The Accidental Time Traveller

2 - Five Minutes Fifty-Five Seconds

Whuuum... whuuum... whuuum...

Chris Allman's implant was acting up again.

He could feel it in the back of his head, right at the base of his skull, but that wasn't what worried him. He was used to feeling the presence of the implant, despite the doctors at Sosumi assuring him that it was impossible for him to feel anything at all. The implant had become part of his existence, part of his body, and he knew that something was wrong with it since last night.

Since Sara had been murdered...

Chris felt the waves of grief build up in him again, constricting his chest and making it harder to breathe, to think dammit. He could still see the look on Sara's face as the life had drained away and she had realized at that moment that she was dead--

Chris closed his eyes tight and jerked away physically, as if he could escape the horror, the reality of what had happened, but it was embedded in his memory, and there would be no escape for him. Not while the love of his life was dead.

The chains of his handcuffs caught on the metal loop that was bolted to the table. The loop was designed to stop violent prisoners like him from trying to either escape or harm the detectives in the room. He tried to calm himself, but the tears were still hot in his eyes. He had thought there couldn't be any more tears left, but the grief and the memory were both still fresh, still so raw.

He had been locked inside the interrogation room for maybe an hour, or maybe longer. Time had become a massive concern for him since it had become so fractured last night, and he was having difficulty keeping his memories straight. He had the feeling he was losing pieces of time and may have actually been there for as much as six hours, but with no clock in the room, there was no way to tell. Every time the implant had started pulsing in the back of his head, sending what felt like a small but piercing electrical shock through his brain like a clenching fist. And every single time, what he remembered changed.

Whuuum... whuuum... whumm...

It was more of a feeling than a sound, and it started every time the implant was ready to sync wirelessly with the computers at the Sosumi Corporation.

Every five minutes and fifty-five seconds.

The door opened, and the tall black detective entered. He had introduced himself as Detective Duvel and had been the most persuasive to Chris so far. The other detective had just been mean, but Duvel had been all business. Except-- Chris had a memory of Detective Duvel slamming him into the side of a patrol car as he had handcuffed him. However, there was also a memory of a less violent arrest, and Chris was still trying to decide which reality was the right one. In any case, Detective Duvel had returned with a post-it note pad and the pen the Chris has asked for, which he now threw down onto the table.

"You ready to talk yet?" Detective Duvel asked.

Chris shook his head no, even as he picked up the pen and made sure he was able to write. It was tough, but he was able to hold the pad down with one hand and write with the other. Not perfect, but it would have to do. He stared at the paper instead of looking at the detective and somehow managed to force the words out, as terrible as they were.

"You still think I—" He steeled himself and managed to power through: "Still think I killed Sara?"

"You seem to have a lot on your mind," Detective Duvel said kindly as if he were some counsellor, and Chris wasn't currently chained to the table. "We're ready to listen whenever you want to talk."