Shades
by Lucas Bale
Every five years on the dot, William Edward McIntyre jumps forward ten years in time.
Will doesn’t fully understand the pattern given that this latest jump wasn’t just ten
years. And there are other things that he doesn’t understand such as why, after his
first jump, he was in a world where his parents had never had a child.
Five years later, on September 1st, 1980, just after midday, I ceased to exist for a
second time. There was no flash, no blinding light or thunderouse drama. No perfect
sphere of swirling lightning. I just blinked and everything changed. If I remember it
right, on September 1st, 1990, which is where I was when I next opened my eyes, it was
raining.
“Shades” by Lucas Bale, in The Time
Travel Chronicles, edited by Crystal Watanabe (Windrift Books, 2 November
2015).