Velocity To Never Exceed

Chapter 13

Still Loop 3

My eyes take in Janelle's dark wavy hair, her rounded cheeks that are reddened with some sort of blush, and her long thick eyelashes.

She looks so familiar. I know her from somewhere. Okay, well maybe know her is a bit strong. But I definitely recognize her. I'm certain of it.

I rack my brain, trying to figure out where I have seen her before. When I come up empty, doubt sets in and I question myself. Do I really know her, or does she remind me of someone? Or maybe like Evelyn, I just recall seeing her earlier, at the airport?

I'm not sure, and my skin crawls. The white noise whispers around me, like it's telling me secrets I can't understand.

I didn't recognize her name when Evelyn told it to me. So, why does her face look so familiar?

"What is it?" Evelyn watches me closely.

I shake my head, brushing off the thought. Everything feels like déjà vu, probably because it is déjà vu. The feeling that Janelle Fiori looks familiar must just be a part of that same eerie phenomenon.

But is it?

I stand, rooted to the spot, watching Janelle. My eyes trail her round nose, the creases in her neck, the small scar over her eyebrow.

"Janelle will sleep for approximately eight and a half more minutes, then she will wake, grab the edges of her cardigan and pull them tightly around her, stand up, take two steps and collapse." Evelyn says plainly, step-by-step, like she's reciting the storyline of a drama series she's watched one too many times. "Gary over there, who's a nurse from Idaho, will run over and start taking her vitals. She'll have a pulse, but we'll never know if she's going to make it or not because 24 seconds later the plane begins its nosedive. And well, we both know what happens after that."

A shiver runs through me. "Have you tried waking her?"

"Of course," Evelyn responds. When I lift my eyebrows at her, she adds, "It was only you I didn't wake, because you were the only one on the plane who was asleep during the entire loop. And if I woke you, I was afraid..." she trails off.

"That I'd be stuck too?"

She nods and then shrugs. "I mean, I didn't think you'd actually be stuck in the loop with me. It seemed farfetched, but I was definitely aware it was a possibility. And as it turns out, it wasn't as farfetched as I thought it would be. But then again, it's hard to consider what's truly farfetched when you're starting off in the most farfetched of all scenarios imaginable."

"You lost me at farfetched."

Evelyn shoves me in the arm playfully, and I find myself grinning back.

But at the same time I feel a sting of sadness, imagining what this loop must've been like for her. I never really stopped to consider it before, but now it hits me with the weight of an elephant. Four hundred loops alone. Without anyone to share it with. It must have been incredibly isolating and terrifying, and that's probably just the start of what she's gone through.

Evelyn leans against the side of the aisle to allow the musician, Anton, to pass on his way to the bathroom. "I've tried waking Janelle a bunch of times but she seemed really tired. Totally out of it, like she wasn't fully there. It's like she took a sleeping pill or something."

"Should I try to wake her now?" I say. "See if I can learn anything?" Meanwhile, I search the woman's face again, her familiarity digging in, pricking me like a splinter burrowed just under the surface of my skin.

"I don't know," Evelyn replies. "I was thinking that maybe, for the first time, you should see it play out as it normally does. Maybe something will catch your attention. I keep getting the feeling like there's something right in front of me that I keep missing."

It reminds me of my mother's philosophy on trying new recipes. Make it exactly how the recipe tells you the first time, and then afterwards, mess with it however you'd like.

"So, what were you doing in Hawaii?" Evelyn then asks.

I stand in the aisle, scooting to the side to let the redheaded flight attendant – Lydia, I think it was – pass with an empty drink tray. I redirect my attention at Evelyn, with a questioning look. "Is this small talk?" I quip. "When we have a plane crash mystery stuck in a time loop to solve?"

She smirks as she slumps into the empty seat across the aisle from Janelle. "Well, it's not entirely small talk. We have a few minutes until the Janelle Fiori show starts – where you'll hopefully be able to figure out more than I have so far – and who knows, maybe something about your story connects in some way. There could be a clue there. After all, I keep thinking that there's got to be a reason that despite all of these people on this plane, you're the one stuck in this loop with me." She reaches over and slips her hand into the mesh compartment in front of a dozing man next to her, and pulls out a bag of M&Ms. He doesn't notice.

Has she eaten everyone's food on this plane? I'm about to ask her that but as she tears open the bag without hesitation, I realize the answer is definitely yes.

"That's one of the most annoying things about all of this," Evelyn continues. She pops a handful of chocolate in her mouth and then holds the bag out of me, offering me some, but I shake my head. "It's hard to know, in a time loop, what's important and what isn't. Are there hidden meanings in everything, or is everything entirely meaningless? Is this whole thing about Janelle Fiori? Is it about us? Is it about the nosedive and something happening in the cockpit? Or does it all oddly have something to do with Edward Pickens III, the insurance salesman in 25D who has very sweaty feet and loves square dancing? And that's true, by the way. The man loves a good do-si-do."

"And the sweaty feet part?" I ask, sitting in the seat next to her.

"Unfortunately, yes, true too. Edward Pickens III has very sweaty feet. Like abnormally sweaty," Evelyn grimaces. Her nose wrinkles and a dimple appears out of nowhere in the middle of her left cheek. It surprises me, and a small laugh escapes. The first one since this loop madness started.

"But that's a secret. Just remember, what happens in the loop stays in the loop." Evelyn smirks, like it's our own joke. A private joke within a private 28-minute world.

But then I remember the nosedive at the very end, and a dread spills over me.

Whether it's us, or Janelle, or the pilot, or Edward Pickens III, one big issue loomed large.

If this loop ever ends, I suddenly realize with a chill. It won't end well.