Episode 1

Have you ever wanted to meet yourself ten or fifteen years down the line to see what you’ve become or what you’re doing? Have you ever wished you could go back to warn yourself about mistakes before you make them? Well, stop. It’s not something magical that will make your life better. All it will do is freak you out and you know what, it’s inherently flawed. As soon as you move beyond your natural timeline everything goes to hell.

At least that’s what happened the day Stacy showed up. We bumped into one another when I turned a street corner on my way home from my after school job at the deli. I must have gotten a small, not quite glimpse but definitely an impression of her before we collided and time ripped apart.

I think my initial impulse was that she looked like she must be related to my mother. Now I know that it’s because in the next ten years I’ll grow to look more and more like my mother. I still can’t look at her without shuddering a little at what I have to look forward to. That’s not something that’s going to change.

She wasn’t looking for me and that’s why we hit. I don’t know that I would have fallen if the ripping in my ears hadn’t wrecked my balance. Stacy fell to her knees clutching her head in her hands too. It only lasted a moment but the ringing noise lasted much longer.

Stacy helped me up after a moment.

“Sorry, bout that. Didn’t see you there.” At least, that’s what it looked like she said. One of my friends has a younger sister who’s deaf. I picked up a little of the lip reading when I was over for sleepovers and study sessions.

Then she saw my face and started hugging me. It was odd. I know now that the familiarity I felt was because I was being hugged by myself. Knowledge doesn’t change the sense of strange that raises the hairs on my arms whenever we make physical contact. Whenever I make physical contact.

“Anastasia? It’s me. I mean you. I mean, I’m you.”

I did what any sane person would do in such a situation. I struck up a conversation.

“How do you know my name? Have we met before?”

“You could say that.”

“So, we are related.”

“Oh, we’re related. Closely.”

“That’s great. I have to get home. I have homework and it’s getting late.”

“What day is it? What year is it? When am I?”

“Huh?”

“Wait. Let me see. Working at the deli. Must be 2016.”

She bent to pick up my pack with my books. Looked through and picked out the chemistry book, flipped through to the bookmarked pages.

“Still early in the year. Haven’t drawn the little hearts with Tyler’s name in them yet so it’s before the Winter formal. Is it October?”

“Are you saying Tyler’s going to ask me to formal?”

“I told you. I’m you. Call me Stacy.”

“But my name is Anastasia.”

“I’m you from 2026 so you in ten years.”

“But my name is Anastasia.”

“You go by Stacy now.”

“No, I don’t. My friends sometimes call me Anya but never Stacy.”

“Not now 2016, now 2026.”

“Okay. Sure. Whatever you say. Do you have a friend holding onto your jacket that might be looking for you?” I started on my way again, which, I know, I should have done as soon as I was back on my feet.

“What? Never mind. I’m looking for my rendezvous. Do you remember the abandoned buildings at the edge of town? Do you know if there are any squatters there?”

“The burned out ones? No, there’s nobody there.”

She hit her forehead with her open palm and started muttering. “Of course, it’s supposed to be a secret. It should be up and functional. The others were sent further back. They should be waiting.”

Stacy shook her head from side to side looking up and down the streets.

“You do what you have to do. I’m going home now.”

I walked away. It only took me fifteen minutes to walk home from the corner. I could see Stacy finally decide to walk it the direction opposite the way I was headed and contemplated calling the authorities to pick up the crazy woman I’d just met. Either way I was pretty sure I wouldn’t see her again.

But of course I was wrong. She showed up on my doorstep when my parents and I were eating dinner.

“They’re not there. They’re not anywhere. You’ve got to help me out.”

“Um, now’s not a good time, Stacy. We’re kind of in the middle of dinner here.”

“Who’s at the door, Anya?”

Stacy perked up a little. “Is that Mom? I promised her I’d call for her birthday but forgot cause Wells surprised me with dinner out. I haven’t been able to bring myself to talk to her again.” As she talked she pushed into the house. “She’s called a few times but I didn’t answer.”

My dad came into the front room. He was a little taken aback when he first looked at her, but once he turned to me he was focused again. “Sorry, Anya but your friend has to go. We’re in the middle of supper. No friends after five on school nights; you know the rule.”

“Hi Mr. Sokolov. I’m Stacy.”

She held out her hand for him to shake.

“It’s nice to meet you Stacy but now is not a good time. Anya can’t go out right now and she’s actually grounded, so no friends here either.”

For the record, I was not grounded. Though, if I’d known what a hassle Stacy would be and if grounding would keep her away, maybe I should have begged my dad to ground me for life.

“Sorry, um sir. I’ll talk to Anya at school tomorrow.” She gave me a significant look that unsettled my stomach. Another reason to dread going to school in the morning.

“You look a little old for high school,” my dad remarked.

As she turned to leave she answered, “I’m repeating.”

Stacy cornered me at the bus stop the next morning. She looked horrible. Twigs in her hair, dirt on her face, and, I don’t know why it struck me so strongly, but she was missing a shoe.

“You look terrible.”

“I slept in the tree out back. You won’t do that until you’re nineteen and you start sneaking out. Dad will close and lock the window you usually use for sneaking back in because of the air conditioning, so remember to leave a blanket out in the garage. Make a tent in the branches. You don’t want anything to roost in your hair and believe me, it will.”

I fought the urge to smack her. She was driving me crazy. “What will it take to get rid of you?”

“I can’t find anyone who was supposed to be here to help me. There’s this thing that I was sent with that was supposed to keep me in contact with my time and it’s not working. I need help.”

“But what do you want me to do about it?” I could see the bus coming down the street and didn’t want to have to answer questions about the crazy woman I was seen talking to at the bus stop.

“There’s that kid at school who sits in the corner of the cafeteria with the huge pile of books and comic books. Switches between Star Trek gear and Star Wars gear. Talk to what’s-his-name.”

“Who?”

“The one we married on the playground back in the second grade.”

“Brian Webber?”

“Yeah. He’ll know how to help.”

She walked away just before the bus pulled up. I took my mp3 player out of my pocket and snuck the ear buds in my ears so I could ignore the other kids on the bus. Answering questions would only be giving credence to Stacy’s ramblings. I wasn’t sure quite what to do.

There was no way Stacy should know about Brian. And she did seem to know her way around a little. So she was either telling the truth or a stalker. I was inclined to believe the later.

I should probably have called the police but I wanted a second opinion first. Unfortunately, I didn’t want anyone to think I was the crazy one by telling them the story Stacy had told me. It was such a catch-22. I wouldn’t tell the authorities without first telling someone else but I couldn’t tell someone else without risking them calling the authorities.

The only thing that I felt I could do was to go along with what Stacy recommended. I’d talk to Brian at lunch.

It had been a long time since I’d really thought about Brian much. He used to live down the street from me but had moved across town when we were ten. We’d never been too close. Even the playground wedding was a trick played on us by our friends.

With my brown bag lunch in hand, I split off from my regular group of friends at the cafeteria and searched for Brian.

When I finally stood across from him he smiled.

“Well if it isn’t my wife, Anastasia.”

“Anya. Can I sit?”

He didn’t say whether I was welcome, just shrugged his shoulders.

“What brings you to my little corner of the universe?”

There was no way I could see to gently lead up to the subject so I just blurted it out. “I have this crazy woman claiming to be me from the future who won’t leave me alone. She said to talk to you, that you might know what’s going on.”

He didn’t choke on his soda or sandwich. His eyes didn’t bug out and his eyebrows didn’t raise to give a skeptical expression. He didn’t even get offended or ask what I really wanted to talk about.

“How far in the future?”

He may have been able to stay composed and not bat an eyelash but I sure couldn’t. If I had been sitting closer to the table I might have needed stitches in my chin after my jaw hit the table. Luckily, I wasn’t comfortable scooting my chair any closer to a table where Brian was sitting opposite from me.

Even though Brian and I had never been too close, it would have been impossible to avoid hearing the rumors that, no matter how childish everyone pretends they are, nine times out of ten are rooted in truth. And there was one I heard several times that Brian didn’t regret that second-grade marriage as much as he pretended.

I had been silent for a while with a pretty shocked expression on my face, which prompted Brian to, unfortunately, lean across the table and whisper in my face, “I said, how far in the future?”

I closed my eyes but there was no way to politely block my nose, though I suppose I could have held my breath. It would have made it difficult for carrying on the conversation though. It smelled like he was having egg-salad for lunch.

“She says she’s from 2026 so ten years.”

“So she’s you as you would have been at twenty-seven.”

“She’s me as I’ll be at twenty-seven, yes.”

He shook his head as I started gnawing on a carrot stick.

“No, she’s as you would have been. Unless she remembers meeting herself when she was your age. Is that why she sent you to me? Does she remember my having helped her in her past?”

I shrugged my shoulders. I’d reached the end of my knowledge concerning time travel.

Brian took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. Sure enough he picked up an egg-salad sandwich and took another bite. Before he could swallow or even finished chewing, he began addressing me again.

“I’m going to have to meet her in person. There’s more I need to know from her to be able to fully assess the situation. Can you bring her by sometime after school?”

“I have to work this afternoon.”

“That’s right, I forgot it was Friday. I’ll meet you two at the deli when you get off at five-thirty.”

He picked up what was left of his bagged lunch, dumped it in the trash bin, and walked off. I didn’t even want to ask how he knew what hours I was working.

I spent my sixth period study hall wondering how I was going to get in touch with Stacy to inform her of the meeting with Brian. Maybe she already knew about it because she remembers making it ten years in her past?

On my way to my locker to switch everything around so I didn’t have to go back before heading to my car and work, Stacy pulled me into the girls’ bathroom and stopped the door with a trash can.

“What did he say?”

Well, I guess my previous theory was wrong.

“He said he wanted to talk to you after I get off work tonight.”

“Oh.” She looks a little disappointed.

“It’s not like I know enough of what’s going on to be able to give him the right answers. He’s just waiting for more information before…” Before what? My mind had stalled.

“Before what?”

It was eerie, creepy but it restarted my mind. “Before giving a more professional diagnosis.”

“Whatever. I’ll probably be at the deli early. I’ve got plenty of time to kill and it’ll be nice to see everyone again. How’s Joe doing?”

“Joe’s fine. Why?”

“Wait,” she looks at her fingers and starts counting them off silently. “Nevermind. It’s not for another two months. Forget I said anything.”

“What’s going to happen to Joe? Is he getting fired? He has been slacking lately. Is he getting promoted? I know he put in for it a while ago.”

“I said forget it. I’ll see you in a bit.” And with that she shoved me back out into the hallway.

That afternoon I waited for each customer who took a number to look up and be Stacy. She actually surprised me when I went on a bathroom break. I turned a corner and there she was waiting for me. I shooed her off to a quiet corner of the store and headed back behind the counter to help with a customer who was complaining about the potato salad smelling a little off. Of course, you can’t tell them that they shouldn’t have waited to buy it until the end of the day when we’re getting ready to throw it out.

There were a few times when I had an impulse to check the batteries of the clock. I couldn’t tell if time was moving fast or slow. I couldn’t wait to get off work so I wouldn’t have to deal with Stacy peering at me from around the corner of the cereal aisle before disappearing and turning up over by produce. Honestly, when she was trying to kill time she acted like a bored three-year-old.

The line got backed up, as it usually does on Friday afternoons with people waiting until the last minute to get things for weekend parties and dinners, so I was held up until closer to six o’clock.

Brian came storming in to make sure I hadn’t snuck past him. Nope, no hope for that. But his entrance brought Stacy out of hiding and the two disappeared to wait for me out front. When I finally clocked out and met them, Brian motioned for me to take a seat.

“Stacy,” he said, “you have to focus now. Start from the beginning.”