Timeshock - I Want My Life Back

by Timothy Michael Lewis

  Nigel set the target date of the machine for almost 12 years in the past to just before his reality's Raymond Deville had died in the car crash. Nigel thought surely Raymond would try and stop that from happening.

  Activating his new device while seated – he had created a seated device himself this time – there was a brief pause and suddenly time began to slow down around the machine. Time was stopping and going into reverse – with accelerating speed Nigel saw the cottage become progressively less disused and eventually becoming a normal home. Nigel felt embarrassed – he was going to emerge in someone's living room and this would be hard to explain. However his first priority would be to hide the machine.

  The passage of reverse time slowed and suddenly came to a halt and switched back to normal time. Nigel found himself right between a family's sofa and its TV. Sitting on the sofa were a couple who looked understandably shocked to see a man sitting on a very hi-tech seat suddenly appear in front of them. Nigel blurted out “Hello!” - he really had no idea what to say. The man said “Who the hell are you? How did you get here?” Nigel replied “err...science experiment...err..teleportation...local university...so sorry to interrupt you.”

  It was the only thing he could think of, but actually it served him well.

  The couple, thankfully, were reasonably scientifically savvy so were amazed.

  “Really – teleportation? Where were you trying to go to?”

  “Just across my lab. I must have calibrated it wrongly – I went a lot further!” bluffed Nigel. “Let me not disturb you any more.”

  “What is your name? – I want to tell people I knew the man who discovered teleportation!” cried the man. “Nigel..err..Smith”. Nigel almost blurted out his real name without thinking. Nigel then made his excuses and wheeled his time machine out of the cottage and towards the village.

  More than a few people enquired about the time machine Nigel was pushing around the village – he told them it was a new exercise machine he had purchased. While most people didn't believe him they weren't really that concerned. He booked a room in the local hotel and checked the date. He had indeed come back exactly the right amount of time – just a few months under 12 years.

  He had come back a month before the crash which killed Raymond and his sister. He guessed that Raymond would have come back only a day or two earlier than the crash and he wanted to be there before Raymond could change anything.

  Nigel had planned things fairly well – he ensured all the currency he had was issued over twelve years ago – he had rigged up a cash card that could take money out of the primitive ATMs of the time and he tried to make sure his clothing was as bland as possible – jeans and an anonymous coloured t-shirt and jumper. He had also acquired a gun – not as deadly as Raymond's weapon but hopefully adequate given the element of surprise he would have.

  For the next few days Nigel laid low. He didn’t want to be noticed as he worried about the effect he was having on the future. He had not appreciated how much things had changed in ten years. There were no smart phones, no Facebook and no Twitter. Certain things remained the same - people complaining about the weather; men chasing women; people getting older and eating and drinking too much.

  The hotel room was sparse and cheap but thankfully secure. No one seemed that bothered by the time machine because it did indeed look like some kind of exercise machine. Nigel was worried every day that room service would damage it in some way, so he always tried to be around when his room was cleaned, even though the hotel staff hated him for it.

  As the days drifted on, Nigel formulated a plan - he would follow Raymond’s sister so that he could intercept and kill the older Raymond before he could attempt to save her. He had looked up where Amanda Deville lived on the Internet before he went back in time. He hired a car and parked across the street from her flat. He was somewhat surprised that she was a strikingly attractive woman - long blonde hair, a pretty face matched by a very tall sleek figure. Nigel felt a bit uncomfortable with his observations but he knew that tomorrow she and her brother were due to die in a car crash. Abruptly, Nigel heard someone tap on his car window. It was the younger Raymond. He did not look happy.

  Nigel rolled the window down. Raymond spoke “I don’t know who you are but leave my sister alone!” Nigel said “What?”

  The younger Raymond was getting aggressive. “We’ve seen you stalking her - you are old enough to be her dad, you sick pervert. Get lost!” He started scrapping his key along the side of the rental car. “Look , I’m not interested in your sister,” a flustered Nigel blurted out. “Oh, so you like men then, do you? Well I’m not interested in you either!”, the younger Raymond shouted.

  “Look, I’m sorry but I’m not stalking either of you. It’s not either of you I am interested in.” As the younger Raymond was banging the side of the car with his hands, Nigel drove off. He felt so stupid. Firstly, it was going to be extremely difficult to work out when the older Raymond would intervene and secondly, if the younger Raymond saw him again he would probably attack him.

  Nigel needed another plan - he decided to watch the country cottage he had arrived in. He knew that Raymond would go there. He hoped he hadn’t already arrived but it was the only chance he had. It was too risky to try and interfere with the younger Raymond and his sister - he had to dispose of the older Raymond independently.

  After arriving near the cottage, Nigel parked the car and walked up a hill nearby finding a great vantage point on which to hide and observe. Hours and hours passed before he heard screaming from inside the cottage. Nigel couldn’t see what was happening, so he went down to hide behind some bushes near the building. After a few minutes he saw Raymond rushing out of the cottage. He looked younger than Nigel remembered him being in the basement.

  Nigel got his gun ready and prepared himself. A clean, short range shot to the body should do the trick. Nigel had acquired the gun via criminal contacts he had made since Natalie had died, but had not had a chance to test it. He just hoped that it would work.

  It seemed like an eternity before Raymond was close enough to Nigel for him to take a shot confidently. Raymond walked up the road slowly towards where Nigel hid.

  Nigel steadied his shaking hand and tried not to make any noise. Raymond seemed fairly oblivious to anything. Slowly and surely he moved closer and closer to Nigel. Then for a split second, Raymond was only a few feet away from Nigel.

  Nigel pulled the trigger.

  Chapter 4

  The gun fired hitting Raymond. He fell to the ground as the bullet ripped a massive hole in his chest. Nigel was shocked by how messy things were - it never looked like this in the movies. Blood was gushing everywhere.

  Nigel got up from his hiding place and walked up to Raymond’s body. Raymond was in a very bad way but was still alive. He looked up at Nigel and mouthed “Why?” to him. Nigel was really confused by this. “You know why - you killed my wife.” Raymond looked confused and in total agony.

  Nigel felt a pang of compassion and then thought of the bodies of Natalie and his children. He raised up the gun again and shot Raymond directly in the head. The splatter was even worse this time as a shaking Nigel stood over the remains of Raymond Deville.

  Nigel then realised he needed to get away from this crime scene. He dragged Raymond’s body into the cottage. Inside he found two bodies of the family who had lived there. It seemed like Raymond’s time machine had materialised right on top of the couple crushing them to death.

  Nigel panicked - he did not want to end up being arrested for multiple murders. He then saw what was left of Raymond’s time machine tangled with the bodies. He needed to get rid of that as well.

  Nigel started to disassemble the remains of Raymond’s time machine. He noticed that it used technology massively more advanced than his own - and for a while he toyed with the idea of ditching his own machine and rebuilding Raymond’s machine.

  But he understood his own creation - he had no idea how to fix Raymond’s machine no
matter how advanced it was. He unscrewed each component of that machine and started walking around the local area throwing pieces of it away. He kept some of the most sophisticated pieces and put them in a carrier bag. He then activated his own time machine and set it to return home almost twelve years in the future.

  Time began to speed up at an increasing rate - he saw several guests coming and going in the hotel room he was in. Nigel then worried whether the hotel still existed in his time - then he remembered walking past it in his time.

  Time progressively returned to a normal speed and Nigel found himself in the room again with a couple actively making love in the bed next to where he appeared. Everyone looked very embarrassed and shocked. It became very clear that the couple, while both married, were not married to one another.

  Nigel frantically made his excuses and took the machine out of the room. Thankfully the couple were so shocked they didn’t react at all.

  Nigel wheeled the machine out of the hotel and walked towards the station. He was glad that most people in London didn’t ask difficult questions of strangers - as he felt so self-conscious sitting next to his time machine all the way home.

  He got up to his front door and tried his key. It didn’t work. In fact there appeared to be a few extra locks on the door. He was very confused. He rung the doorbell. The door opened and he saw a familiar figure. He saw himself - another Nigel Saunders.

  Chapter 5

  The two men stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity; eventually the other Nigel answering the door looked at Nigel’s time machine and started ranting: “Look - just leave me alone! I just want to go back to a normal life!” With that he slammed the door shut on Nigel.

  A shell-shocked Nigel woefully trudged away and found a local hotel - again he was sitting alone in a dingy hotel room. What had happened? Why was there another him? Maybe time travel didn’t work the way he thought it did. Oh, how he regretted not appreciating his old life more when he had it. He had just drifted into married bliss and had not counted his blessings. Now he was a man with nothing; a man out of time - what was he going to do?

  A very evil idea came into his head - he kept on dismissing it but it kept coming back. Why not get rid of the other Nigel and take over his life. No, he wasn’t a murderer. Well, except for the older Raymond, of course. He had killed once, what would one more death mean? Nigel did not like what he was becoming. First thing first - he had to find out what had happened.

  Nigel still had the gun. He loaded it and headed out. He would force the other Nigel to tell him what had happened. He hoped this Nigel worked in the same place as he did - he knew there was an alleyway near to where he walked home at night - if he grabbed him there he could make him talk.

  Nigel waited. He concealed his gun in the pocket of his coat. Suddenly he felt a chill down his neck when he saw the other Nigel walking past. He jumped out, grabbed him and pulled him into the alleyway. He held up the gun to his face. The other Nigel looked petrified.

  “Leave me alone!” shouted the other Nigel.

  “Look, I just want to know what happened? I travelled back in time and I came back here!” Nigel spoke in a world-weary tone. It helped to calm down the other Nigel a little.

  “Did you get a visit from Raymond Deville?” asked the other Nigel.

  “Yes - he killed Natalie and the kids - I went back in time to get revenge.”

  “Oh. I see. You didn’t realise.” The other Nigel sounded almost pitying.

  “Realise what?”

  “That time travel is a poisoned chalice. Raymond held me and the family hostage but I realised the best thing I could do was to let him go back in time.”

  “What? But you never knew what he could have done to the present!”

  The other Nigel smiled wryly. “No, it doesn’t work like that. The present stays as it is - the person travelling through time just moves to another alternative reality - with an alternative you.”

  The penny dropped for Nigel - he had made the wrong choice. This Nigel had chosen to let Raymond travel back in time. By travelling back in time he had switched to an alternative time-line. This was why the Raymond he killed was so surprised to be shot - it was a different Raymond that had killed Natalie.

  “Does that mean Natalie is alive?” asked Nigel.

  “Yes, though she and the kids were badly traumatised by what happened. That is why I don’t want her having to put up with another me wandering around. Please just go somewhere else - start a new life. Your Natalie is dead - there is nothing you can do about that. And stop using the time machine. Destroy it.”

  Nigel let his grip on the other Nigel go. The other Nigel ran away and Nigel stood stunned in the alleyway. Tears began to well in his eyes. It wasn’t supposed to be like this!

  That evil thought started coming back into his mind. Not just could he get his old life back but Natalie was still alive! But he couldn’t kill his other self. Could he?

  Nigel went back to his hotel room. He was plagued by this idea. He could get everything back to how it was - he just needed to kill the other Nigel. He had a gun. He could do it. But what would it turn him into? Would this other Natalie notice? How different was this time-line? He might not know things this Nigel knew. But then he hadn’t changed the time-line that much? This reality was virtually identical to his - surely a switch would work?

  A feeling of massive jealousy welled up inside Nigel and he began to scheme in an evil way. He wanted to take the other Nigel’s clothes and possessions - so best not to shoot him while he was wearing them. Take the other Nigel prisoner, strip him, shoot him, burn and bury him. He would take him prisoner on the way to work in the morning - then ring in sick to the other Nigel’s work, then go home as “himself” again.

  Nigel looked at the clock. It was very late at night. He needed to sleep. He tried as best as he could to sleep but his mind raced until eventually sheer exhaustion took over and he went into a deep sleep.

  When Nigel woke he felt better but then remembered the events of the previous day. He dressed, grabbed the gun and headed out.

  The other Nigel was walking towards the station when he felt a sharp poke in his back and heard a whispered “walk with me”. Nigel walked him to a hire car parked on a quiet side street. “Drive,” Nigel barked, sitting in the passenger seat holding the gun up to the captive Nigel, who asked “Where to?”

  “You know where. The cottage,” Nigel replied.

  In a tense journey the captive Nigel thought about how things had gone wrong for him. He had made the right choice when Raymond had visited him and now he worried he might lose everything. He never expected this.

  Slowly the car came up to the disused cottage. Nigel forced his captive inside. He forced him to strip to his underwear and aimed his gun at the captive Nigel’s head.

  Nigel aimed and prepared to fire.

  Chapter 6

  Suddenly Nigel lowered the gun down. “I can’t do it.” Nigel wept. He handed the gun to the petrified other Nigel. “I am so sorry. I just wanted my life back. Kill me. I want to die - I have nothing.”

  The other Nigel took the gun and he aimed it at Nigel but then spoke: “Give me my clothes back.”

  Nigel returned his clothes and possessions. He felt relieved. It had struck him - he did not want to be a serial-killer. Whatever the gain. He would rather die a good man than live with a dark secret.

  “I am not going to kill you,” the other Nigel stated, once he had finished dressing. “It occurred to me after we last met that there might be another way. You still have the time machine?”

  “Yes,” a humble Nigel replied.

  “Well, given you are already out of time, why not go back in time and set yourself up a lot of bets and share purchases and then live like a prince on the winnings for the rest of your life. Of course who knows what the Nigel in that reality will be like but you can start again and live out your life as a rich man.”

  Nigel’s mood improved. He thought - yes, t
hat is a good idea. As a millionaire he could do what he liked. It wasn’t his old life, but it would be fun.

  “I am so sorry for what I was about to do. You are right - I should just use the machine to set myself up with a new life.”

  Nigel was directed to the door at gunpoint. The other Nigel pointed him to the car by gesturing with the gun.

  “This time you drive. Drive me to where your time machine is. I want to see you go back into the past. Even a microsecond in the past changes the time-line - so I’ll never see you again. I wish you well.”