TIME & TIED: AWARENESS

ARC 1.3 - Of Her Impact

PART 14a: DOUBLETAKES 3

"Hello? You okay?" came a tentative voice.

Carrie moaned. Everything looked black, but after a second she realized that was because it was still dark outside, and her eyes were having some trouble focusing. She blinked them a few times, working at determining where she was, and who was speaking.

Carrie quickly discovered that she was sitting on the ground, propped back up against the trunk of a tree, with her arms tied behind her. There was a person crouching down next to her. It was... herself. A Carrie double.

"You're... you're my... who are you?!" Carrie demanded as she realized that up close, her assailant looked a little older, with softer facial features. Plus the blonde was wearing a different outfit, one more appropriate to the 1950s.

The other girl took a fumbling step backwards at Carrie's tone. "Well, I could ask you the same question. Did you really think I'd let you take over without a fight?"

Carrie stared. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"About your impersonating me in front of Ms. Peabody,” her companion challenged. "How long did you think you could get away with it?"

"I never planned on impersonating you," Carrie said in irritation. "In fact, if you want to turn yourself in for the jewellery theft, please be my guest."

It was Carrie's captor's turn to stare. "Jewellery theft?" she said nervously.

Carrie rolled her eyes. "Yes, the one your Ms. Peabody tried to arrest me for an hour or two ago," she elaborated.

"You... you stole her jewellery?" the other girl gasped in horror. "How COULD you?"

"No, *I* didn't do it, I just got into town,” Carrie said in exasperation. "I'm assuming you did it."

"I would never do such a thing. And what do you mean you just got into town, *I* just got into town! You've been impersonating me for the last two months, spoiling my chances at stardom. Tell me, please... did... did I do something to you that made you want to ruin my life?"

"Look, time out," Carrie asserted. "My name is Carrie Waterson. I don't know you. I don't know Ms. Peabody. I haven't been in this part of the country for the last two months. If you're looking for some evil lookalike, it's not me. Are we perfectly clear on this?"

"I don't understand."

“Well, I really can't make things any clearer. Suppose you run your story by me? That might help clear this mess up," Carrie proposed.

The girl sized Carrie up before speaking again. "I... my name is Beth Parker," she admitted, warily. "I'm hoping to become a singer. When I started looking for work last year, I met Ms. Peabody. As it turns out, my voice and looks were perfect for a set of commercials her new company wanted to do. Unfortunately, she was a little low on funds, so we pooled our resources together in order to launch the effort."

Carrie mulled the name 'Beth Parker' over in her mind, but couldn't think of anyone by that name in her family tree. So their passing resemblance could be a fluke. More to the point, this blonde’s story seemed to have a natural extrapolation. "So, what, someone else took your place at some point, running off with the proceeds?"

"Exactly,” Beth affirmed. "See, the company inexplicably vanished one day. But I had some money hidden away, enough to track Ms. Peabody's whereabouts. It took two months, but I caught up with her earlier today - and she said that she'd been dealing with me the whole time! That I'd authorized the dissolution of the company, that we were currently working together on some whole new plan. She asked me to take a little walk, then come back by the hotel at 6pm, at which point we could deal properly with the situation."

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Beth narrowed her eyes as she continued. "I was a little late, and saw someone who resembled me escorting a policeman inside. That was YOU, wasn't it? I kept watch. And when I never showed, forcing you all to run off in your search party, I tailed you. Admittedly, I lost track of you, but I’d discovered your hairband, and was hoping you'd come back for it. So! What have you done, stolen Ms. Peabody's jewellery to make me look like a thief?"

Carrie let her head fall back against the tree behind her with a quiet 'thunk'. "Oh boy," she mumbled again.

She had a suspicion as to what was going on here now, namely that Ms. Peabody might not be as legitimate as she claimed to be. But how could she ever prove that? And could she convince Beth of the situation without revealing her identity as a time traveler?

Carrie unexpectedly found herself at a loss for words, with no idea of where to begin. If only she had more time... which was when the idea hit her like a bolt of lightning.

***

A deck of cards. He should make sure to stick a deck of cards in the backpack, Frank decided. It would be useful during times such as these, and provide more entertainment than squinting at a compass needle.

With a sigh, Frank tossed the compass aside, resuming his stargazing. It was about all he could do at this point, particularly with Carrie still having the flashlight out there somewhere. Where was that girl anyway?

Checking his watch, Frank discovered that she'd left well over an hour ago. This was starting to make him uneasy; he'd been writing it off as Carrie's stubborn resolve to find her hairband, or perhaps to avoid him. But what if she was really in trouble? Could she have been arrested by that police officer?

"Should I go after her?" Frank mused aloud. Yet what if she was merely lost in the woods, and he was the one who ended up getting caught by going to look for her? Besides, she had demonstrated that she could handle herself.

On the other hand, what if she had been hurt somehow? The way he had been, that time in the past? Frank finally decided that he couldn't keep sitting here. He stood up with a sigh and hefted the backpack, preparing to head out on a search. "Carrie, you'd better be in trouble," Frank declared.

"Well, thanks, Frank," Carrie retorted. Frank spun to see her approaching him through the trees. "Nice to know you care."

"Carrie, you're all right!"

"Sorry to disappoint you."

"But I didn't mean... that is..." Frank sighed yet again. What was the use. "Never mind. Find your hairband?" he asked wearily.

Carrie pursed her lips. "In a manner of speaking," she responded, now looking defensive. Which was when Frank realized that she seemed to have changed her shirt. How was that possible? "You see Frank... it appears that it was our destiny to come back here to 1955 in order to help a young girl named Beth."

"What do you mean? As I indicated before, it's not our part to get involved."

"Yes, well, it's a bit late for that," Carrie admitted. A strand of hair found its way into her hands and she started twirling it. "Because, ah, in some sense I know that we've already done what I'm about to do."

It took a second for Frank to parse that. "Oh no. No, no, no, Carrie... I'm not liking where this is going..."

Carrie smiled and made a vague hand gesture. "Guess what, Frank! There are now two of me here and there are two of you here. The other me is the one who helps Beth, before going back with you to the present. The other you has gone to join the two of them even as we speak."

Frank pressed a hand to his head. "Then... you're a Carrie who's come back. Back from the future."

"It was the best solution I could come up with," Carrie conceded. "I needed proof of some shady dealings that I couldn't get while in this time period. But look on the bright side! In a way we're validating your theory of self-consistency.”

"I can see that being a reason for me to tag along," Frank mumbled. "But all the same, Carrie, I think we're long overdue for a discussion on the ramifications of temporal paradox."

"Oh, honestly Frank, you worry too much," Carrie assured. "Now come on, I'll give you the highlights of my plan."

***

"You're sure this is going to work?" Frank whispered.

The Carrie with whom he’d originally taken this trip nodded in reply. "Our future selves provided me with the important details, everything will work out perfectly."

"Uh huh," Frank said, dubiously. "You're also sure Beth won't clue in that we're time travellers?"

"Yes, Frank," said Carrie patiently. "When your future self arrived with the necessary documentation, showing Beth that Ms. Peabody had been engaging in illegal activities, your now present self wasn't anywhere around. When I got Beth to go along with this scheme on account of that, my future self was finding you. Since we waited until Beth left before your future double traded places with you, Beth never saw any doubles together at the same time, so no problem. And our future selves have now gone back to hide in the woods, meaning she’ll never know.”

Frank ran a hand back through his hair. "Riiiight." He paused. "But what if our future selves simply said what they did to be consistent with what we heard. Meaning things could still go wrong for us, and we’ll end up lying about it when we became our future doubles."

"Frank!" Carrie hissed, her hands unconsciously forming into fists. "Will you stop already? You're actually starting to make me nervous.”

"Okay, okay," Frank said, raising his hands defensively.

Carrie peered at her watch, which read 9:55. "Damn," she muttered.  "Damn, damn. Where is that Beth? That policeman is going to leave the hotel again if she waits any longer."

Frank cleared his throat uncertainly. "Er, I think that's her now," he indicated.

Carrie turned to look back around the corner of the block, watching as Beth walked up to the front of the Clayton hotel. Carrie grinned. "Showtime,” she announced.