The Bloody Doors Off

Time is an abstract.

What does that mean?

Einstein knew.

Not me.

I spent most of yesterday thinking it was Saturday.

It was, in fact, Friday. All day.

And I have no idea what today is.

I’ve become unstuck in time.

If only that meant I could go back and fix certain mistakes.

But. No. I can’t.

The butterfly effect.

Change one thing, it sets off a chain of dominoes.

Brand new timeline.

But what if I’ve already done just that?

What if. I’m a variant.

I’m about to make a Star Trek reference. Feel free to skip ahead.

The Reference.

Paramount rebooted the original Star Trek franchise in 2009. Same characters, but one event happens differently (because of time travel, duh) and a new branch (the Kelvin timeline) is formed. The 1960s show is still canon. It happened. But this is a parallel universe, existing side-by-side.

Kirk and Spock still become best friends. McCoy constantly complains about what career he doesn’t have.

People fated to meet, no matter the universe.

I wrote a character like that, along with my one of my best friends K. (They prefer anonymity.) We wrote in an online RPG for several years. Theirs was an original character created specifically for the game, and mine was a character from the television shows. (That’s your only clue.) K and I actually wrote a scene that played out in multiple realities between our protagonists. (One of our best pieces.)

If You Skipped Ahead

What’s wrong with you? I tried to explain so I didn’t have to write this again.

Just. Just go back and read it.

Okay. Done? Good.

So the question is, what if I’m a variant. What if this life branched off from the prime universe because I went back in time — because I’m unstuck, remember? — and changed something insignificant?

Like, what if I went back and found the gold-plated money clip with the profile of Bob ‘Slope Nose’ Hope that the comedian passed to my grandfather who gave it to me, because he didn’t give autographs but didn’t want to disappoint a new generation of fan? I treasured the damn thing and kept it in my desk drawer but one day, poof!, it was gone.

What if making sure it never got lost, altered the trajectory of my life?

I’d never know.

Because this is my reality.

And despite the hardships I’ve faced in my life.

The obstacles I’ve had to climb.

The humiliations I’ve faced.

Where I am right now.

This life.

This is the reality I choose.

Marlo and Coltrane are my prime universe.