Flipside

Part 5, Part 3

"I got another text." Gemma announced. She had discovered that there were other timelines of the same story, or universes, as they were called, where other versions of her would use their Time powers to contact her.

GEMMA: You two are the only ones left. Run. You need to head west until you reach an old bunker, which happens to be tiny. There will be Followers trying to get in. Buy as much time as you can to message the next universe along where you went wrong so that it can be avoided.
GEMMA: Goodbye.

"So, let's go?" Nevin suggested.

"Okay." Gemma nodded. "Run. I'll get us there." She sped up time in a stream and they arrived quickly. She pulled him through the metal door and bolted it shut.

"I'm tired as hell now. And my lips are dry." Nevin commented.

"I have some lip balm." Gemma said. "I hope you don't mind that it's tinted-"

"No! I'm fine!" He said quickly.

"Why? It's just us." Gemma raised an eyebrow.

"I've never told anyone this before." Nevin rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Aside from my family, of course." Gemma nodded expectantly. "I'm transgender. Used to be a girl, all that stuff. I can't wear tinted lip balm. It's associated with females and gives me dysphoria." He admitted. "Speaking of which, I haven't washed my binder in days and I feel gross. I wash it every night so I can put it on clean every morning."

"Approved. A clean binder is a good binder." She gave him a thumbs up.

"That's literally all you have to say?" He was shocked.

"That's like me telling you I'm a girl. It's my gender. No big deal." She shrugged. He ran forward and hugged her. She patted his back like the supportive Virgo mom friend she was.

"Thank you. Nobody's ever been so soft about my decision before." He smiled.

"I am always soft." She narrowed her eyes in determination. "Now let's go save some timelines."

"Aren't they called universes?" Nevin asked.

"Timelines is a better name. Besides, I have time powers, so it should be called a timeline since I'm the one who gets to mess with it." She replied.

"Okay. Good enough. So let's ironically call it a timeline."

"This situation is unironic, sorry. Stop saying it's irony. It's not irony." She went over to a desk and activated a computer. "Great. It needs a password." She said, looking at a four-digit space.

"Try one-one-one-one." Nevin suggested.

"I'll humour you." She typed it in and the computer opened.

"Magical portal, get me some cool shades." A pair of sunglasses plopped into Nevin's hands and he placed them on his face. "Deal with it." He said. Then he tossed them into a corner as Gemma logged into her ShareNet account.

"Alright. I'll send stuff to everyone." She said.

"Yo, the mysterious portal thing sent you this. There's a note and stuff, too." Nevin passed Gemma a note.

This is a Memory Probe. You can use it to back up your memories on computers or send it to people. They can be accessed through earbuds or headphones. It takes roughly five minutes to deposit, and ten seconds to retrieve.
I hope this helped you.
-Aaron

"Who's Aaron?" Gemma raised an eyebrow, plugging the Memory Probe into the computer.

"That's the portal wizard. He died a hundred years ago and wants to help me." Nevin answered.

"Of course." She rolled her eyes, putting on what looked like a headband. A loading screen appeared on the monitor and a banging started on the door.

"I left my knife with Marsha." Nevin mumbled. Of course, a portal appeared dropping a weapon into his hand. "Cool. I got a really curvy knife. It's kinda big."

"Judging by the description, you got a sickle." Gemma said.

"Isn't that what Sasha had?" He asked.

"She had a scythe. Like, the grim reaper type of thing. You have a sickle, sort of like a shorter version. It's hard to explain." She said. "You should be able to use it."

"Gemma, what if I hurt you?" He whispered.

"Don't be ridiculous. You'd never be that bad at it." She snorted.

"No. I mean, you're immobilized, and I need to protect you until the memories upload." He looked down. "I'm a Follower, Gemma."

"You're just full of secrets, aren't you? Anything else you need to say? Also, you couldn't kill me. I'm too good for that." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, I eat eraser shavings-"

"Weird."

"I can speak Cthulu, or as it's called, R'Lyehian."

"That's kinda cool. Say something." Gemma urged.

"Okay." He shrugged. "N'gha ephaiah'mglw'nafh ahagl vulgtmnah ones ah'legeth"

"How do you even pronounce that?" She said. "And what does it mean?"

"It takes practice to pronounce it. And it's part of something my dad wrote for me when I was little. It means death will die where good ones lie. It sounds cryptic and I honestly have no idea what he meant by that." Nevin laughed.

"How's the door holding up?" She inquired. Her memories were deposited and she had started to send them. Nevin turned to the door.

"Not that good." He purses his lips, looking at the bolt that was bent from pressure.

"I need two more minutes." The door started bending inwards.

"Yeah. Okay." Nevin started pushing furniture against the door. "I'll see. Can you do any time stuff, by chance?"

"Not right now, sorry." She replied. "Hey, Nevin?"

"Yeah?"

"What's it like being a follower?" Gemma asked.

"I'm not the best person to ask. I was only two when I became a follower. I can't remember being anything else. But Mallory and Sasha talked about it. You can't love. You can't truly be happy. You can't be free. I suppose I'm unfamiliar with those emotions." He shrugged. "It's not that bad, though. When you learn to deal with the voices that keep telling you to murder people."

"So they don't love? You don't love?"

"No." Nevin shook his head. The door burst open and he prepared to fight. "So let's show them some love and end their miserable immortal lives."