Hi! So, thank you to the wonderful reader who nominated this story for a Topaz Award! I was pleased to find out that it was runner up in the Alternate Universe category, so… Ooh la la! Should I change the category to romance/scifi? Yeah, I think I should. But this story is so many categories. Anyways, thanks for the nomination! You earned this chapter, my friend.

Robbie looked at the door lying on the floor, then at the shattered lamp in the corner. "I-It's cool," he stuttered in response to my apology. He looked up at me. "You should get some sleep. Maybe you'll get five hours."

"What about you?" I whispered. I could still feel Skyla's presence and to be honest, it left me cheerless.

"I'll worry about my own sleeping pattern. You've had a longer day than me," he said bluntly.

I think he missed her, too.

I shrugged my shoulders. "All right." I placed a kiss on his lips. I could feel them trembling against mine. Or it may have been the other way around. I was probably shaking without noticing. In fact, it was highly likely. I walked into the hallway. I took one last glance at him. He was on his knees, picking up the tinier glass pieces in the palm of his hand.

I sighed and walked back into his living room, the stereotypical love story still playing on the TV. I found the remote in the darkness and turned it off, not in the mood for a happy ending. It doesn't matter if I get to go back to the future. What if I remember here? What if I never forget about Robbie? And how in an alternate universe, I have a daughter with him? And in the same way… What if I do forget? Do I want to forget about this?

I felt like I was in a glass case of emotion as I pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and curled up in it. I had a feeling that if I was going to get any sleep tonight, it wouldn't be five hours. It would probably be five minutes at the most.

I've been waiting for this moment. I've been waiting for this moment for eight and a half years. I should be ecstatic about this. I know what I have to have my momma and dad do so I can get back. And here I am, debating whether or not I should enforce it. This should be an easy decision for me. I should want my mom and dad together so I can go back. But at the same time, I don't.

And what if Skyla hadn't had shown up? Would she never have been born? Was she the one who got Robbie and I together in the first place? But that was in this universe. She's in a parallel universe. And I'm from a whole other life. What's next, alien kittens come and drag me back to the future?

I'm too young to be having these thoughts. I was way too young to be having these thoughts when I was eight. Then again, I'm the one who got myself here. I was… A bully. That's why I'm here. And, as sad as it is to admit, that's why Skyla was here, too. She was a bully.

Well… I want to go back. If I had to pick, I would go back to the future and start over. My parents loved me there and more importantly, they were together. That's what I care about. Robbie knows that I care about that more than anything right now. But that's who I'm worried about right now. Robbie.

He already lost Skyla. And now he knew in his subconscious that he was about to lose me, too. And I know how that feels. To lose everyone who cared about you in the least bit. Robbie is the only one who cares about me. And saying that all his parents left for him was a note, I'm the only one who cares about him.

It's just too much. It's always been too much, hasn't it? That's why I'm such a wreck. That's why I overreact to absolutely everything, isn't it? Because the last time something small happened, I ended up here. And ending up here is the best and worst thing that's ever happened to me.

It just sickens me how everyone 'love's each other, but no one really likes one another. Can we just take the example of my parents here? Matt and Lisa tell me that they love me all the time. They throw around the word 'love' like it's a Frisbee. Well, love means something to me. When I told Robbie that I loved him, I meant it. I meant that I felt something indescribable. And when I heard Skyla yelling in pain, I kicked open a door because I loved her to death. And when I told her that, I meant it.

And I haven't felt love up until today. At least, not in this world. And that's what keeps me holding on to nothing here. I looked at my wrist to find that I had put on a watch this morning. The glow-in-the-dark face showed me that it was 2:46. And time had been dropkicked out the window by my thoughts.

My mom and dad were still at a breaking point. They could get together tomorrow for all I know. And there would be nothing I could do to stop it. They would tell each other they're still in love, I would feel that searing pain go through me again, the light tunnel would open up again and I'd have to go back, end of story.

I heard a rustling and then I heard footsteps in the room. "Robbie?" I asked. I saw the figure stop in its tracks, but he didn't respond. I turned on the lamp on the table beside me. I could say I was shocked, but that may be an understatement.

Tori.

Nah nah nah nah nah nah! So what if I got runner up. I didn't win, so you get a cliff hanger.