Megan woke up in darkness, her mind screaming in confusion. A cacophony of impressions filed her brain, not yet able to make sense of them. As the influx came to an end, her mind gained the clarity of wakefulness.
She tries leaving the bed, finding it to be much harder than she was used to. It took her squirming around a few seconds longer, but she finally found the edge of the bed and lifted her body upright. Free from the blanket, she noticed a sensation. One she hadn't felt in decades.
She could feel her arms.
Disbelief filled her. She went and grabbed the left arm with the right, the soft flesh giving way under her touch.
This was impossible. Ludicrous. And yet here she was.
She needed to see this with her own eyes.
"Light, Light"
The light did not turn on.
"Ok, Flora. This isn't funny. Please turn on the light."
No response.
Grumbling, she stood up and made her way to the light switch on the other end of her apartment. Only to walk straight against a wall.
*Crash*
"Fuck"
As she collected herself, she could hear footsteps from the other side of the wall. She must have woken up her neighbors. She cringed. That bitch would use this as ammunition for months.
Light entered the room through a slit beneath the door before it opened up completely, revealing a familiar figure standing in the floor.
Blair looked wordily around the room.
"What happened? I heard a loud noi–"
That is all Megan could comprehend before falling unconscious from the shock.
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The next time Megan awoke, her mind was less confused and more racing with the implications. Somehow, she had found herself in the past. Back during her college days, before –– the incident. More than 30 years in the past.
She didn't know if this was real, a near-death experience, or simply a delusion. But she wanted to make sure of one thing. To correct the mistakes of her past.
She needed a plan for the future.
And step one was easy enough.
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"What? You want us to move out? We just moved into the apartment last week."
Blair was incensed by the idea of moving out this quickly after finally finding an apartment after months of search. Megan also felt the pain of lost money between agent fees and the deposit. But her knowledge –– the incident –– removed all doubts. They needed to leave this place. This is where it would happen: the death, the sorrow, the dismemberment.
Megan, of course, couldn't claim to be from the future. That is crazy. Seeming irrational was an easy pill to swallow by comparison. And, of course, she came prepared. There was a legitimate reason to leave, even if it wasn't her reason.
"I think I always felt uneasy in the apartment," Megan began. "It just got overshadowed by my joy of finally finding a place. I think our neighbor might be a criminal."
Blair gave her a questioning glance, not outright dismissing her.
Megan pulled out her phone, showing her sister an article she had looked up beforehand. It took her a bit, only remembering the outlines of the case.
The title loudly declared: Homicidal rapists conviction overturned due to clerical error
The following article described in detail how one Allon Raber was convicted of heinous crimes but got his conviction overturned due to how the police handled some of the evidence. The article also contained a mug shot of a man who looked identical to their neighbor Allan.
"I must have seen this back when it was in the news cycle and connected it subconsciously. It just clicked today."
She didn't feel bad about throwing Allon under the bus to make her point. He would get busted for possession and distribution of illegal drugs in two months anyway.
It didn't take much longer to convince her sister afterward. It pained her to manipulate her like that. But she also couldn't stand the thought of the alternatives. Megan couldn't live in this apartment. Even in the future, she had left it after –– the incident. That left two major possibilities. One, her sister would be forced to move out due to the effectively doubling of the rent, resentment ensued. Two, her sister would be able to pay the rent. That would be much worse as –– the incident –– would still happen. Megan couldn't stand the thought of losing her sister again.
The next days just flew by as they went through the motions to get out of their rental agreement early. It was a lot of work. Luckily, one of their friends, Uthor, was willing to let them couch surf for a while until they could find a new place. He lived in the countryside outside the city, but his town was connected to the train network and had a direct train to the main station. Taking the train would take an hour in either direction, but that was a price she was willing to pay.