Jeanette wasn’t the biggest fan of parties, but for this one, she would go all out. It was for her, after all, how many people could say they had proof of time travel being feasible? Her thesis defended, ‘Practical Applications of Temporal Manipulation’, her prototype about to be revealed and turned on for the first time outside a lab, all she was missing was her husband, who was-

———

-“Late! So very very late!” Thought Jacob as he went speeding down the highway “Biggest day of her life since our wedding I get caught up in work,” he laments. Rushing around an 18-wheeler, he fails to notice the stopped truck in time. Moments before Jeannette’s device is activated, Jacob Howley leaves the mortal plane.

Jeannette and her guests watch with bated breath as the machine stirs to life, unfortunately, it will only allow travel back to when it was first activated, so they’ll need to wait a few minut-

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“Look! Someone’s coming out of it!” A patron shouts. All eyes turn to the device, and out steps…Jeannette? Only, older, with many stress lines and bags under her eyes. The older Jeannette looks around the room, spotting her younger self, she says, “Oh, how nostalgic, I’m so sorry dear.” “What do you mean?” Younger Jeannette asks. Without answering, older Jeannette turns around and places something on the device. “What are you doing?” Younger asks. Older turns to her and says, “You’ll understand at some point.” Then suddenly vanishes. Not a moment later, the object that Older placed on the machine detonates a controlled explosion, destroying the machine.

———

Years later, a similar, far more robust, far more portable machine whirs to life. For the first time in almost a decade, Jeannette feels a glimmer of something not anger or sadness, though it is quickly buried under painful memories.