It’s Not Every Day You Get a Phone Call From Yourself

“It’s not every day you get a phone call from yourself.”

Try as I might, I can’t keep the sly smugness from my voice as I answer the phone. It’s hardly the first time I’ve made that joke, and it certainly won’t be the last.

The me on the other end of the line, however, doesn’t appreciate the humor. “For the millionth time, I’m not literally you.”

“True, but I suspect that’s going to change real soon. Evan’s got himself caught in a time loop again, didn’t he?” Asking’s just a formality. My bedside chronometer has already told me everything I need to know.

Her voice softens. “Mila’s pulling her hair out trying to find a way to break the loop. And what did you mean that’s about to change?”

“The only way to end the loop is to collapse this timeline. Once I do, you’ll be sent back to your original timeline, right at the moment I plucked you from it, but you’ll inherit all my memories. In a sense, we’ll become a single person. It will be up to you to try again.”

“Well, you can be sure I won’t make your mistakes. And I’m going to choose a much cooler name than Melanie.”

Despite her arrogant attitude, I can’t help but smile. After all, I said the exact same thing when my predecessor passed the torch to me. “That’s the point. You’ll receive the memories of all the previous attempts so that you won’t make their mistakes. Try not to make new ones.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll just kill Evan. Problem solved.”

My fingers, which were lazily scrolling through the chronometer’s holographic display, pause. “You can’t do that. It would defeat the entire point.”

“But he’s always the one who ends up causing a time loop. I don’t see why we didn’t take him out long ago. Much better idea than killing his parents and then feeling guilty when it doesn’t change anything.”

“Because that would defeat the entire point,” I snap. “The original was married to him. I married him in my predecessor’s timeline.”

“So that’s why you were always creeping on him despite being twice his age.”

“If you add up all the attempts, it’s more like I’m ten times his age.”

“Semantics.” I can almost hear her rolling her eyes through the phone. “What did you see in him, anyway?”

I sigh. “He wasn’t an introverted slacker in that timeline. Why am I wasting time telling you all this? You’ll know it soon enough.”

There really was no point in prolonging this discussion any further. As soon as our consciences merged, the love for Evan that my predecessors and I held dear in our hearts would overwhelm whatever half-baked convictions she had of killing him. My fingers resumed their dance, instructing the chronometer to collapse the timeline.

Despite going through the process dozens of times, I’m still not used to the wrenching sensation as our consciousnesses merge. One moment, the two of us were separate, existing in different locations, and the next, we’re the same. Our past experiences collide with each other in an instant, like air rushing to fill a vacuum, and once the turbulent process finishes, we’re one, as if we always had been.

But I know we weren’t always the same. My predecessors harbored an illogical love for Evan, but I, in the light of reality, can see how foolish that was. He was always the problem, and it wasn’t like any of the Evans from the other timelines could hold a candle to the kind, brave man the original married. In some timelines, he was a jerk. In others, he was a wimp.

No wonder they couldn’t break the loop. But I’ll be the one to finally do it. I’ll free myself and the rest of the Emilio family from this endless hell.

If I can, I’ll prevent him from ever being born in this timeline, but if I have to, I will kill Evan Emilio.