The Colliders

The following excerpt is from The Colliders by Ben Shakey. It will be published by Moe Green Publishing Ltd. In May 2009

Mark called his Mother from the office in Switzerland.

“Mom?”

“Oh Michael, I wanted to talk to you about Christmas.”

“Yes, Yes, that. I won’t be able to come back home. There is a lot of stuff going on with the Collider. I’m going to have to stay here.”

“Hmmm.” She said. The noise sounded like two pieces of Velcro being ripped apart. “Well, you’ll just have to see if you can come home.”

“I’m sorry Mom. I can’t come home. There has been some serious side effects from the Hadron Collider.”

“Your Father will want to know if you are going to come home.”

“I’m not coming home. I have to ask you about the time you visited the collider.”

“Are you coming home for Christmas?”

“No Mom, people that were here when we activated the Collider are experiencing a temporal disturbance.”

“If you tell your Father that you aren’t coming and then you show up it will be very confusing for him. I’ll say you don’t know yet.”

“No Mom. I’m not coming home. Have you been experiencing the same things over and over again?”

“Well I do need to plan for Christmas. It would be good to know if you were coming home.”

“Mom, I can’t. Think. Please. It’s important. Have you been feeling this way? Like that movie Groundhog Day?”

“I’ll tell people that you don’t know yet. It would be a shame if you did make it home there wasn’t enough food.”

“I’m not coming. Mom, what day is it today?”

“The 2nd. There’s not much time left to plan. Are you coming home for Christmas?”

“I can’t do this Mom.” Mike sighed like a faulty whoopee cushion. “ I don’t know if you are in a temporal disturbance or if you are just being a bully about the Holidays. I don’t know if this is repeating because of a rupture in time or if you are just trying to get the answer you want.”

“Well I could get off the subject if you would make up your mind.”

“I’m not coming home. Let me know if you experience any recurrent events.”

“Okay. Bye Kiddo. Let me know when you find out about the holidays.”

“By Mom.”

Mike hung up the phone. He was frightened of how many more times he would have this conversation in this time line alone. He was frightened of how many other time lines might exist.