Fractured Reality
an excerpt

Howard opened his eyes, blackness surrounding him. He screamed until his lungs were empty, clutching at his chest. Blood was everywhere, but the wound was gone. He gasped for air, poking his finger through the hole in his clothes when he finally regained his breath.

“Howard,” said a voice behind him Howard recognized it as the greying man in the stark white suit – his subconscious.

“Father time!” Howard exclaimed, turning around to see him sitting in his invisible seat. “Or... Howard. What should i call you?”

“Anything you want, Howard,” said the greying man in the stark white suit.

“What am i doing here again? Why did you tell me i could save her? Why did you tell me I could save Ava?”

“Because you can.”

“I died! Again! I got shot in the fucking chest! And so will she!”

“You have the potential to do it, Howard.”

Howard sighed. “What am i doing here, old man?”

“I answered that,” said the greying man in the stark white suit. “You 're here because you can be here.”

“Oh, Subconscious mind of mine, stop speaking in riddles, please. I don't understand.”

It 's very simple, Howard. Your ability to change your place in time isn't random. It is to a certain extent, in that you can not decide where in time you'll be sent. Like here, to the end of time. But you can choose when to jump. You haven't in the past, until now.”

“The end of time,” Howard mused. “You've called it that before. What do you mean by that? I don't see a train, here. There's no doorways back to the past. Where am i right now, really? In my own mind?”

“In a way. This place is the end of time by your understanding, the greying man in the stark white suit explained. The black hole is enveloping you, always and forever. I believe that even if you completely avoid the black hole, and save the planet, this place will still exist. Black holes break all barriers of physics, space and time. Paradimensionally, as well. This place is the exact moment before the tidal forces tear you apart, and pull you into the event horizon.

“Here, you are everything you can be, everything you have been, and everything you will be - once those doors are open. Here, you know everything, and nothing. You are the universe, and there is nothing else but you. That is why i am here, my friend. I am your mind, aged and experienced and grown for time boundless. We will never reach the event horizon, because time is traveling so slowly here as to negate the possibility, except to the eyes of an observer watching for many millions of years. I am here to guide you to where you must go.”

“Wow,” Howard said, “I think a simple 'yes' would have sufficed. Nice way to pad it out, though.”

The greying man in the stark white suit smiled, spreading his hands, “Well, we are a journalist, are we not? Turning one word answers into one hundred eighty five word monologues is part of our job.”

“Good point, old man,” Howard said, returning the smile.

“Now it's time for you to return,” said the greying man in the stark white suit.

“Return where?” Asked Howard.

“To the best time to do what you want. You know what's going to happen. You know how to change it.”

“Then gun?”

The greying man in the stark white suit nodded. “I can't tell you whether you'll save her, but i can tell you that it 's your only chance. Before you go in, make sure it's out.”

Howard nodded, closing his yes. “I'm ready. Send me back,” he said.