Learning to Love Time Loops Without Going Insane

Cal woke up in his bed. This wouldn’t be unusual at all except he had been woken up by the noon day light hitting his face from the window. That shouldn’t have happened. Normally his father woke him up every morning on his way to work. He jumped out of bed worried something had gone horribly wrong. He opened his door and ran down the hall. “Bug, Dad are you here?” He yelled as he went. He received no response. The house was silent.

He sat down in a chair and put his face in hands terrified to face the rest of this entirely alone when he heard the back door open. “Come on girl, let’s go see if Cal’s awake yet.” He heard his father’s voice.

“Cal, Cal, Cal, guess what?” Bug’s voice came from the otherside of the house racing closer to him as she spoke.

“I guess that means he’s awake.” Stan came into the room trailing after Bug. “Did you enjoy your first time sleeping in at the start of a loop?”

“Wait, did Bug already tell you?” Cal asked, still confused and worried about what was going on.

“Nope, I didn’t, dad remembers all on his own. Isn’t that great Cal?” Bug’s tail was wagging at lightning speed. “Do you think this means everyone else remembers now too?”

“It’s possible, Andy should be here soon, let’s go check with him!” Cal was suddenly excited at the possibility. If the whole group had somehow been pulled into the loop this made planning for the future so much easier. His smile rivaled the first time he saw Bug alive again.

Cal moved to the front porch and sat in his usual spot where Andy found him reading comics. He soon saw his friend walking over from the neighbor’s yard. He looked much more serious than he usually did. Cal hoped future Andy hadn’t completely destroyed his younger self. “Hey Andy, notice anything new?” Cal called.

“Yeah I did, I woke up today remembering the last loop, and guess what, no future Andy in here, it’s just me somehow.” Andy dropped the serious scowl and started smiling.

“Well, as glad as I am to hear it’s just you, this means I need to go check the void crack. Losing him, even with bringing the rest of you into the loops would be devastating.” Cal stood up and motioned for Andy to follow him inside.

“Dad, Bug, I’m going into the void realm, if any of you want to see if you can also join me inside it, now’s the time. Also Andy remembers and he’s just friend Andy not grumpy future Andy. That probably also means we need different names, assuming he’s okay in there.” Cal took a deep breath after yelling that through the house as he headed towards his bedroom.

“Wait up, Bug and I want to come too, and when we get back we need to get a hold of everyone else.” Stan yelled back.

Once everyone had gathered in Cal’s room, he looked them over and asked “So, who wants to go first?”

“Didn’t you explode every other time you went in here?” Andy asked back.

“Sure did, but Barron should be whole now. So if you three promise me not to explode, we should be good.” Cal’s joke caused a mutual frown on Andy and Stan’s faces.

“OH I PROMISE, I WILL NOT EXPLODE, I AM A GOOD DOG.” Bug loudly announced, and before anyone could respond she jumped through the crack.

“Well, I guess after Bug it is.” Andy leaped in after the dog. Stan and Cal followed.

“About time you all got here. I now seem to have complete freedom of perception here, but on the downside I no longer seem to experience my younger self’s reality at all.” The newly arrived group was greeted by a familiar voice.

Cal breathed a giant sigh of relief, walked up to future Andy and hugged him. “As much as you drive me insane, I’m glad to see you are alive.”

“Hrm, please release me. I assume this means we did it, this pocket dimension is fully stabilized now?”

“Yep, I feel whole.” Barron flew up out of the darkness and perched on one of the desks. His voice radiated a sense of cheer, instead of the usual gloom. “Do you see all the stars that twinkle now? My realm has grown so much, I need to explore the depths.”

“Well get going, go enjoy yourself, and let us know if you need anything.” Cal gently pat the spirit on the head.

“I am off!” Barron flew off the platform into the darkness.

“Any chance I can have more company than just him?” Future Andy asked.

“Why? Planning to stay here?” Cal asked back.

“I’m reasonably sure I have no choice. Based on their presence, I’m guessing Stan and my younger self now fully remember the loops.”

“We do.” Stan cut in.”

“Yes, well it looks like whatever the energy was that made up Barron’s other parts that fired into the cracks at the end of the last loop brought everyone exposed to it into the loops. It also stabilized Cal and this place. Hell we’re probably even synced up time wise now.”

“We weren’t before?” Cal asked.

“No, time here passed much faster, your explosions were likely just you catching up to the end of the loops before, just locally to these realms. Based on the stabilization, it’s likely that was never supposed to be a property. But as I was saying, I can’t leave, because he exists.” Future Andy pointed at his younger self. “I’m somewhat amazed we can exist here together, likely due to the strong magical flow, similar to how Ralth is protected. If I leave here, we will both be destroyed, likely only for the loop, but I’d rather not experience that level of pain. Now the real question though is why I now exist separate to myself at all. Why are we considered different entities to whatever forces govern the loops?”

“Actually the real question is what do we call you two instead of future and younger. You’re completely separate now. Someone pick a new name.” Cal ordered the Andys.

“Just call me Andrew, I prefer it anyway.” Future Andy answered quickly.

“So, now what?” Stan sat down on a nearby workbench as he asked.

“Well, I’m going to try to get all of these machines back online. We should also try storing things here between loops. I don’t know if they will stay or not, I suspect people certainly won’t, but objects just might. Beyond that, I don’t know yet. Wait, actually can we try running a cable between here and the outside world, see if I can set up some sort of easier communication?”

“Yeah, that seems easily doable.” Cal wasn’t sure where computer tech was at the start of the loops exactly, but they could certainly try running a basic phone line at the least.

“Good good.”

“Alright, back to the regular world we go. It’s probably nearly time for Andy to head out anyway. Good luck getting used to the childhood issue Andy, it drove me insane for many loops.”

“What? Why? Now I can just learn way more subjects, I wonder how many doctorates I can get.”

“Nerd.” Cal jokingly mocked his friend before stepping back into his room.

“Alright, I’ll call you as soon as I’m back home, I’ll start working on computer solutions we can implement at the start of loops for easier constant communication.” Andy pat Bug on his way out.

“So, I’ll call Ethel, do you know how to get a hold of Jen this early?”

“I think so, well I don’t have a phone number, but I know where she should be, so I’m going to head there. She’s likely not in a good place this early in a loop.” Stan grabbed his keys as he left.

“Well Bug, just you and me for the day, ready to talk to your favorite cranky old lady?”

“Oh yes, I love Ethel.”

Cal grabbed the phone off the wall and called her. She answered a few rings, her cantankerousness present as always. “Cal, I remember the last loop. It’s about time too, how dare you make an old lady wait so long to be fully included!”

“Oh yeah, like I had any real control over that, besides you’re basically immortal now too and I’m older than you!”

“Yeah yeah, so I’ll be over later for dinner. We can have our big discussion of what we want to do then.”

“Sounds good.”

“TELL HER I SAID HI.” Bug interrupted.

“Oh and Bug says hi.”

“Of course she does, she has manners. Tell her if she can remember her multiplication tables I’ll bring her a special steak.” Cal heard the phone call end.

“Ethel said if you can do your times tables, she will give you a steak tonight.”

“MMM STEAK.” Bug yelled and wagged her tail.