Blink: 6

They sat for a long time, most of it they spend silently. As the sun started to go down they broke from their self induced trance and Rick drove Claire home.
Claire lived in a small ranch house with her dad. Her Mom had skipped out on them a little over two years ago. She had never said why, she just packed a bag one afternoon while Claire and her father had been at a soccer game and left. Claire received a birthday card from her when she turned sixteen but that had been it.
Rick was pretty sure she had taken the whole thing really well. Her father stepped up to the challenge, as he always did, and their home life didn't suffer like it could have. Just one less person in the house, which they replaced with a goldfish of the same name.
They pulled up into the driveway and he father was sitting on the porch reading the newspaper and drinking out of a mug. He was still wearing his repairman shirt. He was part owner of a local plumbing company and sold houses on the side. It did keep him busy but it also kept Claire in one of the best schools in the country. Even with the scholarship the cost was like sending her away to college.
He got up as the car doors opened.
“Rick, I got a call that my daughter left school to take you to the hospital. What are you doing driving? I don't want to hear that it was some scheme of yours to get my daughter out of class. You're no Ferris Bueller.”
“Afternoon Bob. I fain-... ah, I passed out. They thought I hit my head. Once we were outside I got some fresh air and felt better. Nothing shady going on today.”
“Right, right, well, I just finished cooking up dinner. You want to join us?”
Rick gave Claire a look. One of many looks, this one was 'can you put up with me for another hour, two tops?'. She came around the car and took him into the house by the hand. Of course she could.

Blink: 5

“You are nuts! We should have gone to the hospital. You probably bleeding into your brain right now or something.” Claire was sitting next to Rick on the merry-go-round.
“No, I don't think so.”
“You don't think so, to which part?”
“hmm, all of it.” Rich sat up from the position he was lying in and began to slowly turn the merry go round in a counter clockwise direction. They sat quiet for a long time. Claire took out her phone and began exchanging texts with people Rick couldn't see from where they were. He wondered if she was writing about him and then if not having a reason to distrust someone was a reason to trust them. He spun counterclockwise in the circular logic for a while.

“So...” Claire's 'so' was the kind that was a question and an answer all at the same time. She could decide to say nothing more, or she could put Plato to shame. Rick raised an eyebrow to her to establish he heard her. “Prove it to me.”
“That I can travel through time?”
“Yeah, mmmm tell me tomorrows lotto numbers.”
“I can only go back... and I haven't done it on purpose yet.”
“Oh thats makes it easy to prove... how about you wait until tomorrow to travel back to now so you can tell me tomorrows lotto numbers.”
“Thats some pretty solid logic.”
Claire nodded, “Thanks, now what are my numbers?”
“Your numbers?”
“Well, yeah, you are going for me, so they are kinda my numbers. Give'em up.”
“I don't have them yet. I will have them tomorrow.”
“But, when you come back, it will be now. Soooo” This was the profound so that is suppose to sum it all up. “give em up.”
“Right, ok... but theoretically, the you I am going to give them to... wont be you right? I mean when I go back, the you now will keep going. So I will be giving the numbers to an earlier you. A you, you will never know. So, it wont be you, it will be a rich you that you can never be. So they aren't your numbers”
“Shit... that makes sense.” She bit her lip. “UNLESS the me you are talking to right now is the ME that you give tomorrows numbers to.”
“Not possible.”
“What? How is THAT not possible.”
“This is the first time I've done today.”
“If you didn't make so much sense we would be going to the hospital right now. I hope you know that.”
“Claire, can we just hang out in the now?”
“Sure...”

Blink: 4

Claire shook Ricks knees and then patted his face working her way up to a proper slap. Teachers had cleared the hallways and a nurse was on her way to them.
“Ricky? Ricky? What the hell?” She cringed and smacked him across the face with a Pop*.
He held his head with both of his hands and worked his way to the lockers with his elbows, Claire assisting him with more support that physical strength. He moved his hands from his temples to over his ears. He was mumbling, mouthing entire conversations and occasionally editorializing. Pleading for silence.
By the time the nurse arrived Rick just appeared disoriented, preoccupied. She asked if everything was alright. He responded as if he was at a basketball game, talking over noise that wasn't actually there.
“Oh dear,” The nurse's head bobbed around Rick's. “He must have hurt his head, Maybe he can't hear? Maybe it was a seizure, or a stroke. Kids can have those, strokes. Ricky, do you have epilepsy Maybe its a tumor pushing on his brain. We should call an ambulance. Oh my, his father might sue.”
“No one is going to sue anyone,” Rick said, he suddenly appeared completely normal. “I forgot to eat breakfast, I am sure I just fainted.”
The nurse was not convinced. “It might be something terribly serious, I can't be held liable. If you drop dead I could lose my job.”
Rick pushed past her, “Claire will take me to the hospital.” Claire stepped forward, she had slid up against the lockers hand was strangling the straps of her shoulder bag. She stepped into stride with Rick, looked back at the nurse who had not stopped talking. Rick's strides were sure and casually placed. She hugged his arm and looked up into his face as they left the building.

They got to the car and Rick put his keys into her hands. “You drive, my head isn't quite clear yet. I am going to shut my eyes.”
He sat slouched in the passenger seat of his two-tone Porsche 911. A car his father had promised to purchase for him. But in his fathers style he went for the car that would teach his boy a lesson. It took Rick a year and a half to learn what he needed to get the thing running.
Claire pulled up to a stop sign and began to turn left. Rick peeked his eyes open. “Where are you going?” Rick sat up a little.
“Hospital,” Claire smacked her lips and looked both ways, she was sitting perfectly upright in the driver seat, her back never touching the back of the seat.
“Don't. I mean, no need. Rather, I have no intention of going. Go left. Lets go to that park near your house. Please.”
The word came out of her mouth slow and revved up almost like a radio announcer, “Suuuure.” She turned left.

She parked and dropped the keys into Ricks lap and tucked his hair behind his ear. She put the back of her hand on his forehead, then finally say back into the drivers seat. She put her finger to her temple and stared at Rick until he did something.
“We're here.” He said.
“I know, I drove us.”
Rick got out of the car and walked over to a merry-go-round. Claire followed, loosing tiny bit of patience along the way.
He started talking mid though, “Its like Deja'vou. But way more intense. And this last time it was doubled. I could hardly hear my own thought, well, I mean they were all my thoughts. But I could hardly hear the ones that didn't seem like they had been tivo'd. It was like I was living three different 'right nows' all at the same time.”
“Are you okay now?”
“I think I can travel through time.”

Blink : 3

Rick cruised down the hall on his way to their spot. Ducking low as he passed by the door with windows. Desperately trying to keep his sneakers from squeaking as he went heavy on the breaks as he came up on corners. It was a bad idea, Rick was living with a strike on his record for being perpetually tired getting caught skipping to go neck would seriously harm any flexibility he had managed to get from his parents. But the danger was half the fun.

The feeling was heavy, like the air had turned into oatmeal. Rick tripped over his feet but stayed on them. He needed to get out of the hallway. There was no time to be choosy about it either. He turned ninety and bulled into the ladies bathroom, luckily it was unoccupied.

He slid down the back of the door until he was sitting on the floor. He was sweating and breathing heavy. A panic attack? There were foot steps, then it sounded like Mr. Jones, the chem teacher, talking to someone. He heard the student reply. Mouthing the words as he heard them echo in his head.

“I was on my way just now Mr. J.”

"Three years in this building, and you are just now forgetting where the science wing is? Not likely. Do you know what I think? Well of course not, if you did you would be in my class room instead of looking for a piece of ass with that tramp that is always slinking around you .”

“Watch yourself Mr. J. Talk that kind of trash and you might end up choking on it.”

“You're just wasted potential. By the way, your rendezvous has been canceled, you'll be able to find her in the office. Unlike you she doesn't have rich parents to buy her a second chance.”

“Its not going to go down like this.”

“Sure it is Rick, this is reality. Maybe you should have been skipping English, it must be all of that romantic fiction going to your head.”

Rick caught his breath and dared a peek out the door. Mr. Jones was coming down the hall but there was no one with him. No one in the halls at all. It was too weird, like he had just heard the conversation that could have happened. It was like he had just been there. He shook off the chills and got up.

He went to their place. Claire was not there, so he dared to swing past the office. She was there. She was completely covered but was still clutching her sweater across her chest. Rick recognized the words 'disappointed' come out of the secretary mouth. He has seen the words formed so many times he could read them in the dark.

He reached for the door nob, but Claire saw him and slowly shook her head 'no'. Rick couldn't let it go down like this, over something stupid, childish fun. If the administration wanted to they could make her life very hard, expel her if they deemed she was actively attempting to reduce the reputation of the school.

The same words from the hall echoed in the hall, 'It won't go down like this'. Rick brought his fist down on the door frame, slamming his locker shut. He turned and was facing the crowded hallway. Clair was just to his left, “Not if I can help it.” she said, “Want to go make out?”

The hallway spun, he bent at the knees holding on to the wall with one hand trying to steady. He expressed colorful words of disbelief, threw up and passed out.

Blink: 2

For Rick, and everyone else, High School was a mine field. Big Brother was watching and unforgiving. The other kids were watching even closer and constantly appraising each other. Their punishments were far worse than 'the man's' and were dealt out based on a highly subjective and suspect rules.

Rick was a junior, just few short months away from becoming part of the feared rule makers club. He barley fit in, and only then because his father had made millions in advanced AI technologies.At this moment his father's other children were mapping Mars and constructing the first base camp on the surface of another planet.

Needless to say, Dad was not around much. Even after the millions were made there was a family image to create and uphold. Philanthropist, Explorer, Leader. Rick had mentioned to him on a number of occasions that father was missing from the list. His father had responded in an end of discussion tone, “Be your own man. What I am to you should have little to do with who your decide to be.”. The demand for intelligent thought had been ingrained in him at a young age. He wondered what it was that brought his parents together. His train of thought was interrupted by Claire.

She rolled against his arm spinning herself around to face him and the hall traffic. “Missed you.”

Rick popped his locker open with his fist. It was empty minus a number of books that had nothing to do with school work. He took the one off the top and looked at his watch. 7:48.

“Yeah, I overslept again. The Postman was on, with commercials. I was up till at least three.”

“That movie is genius, totally under appreciated.” She winked. He had made her watch it no less that five times. Genius and under appreciated where the common theme of the live commentary. Rick caught the joke and laughed.

“I know right.” He closed the locker and joined her point of view. “You going to chem?”

“Not if I can help it. Wanna go make-out?”

“Yes, but I have to drop off my lab form the last time we skipped first. Do you want meet me at the place or risk being seen with me.”

She started to walk backward down the hall away from him, she touched her lips and then held up her finger as if she had actually considered her options. “The place.” She playfully rolled her eyes, spun and was gone.

She reappeared in the flow of traffic, with her finger to her lips. She winked, spun and was gone.

Blink

-- This is how it starts --

The alarm clicked on, and the radio started playing a Hewey Lewis. Rick rolled over and slapped the radio, knocking it off the night stand. There was a light knock on the door and his mom stuck her head in. “Ricky, minutes, you have minutes until you are late for school again.”. Rick moaned and rolled over onto his face. Fifteen minutes mumbled out of the pillow. She sighed and closed the door. He was going to be late. Fifteen more minutes would land him in detention, or worse summer school. Rick held his breath and then out a long sigh.

The radio came back on, the same song still playing. Rick rolled over and clicked it off and looked at the clock. His mom stuck her head back in, “Ricky, minutes, you have minutes.” Rick sat straight up, “Yeah, yeah Mom, I heard you the first time.” She shot him a odd look and closed the door.