Transtemporal

Olivia was determined that she had the ability to change the future from past events, she quite often wrote about it in her journal. One entry stated:

2~13~2022

“No matter what, I wake up with his blood on my hands. As many times as I do this, it’s still the same thing, over and over and over. I am determined that this is not how it ends. Even if I have to do this 1000 times, I WILL find the solution.

First off, I didn’t even know something like this was possible. But there must be a reason that I, of all people. Someone that really knows absolutely nothing about the sciences of the universe has this ability. So, what does that mean to me? That means I can fix this.”

Olivia L.

She knew she did wrong, but she didn’t do this wrong purposely.

Olivia woke up, stretched and yawned. She could feel that her hair was likely a mess, which meant she was sure she had a rough night’s sleep. She woke up on her light purple velour living room couch. This to her, meant she was probably too tired to make it to the bedroom. But why was she so tired? She sat there thinking with her elbows in her lap, her hands covering her face. Her long dark brown tangled hair hanging down touching her knees. She sat there thinking, for at least a good five minutes in the same position. Why couldn’t she remember what she did last night? She didn’t remember drinking and she knew she didn’t have a hangover. So, what happened?

Olivia removed her hands from her face and noticed she was wearing her satin pink pajamas. She thought to herself, “Why am I in the living room? I had to go to the bedroom to change. What the hell?”

As she was about to get up, she placed her hands on her knees and was startled. Her olive-colored skin was red with what looked like blood. Was she injured? She stood up in a frenzy and to the bathroom. She stood in front of the mirror examining herself. Her pink satin button up top now also dyed a dark shade of red. Olivia lifted her shirt, she did not see any injuries, nothing on her hands either. She didn’t feel any pain, but she felt a lot of fear. Her hands began to shake. “What the hell happened? What the fuck?” She felt faint like she was going to pass out, she made the attempt to get to her bed and to her surprise there he lay on her bed, covered in blood, unconscious. She felt a sense of panic run through her body again. “Oh no no.” She said out loud to herself. She flipped him over onto his back, she slapped his face in an attempt to revive him. “Mark! Wake up!! Oh my God! What happened? Wake up!”

Olivia began searched for a wound, there was so much blood that his white button up shirt was now completely red. It spread down to the top of his dark blue slacks. His normally tan face pale from lifelessness and his jet-black hair a mess. She noticed a hole in his shirt, she unbuttoned it, there was a wound, no longer bleeding but open. She cried. Olivia ran to the phone to call 911.

“Hello, Hello.” Olivia said in a panic. "My brother, I don’t know what happened. I think he’s dead. “She cried out loud. I woke up and he was on my bed. I don’t know what happened.”

The 911 operator remained calm, “Ma’am we will send an officer out right away. Can I please get your address.”

“FFFF5674 E Plainsfield Rd.” Olivia stuttered out.

“Have you tried performing CPR?” Asked the operator.

Olivia in shock, “What? No! He he was not breathing when I found him. He’s pale. I don’t know what happened."

There was a knock at Olivia’s door. “They’re here.” She says as she disconnected with the 911 operator. Olivia opened the door and explained everything to the police and the paramedics. They pronounced Mark dead on scene and took him away in a body bag.

Olivia is completely distraught. The police asked her so many questions she didn’t know the answer to. After they left, she went into her bath and turned on a hot shower. In a daze, she sat naked in the bathtub as the shower rained on her, almost in a trance she watched the blood stains that seeped through her shirt onto her body go from red to light pink as it disappeared down the drain. She doesn’t know how long she was in there; all she knows is that it was long enough to turn her fingers and toes prune like. Her phone rings and she jumps, it startled her but ultimately brought her out of the trance. Olivia stepped out of the bathtub and turned off the shower. She wrapped a large beige towel around herself and went into her room to grab the phone. She walked past the blood-stained sheets on her bed and gave them a quick stare. She answered the phone, it was an unfamiliar number.

“Hello, is this Olivia?” asked the voice on the line.

“Yes.” She responded quietly. “Who is this?”

“This is Detective Marshall. I am very sorry for your loss; I just need to ask you a few questions and was wondering if you would be free to come down to the station today or tomorrow at the latest?”

“Ok.” Olivia said emotionless. “I can come today.” And she simply hung up the phone.

She went to her bed and traced her finger around her brother’s blood. Her tears fell. Olivia and Mark became moderately closer in their adult years. More so, than when they were children. They knew they didn’t have the best childhood or the most affectionate or supportive parents for that matter. They used to fight a lot when they were kids but as they grew older, they had a new found respect for each other, knowing that if no one ever had their backs they would always have each other’s. Mark had recently come back from a vacation and stopped by to see her, that’s all she remembers. She stood up and forced herself to get dressed. She managed to put on some undergarments, some black sweats and a light grey oversized sweater. She didn’t bother brushing her hair, she just pulled it up on top of her head in a messy ponytail.

Olivia knew she wasn’t in the right state of mind to even try driving and since the police station was only about 2 or so blocks away, she decided to walk. She left her 2nd story apartments and walked out the front of the building. As soon as she opened the corridor door a burst of air hit her face. It actually felt nice and was a minor pleasure in a nightmare of a day. She could feel that her eyes were swollen from crying so much. She felt as though everyone she walked by was staring at her, she didn’t care. At this point it no longer mattered what happened to her. She made it to the police station and walked up the small set of steps leading into the building. She went to the front desk. “I’m here to see Detective Marshall.” She spoke.

“You and about a ½ dozen other people, what makes you so special?” The receptionist was a larger, older white lady. The name plate said “Stacy Hawkins”, Police Officer, Retired 2010.

She was rude, Olivia just dismissed her and turned to walk out the door. She found her brother dead today; she didn’t care about some old worn-out police officer who clearly hated her job. Just as she pushed the door open, Detective Marshall walked out to grab her. “Olivia!”

She turned around. “You know, that lady.” And she pointed to Stacy, should really work on her professionalism.

“I’ll speak with her.” Detective Marshall stated as he looked over to the front desk shaking his head.

They walked into an interrogation room. Olivia only knows this because she’s seen it in shows and movies and it looks pretty accurately depicted based on that. Olivia grows concerned. “Am I getting questioned for my brother’s death?” She’s offended.

“No, we bring anyone that we have questions for into these rooms. It’s policy and more private. Please have a seat. Do you want something to drink? “

Olivia sits across from the Detective. “Black Coffee please.”

Detective Marshall makes a gesture to the man at the door. He comes back minutes later with black coffee and hands it to Olivia. “Thank you.”

“Okay,” says Detective Marshall, “Let’s get started. Do you know of anyone who may have wanted to hurt your brother?”

“No, I mean, he got into some trouble when we were younger but as far as I know he’s stayed out of it since then.” Olivia replied.

“And you can’t remember what happened last night?” He questioned.

“No!” Olivia started getting flustered. “I already told you EVERYTHING!”

“I understand, it is just basic questioning. I do need to let you know that we did review the apartments security camera footage.” There was a silence as if he was waiting for Olivia to say something.

Olivia raised her eyebrow, “And?”

“And.” Replied Detective Marshall, “There is no one on camera going into your apartment aside from you and Mark.”

Olivia’s heart begins pumping faster, “Are you implying something!? I would never murder my own brother, let alone hurt him in any way!!!”

She no longer wanted to speak to the Detective. “This conversation is over. Are we done?” She raised her voice. “Can I go?”

Detective Marshall nodded his head and summoned for the man at the door to open it for Olivia. He opened it and Olivia got up and left the police station. During her walk home she just kept thinking about the audacity of him to even think she would do something so cruel. When she got back to her apartment she unlocked the door and when into the kitchen to get a drink of water, she still felt heated. After she finished, she went to place the glass in the sink, what she saw she could not believe. She almost dropped the glass. There was a bloody broken beer bottle in her sink. She thought about calling the Detective but what good would that do? She was already a suspect. She didn’t want to go into her room that was still soiled in her brother’s blood. She decided to go outside and stand on the patio right outside her kitchen. As she was standing out there, she saw something glimmering in the corner. She hadn’t really been out there that often so it’s a possibility that whatever it was had been there. She went to pick it up, it was a beautiful rock bracelet, she had started studying the benefits of different kinds of Crystal’s and rocks as well as their benefits. To her it looked like possibly Moon Stone. As soon as she picked it up she had a sudden flash of last night's events.

Olivia greeted her brother outside as he returned to town from his vacation. They hugged. They went upstairs to her apartment. She went into her room and changed into her pajamas. Shortly after Mark came in her room and asked her if she wanted a beer, she accepted. They went back out into the living room and were sitting on the couch talking, she couldn’t fully make out what they were saying. But something that was said caused an argument. She could make out bits and pieces and from what she could understand, Mark was in some kind of financial trouble. Olivia could clearly here herself say in this vision, “I thought you were clean! I don’t have that kind of money.” Mark raised his voice and Olivia appeared to be visibly scared. Mark started scavenging through her things, every drawer in the house, grabbing every dollar she had.

Olivia could see what she was saying but could not hear anything again. “Mark! Are you high right now? What the fuck!? You’re scaring me! Olivia stood up and pointed towards the front door, “Mark, you need to get out of here now! We’ll talk tomorrow.” And she turned to walk into the kitchen to throw her beer bottle away. Mark followed her. He knew she usually kept her purse in a cabinet above the fridge. It was like Olivia was watching all these events unfold between her and her brother in this thing she was experiencing. Mark, who was probably what you would call average size as far as weight goes, not thin, not overweight was still significantly taller than Oliva. He reached into the cabinet above her fridge and grabbed her purse. He started going through it, grabbing cash, her bank cards, check book, jewelry, anything that would be of any value. Olivia started fighting him for it, with the beer bottle still in her hand. During the struggle the bottle got broken but she was still holding onto the neck of the bottle with the now jagged bottom edges. The two continued to struggle over the purse, at one point Mark grabbed Olivia’s arm. It appeared to be painful. At this moment Olivia reacted in a way she never would of imagined, she took that jagged broken beer bottle that was still in her hand and shoved it into Mark’s side. He dropped the purse and grabbed his lower stomach. Olivia shocked, dropped the broken bottle in the sink. Mark stumbled his way through the apartment eventually making his way to Olivia’s room and falling onto her bed. At that moment Olivia came to. She was in tears, “Oh my God! Oh my God! I killed Mark!”

She walked back into the apartment and looked around the kitchen, she noticed blood on the floor and her purse belongings scattered everywhere, she hadn’t noticed this earlier. “This can’t be real.” She whispered to herself. At that moment there was a pounding on the door. She jumped. It was the Detective, yelling that she had 15 seconds to open the door before they came in as they had acquired a search warrant for her residence. She panicked, made an attempt to clean the blood off the floor with a dish towel, she knew it was useless. She could hear them counting down “6, 5, 4….” She didn’t have any choice, she just slid onto the kitchen floor and sat against the cabinet, she was going to jail. She realized she was still grasping the bracelet she was holding. She did have a short thought of, “Why don’t I ever take anything out of my hand?” She could still hear the counting in the background, “3, 2, 1….” Just then she hurt a loud slam and saw light come into the kitchen from the living room, she figured it was law enforcement breaking the door. She just grasped the bracelet as tight as she could, sighed and closed her eyes. She gave it a few minutes, she didn’t hear anything, she slowly opened her eyes, there was no longer light coming in. She looked around, the kitchen was clean, no signs of any kind of struggle. She got up off the floor in a daze.

Olivia walked out into her living room, her door closed and intact. She turned around and walked into her bedroom, no blood anywhere. She looked down to see what she was wearing. She was still wearing what she had went to the Police Station in, so her confusion remained. Just then her phone rang, she picked it up to look at the screen to see who was calling, “Bro” it said on the screen. She hesitantly answered.

“Hello?” Oliva questioned.

“What’s up little sis!?” Said a deep voice on the other end of the line. “What, no, Yo Bro like usual? You okay?”

It was Mark.

“I’m just surprised to hear from you, that’s all.” Olivia responded.

Mark, confused asked, “Why? I call you like everyday and you knew I was going to be back today from vacay! Woot woot!”

Mark always had a very outgoing kind of comedically social personality, so this kind of response wasn’t unusual.

“It’s nothing.” Said Olivia. “I’m fine. Welcome back. How was your trip?”

Olivia thought maybe the whole crazy thing was a horrible nightmare, so she didn’t even bring it up. Mark was talking but she was only half listening. She felt something on her arm, so she looked down and noticed she was wearing the Moon Stone bracelet. Her eyes widened. “What the hell?” She said out loud.

“What?” Mark questioned. “I thought you liked fried fish?”

Olivia snapped back to their conversation, “What?”

“Wow. Olive, you are out of it today. I was saying that when I was in Louisiana I ate really good fried fish. Anyways, space cadet. We still on for tonight or what?”

“Olive, really?” Olivia responded with a smile. Mark always called her that when he wanted to get her attention. She thought about what happened prior to her coming back to this moment. She killed him. She didn’t want to chance that happening again. “How about we postpone the visit here and meet up for dinner somewhere? I’ve been eating sandwiches all week anyways. Yeah?”

“Cool cool. You know just because I am not in town doesn’t mean you can’t eat other food.”

“I know. I just only leave for work when you’re not in town.”

“Sis, sis, sis.” He said as if he were shaking his head.

“I know, I know.” Responded Olivia. “Where do you want to go?”

Mark jokingly sighed, “It was your idea, you pick.”

Olivia smiled, “Fish Fri Friday at Ransom’s?”

“You got it!” Mark laughed. “I’ll meet you there about 730. Love ya. Bye!”

The two hung up. And Olivia sat on the couch, starring at the bracelet. It really did look like Moon Stone. She examined it. But there were some other stones in it that were not like she’d ever seen before. They were extremely iridescent and looked as if they were almost glowing. Olivia did not know what happened but she knew there was definitely something special about this bracelet. She kept it on. She really believed that it brought her back a day in time prior to her brother’s death so that she could prevent it from happening.

It reached 6pm and Oliva began getting ready for her dinner with her brother. She wore dark blue faded, knee torn jeans, as it was the style. A white turtle neck tank top with a light grey tie sweater over the top. She straightened her hair and put it up into a high ponytail. She did simple make-up. Just light foundation, eye liner and mascara. She grabbed a small silver sparkly sachet purse and stuck her ID, bank card, keys and some cash in it. She slipped on a pair of ankle high dark brown laced boots before she walked out the door. She drove to the restaurant in her light blue and black Mini Cooper. When she arrived, she saw her brother’s car in the parking lot and went in. She spotted him right away. He was wearing dark blue pants and a white button-up shirt. Olivia felt a sense of panic as it was the same thing he was wearing when the incident happened. She sat down and they started talking about his vacation and what she did while he was out of town. And suddenly the conversation turned to money.

Mark’s face was clearly that of concern. “Olivia, Olive, Sis. I am in a lot of trouble here. I need 15 grand like yesterday.”

“Mark, I don’t have that kind of money.” Olivia responded.

“Olivia!” Mark raised his voice, then lowered it once he realized people in the restaurant were watching. “I know you have money in savings. I know you have at least 10K in there.”

“Mark, stop! Are you on drugs again?” Olivia said sternly but quietly. “You’re supposed to be clean! 5 years clean and you ruin it? Seriously?”

Mark reached for Olivia’s purse, which is still hanging off of her body. She grabs it and pulls it to the other side. “Mark, I don’t know what you did or to who but that’s on you. I can’t give you all my money. I’d be homeless if I did that. I love you but this can’t happen.” Olivia stood up. “It was nice having dinner with you.” She then pulled out a $50 bill from her purse and threw it on the table. “I’ll pay for dinner.” She turned around to walk outside to leave. At least she felt as though the death was prevented since they were in a public place and Mark wouldn’t actively fight her for her purse like at home.

Mark waited a few minutes, then got up from the table and followed behind her but not before grabbing the money off the table and sticking it in his pocket.

Olivia had already made it to her car in the parking garage and just as she was about to unlock her car, she heard Mark calling her. “Olivia, wait! Olivia!”

She tried to act like she couldn’t hear him. She was hurt that he got back into that life and that he would even ask her for everything she had. His voice grew louder and closer. Right after she was about to open the car door Mark grabbed her arm and turned her around.

“Mark,” she screeched, “That hurts, lets go!” She looked into his eyes and saw something different within him. “Are you high right now? LET! GO!”

It was like he didn’t even hear here. He grabbed her keys out of her hand while still holding onto her other arm. He stuck them in his pocket and began grabbing for her purse again, except this time he was able to take her cash and cards out of it. Olivia fought him off of her and attempted to reach into his pocket for her keys. There was quite a bit of physical altercations back and forth but due to it being a moderately rough area if anyone saw this going on, they acted as if they didn’t. Throughout the struggle Olivia pushed him. She pushed him so hard out of rage that he fell backwards from the second story of the parking garage onto the street below. She ran to the edge and looked down. She could see him in the street while people suddenly gathered around looking up to see where he came from. She stood there in shock, he wasn’t moving. She knew he was dead. She was froze watching everything below. Suddenly she heard several sirens and she snapped to. She realized someone, probably multiple people, called the police. “Oh shit.” she thought. “Again, seriously.”

She didn’t know if the first incident was some crazy coincidence or not but she did what she did the first time. She wrapped her hand around the bracelet, closed her eyes and waited for a few minutes before opening them. She opened them slowly again and suddenly she was back in her apartment, sitting on her kitchen floor. She rose slowly again as she did before. And she heard her phone ring, she knew it was likely Mark. It was. They had a similar conversation as before except this time she suggested waiting until the next morning to meet up and go for coffee and walk around the lake at the park.

She met him at a local coffee shop the next morning that was around the corner from her apartment, so she walked. It was a little chilly outside, she wore some white sneakers, light blue skinny jeans, and the grey over-sized sweater she wore to the police department, also a messy bun. She met Mark at the coffee shop, they arrived at the same time and gave each other a hug. Olivia was slightly relieved that he was not wearing the blue pants and white button up shirt but black sweatpants and a dark blue hoodie. They again talked about his vacation.

Mark noticed the bracelet, “I thought you didn’t go anywhere while I was gone? Did you order that online?

Olivia looked down at the bracelet, “No, I actually found it.”

Mark raised an eyebrow, his dark hair lifting slightly as he did so. “Found it?”

Olivia smiled, “Yeah, it was on the back patio the other day.”

“Only you would wear something you found outside in the dirt.” Mark laughed.

“Well,” Olivia responded, “It wasn’t actually dirty.” And they both laughed.

Meeting up for coffee had gone really well. This was also a sigh of relief for Olivia. So far things were going smoothly. They began their walk around the lake at the park across from the coffee shop. Nothing out of the ordinary. They continued their conversation and joked around with each other. But that was too good to last. Again, the conversation turned to money. Olivia felt stressed, she did not like how these conversations were ending. But they were out in the open on flat ground in a park. She really thought it would be fine. Before you know it, same scenario but a different scene. Mark tried reaching into Olivia’s pockets by yet again grabbing her arm. She fought him off again. But this time she pushed him so hard he fell into the lake, it wasn’t shallow and she tried to help him out. Reaching for him and crying out that she was sorry. He wasn’t coming back up and she didn’t understand why. She could see if arms waving and she realized he was pointing down to his foot. It was stuck in between a couple rock. She immediately called 911 but by the time they arrived and had gotten Mark out of the lake, he had drowned. Every attempt to revive him had failed. She sat near a tree crying after they took him away.

“Why?” She said to herself, “Why does he have to keep dying? Why do I have to keep killing him?” Olivia took the bracelet off her wrist and held it in her hands. She thought about throwing it into the lake but didn’t. She was going to try to save Mark’s life again, even if that meant never seeing him again. She grasped the bracelet and before she closed her eyes , realized it was giving off an extra glow. She waited the few minutes again and opened her eyes. She was back in her kitchen again on the floor. Same routine as before, she got up and heard her phone ring. But this time she didn’t answer. Mark called a couple more times. She still didn’t answer.

Olivia went to bed early that night. She checked her phone and saw that Mark had called several times throughout the night, all the way until about 4am. She really wanted to call him back, but she didn’t. Her phone rang again and she looked at it thinking it was Mark. It wasn’t. It was an unknown number. She answered, half expecting it to be Mark.

“Hello?” She answered.

“Are you related to Mark Laramie?” Asked the voice on the line.

“Yes, he is my brother, who is this?” She asked.

“This is Detective Marshall, is this Olivia?” Questioned the Detective.

Olivia had no idea why he would be calling her. “Yes, can I help you?”

There was a silence. “I am sorry ma’am. Some of our officers found your brother early this morning. He has passed away. We are currently investigating foul play associated with a bad drug deal. That is all the information we have at this time. I will reach out soon.”

Olivia didn’t say a word. She just dropped the phone on the floor. Even without talking to him, she couldn’t save him. She wrote about every incident in her journal.

2~15~23

“This is crazy, I know. But I killed Mark 3 different times. The first time with a broken beer bottle in my kitchen, the second time I pushed him off the parking garage at Ransom’s. The most recent time I pushed him in the Lake on accident and he drowned. I thought that if I didn’t speak to him any longer I could save him. But he is still dead. The investigator just called me. It was foul play. He messed with some drug dealers, But I am going to bring him back again. This time I am going to give him the money, all of it as long as he promises rehab. I’d rather be broke and have him here than not.”

Olivia .L.

Oliva sat down, again with the bracelet in her hand and closed her eyes for a few minutes. She opened them slowly, nothing had changed. She was still on her living room couch, not back to her kitchen floor where she usually ended up. She tried again and again. The panic set in. She cried. It wasn’t working.

“Why wasn’t it working?” Olivia thought to herself. Suddenly she came to the realization that it had only worked before because she was the one who had accidentally killed her brother. But this time it wasn’t her and it was on purpose. It wasn’t working. Mark was officially dead.