Under the Oak Tree | Chapter 7: Time Travel Paradox

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Eric groaned, his head throbbing as consciousness crept back in. The world around him was a blur, every sense muddled by the abrupt transition from one reality to another. As his vision slowly focused, the familiar outline of the old oak tree solidified against the backdrop of daylight—a stark contrast to the stormy twilight he’d vanished from.

Memories cascaded through his mind: the electric tension in the air, Lucas’s warning cry, and the mesmerizing pull of the purple light. He’d reached out, curiosity overpowering caution, only to be engulfed by an indescribable force, a whirlwind of color and sensation that seemed to fold space and time around him.

Now, sitting dazed on the ground, he searched for any sign of the mysterious rock, but it, like the storm, had disappeared. The ground was untouched, the tree unmarked, as if the event had been nothing more than a figment of his imagination.

It was then he noticed a figure seated against the tree—a mirror image of himself, engrossed in conversation. Eric’s breath caught in his throat as he instinctively retreated to the other side of the tree, heart racing.

Lucas’s voice, distant yet unmistakable, broke the stillness. “Eric!” The call echoed, a perfect replay of the day before.

“I’m right here,” came the reply from the figure beside the tree—his voice, responding in a moment already lived.

The realization hit Eric like a physical blow. He was witnessing yesterday unfold, a silent spectator to his past. The implications were dizzying, his mind racing with questions and the fear of the unknown. What if he intervened? What if he didn’t?

With a heavy heart, he decided to remain hidden, to observe but not interfere. The thought of altering the past, of potentially unraveling the fabric of his timeline, was a risk too great to take.

So, he watched, listened, and waited, a ghost in his own life. The conversation between his past self and Lucas, so familiar and yet so distant, unfolded just as he remembered. The sense of déjà vu was overwhelming, each word a reminder of the bond they shared and the uncertainty of what lay ahead.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, mirroring the day’s end he knew so well, Eric settled in for a long night of solitude and reflection. If he had indeed traveled back in time by a day, then he had twenty-four hours of waiting, of hiding in plain sight.

“Twenty-four hours,” he murmured to himself, the words both a comfort and a curse. “Twenty-four hours of solace and hiding out might not be that bad, right?”

The night stretched out before him, a canvas of stars against the dark sky, as Eric contemplated the surreal reality of his situation. Time, it seemed, had granted him a reprieve, a pause in the relentless march forward. But with the new dawn, would come the decision of how, or if, to step back into his own life.

Under the Oak Tree | Chapter 7: Time Travel Paradox

Under the Oak Tree | Chapter 7: Time Travel Paradox

Under the Oak Tree | Chapter 7: Time Travel Paradox

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