TIME & TIED: AWARENESS

ARC 1.2 - Of Her Peers

PART 9a: PRESENT TENSE 1

Carrie took a half step back as Frank opened the door. He looked... older. Which, she immediately reasoned, made perfect sense. The last time she'd spent any amount of time with him had been two years ago.

Following that, she'd traveled forwards in time, and then spent Friday and Saturday in bed recovering from their experience in the woods. This meant that by her internal clock, he had aged two years in two days - certainly enough to fluster her momentarily.

"Carrie!" Frank greeted with a hesitant smile. "I'm glad you agreed to come over."

"Yes, well, you made it sound important on the phone." Carrie hefted the time machine at her side, glancing quickly around the area outside Frank's house. "Perhaps we could talk inside? I am taking a bit of a social risk in coming here, and I trust we can get this business over with quickly."

***

Frank stared. Get the intricacies of time travel over with quickly? He didn't hold high hopes of that, but decided not to push the point just yet. At least she'd agreed to come. Letting Carrie in, they proceeded towards Frank's lab in the basement, passing Frank's mother in the hall.

"Hello Carrie! Nice to see you again," Mrs. Dijora said with a smile. Carrie wheeled momentarily, opening her mouth in surprise but managing not to say anything until the both of them had retreated downstairs.

"Frank... what the hell was that about?" Carrie inquired, putting down the time machine and spinning to face her companion. "When has your mother ever seen me?" She then went into a brief coughing fit.

Frank pursed his lips. Should he mention how a Carrie had visited him on Friday, asking him to make adjustments to the time machine so that she could return to Sunday, which was now the present...? No, that was this Carrie’s future. It would only complicate matters.

"Let's talk about that later. Suffice to say, I know you're planning on traveling back in time to do something to the timeline. That's why I called you here. As I said on the phone, we have some issues to discuss first."

Carrie gestured vaguely with one hand. "Yes, yes. I am, in fact, aware of your theory concerning the past being unchangeable, and how that would impact my mother. Obviously I can't accept that. In fact, the main reason I agreed to come was to tell you about a way I can disprove your theories."

Frank rubbed his chin. He'd anticipated that reaction, given the attitude of the Carrie (Carries?) he'd seen on Friday. "Okay - so how exactly do you plan on disproving them?"

Carrie smiled. "Well, I take it that something weird happened on Friday during your chemistry class?"

Frank nodded slowly, wondering where she was going with this. "You could say that."

“Then I will go back to delay that event until some time in our future! I trust that once I've accomplished that, we can make more formal preparations to the effect of saving my mother," Carrie concluded.

Frank shook his head. "Hold on. This is exactly what I want to talk to you about. A trip to Friday isn't going to change events any more than our trip to thirteen years ago did. I can explain exactly what--"

"No, you let ME explain something here, Frank," Carrie retorted, jabbing a finger in his direction. "No matter what you're about to say about changing and unchanging history, if it's not going to bring my mama back, I simply cannot take your word for it! You of ALL people know how much she means to me!"

Carrie paused, coughing again, but quickly continued on before Frank could speak. “And don’t you dare say I haven’t thought this through. It’s been on my mind for the last twenty-four hours. Lying in bed with my Dad coming in every so often and going through the motions of offering me soup or Tylenol or whatever it takes to make it look like he cares... before he wanders off to work in his study for hours at a time. Anything to keep from spending more time around me than he has to! Well, I'm tired of it. And at last, at LAST I can *DO* something about it!"

Carrie swallowed. "So... is this test really necessary to convince you of my sincerity? Or will you help me save mama regardless?"

Frank felt a tightness in his chest. It had been two years since he had been witness to the unhappy girl lurking behind Carrie's carefree exterior. Now that girl was back - making what he had to say that much more difficult.

"Carrie..." Well, he shouldn't lie to her. "Carrie, I'm sorry, but I can't go along with any plans involving futile attempts at changing history. My research has shown that this would only result in unnecessary danger to us. And I can explain why if you'll simply--"

***

”I don't care why," Carrie fired back, biting her lip to keep her emotions in check.

She felt like hitting him. Futile attempts indeed! For some reason, when Frank had called her earlier, she'd thought maybe it was because, despite his theories, he’d truly wanted to help... like he had when he was fourteen. Instead, he wanted to explain why things were impossible. No way - she would make them possible! Once Frank saw her proof, he would HAVE to become more open to the subject.

"Carrie, wait," Frank began again. "You don't understand--"

"Damn it Frank, don't you get it? I don't WANT to understand!" Carrie almost shouted. She located her prearranged coin and plunked it into the time machine, activating the circuits. "My mind was made up before I came here, and you haven't changed it. This machine is still set for last Friday. You know what I plan to do. There’s nothing more to be said." Carrie grabbed the lever to activate the time displacement.

"Wait!" Frank said, caught off guard. He reached out towards her. “At least take provisions with--"

Carrie never heard the rest. There was that familiar sensation of a void sucking at her, and the next thing she knew... she was falling from a height of about six feet off the ground.

Carrie instinctively tucked her body somewhat to cushion her fall. The landing was still a bit jarring, but it was also on grass, thus Carrie found herself none the worse for wear. She looked around. The time machine had fallen next to her. She was in her backyard. On what the readout said was Friday.

So, time for her to "make history", in a manner of speaking! Scooping up the time machine, Carrie hurried over to the tree that would allow her to climb up into her room.

***

Julie leaned back against one of the many trees on Hickory Avenue, arms crossed, foot tapping on the ground, gaze fixed upon a house across the street. She'd bicycled over to Frank Dijora’s place immediately after learning that Carrie had left her own house after being called by someone named Frank. Because as far as Julie knew, this was the only Frank that Carrie would have any connection to. She wondered again whether there was a further link between Carrie and the failed chemistry plans against Frank on Friday.

Julie had been in time to catch sight of a blonde girl ducking into the house. Had it been Carrie? She’d been too far away to tell, but Julie knew that Frank had no siblings.

She glanced at her watch. The girl had been inside for close to five minutes now. Could Julie could find someone to pay an unscheduled visit to Frank's house and report on what was happening? Yet if this was nothing, that would be a waste, while if it was something, the selected someone could learn about the potential problem developing with Carrie.

Then Julie heard the sound of running footsteps. She turned to see Carrie herself running down the other side of the street. "Damn!" Julie hissed, ducking back behind the tree and out of sight. When she heard the runner turn at Frank's driveway, she again peered discretely around the trunk.

Yes, this was definitely Carrie, and she seemed to be toting some large black box, maybe a cash register. Julie proceeded to watch in astonishment as Carrie reached the front door and barged directly into Frank's house as if she owned the place.

Julie shook her head to clear it. Maybe that hadn't been Carrie. But it had sure looked like Carrie, even sprinted like Carrie would! Yet... if that HAD been Carrie, what about the blonde who had arrived before?

"Maybe Frank has visiting cousins who look like Carrie?" Julie rationalized aloud to herself. Fat chance. Baffled, the brunette shook her head and resumed tapping her foot on the ground.

Something was definitely going on that she didn't know about. It was time to call in some extra support. Julie reached into her bag and pulled out her cell phone.