The Accidental Time Traveller

5 - Strange Things

"You're quite possibly insane," Kari said from the other side of the table, "but I think you know that already."

Chris Allman was doing his best not to even look her, but it was difficult. One thing he knew for certain was that if he looked at Kari, then he would end up talking to Kari and after that, there was no way the detectives were ever going to let him go.

Despite the fact that Kari seemed to be there at the moment, ten seconds ago, she hadn't been there at all, so either he was losing track of huge blocks of time or he was losing his mind. Just like Kari said.

"Of course I'm not here," Kari whispered conspiratorially. "You've gone through a significant amount of trauma, so I'm just your coping mechanism. Watching the love of your life die in front of you is a horrible experience. It's okay to go a little bit mad you know. Nobody would blame you."

Chris glanced towards the mirror on the right side of the room, knowing that at least one of the detectives was watching him at that moment, trying to figure out how to break him and make him confess. Of course, Kari wasn't visible in the mirror. Even his momentary insanity wasn't willing to go that far.

He looked back to the table, trying hard to focus on writing. He had an idea, but it was hard to put into words—

"I know the words," Kari said. "Write this down: 'Kari can help me', got it?" She rapped on the table. "There's got to be a reason you're imagining me after all. I can help you. Well at least the real me. I've got to be the smartest person you know, I mean, I'm the smartest person I know, so that's got to count for something, right?"

Chris considered for a moment and tried to focus—

"Focus!" Kari yelled at him and he tried not to react. He scribbled on the post-it notes instead. Kari continued. "You want to save Sara, you have to focus, but you can't focus on the present and you have to stop looking at the past cuz that's all messed up right now. I mean like totally messed up, so let's not even go there, okay? What you need to do is focus on the next five minutes and fifty-five seconds. The next time your implant syncs, don't fight it and it will all become clear. You'll know what you need to do next."

Chris closed his eyes and breathed out slowly.

"What's happening to me?" he asked quietly, daring to raise his eyes to the impossible girl.

She grinned devilishly.

"Dude, I'm just a figment of your imagination. I only know what you know. All I'm doing right now is helping you figure it out. Stop fighting it and focus. Maybe once you do that, you can accept that no matter how crazy it sounds, no matter how much it doesn't make sense and can't possibly be happening to you, you already know what's going to happen next."

Chris stared at the woman who was not actually in front of him and it finally all began to make sense. She was right and he knew it, could feel it, the memories that weren't memories, telling him everything that he needed to know. If he focused hard enough, he could see the shape of it—

There was still that pulse in the back of his head, that distant thrum, thrum, thrum that was part of him now, but it no longer seemed as all-consuming as it once had. In between the pulses were fragments of memory that hadn't happened yet, snatches of time that existed in potential—

"Kari can fix me," Chris said and he knew exactly how. "Kari can fix me."

Chris looked down at the paper on the table and he began to write, slowly at first, but slowly gaining speed.

***

Detective Andre Duvel had been watching Chris Allman for a long time. He had started timing the flashes on the back of Allman's neck and had observed the differences in the man's concentration levels. At times, he seemed focused, sharp as a tack, but then the flash would come and it was like Allman was a completely different person. Even his body language was different, or as different as it could be, considering that he was chained to the desk.