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She Was Never Here

sci-fi◐ Teen
5 contributors · 4 paragraphs deep

Mara makes a choice. She won't hide the machine from him anymore. 'Sit in the chair,' she says. 'I'll show you the loops. You need to see how you die, so we can stop it together.' Eli swallows hard, then climbs into the chair. The needle of light swings toward him.

The screen replays the river over and over for Eli. He watches himself die seven ways and goes very quiet. Then he points at one loop the others missed. In that version, he's not falling. He's jumping in after something. 'Mara,' he whispers, 'in that one, I'm trying to save you. You're in the water first.' They stare at each other. Then Eli reaches over and shuts the machine off. 'No more loops,' he says. 'We just both stay away from that river. Together.' And they do.

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