The bus went out east before turning around and heading back into the city, at which point it drove by the Toys ‘R’ Us. Though it wouldn’t stop anywhere near it, Wes was happy enough just to see its signage back where it belonged and its parking lot full of cars and excited kids being led in by parents ready to make their day.

Not too far from the toy utopia was the Royal Valley Mall, where the bus did make a stop. Over half of its occupants, mostly elderly day shoppers or mall walkers, got off and Wes followed them, still with that quarter in his pocket. He wondered just how far the worn out old 1994 coin would take him as he stepped into the food court.

And wow, what a time capsule. He had completely forgotten about some of the stores that now existed again, either chains or one-offs that once only operated in the indoor plaza. Places seemingly disappeared at random overnight and were then replaced by something new weeks later. Hundreds of stores had probably come and gone over the years, so it was no wonder he didn’t have memories of all of them.

He visited a few stores before hitting the arcade. Every kid in town remembered the day that closed. But the sad moment in history felt impossible as things were now; the venue was bright, loud, and full of kids and teens playing the hottest new cabinets.

Hoping he wouldn’t attract too much attention, he found one of his favorite games from the time, Alien Vs. Predator, and stuck in two quarters to get it going. He was able to beat up xenomorphs for about a minute before the glitch happened again. He got his money back, but the game had also returned to its demo mode. It made him wonder and worry a little, but at least he got a refund.

If he was going to stay in the past for a longer period of time, he hoped the anomaly would wear off. But if not, the trip would still be worth it and he’d do his best to work around it—unless it interfered with eating. In that case, he really would have to go back to 2020. And that would be a real shame. Surely, he could make things work.

As he was already hungry and seeing a good chance to test out just how bad the spacetime error could get, he went to the food court and got himself a slice of pepperoni pizza and a Pepsi. He took one of the corner tables, away from most everyone else, and started with nibbles that turned into bigger bites. It actually looked like he could drink and eat okay; his pizza never regrew any of itself and his drink never refilled. It was gross to think about, but maybe things that went inside his body were an exception.

He looked up to see a boy a few tables away staring at him, probably because he was eating so strangely and cautiously. He was no older than six, with messy dirty blond hair and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt. Their eyes locked for a few moments, and Wes began to wonder if the kid, in some way… knew something about him.

A man who must have been his dad then came in from the side, his back facing Wes, and he told the kid, “André, it’s rude to stare. Come on, it’s time to go home.”

The man turned around to face the time traveler and looked ready to apologize for something that didn’t really need it, and Wes was surprised at the man’s apparent age. He was up there in years, maybe in his mid-sixties, though his lack of wrinkles and other age marks obscured the real number a bit. He took a few steps forward and got ready to say something, but then raised an eyebrow and gazed upon Wes, confused.

“Do… Do I know you from somewhere? You seem so familiar…”

Wishing he hadn’t been noticed, Wes shook his head. “I don’t think so. Don’t worry about it. I was just leaving. Uh, cute kid.”

He got up, tossed his garbage, and walked out of the mall, with the old man staring at him in a peculiar manner the entire time. He assumed he just thought that he was someone else, but as someone who was violating the rules of time and space, Wes had no desire to attract any attention or change history to any significant degree.

• •

He had mostly stopped worrying about the odd old man by the time he made it to the eighteenth floor of Victory Plaza, to watch the sun go down on his hometown on a day in 1995’s July. It felt like the perfect way to end his best day in a long while, and luckily, as in the future, there was a window to look out of by the elevators, so he didn’t have to break into what was currently a brokerage firm for a view. Although he was tempted to do so and scribble a cryptic “DON’T HIRE JARED REINER” on some part of a wall that would be revealed during a move, just to see what might happen.

The sunset colors were a tiny bit different than what he was used to. Maybe the pollutants in the air had changed over the years. But all those deep purples and oranges were still out there, in every place except the long shadows of buildings and houses. He made the decision then to stay, at least a few months. Maybe it would fix him. Maybe he could fix some things. First, he had to go back to better prepare. Time for a break-in.

After blowing almost all of his petty time-safe cash on a used pair of overalls and a blue cap at Kettle’s Goodwill just before it closed, he returned to his apartment at eight. He really didn’t like wearing overalls, but he needed to look the part, and at least he could wear them over his normal clothes and not have to ditch them.

He lowered his cap a little over his eyes and, hoping the current resident wouldn’t recognize him from the morning, knocked on his apartment door, standing up straight and trying to look professional and not the least bit suspicious.

“Yeah?” the guy on the other side asked, the door chain preventing it from opening farther. He eyed Wes and already a little aggravated, added, “Whad’ya want?”

“Ah, sir, apartment 213, right? We got an emergency call about a refrigerator breakdown. May be an easy fix. I was going to take a quick look before I get my tools.”

“I didn’t call no one about that.”

“It was a woman’s voice on the phone, so…”

“Huh. Well, shoot. Wife’s off playin’ a card game with the girls right now, so it’d be hard to ask her… Didn’t tell me nothin’ about somethin’ wrong with the fridge.”

“Well, it could be nothing. No charge if that’s the case. But I already made the drive out, so I might as well see what she was talking about, right?”

“I, uh… I s’pose. All right. Hold on.”

He closed the door, undid the chain, and opened it to let Wes in, who was keeping his head down. He took notice of the shotgun damage to the door frame.

“Had an intruder here today,” the crazy guy said after Wes had walked in and he closed the door behind him. “Figured he’d be back. You think I’m stupid, boy?”

Wes turned and saw that he was already reaching for the shotgun leaning on the window. The maniac was right about one thing—he had definitely been underestimated. But Wes figured he could make it to the kitchen before getting a face full. He was more upset that he’d have to deal with the guy whenever he felt like a little time traveling.

“Get back here, boy! I just wanna talk to ya!” he shouted as Wes took off.

Wes heard him running behind him, his feet stomping on the old floorboards. He could’ve been just seconds away from getting shot in the back for all he knew.

His heart about to explode as he did so, he made a running leap into the closed pantry door, confident the gateway to safety was still there.

The next thing he knew, he had slammed into the shelves inside his pitch-black pantry, sending several toppling down to the floor. With a little pain in some places, he stumbled out, grabbed onto a chair to stop himself from falling, and caught his breath.

He looked back at the door and after taking a moment to collect his thoughts, stuck a hand through to confirm that it was still an entry to the past, and yes, all of that had really happened. Thankfully, it also looked like his possible murderer wouldn’t be chasing him through time, even though he must have seen Wes leap into his door. Best he could figure, maybe no one in 1995 could use the gateway.

Not really caring about spending any more time wondering about it, and fully prepared to go back proper and stay for a while, he headed into his bedroom and grabbed his old, low capacity iPad, to start making an important checklist.

Going to work was at the top of the list. It would be a very special Friday rerun, and he wasn’t about to finish making that database a second time. And what to wear?

He opened his closet and got into the stuff in the very back. He had something that would fit perfectly. Once he saw it, he let out a genuine laugh for the first time in 2020 and quivered in anticipation at both the prospect of going back to 1995, and finally getting back at his boss for so many things that happened since that year.

• •

“Morning, Miriam!” Wes greeted the receptionist, who would be the first of his business’s employees to see what he had decided to wear that morning.

She covered her phone receiver and exclaimed, “Wes, what on Earth…”

He got similar reactions on the way to his desk, even to the point where others farther away heard the commotion, stood up, and looked out from the cubicles. His fashion choice seemed to be a hit with everyone and would likely cost the company a few hundred bucks just by time wasted on reactions and commentary.

Sandals, khaki shorts, a red Hawaiian t-shirt, and a pair of sunglasses was all it took to upset the balance on floor eighteen. He didn’t plan to spend all day again at work; this act was really just a farce, though it did have its perks. He would tell Jared what he really thought about their friendship and their company that he had wanted to say for years, and also take something from his desk that he wanted with him on his trip.

Jared ran into him before he made it over. He looked a tad perturbed.

“Ah, Wes, uhm… Heh, yeah…” He stammered and tried to keep from laughing, probably one of those nervous or disgusted kinds. “I thought we stopped doing casual Fridays years ago. Are you going on a sudden vacation you didn’t tell me about, bud?”

Wes eyed his desk, which was just behind Jared, and nudged his sunglasses down a little so his boss could see that he was serious despite the smile. “Sorry, Jared, but I am out of here. Just pickin’ up some junk. You’ll have to finish the database yourself.”

“What? Are you kidding me? You can’t quit! Do you have any idea how busy I am right now? I don’t have time to pick up the slack and do even half your job!”

“But you have been doing literally half of my job for a while now, haven’t you? Come on, J, you’ll do fine. Weren’t your corporate pals about to give you a promotion?”

“Why are you doing this, man? I thought we had a good thing going!”

“Dude, don’t lose your cool.” Wes pushed his shades back up. “I’m not pulling a Jerry Maguire and starting some new company by stealing a bunch of the guys here. I’m just quitting. I hate this place and my life is miserable, so I’m movin’ onto better things.”

“Are you still angry we ended up here? You ever think that if you tried harder—”

“Oh, don’t give me that shit, J. I did all the work back then, too. You just wanted the fame and fortune and blew our startup capital on frivolous crap you didn’t need. You made us settle for being stooges at a company whose most valued contribution to society was better ad targeting in mobile games. And I hate 99% of mobile games, J.”

“But we can still… If you and I just got to the top together, we could change the company… That was the plan, wasn’t it? Back when we both got hired here?”

“Sure, but dreams die. The last decade sucked and killed mine, and I’m sure the next decade will suck too and kill anything that’s still left. So, ya know, screw this place.”

He pushed his way past Jared and grabbed the one thing he wanted from work—that framed photo of the gang, which he slid into his oversized pocket.

“What are you going to do about this ‘next decade,’ huh?” Jared said angrily, now the one having a rotten day. “Your nostalgia is a poison. You can’t live in the past, Wes!”

As Wes started to head out, he grumbled, “Watch me.”

After most of the company watched Wes’ grand exit and he returned to his car in the garage, he took his iPad from the glove box and checked off the first item: “Quit!”

It was going to be a long day of preparation. Luckily, his schedule was wide open.

• •

“You quit your job?” Jace asked his uncle. “How will you make money if you do come back? I mean, I liked the part where you yelled at Jared, but…”

“Have you been paying attention to anything?” Wes sighed. “Different timeline.”

“Oh. Yeah. That Friday got reset. I’m just tired, not thinking straight…”

The rain had stopped hours ago, and now the sun was rising. Neither Wes nor Jace had gotten any sleep during their stay under the bridge outside of town, but Millie was peacefully snoring with her mouth hanging open over by Warren, who had let her fall asleep leaning on his side. He had used his quartz to monitor the area all night long.

“So, neat story—other than how you made me look, but I really wanted to find out what we’re going to do now, with spy-girl Millie and the ninja guy,” Jace said.

“I’m sure whatever he’s got planned for us will take up the day. No use thinking about it all night. Just thought I’d get my mind off things with that thrilling tale.”

“Yeah…” Jace yawned. “I don’t have to go to school today, right?”

“Maybe… If it’s important, Warren would probably make you go. Sorry.”

“Great,” he huffed. “One thing I don’t get… What’s the deal with that kid in the mall and his dad? He was the little punk that tried to steal my phone way back, but you never told me that you met him on your first day, too. That whole thing is kinda weird.”

“Hm. I mean, it happened, but I guess I mostly forgot about it until now. I just thought he was some old guy that mistook me for someone else.”

Warren sighed, woke up Millie, stood and stretched, and put back on his headgear. She felt around the rocks for her glasses and messily slid them onto her ears.

“We should be safe to move,” Warren said. “We need to get you to a new place to stay, and finish setting up some security. I already took care of most of it days ago.”

“Oh.” Wes muttered, “I actually like solving problems on my own, but, okay.”

“You can’t mess around with the time cops. I’ll be the one in charge of your safety from here on. Doesn’t mean you should go out and act stupid or something.”

Wes turned in the driver’s seat and got the engine going. Warren made Jace ride in the back with Millie again, who complained about her “bed” made of rocks.

“But it’s worth it,” she added, rubbing her aching back as they got onto the road in the early morning sunlight. “To be the only kid in school that knows time travelers.”

Thinking on her remark, Wes wondered—would she find out who he used to be?