Stuck In Time

Clara slowly spun my chair to face her.

"If you go back again, remember what I said, touch my face like this, kiss me then tell me you love me. I love you Alex." She said before she kissed me.

I looked back at my screens again and right on time my servers started to spike then my connection was lost. I got my phone out to call my boss but before I could call my room went bright and I blacked out.

I woke up alone. I checked my phone, Monday June 5th...

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKK" I yelled at the top of my voice.

I called Clara, when she arrived I hugged her tight then did as she told me, touched her face, kissed her then told her I loved her. She looked confused but kissed me back.

"I... How did you know to do that Alex, I've daydreamed about that for so long." She said.

"It's really hard to explain but on Tuesday when you get a domestic call, he's hiding by the dumpster waiting to attack your partner with a knife. Before you get close, yell out that you have a K9 and he'll surrender." I said.

"You're not making any sense sweetie, tell me how you knew that. I've never told a living soul, you did exactly what I had in my mind." She said.

"You told me Clara, after we make love on Tuesday night. I'm stuck in a time loop, This is my 4th or 5th time round, I can't remember anymore. I can't stop it. I love you, I can prove all of this."

Two hours later I sat in the holding room waiting for my evaluation. I tried to think of more ways I could prove I was telling the truth but I couldn't think of anything.

"Hello Alex, I'm Doctor Kline. Your Sister is very worried about you, she told me you told her you can see the future." Said the man that sat down in front of me.

"No, I told her I'm stuck in a time loop. Things have happened that cause me to be sent back in time and no matter what I do I can't break the loop. I'm not crazy."

The Doctor took some convincing, he put my 'episode' down to stress and signed me off work for 2 weeks, I kept the laugh of irony to myself and worked out how I was going to mend things with Clara. Tuesday night after her shift she came with a bottle of Vodka and hugged me after she put it on the counter.

"I'm so sorry Alex, I should have believed you. Everything you said was going to happen nearly did if I hadn't asked his wife about dogs. Laura is okay, you were right. How many times have we been together, sexually I mean?" She said.

"My last loop was the first, I wasn't sure I was still looping so I asked you how I should approach the subject of 'us' with you and you told me that." I replied.

"You should maybe wait until after today. You have no idea where my emotions are after that arrest today, to see Laura hurt would be horrible to me and the fact you stopped it makes me feel so, I don't know, open to you I guess? Tell me about this loop, lets try and stop it. I can't go through another day like yesterday, not seeing you after I took you to a shrink gave me so much guilt and I feel horrible about it." She said.

Clara and I talked a lot, we held each other as we fell asleep on the couch but when I woke she was gone. I found a note from her that she'd gone to the range, her usual place to clear her mind. I thought about how to break my loop and decided I needed better ways to prove things to save me time explaining. I sat and watched the news for a while, nothing going on this week apparently, certainly nothing I could keep. Biggest powerball jackpot in years, interesting but would take weeks to cash. I memorized the numbers anyway. I got online and looked at the news for Monday, looking for something big I could use, again, nothing. Clara was still too freaked out to open up to me but Friday rolled around and sure enough, sent back.

I called Clara, told her I could prove I was in a loop, live streamed Kim getting a chest full of marinara, warned Clara about her call and waited until that night to tell her I loved her. She was right about her emotions, I felt bad for exploiting them but in my defense, she told me to. We made love all night like the first time and I waited until Friday to enact my plan to break the loop.

I timed my plan to the second, right before the drone was about to dock and upload I'd cut the power to the transport line, it would delay the upload but the data would remain intact. It didn't work, I woke up on the Monday again.

I called Clara, told her I could prove I was in a loop, live streamed Kim getting a chest full of marinara, warned Clara about her call and waited until that night to tell her I loved her. She was right about her emotions, I felt bad for exploiting them but in my defense, she told me to. We made love all night like the first time and I waited until Friday to enact my plan to break the loop again.

I lost count of how many times I tried. I cut power to the entire building, disabled the backup generators, even electrocuted myself (by accident) trying to just isolate my server room but every time I woke up on the Monday. The only thing keeping me sane was the countless first times I'd get to make love to Clara.

One Monday sitting at lunch, I felt bad that poor Kim got the marinara meant for me and asked her to join me to discuss a project I was thinking about. She seemed a little distracted.

"You okay Kim, you seem a little distant." I asked her, I'd known her the whole 12 years I'd worked at the company.

"I'm sure it's nothing, my sister went missing last night, she went hiking at the weekend and didn't come back, the Rangers said I have to wait another 24 hours before they're allowed to call her missing." She said.

"Gina right? She's always in the flight room, I never get to talk to her anymore. I hope they find her okay." I replied.

"Yea, she's the manager there now, they have Derek covering, between you and me the guy's an idiot but I'm sure Gina will be back tomorrow if she's okay." Said Kim.

"What's his last name?" I asked.

"Baker I think, Gina hates him, she says he's reckless and always making mistakes. Sorry, I'll talk to you about that project later, sounds interesting but I can't focus with worry." Said Kim then she left.

I thought about it and wondered if the safeguards about the flights were human. I spoke to my boss again.

"Now Alex, you have a very specific set of clearances, asking questions like this usually force me to open an internal investigation. Who gave you information about my flights." Said Miller.

"Please believe me Mr Miller, I'm not asking for any reason other than the safety of this entire facility. If I'm correct, Baker is Gina's backup, you trust her not to allow him to screw up and launch in atmosphere. With her not there, he's going to launch on Friday at 18,000 feet and tear a hole in space/time and cause the loop I'm stuck in. If I'm wrong, do what you need to Sir but I've lived this week for about 6 months by my estimations and I'm tired of it."

After I was held by security for 4 hours I was fired and escorted from the building. I managed to warn Clara, spent the night making love to her then on the Thursday she came back in uniform with 2 officers I didn't recognize.

"Alex, on Monday you told me about Gina Florence going missing, how did you know that?" She asked, she had a serious look on her face.

"Her sister is a friend in work, Kim. Did they find her okay?" I replied.

"Alex, she was found murdered in the woods, not too far from the trail she was walking. They think she hurt her knee then when she called for help she was attacked and killed. You need to come with us and answer some questions. With what you told me on Tuesday I want to be sure it wasn't to distract me where you were Monday during the day."

I didn't get out of the Police station, I was asked a lot of questions then arrested for suspicion of murder. It took me a couple of loops to get the information I needed, watching the trail and eventually finding the man responsible.

The following loop I called into work sick Monday morning, went to a survival store and bought everything I needed and headed for the trail. The man didn't stand a chance, as soon as he got out his car I hit him with my taser and threw him back onto his seat. I called the Police from a throwaway cellphone (I'd learned on prior loops he had warrants in 5 states) and ran full speed up the trail. I found her a short time later, her cries of help barely audible.

"Alex? How the hell did you find me, I was afraid I'd never be found. I twisted my ankle and slipped down the hill, I lost my cellphone somewhere too." She said when I approached.

"I'll tell you all about it after work on Friday, lets get you some help."

The parking lot was crawling with Officers when I appeared with Gina draped over my shoulder. She was really light so was easy to carry. The Officers helped me, got her an ambulance and after taking my details, thanked me and let me go. That night Clara heard what had happened and came to see me.

"So how the fuck did you know where she was, and don't try me with any dream crap, I know you better than that." She said.

"I will explain everything tomorrow night when you come for dinner, read this when you get the Domestic call tomorrow. I have to go, Gina and her husband insisted they take me to dinner." I said then left.

I didn't tell them about my time jumps or that my conversation with Kim about her being missing happened on 5 or 6 loops ago but Gina told me she'd be back to work on Wednesday, it was all I wanted to hear. The next day my sister and her partner came to see me at work, both hugging me. That night Clara and I made love all night long and she was with me when I woke. Wednesday morning at work Gina came to see me with a red folder, the kind terminated employee files were held in. She had a change order form with her too.

"Hi sweetie, I know they said I could just email this stuff but I wanted the walk, this boot is killing me and I like to stretch my other muscles." She said, sitting down on one of my guest chairs.

"Glad to see you getting around." I replied with a smile.

"Baker was planning an in orbit launch, with me not there Monday and Tuesday he thought he'd get away with it. Idiot had the telemetry planned and everything, who knows what would have happened. Anyway, it was the last straw, Mr Miller finally let me fire his ass, can you shut his access down please, security has him right now." She said.

"Happy to oblige. Something like that could have caused a tear in space time or something, glad you stopped him." I replied. Gina laughed.

"You and your movies. Hey, who was that blonde Cop you were hugging yesterday, she's gorgeous." Said Gina.

"Someone special, you can go now." I said with a smile.

"Oh I see, I get it, keeping it quiet. Don't worry, I won't say anything."

I bought a lottery ticket on my way home with hope I'd done enough to break my loop. Clara was already home waiting for me and was dressed in only lingerie. I let her check the numbers after we made love a few times.

"Um, honey, is this a real ticket? You better not be pranking me again." She said after checking three times.

"It's real, did we win something?" I asked, knowing full well I would be the only one to pick the numbers.

"Well, if this is real then you just won $170 million!!" She said.

"Sweet, how about we move somewhere nobody knows us, like our own island and spend our days just making love." I said.

"I swear you can read minds sometimes." She said.

That Friday, after making a successful flight round the moon, the drone docked and uploaded data that would eventually make me, one of the new silent partners, very rich. I woke up beside Clara on Saturday morning and was still smiling when she woke.

"You're horny again? My pussy is still aching from last night sweetie, would a blowjob work?" She asked.

Clara and I did eventually buy our island, we walk around our house naked, making love most of the day and enjoy life with no worries. I had spent many years living the same week over and over again, I learned everything about my beautiful blonde lover, saved a life and lived to talk about it. Maybe when they build my first warp ship I'll tell my story to the world, until then, I'll just tell you.....