The almost unbearable rushing wind felt like tiny invisible razor blades, and the dark shadowy void seemed to extend and stretch through the folds of reality. Caricatures of memories twisted and melted together like a ball of wax in her head as she could feel her physical body hurling through space. After several moments of uncertainty, fear, and abstract thoughts, a smooth grain of confidence slid past the spiky pricks of terror. Max felt her daughter’s presence and knew they were still together, wherever they were.
A flash of light replaced the endless sea of darkness, and the haze from the empty expanse cleared revealing a brick building-like structure surrounded by streetlamps that lit the area. She couldn’t tell how long they had been traveling, or how far they had gone, but she immediately knew they were nowhere near where they started. Max was relieved when she finally felt the grassy solid ground beneath her feet where she was still gaining her balance. Consciously controlled thoughts returned as Max noticed several other people in the distance walking inside the structure using the glass double-door entrance. Their arrival seemed like a blazing grand entrance that should be seen for miles, but nobody appeared to notice.
“Shit, I’ve been here before,” the tall blonde spoke from behind, startling her mother who hadn’t gathered herself enough yet to have noticed the girl. “This is where I ended up the other time I glitched. Come with me.” Des swiftly walked past her Mom, then motioned for the brunette to join her as she began walking the one hundred or so meters to the large building. “We have to hurry.”
“Where are we?” Max confusingly asked before taking her first step forward since their arrival. Des turned and grabbed her wrist forcefully pulling her along from the spot where she was standing. Her daughter was strong-willed and reminded her of Chloe when she was motivated to accomplish a task. “Chloe,” she woefully whispered to herself remembering when she heard her wife’s footsteps running towards them as they vanished from the kitchen floor.
“Mom will be fine, but we have to get inside quickly. I’ll explain there.” The girls hastened their pace and entered the building. The small foyer area smelled a bit old and musty, and the furniture was about twenty years outdated. The main hallway lead to a dead-end where two thick wooden doors were propped open by the chrome lever door holder at the bottom. There was a curved line in the carpet where friction had torn away at the flooring for many years. They were among the last few stragglers to enter the auditorium, and as they found two empty seats near the left-center aisle, Des slouched down in the chair motioning for Max to do the same.
When the lights were dimmed the presentation began. The brunette’s eyes widened with wonder as she watched a well-dressed, gorgeous blonde stroll from the wings of the stage into the spotlight behind a podium with a purple logo that read ‘HUSKIES’. She was dumbfounded and amazed at the woman who looked nearly like an exact copy of her wife. Her hair was slightly longer, and she seemed to possess an aura of confidence even her soulmate didn’t typically display. The cadence of her words also flowed from her lips in a different manner than she was used to. Nobody else would probably have noticed the difference, but Max heard it immediately. There was no mistaking, this was not her Chloe; though she loved watching this version of her best friend speak in front of a crowd of hundreds.
The lecture hall was filled almost to capacity, but the back, left row was practically empty. Nobody sat on either side of the girls for four seats in each direction. The presenter spoke about time and space and the existence of multiple realities. While Max understood about half of what was being said, most of it went way over her head. She smirked to herself as she considered the idea that each Chloe in every universe was probably the smartest person she knew.
“Okay,” Des whispered as she leaned over to make sure nobody in the row ahead of them could hear what she was about to say. “A younger me is gonna walk through those doors in a few minutes super afraid and tense.” She pointed towards the doorway they entered previously, which had been shut after the lecture began so light from the foyer wouldn’t trickle in. “It was a good thing I was here, though… I saved her life.” She motioned towards the woman on stage with a small bob of her head.
Max noticed a man uncomfortably shifting around in his seat one row ahead and a couple of seats down from where they sat. “Twenty goddamn years and she thinks she can just fuck over my work. Damn scientific drivel…” The man was clearly disgruntled and not very happy with what the woman on stage was presenting. A soured frown formed on the brunette’s face and anger flooded her thoughts. This wasn’t even her Chloe but a primal sense of care and love was kicking in to protect her.
As she was about three quarters of the way out of her seat, and intending to approach the rude asshole to give him a piece of her mind, she felt a hand on her shoulder pulling her back down. “Don’t,” Des quietly spoke. “I already took care of it. The man is dangerous. He literally tries to murder her later tonight. I followed him after the lecture and… well, shit got even stranger. I glitched again just as he was about to attack and I took her with me.”
“Damn, Des. That’s wild.” Max, very concerned about what she just heard, considered the information with a detailed awareness. “So, what do we do now, just wait ?” At the last two words, a memory of a nightmare she once had projected through her mind. A feeling of despair crept into her heart and she started feeling uneasy.
“Yeah, we need to lay low and let the events play out. That’s one thing you taught me that I take very seriously. We don’t mess with time unless we absolutely have to, but her life was saved and that’s what matters… I think. I didn’t intend to help her; I was stuck in this universe and she looked so much like Mom. I had to follow her because I was freaking out and didn’t know what else to do. It just so happened that I glitched again at the right moment. Plus, there’s sorta this plan thingy in this universe that I’m beginning to think I need to start taking more seriously.”
“Plan… thingy?” Max asked, hoping to refocus on the present rather than being consumed and overwhelmed with thoughts of the past. Even though her nightmares had been gone for a year, some were so vivid they broke her heart if she ever thought about them, and most had to do with losing Chloe one way or another. It was as if the married couple had cheated death numerous times and her tradeoff was having to experience bad dreams for the rest of her life. Having her partner’s love in her heart and a daughter that was equally theirs, light and hope had dispelled her darkness. Max and Chloe were each other’s perfect match, and despite the trauma of their experiences, they made each other whole and healed each other’s wounds.
“I’ll tell you about it after we leave. I was too chickenshit to try my power before, but my skills and confidence have grown. I have a theory that there are residual effects when I travel. It’s like the path of least resistance, and all we need to do is follow the breadcrumbs.” Hearing Des’s voice as she worked through her thoughts was music to Max’s ears. Her daughter was so much like her wife, it filled her heart to the brim.
The heavy entrance door slowly creaked open, cascading light into the room, causing a bit of distraction to the lecturer whose voice caught for a split-second then she continued with her presentation. The door shut behind the tall, red-streaked blonde who walked behind the audience and propped against the far side where she stood in the shadows. Max and Des watched the girl from their seats and saw how startled she was from the realization that she was looking at another version of her mom. Her neck craned inward, towards the speaker, and her body language showed she barely believed what she was witnessing.
“I was mesmerized by her. I’m pretty sure I didn’t even look around at the crowd, but just to be safe we should probably stay low and out of view.” The teenager lowered herself in the seat and her mother did the same. Even though Max didn’t understand most of the terms and theoretical sciencey mumbo jumbo, she felt a kinship with the beautiful girl on stage. She, too, was enthralled by this other Chloe.
Suddenly, Max felt a strange unexpected sensation in her mind and heart. A circular pattern of energy pulled at her mind with a tiny tug. The tugging slowly grew to a point where she started to feel embarrassed. Her cheeks grew pink as an unexplained force was digging into the most intimate and protected crevices of her soul. Even though it felt like an intrusion of some private aspect of her heart, all she wanted to do was allow it inside to fill her up. It felt so sweet and pure that nothing else seemed to matter. She couldn’t resist it anymore so she opened her mind, heart, and soul before being engulfed by a radiating and powerful bond. A sudden flash of orange and white erupted through her vision which quickly subsided.
A tear slid down her cheek as she realized who was now with her. “Chloe?” she internally whispered like a private conversation was taking place inside her own brain. She watched with an empty stare as the familiar face on stage continued about her work. Max didn’t know how she knew but felt her perfect person looking through her eyes and was seeing what she saw. She slowly turned her head towards their teenage daughter to show her wife that Destiny was with her and safe. “I feel you there… fuck! I was so worried when we left.”
“Max!” the love of her life excitedly, yet silently, shouted. “Dammit where are you? All I see is Des and like, another… me… on stage.” Their physical bodies were countless universes away from one another, but the space between didn’t exist. The perfect pair was connected even deeper than the atomic level. Their love extended past all reality and flourished beyond space and time. When they were little pirate-kids running around Arcadia Bay, they hated when they had to leave and go home. Not spending time together was physically and mentally painful. They used to say they were always together even when they were apart. At the time, it seemed like a phrase that just helped each other pass the time when they couldn’t see one another. Now they knew, without a shadow of doubt, they were always together and were never truly apart.
“Chlo, how are you here? I mean, this is fucking beautiful. Just… wowser. Damn, you feel fucking amazing inside of me. Now we’re truly insane in the brain.” Max’s body tingled with the same sensation as the night they conceived Destiny. She let out a pleasurable moan and couldn’t tell if it was heard out loud or only in her mindspace. Either way, it didn’t matter to the brunette. The two girls held tightly to one another in what could only be described as pure selfless love. Somehow, her lover had tunneled through and combined their bond in a merger of intimate devotion. Their embrace felt warm, tender, and endearing, and she didn’t want to let go. For a moment, nothing else mattered. She could exist inside of this connection for all eternity. Slowly, the focus shifted to the present and, through the brunette’s eyes, they both watched what was taking place on stage.
The confident, almost cocky, blonde standing behind the podium seemed to be finishing her lecture. “… in conclusion, information (I) is the true driver of reality, and a signal (S), which is data with a six-dimensional vector (|I6|), can effect a delta (∆I) upon the receiver independent of causal effects. You can find my full paper for review in the department’s archive, under index 1007. Price, Chloe E. Are there any questions?”
Without warning, like a powerful vacuum, the connection broke and was suctioned away. A very real liquid-like pain barbed inside Max’s soul. Through barred teeth, the brunette grimaced and grunted causing Des to notice something wasn’t right. She bent inward and put an arm around her mother’s shoulders, who had curled down in her seat with elbows on her knees and her face in her palms.
“Shit, Mom, are you okay?” The girl’s voice crackled with concern.
It wasn’t the worst pain she’d physically experienced, but emotionally she felt drained and zapped of all energy. An abrupt severing of their connection at that level felt terrible. “You don’t look so good. We need to get out of here.” The lecture had ended and the crowd was exiting the auditorium. It was a great time to blend in and disappear up the aisle and back through the foyer.
Des helped her mom to her feet by putting an arm around her to act as a crutch, touching at the hips so she could offer support as they hobbled out. There was a brief close encounter with the younger Des, but they stayed hidden by mixing in with a group of grad students who were walking on the opposite side of the foyer hallway. Once outside, the women limped over to the Metro bus stop bench that wasn’t too far from the lecture hall.
“I’m fine, Des, thank you,” Max offered, as they plopped down on the bench. “That was… rough.”
“What the hell happened. One minute you seemed fine; the next, you made some weird animal-like noise; scared the shit outta me.” Their arms remained around each other’s backs, not for physical support anymore but for the caring embrace. Max stood to her feet and stretched her muscles, arms above her head and tiptoeing. She released her outstretched limbs and sprawled back on the bench beside her daughter.
The brunette mother had no idea how to explain what happened or why she acted the way she did, but she knew she needed to try. She still felt a bit weak and remembered they hadn’t eaten anything since the festival earlier that day. It occurred to her that, after soaring through space and time, she didn’t actually know if it was the same day. “Do you know somewhere we can go around here to get a bite to eat? I’m starving.”
“I wasn’t really here long enough. Literally, glitched in, glitched to another spot, fell asleep, then glitched back home. I didn’t exactly get to have a casual stroll around town checking out the fucking local fare.” Des seemed frustrated, and behind squinted eyes, Max could see her daughter’s mind working in overdrive. She scanned the area nervously like she was calculating her next move. Just like her wife, the red-streaked blonde could get agitated easily. As tough as they both tried to seem at times, the shorter girl knew it was just their method for dealing with stressful situations.
“We’re at a bus stop, let’s just get on and find some food. I think we could both use some time to get to know each other better. What do you think?”
“How can you be so calm at a time like this? We’re in a different goddamn universe, and I have no idea what to do to get us home. I was lucky as shit to find my way back the last time.” Again, the girl’s tone sounded just like Chloe’s, and Max knew she was only lashing out because she was disappointed in herself. “You’re so… damn, so like, undisturbed or something; in the past, present, and future.”
“Look, don’t be hard on yourself,” the older girl tenderly spoke. “We will figure this thing out. Chloe and I have been through some crazy shit that felt much more hopeless than this. I’m not worried because… well, I love her and can feel her inside me everywhere I go. We’ll find our paths back to one another like we always do. Am I anxious to get back to her? Of course I am, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna raise hell about it. We got this, sweetheart.”
The younger girl took a deep nasally breath then released the hot air from her lungs. Her facial features softened and the corners of her mouth slightly angled upward. She gazed at the ground and shifted her weight on the bench. “Can I ask you a question about that? I could never ask you this in my time, and I don’t know why; it’s tough to explain. You feel more like a friend here for some reason. Anyway, did you always… you know… always li…”
The bus screeched around the corner cutting the teenager’s words off, and it pulled up to the bus stop where only the two girls were waiting. Max and Des were allowed passage without any hinderance since the university was part of the free ride zone. They could easily be mistaken for students, one being eighteen and the other still looking youthful and college-aged. After ascending the three steps to enter the bus seating area, they noticed four or five student passengers spread out, all sitting alone. The mother/daughter pair sat in one of the first rows together near the front onboarding section.
Max slid her arm around her daughter’s upper back and pulled her in to a cuddle. The girl resisted at first then snuggled in. When Des relaxed and laid her head on her mother’s shoulder, the brunette felt a loving warmth float through her heart. It was nice hugging the teen, and she agreed that it felt like she was getting close to a new friend rather than being a figure of authority. She was very much looking forward to eating dinner, not only because she was famished but because she couldn’t wait to really get to know the girl better. They only had a few brief moments to chat since she arrived, and most of the time they were discussing time travel. As important as it was to understand Des’s powers, Max was just as interested in who her daughter had become, maybe even more so.
They sat in silence during the five-minute ride to the stop with multiple restaurant options. The bus let them out on University Way, and the scents of various cooked meats and other meal items wafted through the breeze around the buildings. “Looks like we have quite a few choices, Des. Anything in particular you’d like? I’m just hungry as hell.”
“Burritos,” the taller girl quickly responded. “Literally my fave. If you spot a burrito place, I’m all about it.”
“You mean cereal’s not your favorite anymore? Shame.” Max joked, then nudged her daughter with a gentle shoulder. “It’s still sorta weird seeing you as a toddler then an adult in the same day.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’ll destroy a bowl of Skweekinax if you put it in front of me.” The mother-daughter pair shared a grin and continued walking. They passed a dozen restaurants as they hunted for the perfect spot to eat. After about ten minutes, they strolled upon a Chipotle Mexican Grill. “There!” the young girl pointed. “I knew we’d find a place.”
“Sounds great to me.” Max held the door and followed behind as they walked up to the vacant counter, anxious to order their meals. She motioned for her daughter to order first and she stepped up, working her way down the bar with confidence.
“Barbacoa, black beans, brown rice, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, and cheese. Instead of regular cheese let me get some queso, but don’t smother it, please.” The girl knew exactly what she wanted, and it was clear burritos were indeed her favorite food. “I’ll also take a medium soda.” After her order, Max worked her way through the same process, deciding she wanted a sofritas burrito bowl and a water.
Once their order was completed, the final cost was shown on the register display. Max reached in her back pocket where she typically kept her ID and credit card when she didn’t have her bag with her. During the festival, she left it at home for lighter travel since they would be walking around the square and she would have to carry their toddler at some point. She hadn’t thought about it previously but figured objects traveled through universes the same way they did through time with a rewind, so her items should still be with her. It suddenly occurred to the brunette that she placed her belongings in the diaper bag for consolidation reasons. “Shit, I left my credit card back home.” She searched her pockets again and looked back at her daughter who only shrugged. “I guess you don’t travel with money, Des?”
“Wait,” the cashier broke in. He moved the metal spike receipt holder and picked up a handwritten note from the counter beneath. “Is Des short for Destiny?” he asked.
The girls slowly turned their heads and, with wide eyes, locked onto one another. Turning back, the taller of the two responded, “Yeah, that’s me.”
The cashier handed over the note and smiled. “It’s covered. Looks like it’s your lucky day.”
“It’s not luck, it’s Destiny,” Max looked downward smiling as she muttered to herself. Des rolled her eyes then snatched the note and placed it in her pocket. The girls grabbed their drink cups and meals and found a booth in the far corner where they placed their items.
After returning from the beverage dispenser and settling in, the teenager shifted her weight sideways to reach in her pocket. She fished the note back out and read the message aloud.
For Destiny: We’re nowhere near even, but this is a start. -A friend
“A friend?” Max asked, scanning the restaurant to see if she could spot the person who graciously paid for their meals. “What friend did you make here besides the other Chloe you saved?”
“Remember when I said I saved her but glitched again right after? Well, we found ourselves in another timeline with two others. They were in a house with some crazy-looking equipment and shit. I honestly can’t recall much more than them working on some sort of big plan. I was literally terrified and panicked the entire time.” Des unwrapped the foil and pulled back enough to expose a portion of the burrito beneath. Max watched her take a bite much larger than her mouth should have allowed and she giggled to herself. Besides looking nearly identical to the brunette’s wife, the girl stuffed her face the exact same way. No doubt this was her soulmate’s messy daughter. “Oh,” the teen blurted out with a mouth still half-full of her dinner. “I do remember one was in a wheelchair.”
“Hmm,” Max thought for a second. “Not remembering details about events you experienced sounds like a classic case of shock. I’m sorry you had to go through that, Des.” She hated knowing her little Destiny was in for a wild life, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t expect it, at least to an extent. She was her and Chloe’s daughter with powers of her own. That meant things would always be extraordinary in her life, and she would be forced to overcome obstacles.
“It’s fine. You sorta grow accustomed to strange things when your parents are Max and Chloe… and, well… when you can travel through time.” Des sipped her beverage then smirked from behind her disposable cup. Max couldn’t help but think how beautiful the teen’s smile was to her. Maybe all parents are biased, but there was something incredible in sharing a positive moment with the girl. “Honestly, I didn’t even know if the glitch shit was real at first. I figured it was just a weird dream or something.” She took another oversized bite of her meal and looked back up at her mom who had begun devouring her own burrito bowl. “So, wanna tell me what happened back there? You seemed to be in a lot of sudden pain at the lecture hall.”
Max swallowed her most recent bite, set her plastic fork on a napkin, then took a sip of her water. Once her mouth and throat were cleared she responded, “It was your mother, she was inside me. It wasn’t like our usual connection where I can always sorta feel her in the background. She was actually here. I know it sounds crazy, but she could see through my eyes somehow, and we existed as one. Then something happened and the connection was pulled away. I don’t think anything bad happened, but it felt terrible being cut off so abruptly.”
“Holy fuck, Mom; that’s bananas! I mean, it doesn’t surprise me, if I’m being real. But shit, that’s different than time travel.” She stopped and took a deep airy breath. “Do you know how fucking cool it is to be around your love? I know it’s normal for a teen to sorta hate their parents sometimes, but I’ve never felt anything but love from you. We’ve had our differences, sure, but we’re more similar than I used to think. I dunno. Not to get too mushy and shit, but I love you, and I’m glad you’re here with me.” The girls enjoyed a shared smile as Max resisted the tears that were beginning to form. She reached out and the women cupped each other’s hands in the middle of the table above their food. “There’s something I want to ask you. I started to ask at the bus stop but didn’t have the time before we got on the bus. So… uhm… well.” She took a moment to sip her soda then continued. “Have you always liked… er, well. Have you always been attracted to girls? Like, before mom, did you always know you were… you know…?”
“Oh,” Max responded a little caught off guard. She had honestly never really thought too much about it. To her, life was meaningless without Chloe, and she was in love with her best friend. It just felt natural to her. She knew her success with M3 put her and Chloe’s relationship in the spotlight, but she was never outspoken about what their love meant to the broader community. “Well, your grandparents were all in male/female relationships. Growing up, it seemed like a man and woman were supposed to be together, but with your mom none of that mattered. It was obvious to me that her life, body, and love were what I desired. I’ve never questioned what that meant to other people, just what it meant to the two of us. I guess to really answer your question, I thought I was attracted to guys at one time. It took your mom’s love to help me realize that I never actually was. Does that make sense?”
A moment of silence followed the brunette’s response. Like a thunderclap in her mind, it abruptly dawned on her that the younger girl might be asking for a specific reason. “Yeah, it makes sense.” The girl longingly stared at her empty beverage cup after leaning down and sipping the straw resulting in a minuscule amount of melty ice water slurping to her mouth.
“Is there anything you wanna talk about? I’m here for you, ya know. I’ll always be here for you, Des.” Max looked into her daughter’s eyes and squeezed her hands a little tighter.
“There was this girl in high school that I really cared about. It was probably just a crush, we never even really talked. She was a track star; even got a scholarship, I think. Anyway, I was always scared to try and get close. You and mom kinda got to learn about your power together. But also, you had the ‘pirate years’ before you knew about the rewind. The trust was already there. If I get close to anyone, I would eventually have to bring them into our world, ya know? It’s terrifying, Mom. You two knew you were meant to be together pretty much from the start. What if I fall in love with someone but it doesn’t work out?”
“One thing is for sure,” the older girl began, “love is the only thing that matters in this world. If you fall in love, you have to be vulnerable with that person. There are so many reasons we don’t need to tell others about our powers, but I suspect when the time is right, you’ll know. And yeah, you have challenges neither of us ever faced. Chloe has taken me on dates, but I never had to do the dating thing. She was always the one; she was always my perfect person.” Max didn’t know if her words helped, but Des released their hold and took another bite.
After swallowing then wiping her lips and the corners of her mouth with their last remaining napkin, the teen let out a deep grumbling belch, which completely shifted the mood from serious to casual. They both giggled, then collected their garbage to take to the trash bins. Max realized they would either need to figure out how to get home soon or they would need to sleep. She decided sleep was the most important thing at the time, and they could rest for a few hours then get up and work on getting home in the morning.
Following the meal at the restaurant, Max and Destiny strolled towards the bus stop and traveled back to the lecture hall they were in earlier that day. Upon arrival, Des checked the front entrance doors which were locked for the evening. She convinced Max to let her break in and then rewind once they were inside. The brunette didn’t want to do it at first, but, after feeling Chloe inside of her a few short hours before, she understood that she would need to familiarize herself with the rewind once more.
As they planned, Des busted the door lock and the girls ran inside. Once in the building, Max held her daughter’s hand and rewound to a minute earlier so the lock was never busted. It felt nice to release the pulse again, yet a part of her still remembered how Tom ended up. He had the rewind before she did and he grew mad over its power. Because of her limited usage and her soulmate’s love, it never impacted her the way it did him.
They walked through the dark foyer and back to the auditorium where they sat in the minimally cushioned chairs. They leaned sideways and rested their heads on one another and Des fell asleep within a minute. Max was exhausted as well, but it took her a little longer to clear her mind. She wanted to feel Chloe again more than anything in the world. It was comforting to be around Des and feel their connection, but she missed her wife. Tomorrow they would do whatever it took to figure out how to get back to her. But for now, sleep was very much a necessity.
