Milly paced along the outer wall. Not along the ground, but horizontally along the stones. All the practice runs along office buildings today had paid off. Wall-walking was trivial. She was already on her third lap. Conveniently, she didn’t need to dismount at any point; the wall went all the way around campus. It was only the gate that was a bit tricky to navigate.
Going for a ‘stroll’ like this helped to calm her nerves while she scribbled down calculations in her notebook. Occasionally, she’d flip it around to leaf through her own comic book instead to consult the panels that had her start and stop Milly-time. They had small notes with the times, but she hadn’t put them all together before.
Milly had hoped to discover she’d made some dumb mistake that made her five minutes early. Maybe she had just misremembered when it was supposed to start. She quickly discovered that wasn’t the case, which led to her current plan of checking all the times.
Milly wished Niki was able to help. It technically wouldn’t be any faster, but it wouldn’t be nearly as daunting. Just talking it through with her would’ve been less scary.
“On the topic of talking it through…” Milly sighed as she inadvertently reminded herself of yet another issue. She’d effectively hit the snooze button on her conversation with Niki, but in hindsight she’d have preferred to rip that bandaid off quickly rather than have hours to agonize over what Niki was trying to say.
It had been barely fifteen seconds since Niki had asked to talk to her about Milly’s screwup. Just remembering the lousy and ultimately unwanted kiss made Milly cringe from embarrassment.
Milly had left a note and a pen in Niki’s free hand. Anything to speed up their communication.
Hey Niki.
I just want to say thanks.
For literally everything tonight.
I’m sorry for screwing it up.
I hope we try it again?
-Milly
For Milly, over an hour had already passed.
Even if Niki wrote out her thoughts immediately, it would be hours before Milly had her answer. The suspense stressed her out nearly as much as the prospect of being stuck forever.
From that perspective, math was a welcome distraction. One she appreciated a little bit more now.
The first thing Milly confirmed was that she was right. The first three times were spot on. Then she started being off by one minute each cycle, then by two, three, four, and finally five. Milly noticed that she always shifted a minute every three cycles, and that she always lost them the same way.
Normal-time lost a minute, and Milly-time gained a minute.
“If this keeps up…” Milly mumbled to herself while she jotted down a series of numbers. She’d started with eighty-six minutes of Normal-time, and would roughly lose one minute every three times she switched. “At my current rate that means I’ve got… until Sunday?”
Milly felt sick as she stared at the number on the page.
In a little less than a week, she might be stuck in Milly-time forever?
Milly picked up her pace from a stroll to a jog to a full on sprint along the wall.
Positives! She had to think of some positives! Normal-time was already less than one percent of her time, right? She’d barely even notice! Okay, that wasn’t helping! Maybe, maybe she could think of it from the other direction, since she was already stuck in Milly-time most of the time, Sunday wasn’t nearly as close.
“Y-yeah. That’s right.” Milly slowed down a little bit, trying to ignore the tremor in her chest. “That ain’t six days to me, but like a thousand! Which is like, uhm, almost three years? T-that’s okay, ain’t it? I got three years to figure out how to control this before Sunday… Oh geez, Sunday is three years away!?”
Feeling the panic creep up inside her, Milly violently slapped her cheeks with both hands. “Stop!” It stung like a fistful of fire ants, but it jarred her out of the spiraling feeling. Still, that didn’t improve her situation any.
Three years just to get through a week, after which she would be stuck in Milly-speed forever. From then on, each week would be nearly five years without any breaks.
The thought terrified her.
Milly always believed that every cloud had a silver lining, but she only saw an overcast dark sky here.
While Milly struggled to think of any positives, she still walked onward. At most, it meant that she could be a hero full-time, but that was never a trade-off she’d wanted to make!
Milly noticed a small light come into view ahead of her. She’d completed another lap.
Niki was still right where Milly left her, sitting in the soft gloom of her phone with a slice of pizza in hand. By now, Niki must have already read the note Milly left her. It would be another hour before she could write a response.
When Milly got closer, she noticed Niki was clutching the pen and paper to her palm with two fingers while the others were spread out. The angle was strange too. “What are you doing?” Milly asked while she stepped off the wall to get a closer look.
A web slinging gesture?
“Oh!” Milly felt a hot flash in her chest as she recognized the I Love You sign. It’d taken her a second because it’d been so long since she’d last seen it, but for Niki it had only been a couple hours.
It signaled things were alright between them.
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That alone would’ve been enough for Milly to melt into a puddle, but there was more. The fact Niki ignored the pen and paper and instead made the sign showed that Niki knew Milly was worried and figured out the fastest possible way to assuage her fears.
“You really are the best,” Milly whispered while she kicked the empty pizza box away. (An hour was a long time to be tempted by half a pizza, okay? Sue her.) Milly slid down the wall and took a seat directly beside Niki. “Thanks so much.”
Milly reached for the paper in Niki’s hand to write that down, but then thought better of it. Instead, Milly rested her head on Niki’s shoulder and carefully wrapped her in a hug, sneaking an arm between the cool stone and Niki’s lower back.
Finally, for the first time since this latest bout of Milly-time started, Milly felt a moment of peace. She could stay like this for hours. Which was good, because it would take about that long for it to be a proper hug from Niki’s perspective.
Milly was perfectly fine with that.
----------------------------------------
Niki startled at the sudden presence right beside her. She’d just barely finished making the sign when she found herself embraced. “Milly? Message received then.” She smiled, then flicked through the options to bring up her speech-to-text app.
“Do you want to continue?” Niki held the phone out so they could both look at it. “As I recall, you wanted the last few minutes to be in Milly-time. Only fair, right?”
[There is something you should see.] Milly’s reply materialized on the screen with a flicker of motion in the shape of an arm.
Niki noticed an open notebook in her lap that definitely hadn’t been there before. She helped herself to her sole remaining slice of pizza while she read through it. The further down the page she got, the more her eyes widened. “Oh. Oh! I see. Your window of normalcy is in decline. That is a problem. I recognize I dismissed the idea before, but Miss Arkwright will have to expedite whatever process she needs to go through to gain you access to Calamity. Could you go tell her?”
[Can do.] As soon as the words appeared, Milly vanished for a second or two then returned as though she’d never left. [Fun fact, she was browsing FleaBay for comic book collections. I actually feel a little bit better already.]
“You are an addict.” Niki sighed and shook her head. She looked over at Milly who slightly vibrated on the spot, but obviously hadn’t left like before. “...You do not have to hang around. It must be boring. I had nothing else planned.”
[What and leave a helpless damsel stranded in the woods? :P]
Niki tried to punch Milly in the shoulder, only for Milly to instantly sit on her other side and look over Niki’s shoulder while Niki whiffed.
Milly’s slight movements made it hard to focus on her face, but she was definitely grinning. [Did you get her?]
“This is so unfair.” Niki rolled her eyes. “How about you walk me home then?”
[Great idea!]
Niki gasped as her surroundings warped. The next moment, she was being carried by Milly down a cobblestone path along a cliff! Or at least that’s what it looked like for five seconds before they zipped across campus from the front gate then into the dorms.
Reeling from the rush, Niki felt breathless in every sense of the word. It had lasted five times longer than their biggest trip so far, and was much harder to breathe while moving at that speed.
It took Niki a moment to realize that they’d stopped. She sat at the foot end of Milly's bed, propped up against the wall. “Woah! I thought you said no more trips today, Milly? Milly?”
Milly was sprawled over the covers. Fast asleep. It looked like she’d laid down atop the covers to catch her breath as well, but passed out as soon as her head hit the pillow.
If this was anything like this morning, Milly would wake up within the hour, but since it was nearly bedtime anyway, Niki wasn’t sure. Milly could sleep through the night.
“Ah, see what you get for pushing yourself, you show-off?” Niki giggled while she got up and reached for the top bunk. She pulled the covers off of her own bed and threw them over Milly.
“Now who is the helpless damsel?” Niki asked while she tucked Milly in around the shoulders. Although it was a joke, the notion that Milly couldn’t dodge now lingered in her mind while she looked down at Milly and made a fist. “So unfair.”
Niki wondered if Milly would wake up if she punched her shoulder. Certainly a worthwhile experiment to conduct, but did she really want to wake her up?
For a good ten minutes, Niki internally debated the pros and cons. Meanwhile, her gaze slowly shifted to Milly’s face. It was hard to get an appreciation for it during Milly-time with how much Milly moved around, but now that she finally held still for a minute… Niki leaned in closer.
Niki blushed as she caught herself staring. It wasn’t her fault. Milly was just cute. Besides, what was there even to be embarrassed about? They’d practically made out a few minutes ago! There wasn’t anything wrong with looking.
Or maybe just a little bit more.
Before she could think better of it, Niki kissed Milly. She lingered for a second, then quickly broke it off and backed away. “T-that is for stealing one earlier. Now we are even.”
Should she leave? Or?
“Since this is new, I… I probably should monitor you. Yes.” Niki sat down on the floor. Resting her arms on the edge of the bed, she got comfortable. “I wonder if you ever do this? Just look at someone. I guess it is different. You have little choice in the matter.”
Once the thought struck Niki, it was hard to let go of it. This might be the closest she could get to understanding a little more of Milly’s perspective. How long could she just sit here, staring at an unresponsive person, before she couldn’t take it anymore?
In the park, Milly had sat still to hang out with her for a few minutes. That had to be several hours.
Niki rested her chin on her arms.
How much time had passed? Was it cheating to look?
*Woof!* *Woof!*
Niki nearly jumped out of her skin!
Thankfully, Milly couldn’t hear the loud barking or she might’ve woken up at the worst time. Niki said a quick prayer while she got up and checked the door.
A custodian stood at the door; the man was already in his fifties. One arm held a package while the other was in a sling. “Evening, Missy. You’ve got mail.” he grumbled while holding out the box. A nametag on his overalls read: “Butch Honey”. An oddly befitting name for a man that resembled a shaved bear. He actually looked gruff enough to bark at a door.
However, at his feet, Niki discovered the true culprit. A massive, heavy-set English Mastiff.
Niki must’ve looked confused, because the man chuckled. “Ah, don’t mind Ol’ Mayflower here. She’s doing the ‘knocking’ today. Had myself a little workplace accident this morning. Anyhow, sign here.” He nodded to a clipboard on top of the box.
“Uhm, right. Of course.” Niki signed and immediately had the hefty box shoved into her arms. “Oof! Thank you.”
“S’alright. Have a good one. Come on, Mayflower.” He sauntered off down the hall while Niki closed the door.
Niki heaved the box inside and set it down on her desk with a grunt. What was in this thing?
The first thing she found upon opening it was a note from Miss Arkwright. “Dear Miss blah-blah-blah…Oh! She found some items on our list already!” Niki dug through the box and pulled out a wristwatch.
“Perfect!” Niki rolled her chair over to the bunk bed with a single push and slapped the watch on Milly’s wrist. Next, she went through syncing the device to her phone and before long she saw a display of Milly’s vitals.
According to the device, Milly had flatlined. That was obviously wrong; Milly’s heart rate was just too high, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that it displayed the exact time a change would happen! Once Milly was back in normal-time, it would recognize her as alive.
“By the time you wake up, we will know precisely how much time you really have!”
Niki turned her attention back to the box.
“Now then, what other toys do we have?”