When he opened them, the smell of ozone was gone. Instead, the air smelled of stale coffee and old books.
He was standing in his old apartment. It was dark, save for the blue glow of a laptop screen in the corner. There she was. Elena was sitting on the floor, typing away at her thesis, completely unaware of the temporal anomaly forming behind her. 1676971801.002
Elena blinked, the confusion on her face suddenly replaced by the sight of her familiar garage. She was safe. She was in 2026. When he opened them, the smell of ozone was gone
Arthur stared at the digital timestamp blinking on his monitor: . It was dark, save for the blue glow
Arthur stood alone in the dark apartment in 2023, watching the blue light of the laptop fade. He sat down in her empty chair, looked at the blinking cursor, and began to type a message he knew she would find three years later.
The hum rose to a glass-shattering shriek. The air turned the metallic color of a bruised sky. Arthur squeezed his eyes shut as a blinding flash of white light swallowed his vision.
He reached out a hand, his fingers tingling with static. He was a ghost in his own past. Elena paused, shivering slightly as if a cold draft had just swept through the sealed room. She looked up from her screen, looking directly toward him. "Arthur?" she whispered into the empty air. Then, the clock flipped.