The Loop

June 3, 1988 pt. 8

Jerome slid out of his bed, and onto the floor. He sped through the routine and ran outside before his mother could say anything.

On the corner he found Melonie walking her son to school, Collin followed behind her quietly.

"So, when do we want to send him out the boundary?" Jerome asked.

Melonie glared at him and motioned at her son. "Not now!" she snapped.

Jerome and Colin waited outside the school grounds, staring at each other all the while. When Melonie returned she seemed a bit peeved, but not to upset.

"There's a boundary just by the diner, if you want to go there," she said as they began walking again. "But then you need to go right back home Jerome, okay?"

Jerome nodded as they walked past the diner.

"You seem to be doing better than on the second," Melonie commented.

Jerome shrugged. "I guess, I just got better with time."

Collin stopped and looked at Jerome weirdly. "In the course of one day?" he asked.

Jerome shook his head. "No, it took up until about two hundred days ago."

"That's weird," Melonie murmured.

"It's not unexpected, the loop can only stop but so much of time, otherwise the whole world would be a loop," Jerome insisted.

Collin started walking again, waving his hands and Melonie. "So, time still passes? But way slower," he said.

Jerome nodded. "Yeah, I'm still working out the equation but it's there."

Melonie shook her head. "What will that do?" she asked.

"If time slipping by us starts to get worse we may want to leave," Jerome said rather matter of factly. "Unless we really want to get stuck living the same day over again until we're visibly eighty."

Melonie struck her hands out, blocking both young men. "We're here," she whispered.

Collin sighed and walked around her. "Jerome was really particular about you watching thi-"

The invisible wall wrapped around the offering and pulled it in. The ripples in the hole showed a large box store instead of an empty parking lot. People walked by, only glancing over slightly, unaware of their audience. Life went on, and Collin disappeared.

Melonie stared at the ripples, her hands tense.

"It exists," she said. "There's something other than this!"

Jerome nodded. "Except, we don't know how to get there," he said.

Melonie looked at him with one of her eyebrows raised. "We walk through there," she said. "Then we end up there like Collin, right?"

Jerome sighed and stepped a bit forward.

"Yes and no. Going through the boundaries means we go into Collin's world, which is thirty years ahead of where we left off," he explained as he looked at his hands. "Ideally, we'll set time moving again and not go into the future, but if Collin doesn't come back we'll have to consider taking the shortcut to the future instead. Besides, wouldn't you rather help everyone in town too?"

Melonie shook her head. "I don't really
care about them. Just as long as Tyler has a chance to grow up," she said.

Jerome shrugged and began to walk away.

"Wait, Jerome!" Melonie called after him.

He turned around and folded his hands in from of him. "Yes?"

"Where does Collin show up?" she asked.

Jerome looked around before pointing at the weird car he'd seen Collin in before.

"What if he's not there?" Melonie asked.

Jerome shrugged. "Then I guess we'll make up a new plan," he said as he began walking again. "Because I don't think either of us want to stay here anymore."

A/N
This is probably one of my weakest chapters, but at least it's among the shortest. Right now, I plan to finish this before National Novel Writing Month, since if I take another break I get the feeling this story will die. Next chapter should be up in a little more than a week!