TIME & TIED: ESCALATION

ARC 2.4 - From the Future

PART 45b: FULL CIRCLE 2

"I'm here,” Laurie said breathlessly as she charged out of the elevator. "I'm here, what's going on, where's my brother?"

"Hold on, little sis, I'm right here," Corry said, raising a hand. He was standing a short way down the hall, along with Chartreuse. She hurried up to him. “Please, Laurie, don't go any further than this point."

After giving him a quick hug, Laurie looked past him, down the hall. A few doctors were speaking in hushed tones and glancing almost fearfully towards a familiar door.

"Why, Corry? What... what's happening there?" Laurie asked.

"We're not exactly sure," Chartreuse admitted, stepping forwards. "But Carrie is awake, and she's hurting, and she kinda, like, wants to destroy all of time. After Corry showed up, she told us to ‘Get out’. Luci’s got a plan though, she’s gone to find Frank.”

"Oh. Golly," Laurie said quietly.

Chartreuse’s look became thoughtful. “Though... you know, you may know Carrie better than we do. You’re a cheerleader on her squad. Maybe she’d be willing to talk to--"

“Hell no,” Corry interjected. “Even the doctors don’t want to go in that room now. It’s far too dangerous.”

“Hush, Corry,” Chartreuse asserted. “You had your turn with Julie. Carrie talk is more of a Laurie thing.”

Laurie swallowed. “But w-what would I even say to her?”

“That you care about her, despite everything,” Chartreuse suggested. “That we’re trying to, you know, help her. That she needs to give us a chance. To give us more time.”

“What would THAT accomplish?” Corry scoffed.

Chartreuse shrugged. “Maybe nothing. Maybe everything.”

Laurie stared at both her brother and her mystical friend. She turned again to look down the hall. Towards the girl who was better than her. At school, at athletics, at popularity, at practically everything... including, perhaps, at taking things a bit too far. And Laurie started walking.

“Laurie, no! OW, Chartreuse that’s my FOOT.”

Laurie didn’t look back. Not even after peering into Carrie’s room, and seeing the doctor and another orderly frozen to the spot. In the same manner of Carrie's father, who was sitting by her bed. Though the redhead did let out a gasp when Carrie turned to face her. The blonde’s eyes were yellow-gold, and her hair and hospital robe were fluttering around her in some nonexistent wind.

“Why did you come here?” Carrie demanded.

Laurie felt her throat go dry. “W-Well, y'see... Steve's done a pretty lousy subbing job for you at cheerleading, so I was kinda looking forward to you coming back."

"The school will soon cease to exist," Carrie stated. "Everything will cease to exist."

"Oh," Laurie said, nonplussed. "Well, he hasn't done THAT bad of a job, really."

"Laurie Veniti," Carrie said, a dangerous edge on her voice. "I have no desire to talk with you or anyone else who knows about the existence of time travel. You should leave, unless you want to end up like them.” She gestured at the frozen individuals.

“It’s hard,” Laurie said, the words tumbling from her lips before she could even think about them. “Okay? I know it’s hard, realizing that you’re stuck in this box, seemingly unable to do any better no matter how much you try, always comparing yourself to others who seem to have it so much better than you... but you know what I’m realizing, Carrie? Maybe we’re all struggling. Even the people who seem to have it together. And maybe that’s okay, because when we push at the edges of our boxes, we grow, and we become more than what others tell us we’re supposed to be.”

Laurie took a step closer. “I know what Lee and the rest of them have told me, Carrie, but you’re more than some weapon. You are. To me, and to so many others. And so I want you to know that I forgive you for what happened back at the dance, and I want you back at school running new routines for us, and I think that’s gonna be REAL hard if everything will no longer exist, so... so please reconsider? For me?”

Carrie seemed surprised. Her gaze dropped to the floor. “I am sorry,” she said quietly. “I can’t, not now. Now that I know how it’s all going to end. Shady is putting us on a road that has no turns.”

“But...“

“LEAVE NOW,” Carrie commanded. Her gaze came up, her face twisted in pain and sadness, her eyes glowing, and energy seemed to crackle around them in the air. With a little shriek, Laurie ran back out of the room.

She hightailed it all the way back to the elevator, where her brother grabbed hold of her. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” she apologized, struggling to catch her breath as she clutched at him. “I... I don't think Carrie's going to listen to me or to anyone else.”

"It's all right," Corry said, hugging her. “It’s all right, Laurie. I’m sure you did what you could."

“Did Carrie say anything, like, useful?” Chartreuse said hopefully.

Laurie shook her head. “No, only that everything will no longer exist because Shady’s putting us on a road with no turns.”

Chartreuse sighed, and the three of them turned to look back down the hall. Then the pink haired girl tilted her head to the side. “Putting. As in, still present tense?”

Laurie nodded. And Chartreuse jerked her gaze back towards Corry.

***

"He's GONE?" Luci said.

"So I'm told," Clarke answered from the other end of the phone line. "Jeeves is very sorry. Lee is trying to find this Shady even now.”

“And I thought things couldn't get any worse,” Luci muttered. “Now how are we supposed to figure out when he spoke with the police?”

"Clarke," piped up Frank, listening in through speaker phone. “How influential are the LaMilles? If they wanted to, could they throw their daughter’s attempted murder case out of court, that sort of thing?"

"Possibly," came the dubious answer. “But even if they were willing to do it, Julie’s life would only become an even bigger hell, given how she’d owe them."

“Except her parents might not do anything if we threatened to expose what they've already done to Julie. That's not the sort of thing the LaMilles would want to be made public."

"Whoa, hold on, Frank," Luci objected. “You’re saying we resort to blackmail? That’s a big can of worms there.”

“Yeah, plus Julie HERSELF said she doesn’t want this to go public,” Clarke added. “Besides, her parents were always very careful. We have no proof.”

“Always?” Frank said, frustrated. “For sixteen years, no one ever saw or heard ANYTHING? That’s really hard to believe, given their tendency to employ hired help.“

There was the sound of Clarke drumming his fingers on something. "Well, we saw nothing," Clarke reminded him. “And I'm pretty sure Jeeves and Mimi didn't either. But maybe, if we look further back in time..."

“We’ll have to at some point. That’s the sort of proof Julie will need,” Luci realized. “In order to get into proper counselling, over her parents’ likely objections or suggestions.”

“I’ll check with Jewels and give you a call back,” Clarke decided.

"Okay," Luci agreed. "We'll be at Frank’s, making final adjustments on the time machine. Oh, also give us a call if you hear any more about the location of our fugitive from the future.”

"Will do," Clarke agreed.

***

Frank took the call from Clarke less than a half hour later. Luci closed up the time machine as he hung up. She turned. “What’s the word?”

“You want the good news or the bad news?”

"We could use some good news about now."

Frank nodded. “Julie managed to recall a time, back before she was ten, when a servant came back unexpectedly and caught her parents chewing her out. The woman, who had worked with them for three years prior to that event, was dismissed soon after - though Julie recalls her being a sympathetic individual. If we track her down, she could be our evidence."

"Okay. And the bad news?"

“Two flavours,” he sighed. “First, Julie’s too shaken up right now to remember any more, and then when Clarke went to check the records being stored in the mansion himself? The ones detailing the servants for that period of time were missing. Jeeves recalls a small fire some time last year, shortly after the LaMilles transferred those very same records to the house for storage.”

"How convenient," Luci said dryly.

"My thoughts exactly. Second problem, Chartreuse called Clarke with an update. Something Carrie said makes our resident mystic think Shady is going to make another attempt on Carrie’s life. Which could render all of our efforts to restore this timeline to a sense of normalcy rather moot.”

Luci resisted the urge to bang her head down on the table. “Joy. Okay, one problem at a time. When was this small fire? Maybe we can time travel back to before it took place, and obtain the information then.”

“And how do you propose we get into the LaMille mansion to retrieve it?” Frank countered. “The Julie from our past would never let us stroll in and search. The only one of us who might have a chance is Clarke, except tampering with his past connections to Julie could cause us much bigger problems now.”

"That's true, but there must be some way,” Luci insisted. “Maybe we could go back in time a year, to a day when we were all in Grade 10, and tell a past version of ourselves that if they ever get the chance to visit the mansion..." Luci stopped. She felt lightheaded. “Oh my God.”

“What?”

“It fits. Oh my God. My second day of high school. It fits!”

“What fits? Luci, what are you talking about?”

Luci took a deep breath, as the missing piece that had puzzled her for over a year snapped into place. “It’s my missing day, Frank. The second day of high school has always been a complete blank to me. All I know is that it had something to do with me getting involved with Julie and Corry, not to mention seriously ticking Carrie off somehow. I've always wondered if there was more to it than simple amnesia.”

“What? Are we heading into ‘Butterfly Effect’ territory here? Because that movie series was not--"

“It’s more,” Luci interrupted. “Consider that while I might have grown a little since then, it’s negligible, and after Linquist I’m only ballpark my real age anyway.”

She took a deep breath. “You say the only place we can get these records is in the past? Fine. None of you knew me at the start of last year. That makes me a wild card. So, we’re about to use the time machine to travel back to that September, at which point I can take the place of my younger self for a day. My second day of high school. A note you leave in my locker is all it will take.”

He stared. “Luci, that’s crazy.”

“Maybe,” she admitted. “Thing is? If I'm right, it's already happened anyway.”