56am while having a panic attack? Smooth, Karnstein. Smooth.

"When did you travel to?" Laura asks softly.

Carmilla's breath hitches in her throat. "How..."

"In those fifteen years of you traveling back to me, I changed a lot. So did you, but I guess some things never change," Laura replies lightly. "You always sound a little frazzled after you've traveled. It's just tonight, you sound... more so."

Carmilla takes a deep breath. "2007."

There's a pause on the other end. "...Your mom? The fight?"

Carmilla's mouth drops open.

"Crap! Sorry! I promised you—Future You—that I'd try to keep the knowledge I have about you to a minimum," Laura rambles. "Coz it might freak you out. Did I freak you out? Oh, hufflepuff, I've totally freaked you out and now you're too freaked out to tell me I'm freaking you out--"

"Laura," Carmilla interrupts through laughter. "Can you please stop 'freaking out?'"

"Yes," Laura squeaks.