“Looped”
It was twilight, and the violet skies would soon hide the green from the trees as the night closed in.
“You must choose!”
I looked around, scanning the forest for the speaker where the echoey robotic voice instructing me to choose was coming from.
A loud high-pitched sound vibrated throughout the forest. My thumb pressed hard on the flashlight switch…just a small push would light my way, but I hesitated.
I stood still and waited. The soles of my boots had found their comfort spot in the dirt, anchoring my body secure.
A spec of neon green light beamed before me. I fixed my sight on the rotating sphere as it expanded in size and transformed into a slanted ascending line into the sky. The green line stretched and widened manifesting into a bright green bridge.
The voice continued.
“This bridge is a path to your past. You must choose one event from your past you dare to change. Caution! Changing your past will change your present. You will have one minute to decide. Countdown activating now.”
My keys jingled in my loose jean pocket as my legs quivered. A loud beep blared with each second that passed.
I would do anything to change that fateful evening. The night was at its darkest as the rain pelted relentlessly on the windshield of my 1986 red Toyota Tercel. I was nervous, unfamiliar with the route. Anna, my wife was holding our three-month old baby Olivia in the back seat, unceasingly crying, clothed with just a diaper and burning up with a fever.
“Please hurry,” Anna demanded sobbing. The hospital was just one minute away.
It was only when I heard the screeching tires from the big rig, I noticed I had ran the stop sign.
I survived. Anna and Olivia did not.
The tip of my boot touched the edge of the bridge pulling the rest of my body onto the slowly moving conveyor.
The journey to my past began as flashes of events passed me by in a timeline. My heart sunk in sadness as I approached the time of the accident. I stepped into the virtual memory as if stepping into a movie screen. Tears trickled down my face as Olivia’s crying melted into Anna’s shriek.
Then as if someone hit the rewind button, frames of the event played in reverse. I pressed my foot against the brakes on time and watched the big rig pass by.
“Please hurry,” Anna demanded sobbing.
I pressed the gas as I saw the neon hospital sign up ahead. I turn and looked back at Anna and smiled. Anna turned her head to the left and shrieked, as a big rig ran the stop sign and slammed into us.
I floated above the accident scene. Anna and Olivia’s crying faded slowly, as I did.
“You must choose!”
Anna stood in the forest. Her bare feet sank in the dirt, finding their comfort spot. A speck of neon green light appeared before her.