Time Looped

There were moments in every person’s life when they knew they dun goofed. In this case, Will had just come to a realization he should have had loops ago—there was no reason that adults couldn’t be affected as well. The fact that the other two looped he knew were classmates had blinded him to the fact that there were other people near mirrors at this time. The nurse was a perfect example. As much as he had discounted her in the past, she was the one closest to the mirror and currently had caught him red-handed trying to steal her class.

“I’m waiting.”

The boy could see the nurse cross her arms in the mirror.

“I wanted to see if my eyes weren’t red,” he said. Even if he were caught, there was no need to make it easy for her. The rogue within him told him to bluff to the end. “Also, my heart rate’s way too fast.”

“Just sit on the bed,” the woman said in a stern tone.

Will obeyed. Had he gotten away with it? Was this just bad timing on his part?

The nurse put two fingers on the side of his throat. After a few moments, the annoyance on her expression shifted to alarm.

“Better lie down.”

After confirming that he had no fever. The nurse took his blood pressure. Everything seemed fine, with the exception of his heart rate. For once in his life, Will was pleased to have been startled. By all accounts, it seemed that the nurse wasn’t one of them, but just a conscientious, diligent worker. As much a relief as that was, it didn’t solve his greater problem.

“Everything seems okay,” the woman said after taking his blood pressure for the third time. “Might have been stress or a sudden drop in blood pressure. I’ll call your parents and tell them to have you checked out. Have you had breakfast this morning?”

That was a more complicated question than most people might think. In terms of the rest of the world, Will had indeed had a full breakfast. Simultaneously, the only food he’d eaten in the last eight hours, give or take, was a spoon of chocolate mousse and half a muffin.

“A bit,” he gave the neutrally correct answer.

“Being young is no excuse not to care about your body.” The nurse scolded him, then left the room for a moment. When she was back, she had a chocolate bar with her. “Eat this.”

“Sure.” Will removed the wrapper and took a bite. It was way too bitter for his taste, but it was too late refusing now. Besides, free chocolate was free chocolate. “Nurse, do a lot of people come here?”

“More than they should. Why? Thinking of becoming a doctor?”

“No, it’s just that there are only two beds, so…”

The nurse beamed. In her experience, it was rare for anyone to show interest in her work. In fact, it was the opposite. People hated coming here, voluntarily or not. And even when they were here, they couldn’t wait to leave.

“Thankfully, most of the time, I deal with minor scrapes and bruises. Our very own school athletes are quite the regulars. I’ve had words with coach several times, not that it matters. The man is obsessed with his regional championship as if it’s the Nobel prize.”

Knowing the man, Will could see that. When he wasn’t shouting or doing bathroom checks, the coach kept going on and on about the importance of sports in life, and especially trophies. There was no denying that he achieved results. Ever since he’d joined the school, the football team had earned five regional prizes, and a second place at the nationals.

“Did he pass by this morning?”

The nurse stared at Will as if he’d said something inappropriate.

“I heard that he called the football team for a practice session before class.”

“Sounds like him.”

It wasn’t a strong denial by any means, though there was no way he could confront her about it. All that was left was to finish his chocolate, then remain in bed till the start of the next loop.

Restarting eternity.

“How can you tell someone’s one of us?” Will asked as he helped Helen open the windows?

“You can’t.” The girl looked outside, enjoying the air. “Not immediately. Daniel was sure there had to be some mirror or power for it. Yet, I was the one who found him.”

“How did you do that?”

“Observation. If you look at the same thing long enough, you see differences. He was the only one who did different things every morning, just like you.”

“That made sense.”

“It wouldn’t work on someone who’s careful, though. If I hadn’t made my move, no one would have guessed. Even Daniel.”

That was good advice. Will had no desire to go through the nurse’s office just yet, but it gave him another idea. Since everyone else was no doubt a lot more experienced at this, it was better to flip the script and make them find him. From what he could guess, Daniel had been the same way. All the notes on his desk proved it.

During the next few loops, Will proceeded to explore as much of the school as his loop would allow him, all the time, in search of mirrors. Starting with the low hanging fruit, he went through the boys’ bathrooms on all three floors. Just because there were no class mirrors, didn’t mean he didn’t find anything useful.

It quickly became clear that most of the mirrors acted as information screens displaying his class, skills, and level. Every now and again, they would write out the precise location of the mirror, including address, floor, room, and the number of the mirror itself.

What Will found useful was that tapping the mirrors in a particular order provided hints for him to focus on during eternity.

The first suggestion he received was to extend the length of his loops in order to find more mirrors. Although he was already aware of that, seeing the mirror message gave him a sense of achievement. However, it was the second hint that really turned things around.

HINT

Find new classes to explore in different ways.

Having played first-person shooters for years, Will immediately understood what the hint was telling him: this wasn’t a cooperative game. Rather, to be more specific, it was a cooperatively competitive game. Having only a person hold a class at a time clearly drove people against one another. A person’s immediate reaction was to rush through all the golden mirrors and get the classes before anyone else. And there lay the catch. With everyone in close proximity to their class mirror, it was physically challenging for anyone to get someone else’s. The only feasible solution was for both parties to come to an agreement and swap classes.

It was also thanks to these two hints, and all the exploring he’d done in his ten-minute time limit, that Will started making sense in the numbers on the desk. They were never meant to be a code or cypher; they were a map of all the mirrors at school and the order in which they had to be activated.

“Did Danny ask you to swap classes?” Will asked, leaning against the frame of the morning window—the spot he’d usually talk with Helen. With her loop being far longer, the girl preferred to do most of her exploring during recess.

“A few times. He hoped being a rogue would give me a sense of exploration. It was fun for a bit, but I preferred my own class.”

Why? The boy wanted to ask. Instead, he just nodded.

“Any luck with the shrink?” he casually asked.

“No. He keeps his files on paper,” Helen grumbled. “When I ask him directly, he always reverts to the standard line. All I know for certain is that the files are in his office. He let it slip once.”

“I’ll help with that once I get my loop longer.”

“You’ll have to stretch it till third period. Until then, you’re useless.”

Harsh, but true. Other than basic exploration, Will’s minutes weren’t anything much. All the information he’d received from Helen and Daniel’s desk was useless if he couldn’t take advantage of it.

“So, tell me how to do it.”

“I told you, it’s different for every class. It’s not just winning fights. Each person has their own way.”

She had said that before, but never elaborated. Even after so many loops, the boy was left with the impression she didn’t trust him fully.

“It’s like a maze. If you do the “right” things, you get to move on along the path ahead. The classes help a bit, but you'll have to figure out your sequence if you want to reach third period.”

It would have helped if there was an indication he’d done well. Sadly, the only way to find out was to wait for the loop to finish, as he had found out after knocking out Jace.

“I started following Daniel’s sequence.” Will changed the subject.

“The mirror map? He was obsessed with it,” the girl cracked a smile. “He was so excited about it.”

“Looks like he wanted to map all the mirrors at school.”

“There was no point. Most of them are useless. The explanations are good the first time, but you can skip them. They waste time and don’t give anything.”

Helen looked over her shoulder. More of their classmates had started entering the room and inevitably complaining about the chemical smell, among other things. Soon Alex would join in, followed a minute later by Jace and his jocks.

“See you next loop,” Helen whispered, then went back to her desk, pretending she didn’t know Will.

On his part, he went back to Daniel’s desk to endure the next few minutes. At least now he had something to do while waiting.

“Thinking of changing desks?” Alex asked, right on schedule. “Don’t think anyone else would. I heard Danny kept a stash of some secret wonder drug stuck to the desk.” He peered at Will’s phone. “What’s that?”

“The bottom of Danny’s desk,” Will replied. “I checked.”

“Lit. What are the numbers?” he pointed.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Any idea?”

“Nah. That’s code breaker shit. I—” He stopped when Will flicked to the next photo. “Lol. Sixty-nine.”

“Alex…”

“It’s funny, bro! That’s the number of rooms at school.”

Will blinked. “Are you sure?”

“For real, bro! Can’t forget that. Miles told me about it when I was helping out.”

‘Helping out’ was Alex’s way of saying that he had been punished to do so by the vice-principal after causing a major mess up in the chemistry lab. And as for Miles, he was the school janitor.

“He’s really lit. Knows all sorts of things about this place.”

“Sixty-nine rooms,” Will said. Somehow, he expected there to be a lot more. For Daniel to have scribbled the number down, he must have gone through them all.

“Aaart!” Jace arrived, interrupting their discussion.

On cue, Alex excused himself and rushed to his seat.

“What’s up, Stoner?” the jock asked.

Will was tempted to give him the finger. That would be certain to earn him five additional minutes, but also a trip to the principal’s office. If there were any mirrors there, he would have instantly gone for it. Right now, he had other plans, though.

“Nothing much. You?” The confidence with which he said it made Jace pause. No immediate insults followed, although the anger was still there, surrounding him and the rest of the jocks like a cloud. “Hope you make it to the regionals,” Will continued.

“Shut up, Stoner!” Jace hissed. Apparently, he couldn’t distinguish between an olive branch and a club in the mouth. “Think that just because you’ve taken Danny’s desk, we’re afraid of you?”

Wow! Where did that come from?

The jock made a step in Will’s direction. Before he could do more, one of his friends put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

“You’re lucky, snitch. Keep that up after class and you might not be!”

Yeah, yeah, Will thought. You say that every time.

Restarting eternity.

Faced with the option of finding the path that would extend his loop and satisfying his own curiosity, Will chose the latter. It felt a bit like procrastinating, but as every gamer knew, “just one more loop never hurt anyone.” As a result, ten loops were spent following the steps Daniel had set out.

The more mirrors the boy touched, the more he got a sense of what his predecessor must have gone through. Roaming through the school was no small feat, especially since in several cases, additional distractions were needed. The one on the first floor remained off limits. Even with the coach no longer chasing him, Helen had made it clear she’d crack his skull if he tried walking in. The rest yielded one additional hint, which only told him to remember eating during loops. Normally, that would be considered good advice, but as Will had found out after his last conversation with the nurse, he didn’t experience hunger, regardless of the number of loops.

It had taken five more loops to go through all the mirrors within range. By all accounts, Will’s fun should have ended there. Now that he had confirmed where they were and what help they provided, it was time to get back to figuring out his personal path to loop extension. Only stubbornness made him press on and go through a few more rooms, even if they weren’t supposed to have mirrors in them.

With one minute left, he went through the biology room. His intention was to tick it off the list and never go in there again.

“Do you need something?” the biology teacher asked. She was a harsh woman, probably older than the school itself.

A stickler for rules, she was the only one that still enforced the “no phone in class” policy. Even after several complaints from parents, she had remained firm on the issue, forcing the school to come to a compromise. Students were allowed to keep their phones, as long as they were off and out of sight during her class. Anyone caught using one would have it confiscated for the rest of the day.

“I thought I forgot something here yesterday, Ms. Stalter,” Will replied.

“Misplaced,” the woman corrected. “Hopefully it teaches you to be somewhat more responsible in future. And what is this mysterious thing? A hidden cell phone, perhaps?”

“No, Ms. It’s—” Will stopped.

Within the cabinets of the back of the room, hidden behind plastic models of body organs and specimens in jars of formaldehyde, a set of reflective surfaces glistened. Miniature cracks ran all over them like a spider web, only this time it didn’t fade away. The mirrors exploded, propelling fragments of glass and specimen jars everywhere, as four giant silver wolves the size of desks leaped into the classroom.