Page 56 of Time Loops & Meet Cutes
I’m not surprised, but I’m disappointed nonetheless.
In New York, Avery and I get tickets toChicago, and even if she isn’t bursting with excitement, she seems to enjoy herself, at least a little.
The following day, we meet at Pearson Airport and see what last-minute flights out of the Eastern Time Zone we can arrange. We end up flying to Vancouver. Avery has been before, but I haven’t. I appreciate that the weather is different in Vancouver on June 20 than it is in either Toronto or New York.
Rain! It’s been a long time since I’ve felt rain on my skin. I didn’t bring an umbrella with me, but I don’t mind. It’s refreshing.
Avery is less enthused about the rain, but after we walk around Stanley Park, she suggests an izakaya that she enjoyed the last time she was here. As we sit down at a cramped table, I think of that meal I had with Cam.
I wonder what he’s doing now. I look at the time on my phone. Toronto is three hours ahead, so he’s probably heading home after talking to the vendor at the night market.
I miss him, but he won’t miss me… or will he feel an ache in his chest that he can’t explain? There’s so much I don’t know.
Avery and I get an expensive hotel room in downtown Vancouver. She falls asleep at 11 p.m., but I’m determined to stay up until midnight. Midnight in Vancouver is 3 a.m. in Toronto. Is the reset always at 3 a.m. Toronto time? Or is it 3 a.m. wherever I am? I don’t truly expect our travels to break the curse, but I can try to get a better understanding of how it works.
Just before midnight, I’m reading the paperback I bought at the airport. I read for the entire flight, and I’ve only got one chapter left. I’ll learn who the killer is and—
I wake up in Toronto to my alarm.
21Noelle
June 20, Version 115-ish
After I make my morning coffee, I buy the book I was reading last night—the ebook, this time—and finish it as I eat breakfast.
Ha! I was right about the killer.
Next, I post in a bunch of different subreddits, trying to focus on ones that I don’t think I’ve posted in before, and text Avery.
ME: Let’s focus on finding other people who’ve been in a time loop today. I’ll make a sign and stand at Yonge and Dundas for a while before going to Mel Lastman Square for the start of the market.
ME: Do you want to join me? Or do you have another idea?
AVERY: I’ll see you at Yonge and Dundas.
I grab a piece of cardboard and a marker.
Have you ever been stuck in a time loop? Am trying to find others like me.
There are lots of things I want to add, but it should be short. That’s the sign I’ll use at Yonge and Dundas, but I make another for the night market.
Help! I ate some dumplings at this market and have been stuck living June 20 over and over. Did this happen to anyone else?
Avery and I stand outside the Eaton Centre with our signs, not far from two people promoting Bible classes. They try to get us to sign up, but we decline.
Yonge and Dundas is a very busy intersection. Tons of people hurry by; most are careful not to make eye contact. I don’t like the fact that many people are probably—definitely—questioning my sanity.
But I have to try. Maybe someone else has had experience with this, and maybe they know how we can get out of it… and then Avery can wake up without her ex-boyfriend next to her in bed, and Cam will actually remember my name.
The first person to speak to us is a middle-aged man, and it quickly becomes clear that he’s trying to hit on Avery. When we finally get him to leave, she releases a weary sigh.
The second person is an older white woman.
“Both of you are stuck in this time loop?” she asks.
I nod. “We’ve both lived June twentieth over a hundred times.”
“I see,” she says, in a way that suggests she very much does not see. “I think you should seek medical intervention. Go to the ER, I mean.”
