Time Looped

Nothing… always nothing.

This was the thirty-seventh person Will had taken to the nurse’s office, and still the texts from Helen remained the same.

“How did this happen?” the nurse asked, as she bandaged an unfortunate boy’s ankle.

Gone was the caring, well-planned approach Will had shown during the first few loops. As much as he hated to admit it, it was taking way too much time and effort. After a while, despite the best of inclinations, the boy had been forced to resort to Alex’s assistance, and included inflicting a certain amount of pain to the potential candidates.

“Someone ran into him in the corridor,” Will explained, omitting the fact that the someone was in fact Alex.

“Running again,” the nurse sighed. “I can understand rushing out of class, but this…” she shook her head. “Good thing you were there.”

Judging by the expression of pain on the patient’s face, he was far from thankful. The only relief was that in a few minutes all this would have never happened, as far as he was concerned. Sadly, Will’s pain would continue. At this point, he was starting to seriously consider Alex’s suggestion of taking the mirror out of the nurse’s office and dragging it throughout the school.

“Can I go?” he asked. “I don’t want to be late for class.”

“No running,” the nurse said in an amused tone, probably her way of trying to lighten the mood.

“Sure thing.” Will nodded, then quickly left.

The hallway was packed with people. Despite what the nurse imagined, there wouldn’t be a way to stop running anytime soon. Right now, the only people who weren’t running were those who were sprinting.

Will looked at his phone. There was one minute till eight, which meant the loop was about to end.

“Was it him?” Alex asked, appearing a few steps away.

Will’s fist acted on its own, flying towards the goofball’s face. Before it could reach its target, though, Alex was already standing on his other side.

“Stop doing that.” Will quickly pulled back his fist, returning to normal. “I could have hit you”

“Git gud, bro,” the other laughed. “So, was it him?”

“No…”

“Big oof again? Who’ll we be getting next time?”

That was the big question. So far, the targets had been in order of proximity to Will. After the pair of girls, he had followed up with several more people in front of school, then continued with those in the hallway, constantly moving further in.

“Someone at the staircase.”

“Oh! We can get more than one. I’ll go to the top and…”

Will was already imagining what his friend was saying. A small accident at the top of the staircase could quickly create a chain reaction that would spread down, creating dozens of victims. Considering that Alex had no problem achieving this, both morally and physically, made him more than a bit scary.

That was how the thief class fought. There were no direct attacks, no overwhelming strength, just speed, sneakiness, and betrayal. The last worried Will most of all. They had been friends for a while, long before the loops started. But was that a guarantee? For all one knew, Alex might have spent more time in eternity than out of it. The only person who could say for certain was Daniel, and he no longer had the chance.

Restarting eternity.

Back at the start of it all. The boy sighed, then looked around.

“What are you staring at, weirdo?” Jess asked as she passed by with her friend.

Will suppressed the temptation to respond. Both of the times he’d done so had resulted in a long talk, causing him to waste an entire loop without doing anything else.

“What do you think, bro?” Alex suddenly appeared.

“Yeah, no.” Will replied.

“For real, bro? One by one will take a whole—”

“Ten minutes?”

“Not funny, bro.” The goofball’s mood bittered.

“Too many won’t fit in the room. If all of them got hurt, this won’t be a matter for the nurse. The harpy will call all the hospitals, the cops will show up again… Just take it calm, okay?”

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” The other grumbled. His issue was that from his perspective, everything was a sprint. The thief’s main skills were sprint and sneak. Their only role was to get in and out of places fast and unnoticed. Hundreds of loops had passed with the goofball, learning how to use them adequately, and thousands more for him to perfect them to their current level. “How about three?” he asked.

“Three works,” Will said cautiously. It wasn't much of a compromise, but it didn’t look like he’d get anything better. “Just—”

Alex had already disappeared.

“…right,” the boy looked around, more out of curiosity whether his friend would show up again. When he didn’t, Will went back to the routine.

Without the coach’s meddling, getting the rogue class was easy. No sooner had he done so than he heard screams down from outside the hallway.

What the hell?!

The boy’s first thought was that Alex had somehow triggered a pack of mirror wolves. Already, several people were rushing in the direction of the staircase. The fact that no one was running in the opposite direction made it clear that wolves were not the culprit.

Alex, the boy thought. Damn it! You could have waited a bit longer!

Running as fast as his class would allow, he dashed by others in the hallway. Most of them he’d already taken to the nurse’s office at one time or another, although there were a few faces he didn’t recognize. From next loop on he was going to have to go through the classrooms as well.

“Someone get the nurse!” another girl shouted.

The goofball clearly had gone overboard. Once this loop was over, he and Will were going to have a talk regarding excessive use of skills. The way the unfortunate victim was screaming, it sounded like this was way more than a strained ankle. There was a real chance that she had broken a bone.

“Take your weight off it,” someone said among the many voices. “Grab on.”

Someone else, a boy, was groaning. Apparently, Alex had gone ahead with his promise of injuring three. If their state was as bad as Will suspected, he wouldn’t be able to take them to the nurse’s office alone. That was a minor setback, though. As long as he took the lead, someone else from the crowd was going to help, most likely coach too.

“What’s going on here?!” the man’s voice boomed on cue.

There was no way for someone to expect less. Arriving at the spot, Will pushed his way through the gathered crowd. The sight wasn’t pleasant, to the point that half the onlookers hadn’t even reached for their phones. A girl was crying on the floor, holding her foot with both hands. A short distance away, a boy was massaging his knee. Alex had definitely pulled a number on them. There didn’t seem to be a third victim, or if so, he wasn’t hurt nearly as much.

“Clear up!” the coach yelled to the crowd, then went to the girl. “What happened?”

“She slipped down the stairs,” the boy managed to say in her place. “I tried to catch her.”

“You’ll need a checkup.” The man bent down. “I’m going to lift you, okay?” he told the girl. “Ready?”

The girl nodded between tears. A moment later she was lifted from the ground, the pain not having diminished in the least.

“Someone help him,” Coach yelled over his shoulder.

“I—” Will began.

“Right, coach!” Jace suddenly appeared at the scene.

What?! Will froze. This wasn’t supposed to happen. The jock was the last person he wanted anywhere near the mirror. As Helen had said, chances of him being the candidate were several hundred to one. However, it was precisely that one that bothered him.

“Stone, make a path!” the coach barked.

“Err, yes coach,” Will did as instructed. There was one single silver lining. He’d be able to check four people on this loop.

Making way for those behind him, the boy texted the number four to Helen.

“Texting someone, Stoner?” Jace asked, obviously trying to get him in trouble with the coach.

“Just telling someone we’ll be late for class,” Will replied.

“Well… do it later.”

“I can help if you’re tired.” Please agree. Please agree.

“You’re saying I can’t do it?”

Drat! That definitely blew up in his face. There was no way the jock would give up now, and just to make a point, he took more of the weight of the injured student.

The nurse was already expecting them by the time they got to her. News, especially bad news, had a way of moving through schools at a speed faster than even Alex could sprint. She was clearly not pleased with what had gone on, though more worried about the children. That was good. The not so good part was that she only let four people in: coach, the two injured students, and Jace. Everyone else was told to get back to class. And just to be sure of it, the door to her office was closed and locked.

For twenty seconds, Will remained in the hallway nearby, looking tensely at his phone. Panic and relief played ping-pong in his head as each moment passed. Not getting a text made it likely that no one had shown signs of being the candidate. At the same time, not getting the usual “nothing” left room for doubt. Finally, he saw the dots, indicating that Helen was typing.

“Was it them?” Alex asked, appearing in his usual fashion.

Will didn’t even register him, focusing entirely on the small screen.

U were right.

The message arrived, followed by a present emoticon.

What does that mean? Will typed in a question mark and sent it.

We have a 4th

“Cool.” The goofball grinned. “Who do you think it was?”

“I hope not coach,” Will muttered, the only worse option than what he was thinking.

“For real!” Alex visibly shivered. “That would be a big oof. Coach hates me.”

When the goofball said someone hated him, that was usually half false. When it came to the coach, it was the unadulterated truth and then some. The boy’s complete lack of athleticism and his tendency to goof around in any circumstances had made him the natural enemy of the coach, who liked discipline and success. Things had gotten so bad that at one point the man had gone to the principal’s office, requesting that Alex be excused from gym class. Sadly, for everyone, the harpy had refused, claiming that every student was owed a good education, including full access to the school’s sports program. The clash had been epic, increasing in severity each time the story was told. As a result, both the coach and his nemesis had decided to ignore each other during gym, as well as most other places.

“What do you know about the other two?”

“Ellis is lit. One of my people.” Translated, that meant he was a heavy gamer. “Felt bad pushing him. Great at strategies.”

That didn’t sound too reassuring, either. While Will didn’t have anything against gamer geeks, he wasn’t the type that went to hang with them.

“And the girl?”

“Just a girl.” Alex shrugged. “Someone on the staircase.”

So the options were Jace, the coach, a geek, and an unknown. Looking at it, the girl seemed the best option, although it might just as well be Alex’s gamer friend. The only one that it didn’t have to be was one of the remaining two. Whatever the case, in a couple of seconds, Will was going to find out.

Restarting eternity.

Rushing in the school, the boy tapped his skill mirror, then went to class, where the other two were already waiting.

How do you keep doing that? He wondered, more annoyed than puzzled.

Both Alex and Helen were standing by a desk near the door, looking at the mirror piece the girl was holding.

“Will.” She gave him a glance. “Come here.”

“What’s up?” he asked, still fearful of who the fourth looped would turn out to be.

“We got a permanent reward.”

“Cool. What is it?”

“That’s why we need you, bro. We need to unlock it.”

Blocking the door with a chair, the boy joined his friends. Both sides of the mirror piece had turned silver with the word REWARD written in black block letters in the middle. As he looked, Helen pressed against the wide surface with a finger. The icon of a knight's helmet appeared in one corner.

Alex was quick to join in, pressing the opposite corner. This time, an icon combining a bag of gold and a knife emerged.

It didn’t take a genius to know what was expected of Will. Finding a free space, he pressed with his index finger. A hooded face with a domino masque showed up.

The three icons started flashing. As the seconds passed, the intensity of the flashes increased until, in the end, they vanished completely. It seemed that all four looped were required to open their prize.

“Sadge,” Alex sighed.

“There’s nothing sad about it.” Helen put the fragment away. “We find our candidate.”

“Crafter,” Alex corrected.

“…our crafter and get them to hold the mirror with us. Are you sure Danny didn’t know about this?”

“For real, sis.” Alex nodded. “Danny was the goat, but he didn’t know everything. Sus that he didn’t tell me how to link the item to myself.”

So, maybe he knew something after all, Will thought.

Leaving his backpack on the desk, he headed towards the door.

“You two stay here,” he said over his shoulder. “I’ll find… the crafter and come back. Then you’ll explain the rest.” He removed the chair.

Still quite new himself, he preferred they do it. As for him, it was enough to find the one person who was acting differently from before and carefully approach them. From personal experience, there would probably be a lot of confusion, possibly panic, possibly even anger.

The door to the classroom swung open.

“Shit!” Will hissed.