Prologue

A Chapter by Mavis Bard

PROLOGUE [possible opening]

“HANDS IN THE AIR! NOW!”

This is it.

“LET HIM GO, OR WE’LL SHOOT!”

Hmph. “If you don’t want your pal the commissioner here dead from this shim lodged into his neck, then give me my phone call.”

“J, James…please…I…I have a family…”

This is the only way out.

“Jesus! Just give him his phone call!”

“Don’t give it to him!”

“I have a clear shot!”

They can’t hit me from here. They won’t. I start pressing the sharp edge of the shim into his neck, which is beginning to splinter into his skin and bleed. “Gaaahh!’ It should be just enough to—

“Do it…give him his phone call.”

The beauty of time is this: it’s the transmission that drives the car. It keeps everything in order, in sync, always moving forward in a chronological pattern. We live our lives according to time. But, if the timecode were to break and be placed in a mixed up manner, how would we react? How would we live? Is it like a car, where the transmission can be permanently damaged if not allowed to smoothly transition from drive to park? Would it destroy our lives if we saw the future before the present? Or is there leeway? Is there a way to get around it? Ha. I can confidently say no. It has ruined me. This is why I need to make this phone call. This is my final chance to change everything.