Chapter 12
"Hey, you guys have perfect timing," Katherine opened the door to reveal the mostly empty apartment.
Adam and Billy exchanged a brief glance from the small breezeway connecting the adjacent apartment.
Noticing the pair's nervous exchange and knowing the two's usually shy demeanors, she was sure the nervous glance they had just exchanged was not an inside joke. "Is everything alright?"
"By chance, Kat, could we get the time from you?" Billy said, walking in the apartment behind Katherine.
She looked down at her watch, a little confused, "I have twelve-fifty."
Adam peered at his wrist and looked to Billy, "That's what I have, too."
Billy, somewhat tense, pushed his hands into his pockets and pondered the two times. "Well, it takes at least fifteen minutes to get here, and it was about twelve thirty when we left. I think it may be safe to say we're all on the same time again."
Katherine further observed the two, clearly puzzled at the odd choice of conversation. "Billy, what is going on? It seems you are including me in a conversation I didn't know we were having."
Billy, who had been lost in thought for a moment, looked to Katherine as her voice pulled him back into the present.
"I'm sorry, Kat. It is a very long story," he said, looking in Adam's direction, his voice dancing with anxiety, "We were all on different times earlier and I wanted to be certain that we hadn't drifted further."
Katherine raised an eyebrow, now very visibly disturbed by the changed tone of Billy's voice. She knew there was something Billy was not telling her.
"Different times?" she asked.
"Yeah, somehow we lost about two hours between the five of us," Adam said.
"Where are the others?" Katherine asked.
"Rocky is downstairs waiting for Kim and Aisha. They drove over in Kim's car because Tommy said he and Jason went over to your new place," Adam said.
"Well, Tommy and Tanya are on their way back. Jason is going to stay over to help unload the rest of the truck with the movers. What about this time business?" she pressed further, determined to get an answer out of someone.
Billy fidgeted with the door's latch, attempting to avoid eye contact with Katherine. He knew she was pressing them for more information, but he was not sure how she would react to what he and the others experienced. He was also still unsure of just how much he should tell everyone concerning his theory of why the time shift occurred. But then again, he wasn't even sure if his theory was plausible.
"Well…,"Billy started, uncertain on how to complete his sentence, "I think we may be experiencing time loops."
"I see…," Katherine said, contemplating the very short explanation.
As they stood between the door way and the living area, footsteps and voices began drifting up the stairs and closer to the apartment.
"Well, it really needs to be cleaned out!" Kim exclaimed as she walked up the stairs into the apartment.
"I don't think it's that bad! Adam doesn't complain about it," Rocky said, walking into the apartment behind Kim and Aisha.
"But I could smell the vomit from outside the car, Rocky!" Aisha said, closing her eyes as if to forget the memory of the smell.
Rocky shrugged, noticing the now more confused Katherine. "They think the car stinks. Adam, come on, it wasn't that bad, right? I sprayed it before we left."
Adam wrinkled his nose unconsciously. Yes, the car smelled awful. However, after the verbal beating Rocky had probably just taken from Kim and Aisha about the previous night, he would need someone to come to his rescue.
"I didn't smell anything," Adam said, "Besides, the car is half mine. Some of that smell is me."
Aisha looked to Adam, knowing his need to defend Rocky. "I highly doubt that."
"Well, at least someone is on my side," Rocky said, moving past the group and into the nearly empty apartment. He looked around the living room and small kitchen and then back to Katherine who was closing the door as the rest of the group dispersed through the apartment.
"Hey, where is everything? There's nothing left for us to do!" he said.
Katherine rolled her eyes and pointed to the kitchen, "There are still some dishes we need to pack and a bit of books. The movers took the large stuff so that leaves little items and some of Tanya's things. Most of my things were still packed from my move in here a few weeks ago."
Kim sat on the floor, picking up a magazine from the three stacks in the corner, "Whoa, Kat! You guys have, like, every copy of Cosmo from the last three years!"
Katherine smiled, looking around the room at the stacks of magazines and books, "Most of those are Tanya's. The Vogue copies are mine."
"Don't worry, girl," Aisha said, sitting next to Kimberly and grabbing a copy of Vogue, "Kim and I got this."
Katherine watched as Adam followed Rocky into the kitchen. "I guess that means you guys get the lot of dishes," she said.
"No problem, Kat. But I always start with the fridge," Rocky said, walking towards the refrigerator.
"Actually, Tanya and I already cleaned it out."
Rocky turned around. His face was expressionless, but Katherine knew there was not only sadness but maybe a hint of anger in the brown eyes staring back at hers.
"We'll order pizza later. I promise," she said, hoping the promise would console him long enough to get at least an hour of packing done.
"Besides," Adam said, clasping Rocky's shoulder in a reassuring and gentle grip, "you just ate breakfast."
"The way things have been today, who knows how long ago that was," Rocky scowled.
Katherine turned back to Billy. He appeared to be less tense now, as he was flipping through a copy of Men's Health.
"Billy, tell me more about this time shift," she said.
Billy looked up from the magazine and raised an eyebrow, "Honestly, Katherine, I am wondering why you and Tanya have Men's Health magazine?"
Katherine suddenly blushed, remembering why she and Tanya decided to purchase the copy as they stood in line waiting on the cashier a few weeks back, "It's for…research. Now, back to the time."
Billy sighed and closed the magazine. He looked around at his friends making a note of how normal they seemed in this moment. Kim and Aisha were only partially packing the magazines as they each found another interesting article to distract them. Adam and Rocky were gingerly removing the plates from the cabinet as if they were made of irreplaceable crystal. He then looked to the kind and cool blue eyes staring back at him waiting for a response. Katherine was not going to give up until she received a satisfactory answer. He, however, knew the answer that would satisfy her was also the answer that would remove the calmness from those eyes. It was a calm that had finally settled into her eyes after years of battle against not just their enemies, but her own inner turmoil.
"I think there is something disturbing the flow of time around us," he finally said.
Katherine folded her arms and looked around as she let her thoughts race, "Do you mean similar to the time when we were turned into children?"
"No…this is very different. But, I don't think everyone should worry just yet. It could be nothing. I still need to run a few tests today to gather more data and compare it with some of the data I've already collected," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"So, what do you think it could be?"
"Honestly, I'm just not sure."