Timeshock - I Want My Life Back

by Timothy Michael Lewis

Nigel was impressed by the other Nigel’s magnanimity - and then wondered if he would have done the same thing himself.

  They parked outside the hotel and walked up to Nigel’s room. All the hotel staff pointed at the two identical twins and joked about them.

  The hotel room had recently been cleaned, but Nigel saw the time machine was still sitting in the corner. He climbed inside the machine, sat on the control seat and set the machine to go back five years into the past.

  Just as he was about to activate the machine he stopped. The other Nigel was perturbed by this. “Why aren’t you going back yet?”

  “I will. I just want to look up some sport winners for the last 5 years first.” Nigel fiddled with his smart phone to upload a series of sports results. He would put a giant accumulator bet on those results and claim the winnings from his unlikely bet.

  Once he had the results he pressed the button on the machine and time began to slow down and reverse. Nigel then remembered what had happened the last time he had time travelled in a hotel room. He prepared himself for another moment of great embarrassment.

  Thankfully for Nigel, this time his luck was in. There was no cavorting couple; this time it wasn’t even still a hotel. It seemed the building had previously been a gym - and Nigel arrived right in the middle of a large room full of gym exercise bicycles.

  This presented a very different problem. Nigel was now worried how he would get the machine out of the gym. He didn’t want to look like he was stealing an exercise bike. He concluded that the best thing to do was to leave it in the gym. He stuck a piece of paper on the machine and scrawled “Out of Order” on it and then proceeded to leave the gym.

  Due to the hastiness of his departure this time, Nigel didn’t entirely know what he was supposed to do. He’d never ever really been to a bookmakers or bet on anything. He looked over the sports results he had downloaded before leaving. He knew you could do accumulator bets on multiple outcomes and get silly odds but he didn’t know the mechanics of doing it.

  It took Nigel some time, but he decided to bet on the FA Cup winners for the next four years. Chelsea, Manchester City, Chelsea again and Wigan. While unusual to bet on the next four winners, he wanted to seem just like another mad customer with desperate hopes betting on something silly.

  He walked into a bookmakers around the corner from the gym and went up to the counter. “Sir - can I place a bet on the winner of the FA Cup final for the next four years?”

  “We can do whatever bet you like, sir. Do you want to bet on each separately or have one accumulator bet? You realise if you choose an accumulator bet then if one of the teams doesn’t win then you lose the whole amount.”

  “Yes, I understand and I want to place an accumulator bet - what odds will you give me for Chelsea, Manchester City, Chelsea and Wigan winning in that order?”

  “Wigan?!?” exclaimed the assistant behind the counter. Nigel remembered it was an upset at the time. The man realised Nigel was serious and then got his calculator out. He mumbled to himself and then said “1000-1”.

  Nigel smiled. He still had a thousand pounds of cash on him. He was glad he had prepared so well for his previous trip. “A thousand pounds at those odds please.”

  “A thousand pounds?!?”. The man was staggered. “Are you sure? - you know you almost certainly won’t see that money again!”

  “Umm…a mystic woman told me to bet on those teams and I believe her. And I am a wealthy man anyway.” Nigel hoped the silly rich man routine would fool the counter assistant.

  The assistant went to talk to his manager. They agreed that there was no way someone could have any inside information on four years’ winners of a major sporting competition. The counter assistant came back and accepted Nigel’s bet and took his cash. Nigel now had a crisp betting slip that he hoped would get him a million pounds very soon.

  He walked back to the gym. He managed to bluff his way through the turn-styles saying that he had a day pass for the gym but had lost it. He walked back up to the room where he had left the time machine to find, to his horror, it had disappeared.

  Nigel was distraught. He had hardly any money left and he had no way to survive. He asked one of the gym staff what had happened to the machine, saying that it was his favourite.

  “Oh, they have taken it away to have it repaired.”

  “Who?”

  “The company that maintains the machines - Omnicrox, I think they are called.”

  “Where do they fix them?” Nigel tried not to sound too manic.

  “Oh somewhere nearby - but I am not sure where.”

  Nigel thanked the woman but he was in a real bind. He had to find this Omnicrox company building and the machine before they started examining it. He didn’t want them to damage it, or even worse go back in time accidentally. As important, he wanted to claim his winnings without waiting five years.

  He walked out of the gym in despair and saw a Starbucks coffee house opposite. He wondered. Had they introduced free wi-fi yet? Only one way to find out, he thought, as he went into the cafe. Luckily they did have free wi-fi. Quickly and secretly he got out his smart-phone and looked up where Omnicrox were located.

  Somewhere nearby turned out to be three miles away on an industrial estate. Nigel took over an hour to walk there and it was getting dark.

  In a dingy industrial estate he saw a building with Omnicrox written above the door. Several people were coming out. Nigel needed to think of a way of getting inside.

  “Excuse me - I am here from your auditors - I’m sorry we want to do a spot check on your machines as someone has queried our audit.”

  “We are just closing up - can you come back tomorrow?” said one of the employees leaving the building.

  “It really has to be tonight I’m afraid. I could lose my job if we don’t check. It will only take five minutes.”

  “Oh, OK then,” said the employee.

  He took Nigel inside and directed him to a large warehouse full of hundreds of machines. Nigel looked frantically for the time machine and then he spotted it right over the other side of the warehouse in an area clearly for returns and faulty machines.

  The staff member with Nigel was getting progressively more suspicious of Nigel’s motives and the way that Nigel was walking towards this one machine.

  “Look, I don’t think you should be here now,” said the Omnicrox employee to Nigel. “You’ve seen the warehouse - I can’t do more than that now.”

  At that point Nigel had already reached the time machine. Thankfully it wasn’t damaged. He ignored the increasingly aggressive calls of the Omnicrox employee. He set the machine to go forward five years, hit the travel button and time began to speed up again. The astonished Omnicrox employee was faced with a disappearing intruder.

  Chapter 7

  As time began to slow to normal speeds again, Nigel noticed that the warehouse had changed. As his machine materialised he found himself surrounded by boxes. Omnicrox didn’t seem to be the company using this warehouse any more.

  Nigel opened one of the boxes and found that it contained what appeared to be sex toys. Rather embarrassed Nigel closed the box and attempted to shift boxes to provide himself with a way out. Thankfully the warehouse was deserted so Nigel was free to move boxes noisily around without arousing suspicion.

  Fairly ungracefully he managed to fight his way out - splitting several boxes open in the process - causing a mass of sex toys to fall on the floor. Nigel saw a fire exit, lifted up the time machine and ran out quickly to it. As he opened the door a loud alarm went off and outside he saw some security guards rushing towards the warehouse.

  Running as fast as he could, he managed to get away. He was lucky that the security guards were not at all fit. In a hot and sweaty mess he looked for somewhere to stay. Eventually he discovered a fairly bland chain hotel. The reception staff barely looked at him as he checked in. Most people would have been offended but to Nigel it was perfect. He stowed the time machine in a large cupboard in his
hotel room and pulled out his betting slip. He left the hotel and walked towards where he thought the betting shop was. It wasn’t there.

  Frantically he used his phone to search for another shop in the same betting chain. Sadly, he discovered that it had closed in 2012. Nigel was heart-broken. He would have to go back again. He had almost run out of money and was beginning to feel desperate.

  He went back to his hotel room and sat dejectedly on the bed. He turned on the TV and saw highlights of a Formula 1 race. He realised there was a much easier way of getting rich. Rather than going back five years, just go back a few hours. Wait for the result of an event and then go back and bet on it.

  He didn’t even need to go forward again in time. He could just let time pass and pick up his winnings. Nigel noted the result of the Grand Prix race and set the time machine to go back to an hour before it started.

  This time Nigel chose a major chain of bookmakers and sat watching the race at the betting shop. He celebrated when the driver, who he knew would win, crossed the line. He had only made enough money to survive a few more days but it proved the concept.

  Over the coming months Nigel travelled back in time countless times making progressively bigger bets on unlikely outcomes. He was clever enough to never go to the same bookmaker twice in a row, but he was worried he was beginning to be noticed.

  Nigel decided to set up a whole new identity. He found the birth certificate of a Nigel Johnston who had died as a child born around the same time as he was born. He managed to open a bank account using these details and then started betting online instead of going to the bookmakers. His earnings increased considerably until he became a multi-millionaire.

  He moved out of the hotel and bought a house in Mayfair. Nigel Johnson was becoming successful and that attracted attention. His photograph was featured in several society magazines as a mysterious eligible bachelor, unbeknown to Nigel.

  The other Nigel Saunders however did notice. He saw the picture and knew who it was. Like Nigel Johnston he had travelled in time but he had made the choice to kill the Nigel Saunders he had found and take his life. It hadn’t turned out well. Now he wanted Nigel Johnston’s life.

  Chapter 8

  Nigel Saunders, now known as Nigel Johnston, was beginning to really enjoy life again. While he had yet to get over the horror of losing Natalie and the kids he was enjoying his new found wealth and status.

  One day in March, Nigel was sitting in his ample Mayfair house with a very flighty Russian young lady called Marla who he had recently met in a local exclusive bar. He knew she was only after his money but he didn’t care. She was good company and came with other benefits; he didn’t see it as a long term thing but he was just enjoying the moment.

  He heard a knock at the door. He opened the door to reveal the Nigel Saunders from this time-line holding up a gun and gesturing Nigel to go inside. He was a obscenely fat version of Nigel - he had clearly let himself go. Fat Nigel saw Marla and smiled.

  “Didn’t take you long to forget about Natalie, did it?”

  “It’s not like that - she’s dead,” answered Nigel.

  “Leave!” shouted fat Nigel at Marla. She left scampering out quite quickly in her high heels.

  “What do you want?” asked Nigel.

  “I want your life.”

  “Why? You have Natalie and the kids?”

  “She was going to leave me. I had to kill her.”

  “What?!?”. Nigel was very disturbed as he spoke.

  “She knew I wasn’t her Nigel Saunders. She could tell,” said fat Nigel.

  “You…you are from another time-line as well. Aren’t you?”

  “A real genius aren’t you! Raymond killed my Natalie and kids. Then I ended up here to find another Nigel Saunders in my place. I killed him and took his place.”

  Nigel understood - this is what he would have become if he had killed that other Nigel as he planned. He had somehow ended up in a time-line where another Nigel had suffered like he had, but had later made the other choice to kill his double and assume his identity. This fat Nigel Saunders was now a raving psychopath.

  Oh, my god, thought Nigel. He is mad and now he wants my life. I am doomed.

  “I will give you the choice I gave the other Nigel I killed. How do you want to die?” asked fat Nigel in a strangely creepy voice.

  Nigel thought fast. He didn’t want to die at all, but he knew he had to say something that gave him a chance of escape.

  “I want to die in my Ferrari. Carbon monoxide poisoning - leave the engine running in the garage.”

  “Well, not what I was expecting but happy to oblige,” said fat Nigel.

  He tied up Nigel’s hands with tape and forced him to walk to the garage. Nigel’s plan was to rely on the unexpected step in the garage to try and overwhelm fat Nigel, but he wasn’t expecting to be tied up.

  Thankfully fat Nigel had done a really poor job of taping Nigel’s wrists and he was beginning to get them apart when they arrived at the door to the garage.

  He was walking side and side with fat Nigel when he swung the door open and pushed fat Nigel down into the garage with as much force as he could muster. The plan paid off. Fat Nigel fell head first down the step and cracked his head on the concrete floor.

  Nigel wasn’t sure if the man was dead or not. He hadn’t planned to kill him. He just wanted to escape. He bent down to check fat Nigel’s pulse when fat Nigel grabbed his hand. However it seemed more like a reflex action than a concerted attempt to attack him.

  “Let me help you.” Nigel was startled to hear a voice. He looked up and saw Marla. “I know people who can help with this,” she said.

  Nigel made use of her offer and several Russian mafiosi types appeared 15 minutes later and took away the body. Nigel almost immediately regretted his decision. It became very clear quite soon that she and the Russians wanted regular money to stay quiet. She said that she wanted to marry him.

  This was not how it was supposed to turn out, thought Nigel.

  Reluctantly he began to plan his escape - into another reality. This time he would be less flashy. Make a fortune but be quiet about it. Earn proper respect from proper people rather than hang out with groupies. This time he would check out what the Nigel in that world was like first. If he was mad or dangerous he would leave straight away.

  This time he would take no chances with inconvenient arrivals in hotel rooms or warehouses. He knew the cottage was empty five years ago, so he would go there.

  He packed the time machine into his other car - a Bentley - and prepared to drive to the cottage when he was interrupted by a curious Marla.

  “Where are you going?” asked Marla.

  “I am just going to see a friend in the country,” lied Nigel.

  “I will come too” said Marla. Nigel was not happy. Then he thought of a ruse to get rid of her.

  “Great - pack up your stuff and we will go in ten minutes.” With this Marla went upstairs to get some belongings. Nigel rushed to the Bentley and sped the car out of the garage and went roaring off to the cottage in the countryside.

  On the way there he realised he was being followed. He slowed down and saw that it was his Russian friends from the Mafia. They didn’t seem to be actively chasing him merely seeing where he was going.

  The trouble was that if he stopped at the cottage he couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t teach him a lesson for his abandonment of Marla.

  He needed a way to get rid of them. On the backseat he noticed he had placed a bag containing, amongst other things, Raymond’s futuristic weapon - the one which had been used to kill Natalie and Nigel’s children. Raymond had dropped it at the cottage before he left. Nigel had tried to destroy it but couldn’t find anything that would even dent it. Whatever it was made of - it was tough.

  Nigel slowed down again, and grabbed the weapon and then floored the accelerator and rushed away, leaving the Russians wrong-footed but still very much in pursuit. They saw Nigel turn suddenly into a side roa
d and drove their car quickly round the corner, to be faced with Nigel standing holding the weapon.

  He fired it at the tyres on the left hand side of the car and the dart from the gun dissolved them in a mass of dust. The Russians’ car collapsed onto the ground and sparks erupted from its broken frame as it slid away towards a nearby canal.

  Nigel took the chance to get back in his Bentley and speed off. He was tired of the killing but he didn’t care what happened to the Russians.

  It took Nigel only a little while to get to the cottage. He got the time machine out and set it to take him five years previously. Here we go again, he thought.

  Chapter 9