Chapter 2 2

Elias sat at his workbench, fingers digging into his hair.

His journal lay in front of him, pages scribbled in fevered frustration: Equations; explanations, none of which made any sense.

He only rewound time by three hours. That 's it. No time loops, no paradoxes, no duplicates.

And yet...

He had seen himself.

For the first time in his life, logic failed him.

He had to test it again.

He reached for the device. Hesitated. His hands were shaking.

Press. Hum. Click.

The same shift. The same silence.

Elias turned slowly, scanning the room. No one there.

Relief flowed down his spine. Maybe he had just got tired. A hallucination.

Maybe he was too battered by his own obsession to do what he wanted to.

Then-a knock at the door.

Elias's heart nearly stopped.

No one ever visited this late.

He moved his body before his brain could catch up. Swiped his hands on his apron, took a deep breath and opened the door.

Crowded on his doorstep, Claire Dawson clutched a heavy folder of notes to her chest.

She looked exhausted. Frustrated.

"You weren't answering your phone, " she said quickly past him before he could pull her over.

Elias had to take it in at last before she just dropped the folder on his desk.

"I ran the numbers again, " she said, flipping pages between them, "the energy output on the last test- it was not constant. There was this fluctuation exactly three minutes after activation. That's not normal. "

Elias stiffened.

Three minutes after activation.

That was exactly when he had seen... himself.

Claire was still talking. "I think the device is actually doing something other than rewinding time. Maybe there is an overlap, a change in - "She stopped with her eyes shut. "Are you even listening? "

Elias pressed himself into it. "Yea. Overlap. Change of energy. "

She studied him. "You look like you have seen a ghost"

He swallowed. Not a ghost.

A version of himself that wasn't supposed to exist.

Claire sighed a pinched the bridge of her nose. "You need a rest. You've been riding on fumes for days. We can talk about this in the morning. "

She turned to leave.

And Elias almost let her go.

Almost.

But then he considered what the other Elias had said to him: Unnerving. Worried.Like he wasn't the one in control.

And something inside him cracked.

"Claire."

She paused in the doorway.

Refusing to swallow, he squinted at the floor, "You've gotta check something for me. "

She frowned. "What?"

He took a look up and pushed the words out, "I think I saw myself. "

Her brows knitted. "What?"

He headed out of the room towards the desk, pacing. "Not a reflection. Not what a trick of the light. A duplicate. Standing right there. " He pointed to the corner of the room. "He looked at me, he spoke to me. And then he vanished.

Claire didn't laugh. Didn't scoff.

She just stood there, eyes sharp, calculating. Thinking.

Finally she said, "How many times have you used the machine? "

Elias blinked. "Twice."

Claire took a pen and wrote something on a napkin.

Elias took a step closer. "What are you doing?"

"Running numbers, " she cracked, "because if what you're saying is true... then maybe every time you go back in time... "

Her voice cut off as she looked at her own notes. Pale face.

Elias felt his stomach clench. "Claire."

She looked up at him, and for the first time since she'd gone through his door she looked scared.

She turned the napkin toward him. The equation was simple.

But the answer was horrifying.

Every time he used the machine, he wasn't going back.

He was leaving a version of himself behind.