This was terrible news, without the function on my phone, I won't be able to send a message to TJ. Looks like I'd have to improvise to get myself out of this situation. Knowing that Mark was likely trying to track me using my phone, I snapped it in half.
The footsteps that I heard trying to follow me into this narrow street subsided. He stopped walking, trying to track me down. Unfortunately, he still knew that I was down this street.
Deciding to take a risk, I ran for the other end of the street, closer to where TJ's house was. There's a chance he's still there. Risking a glance behind me, I noticed that I had lost Mark. Although, there's something else I noticed.
Fredrick Stevenson.
God dammit, why did he have to be here too? This was so inconvenient. Once I located TJ, we'd have to dip immediately. I had to think of something to do, fast. I can't let them know I'm looking for TJ. The only thing I could think of that would throw them off is to try to book it for my house.
So that's exactly what I did.
Turning right, I bolted upwards towards my house. Smoke fumes infiltrated my nostrils and caused my eyes to fog up. The heat from the fire still warmed my skin, and I could hear the distant sirens closing in on me. I couldn't risk getting seen by the authorities. I had no idea what Mark had told people about me, but I can only assume it's nothing good.
As I approached the street that my house was on, I heard something. I quickly glanced back and took a mental picture of what was behind me.
Mark and Fredrick were talking to each other. For fuck's sake, could this get any worse?
Nonetheless, I had to throw them off. Both of them had their eyes off of me, so I ducked into a bush in my neighbor's yard. He and I were pretty close, so I think he'd probably get the memo.
Luckily, I had thought a situation like this would arise. Earlier today, I sent Bob a text asking him if there was anyone besides Emma that he noticed Fredrick was particularly close to. He told me there was this "cute blonde chick" that he's seen Fredrick walking home with pretty consistently.
At first, I thought she'd be a sister, since they walk home together and that's normal sibling behavior. But Viktor has never mentioned a sister, only himself being a "brother" to Fredrick. Then I suspected that he had a girlfriend, then immediately dismissed the thought. Viktor talked about how Fredrick had no empathy and was completely unable to feel emotions like a normal person, which would mean that he cannot feel romantic attraction either. I know Viktor's plan was built around changing that, but I doubt it's fixed itself just yet.
Then, I figured it out. A colleague. Fredrick is the star child, according to Viktor, at least. They likely would assign some kind of guard to him, but she didn't seem very physically strong. This would usually leave someone at a loss, but then I remembered something Viktor told me about.
His ex.
That's the girl that's meant to poke at Fredrick's emotions, soften him up a bit. I can only assume they're quite close now, but I wondered what her progress was. If only I didn't snap my fucking phone in half, I could ask Bob about her.
However, back then I guessed that she'd be important and asked Bob to snap a photo of her, then we photoshopped it to look like we had her captured. If they saw through my bluff, it'd be bad news. I had to hope it would work.
Mark and Fredrick approached my house, and I held my breath as I crouched in the bushes. My legs ached, I don't know how much longer I'd be able to sit like this.
Mark opened the door to my house, where he'd find the photo of the blonde girl. Bob never told me her name. Fredrick went down the other street to try to find me.
This was my chance. If TJ was still by his house, there's a chance I could find him and escape. I darted from the bushes, my legs crying, and sprinted towards the flames.
There he was, by his house.
"TJ!"
He turned around slowly, tears in his eyes.
"Jeffrey! I thought they got you?"
I ran up to him and dropped to my knees, panting for breath.
"No, I'm good. We've got to go, or they're going to get both of us."
"Where do we go? I mean, what's the next step? How are we going to figure everything out?"
"Calm down, I know what to do. You know that one photo you couldn't find?"
"Yeah, I remember it if you need me to describe it."
"No need, I'm the one that took it. I did it because that's the photo we're going to need. The New York photo is almost certainly their main headquarters. However, the photo with the dock is a local base. It's an abandoned warehouse, I recognized it from the photo. I also saw a logo on the side of the warehouse that was extremely faded. That's where we're heading. They have no idea we know about that spot."
"Wow, you really gathered all that based on one glance?"
"You know it."
TJ slowly looked around him, as if the weight of everything was finally starting to dawn on him.
"I don't know if I'll be able to do this."
I looked at TJ. Not now, not when I need you the most.
"TJ, we've gone through all this together. I need you now more than ever. We're going to get their files, find those magic items, and stop them from destroying the world. TJ, we're going to be fucking heroes, man. Can you imagine that? Heroes. Our names will be in the history books. Imagine cementing yourself not just as one of the strongest people to ever live, but also as a hero to the entire world. Doesn't that sound amazing? We can do this, TJ."
TJ looked around for a bit, deciding if it was worth it. I had to do something to make him make up his mind, we don't have a lot of time anyway.
"Alright, well. We don't have much time. If you want to stay behind, be my guest. But, don't forget what happened last time we chose to separate. Something really bad happened."
TJ turned to me with a confused look.
"Last time?"
I stood up and turned to face him.
"You don't remember? Don't you have hyperthymesia?"
TJ fell to his knees and buried his face in his hands, sobbing.
"I don't remember! Everything is swirling in my mind. I can't make sense of anything. You told me this would be a gift, but it's so hard to think with every memory I've ever had always constantly at bay! I can't deal with this!"
I patted him on the back and kneeled down next to him.
"It's okay, man. Your condition doesn't mean you remember every single thing. It's better for you if you don't. If you ever need me to help you remember, I'll be there. Because I would never leave you."
TJ turned up and looked back at me.
"Thanks. Let's go."
I hoisted him back up on his feet, and led him to the docks.
Stellar performance from me.
…
On the way to the warehouse, I stopped off to buy a new phone. Luckily, before my parents died they left me with a lot of money to spend, so I had some to spare. I dialed Bob real quick to give him a status update.
"Bob. It's me, Jeffrey. Had to ditch my old phone since I was being tracked. Chances are this one will get ditched too. Make sure you are always answering calls, I don't care how spam likely it is, if I need you, and you aren't there for me, you will have to live with my death and the potential loss of the entire world on your conscience. All because you didn't feel like getting 2 more spam calls tomorrow."
"Jeffrey? Yeah, I'll answer my phone, but why is all this happening? Seriously man, you gotta start explaining some things to me, I mean think how usefu-"
I hung up.
"You ready to go?" I asked TJ as I tossed him a bag of Doritos. Always gotta have a snack ready. I opened up my bag of Goldfish and started snacking.
TJ caught the bag and tore it open.
"Yup, let's get a move on."
We continued onward towards the warehouse, munching on our snacks when something peculiar happened.
The ground beneath us started to shift backwards. I looked to my left and saw TJ rewinding, time itself was rewinding. The sun retraced its own path in the sky, but I was immune. Even my new phone's clock was rewinding.
Time was rewinding fast, but not super fast, about a minute every second. I had to do something, all this progress would be lost for nothing. There had to be some way to stop this, right? Wait, I'm immune to the time freeze. Could the watch be the cause of this? If I'm right, then could freezing time stop it from rewinding? It makes sense.
First, I have to make some progress in a different direction. If they saw me heading in the direction of the warehouse, then they'd obviously figure out what I was doing. The ping from the watch would give away my location.
I jogged back to the gas station where I bought the snacks from and then started towards a road that leads towards the museum. That'll keep them guessing for a while.
As I crossed the street that led to the museum. I had no idea if this would even work, but it's all I could do in this situation.
I pressed the button on my watch and time came to a halt. The sun stopped moving, my phone's timer froze, and the people who I saw moon walking stood still. The world turned to a gray color and all I could hear was the ringing in my ears. I double-checked the time on my phone to find that 10 hours had been rewound.
Fun.
I'd have to go find where TJ was 10 hours ago and get him to touch the watch so I could unfreeze him. At the same time, that could be risky, but also I don't know how that'd affect TJ's memories, would he remember this? Would he forget what happened before time was rewound if he doesn't touch the watch? What would happen to me if I took the watch off?
Sometimes that last question just slips in there, hopefully nothing catastrophic, although I'm not planning on testing it.
Remembering that I had limited time and thinking was just as easy while walking, I started my way towards the abandoned warehouse, however when I checked my phone I saw something rather intriguing.
Time had sprung forward an hour.
The watch not only stops time, but also rewinds it? This can only mean one thing.
The magic items are made to counter each other.
Unless the old man lied to me, which we've already confirmed that his intel was accurate, the watch's function is to stop time, not rewind it. So if that's true, then it only makes sense to think that the magic items are made to counter each other, since the watch is only doing something outside its main function to stop the hourglass that Fredrick has.
Which means I have the advantage.
Now that I know that the watch rewinds time once it's been rewound, I decided to change my game plan. I'm going to wait in the gas station and hide until time has forwarded enough for me to tap TJ with the watch.
Now the only issue, how do they directly interact? Is the glass completely done rewinding time until the watch is done with rewinding it? If I unfreeze time will it go back to being frozen, is there a cue to when the glass stops rewinding time? All of these would be useful intel, but all I can do for now is speculate.
After a few minutes of waiting, I could see TJ outside the window of the gas station. Cautiously, I approached the window and quickly looked around for any signs of Mark or Fredrick.
Coast is clear.
I darted out the gas station and pressed the watch against TJ who sprung to life as soon as the watch made contact with his skin.
"Oh my god, thank you, Jeffrey, you have no idea how horrible that felt. I don't know if everyone else around here is consciously aware that they're frozen and their body is moving in a set motion, but holy fuck that was painful."
I patted him on the back.
"No worries, man, just glad I could get you back. Let's get a move on."
As I said that, everyone around sprung back to life and the world turned back to its normal colors.
It seems that the watch auto unfreezes time once it's down rewinding, or when the glass user rewinds time back to where it was. This will be useful information for later.
"Not so fast."
I turned my head around to find a rather unhappy looking Mark and Fredrick.
"Hey, guys… fancy meeting you here."