The Loop of killing

Part 1:

Charles leapt into the space time portal, ready to rewrite the fate of his family, the time warping device in his hands.

He was thrown through the fabrics of time and space, a luminous stream winding in the wildest of ways. It was almost similar to how he had thought it would be based on the theories he had read and formulated. That was something to take pride in, if not for the legion of doubts and fears demanding his attention. It was all a first try. For all he knew, there was a possibility – a very slight one – of ending up in another dimension, of ending up in another plane of existence inhabitable by humans, of losing his sanity, of getting stuck there forever, of getting vapourized due to the smallest of malfunctions, and what not. He would’ve tested it all in some way, only if it were an option. Sadly, there was no way to test the fabrics of time and space other than first-hand experience, and so there he was, crossing his fingers.

He glimpsed at the moments of the past surrounding him, shooting in the opposite direction as fractional, incomplete Images. Beyond these swarms of images were stars against an ever-changing background of diffusing colors – dark and bright – dying and being born. It was a magnificent view, all as predicted.

A million voices of a million people echoed in his ears, and a million emotions burdened his heart.

These overwhelming perceptions were too much and enough to overload a mortal’s brain to the point of insanity, hence Charles had brought along a perception stabilizer to aid him. The whole trip felt like falling down the skies at rocket speed, surrounded by the pressure of Deep Ocean; it was not at all a good experience, every second spent on eagerly waiting it to end, and at some point wondering if it even had an end. Fortunately, after a while, Charles spotted another portal in the distance.

That was it, his destination.

He popped out of the portal, getting plunged back into the normality of Earth’s atmosphere. He landed on his feet, in a damp alleyway, laden with piles of trash flooding out of stuffed garbage cans.

It took him a few minutes to gather his scattered state of mind and to slow down his racing heart. Once he was stable again, he rose and set his hair, adjusted his glasses, patted the dust off of his long coat, and quickly checked if the devices he had brought along didn’t get whipped off of him during the leap.

Everything was fine and in place.

“Computer,” He said.

“Yes, sir?” His A.I glasses asked.

“What year is it?” He looked up at the dark gray skies heavy with the impending rain.

The glasses scanned and answered, “Year 2013, Sir. 7th September, 1.10 p.m.”

“Glad to know it works.” He smiled at the time device, a deceiving pocket clock, putting it back in his coat pocket and taking out another phone like device, “Let’s check if this is the same reality.”

That device was a reality analyzer. Each reality in the multiverse had a distinct fabric of space and time. The reality analyzer analyzed the composition fabric of each reality, and so it could easily tell if one was in the same reality or another after a time leap.

It beeped and showed the reading.

“Same reality. Bingo! Now, to change my fate.”

The image of the newspaper article had been carved into his head ever since he was a child; it was more than a memory, it was a scar beyond healing and forgetting, a hole in his heart. He clearly remembered how on that day, at 6:17, the body of his father was found, packed in a jute bag and thrown in the corner of an alleyway like some trash. From what his mother said, he knew that his father, Rick, was with her that day till some time near 3. Logic made it clear that it was after 3 that he had been murdered. Warning his father of the threat wasn’t enough as the killer would’ve still been out there with the same murderous intent.

The only way to stop the whole mishap was to find the killer and take whatever measure was suitable to permanently prevent the tragedy. But there was this one problem to that- he had not the faintest clue about the killer, leave alone his whereabouts. All he found from his thorough research and intelligence agency links was that there were a few suspicious and fishy people lurking in that area in that point of time: a sniper who had a long history of eliminating elite people; a thief who had a knack for shooting his victims; and then there was that lunatic, anti-scientist group frequently causing riots, often making quite a messy scene and ending up in jail only to get a miraculous bail and repeating the same nonsense.

None of that was an absolute pointer, they were just possibilities. And if he had used his spare time on spying and verifying and ending up wrong, the real killer might’ve already done his job – again.    

That left him with only one option, the option to go to his mother Eva’s apartment – that’s where his father was – and keep a close eye on him.

Eva lived in a very old apartment, a poorly maintained structure on the brink of collapse. The elevator was no different, it slid open and close, noisy and slow as an old man crossing a high traffic street.

Standing in front of door number 506, he felt nervous. His mind tried to come up with an introduction that wouldn’t have made him look like some asylum runaway in front of his parents who were oblivious of the whole situation.

“Hello, I’m your son from the future, and I’m here to stop your death.”

True to its last word, this was something not even the people of the point in time he came from would’ve bought. There was no proper way to put it, each being a potentially sick joke if not understood. Hence, he waved bye to overthinking and took a deep breath, having decided to ring the doorbell.

But Charles’ hand stopped an inch away from the bell…

Something broke inside, some glass.