Through the Storm

Chapter Five

I spit out a mouthful of something straw-like and realized I was laying face down in the grass. Somewhere.
My heart was pounding. It didn't even feel like a jump.
The sun warmed the skin on the back of my neck. I shouldn't of felt the heat so much...this was different from a normal jump.
Something was different.
It must have been a dream...or I hit my head. Maybe I haven't even had a fight with Mitch? Maybe none of that happened? Acid churned in my stomach just thinking of the sickening image of him laying in a heap on the floor.
I pulled myself up from the grass and tripped over something, falling flat on my face again. And I felt the painful impact of my body colliding with the ground. Based on how much It hurt, this was definitely my home base. My black bag lay at my feet. I must have dragged it with me.
After forcing my eyes to focus, I realized this was Central Park. Right near my building. My legs felt like lead as I stepped closer to the sidewalk. I pulled my phone out from my pocket and tilted it so I could see the time. It was completely black. After nagging it against my thigh a few times, I gave up and asked a women passing me on the sidewalk, "Do you know what time it is?"
"A little after six," she said as she jogged past.
The aches running through my body were so intense, I had to stop and sit down on a bench.
"You okay?" An old man asked from beside me.
"Yeah, thanks," I said, leaning my head back. I just needed to rest for a minute. Right before I closed my eyes, the old man's newspaper came into focus and I jolted upright after reading the date.

September 9, 2007.

What in the freakin' hell is going on?

"Is that...um, today's paper?" I asked.
"Yes, sir," the man said before going back to his casual whistling.
Nope. Couldn't be right. Just some weirdo reading a paper that was two years old. I stared at it for a few more seconds. A large drop of water fell into the date at the top of the page. We both looked up at the sky to see dark clouds rolling in. The man folded his paper and stood.
"Didn't say anything in here about rain today," he said before walking off.
Okay, so far all I had was a newspaper that said it was this exact day two years in the past. Well...the past for me, anyway.
I ran down the sidewalk as the raindrops grew more frequent. I spotted a police officer standing under a tree and raced toward him, not even caring about getting soaked.
"Excuse me, Officer. Do you know today's date?"
"The ninth," he mumbled, not even looking me in the eye.
"Of September?"
He snorted a laugh. "Yeah."
"Of 2009, right?"
He rolled his eyes and pushed past me. "Damn kids! 2009?"
The panic that flowed his words felt like caffeine being injected straight into my veins. I used the bottom of my shirt to wipe the rain from my eyes and searched for a third source.
Henry, one of the doormen at my building, would be perfect, but was there another me here somewhere? Couldn't risk it. I took off in the opposite direction of my building, toward the coffee shop.
The raindrops were cold as ice and my teeth chattered as I opened the door to Starbucks. The girl at the counter straightened up and smiled. "Haven't seen you in awhile."
I scanned the empty tables for a magazine.
"Um...yeah. I've been busy. With...you know, school."
She laughed and I turned to face her. She look kind of familiar, but it could just be her uniform. "Come on, you've been trampling around Europe all summer."

I have?

"Well, it was just a week in Germany." She started working on an order, though I didn't know whose. Nobody else was in line.
"So, what about the rest of the summer?"
"I've been working a lot," I said over the whirl of the steamed milk machine.
"Working?" She shook her head and then paused in the middle of stirring. "Wait, didn't you say you were staying in Spain until December?"
"Uh...plans changed and--"
"So why didn't I see you in school last week? They gave your locker to some freshmen." She slid a cup across the counter.
I couldn't move a single muscle. I just stared at the cup on the black marble surface as the pieces snapped together. Lockers, meaning...high school. Europe...meaning senior year...first semester in Spain, senior year.
Senior year...meaning 2007.
"What the fuck?" I muttered under my breath.
I couldn't even manage a three-day jump and now here I was two years in the past? Beads of sweat formed across my forehead. And I actually did remember this girl. She was one of a handful of scholarship students at Martin High School.
Martin High School meaning...my high school. Which I graduated from. In 2008.
Which, apparently, didn't happen yet.
"Scott? You okay?" the girl asked.
She knew my name. My face. I had come here every day--in high school--and paid by credit card. With my name on it. So, yeah. That made perfect sense. All the other shit didn't. Or it did, but it shouldn't. My nineteen-year-old self shouldn't be in the era of my seventeen-year-old self.
I had to lean forward to keep from passing out. How the hell did I get here?
"Sorry, I have to go...just wanted to say hi."
I stumbled out the door and leaned against it, catching my breath.
Did 2009 even happen? Never, in all my time-travel experiments, had I felt so lost. Actually, this time jump, this moment, felt as real as the one I left. Starting with the aches, the cold raindrops, the heaviness of my legs, my heart.
If I just try to go back, maybe I can fix it?
The images flashed through my mind--Mitch looking so panicked, Mitch bleeding and falling to the ground...Mitch still breathing.
But for how long? And it was my fault.
I squeezed my eyes shut and forced back tears. The only thing I could do to keep from panicking was try to get back.
Back to October 30, 2009. Which had officially become the worst day of my life. With my back pressed against the door and rain hitting me in the face, I closed my eyes and forced myself to think of 2009.
Right away, I felt the pulling-apart sensation and lost my focus. But it was too late. I was already headed into the unknown.

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A/N

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