Time Loops Don't Exist

FRIDAY AUGUST 9 i.

The alarm on Claires phone went off, waking her from her sleep. She reached for her phone which lay charing on its station on the nightstand, and gave the snooze button an annoyed but wanting look before turning off the alarm. 8:15 AM was displayed on her phone over the background of her parents.

Claire was in Pensacola, Florida for a two week course on cyber security. Her job had sent her to this course, and upon successful completion, she was expecting a raise, and in time a promotion. She felt that she was being positioned to move up the food chain a link or two, and though not the most ambitious person to ever exist, she was excited at the challenge, as well as the opportunities that it would be affording her.

This was the fifth day of the course, and her and her brain were looking forward to turning off during the weekend. Claire sat up in the hotel bad and checked her messages and e-mails on her phone, as one does. She started every day with a text from her mom, who made it a point to know what time her child would be waking up so that she could ensure that her text arrived before Claires sleep ended. After a week of stress and study she wanted to hear the unconditionally loving voices of her parents. They were busy during the week with their work, so FaceTime with mom and dad would have to wait for the weekend.

Her mother had asked her “How is Florida treating you? Are you in a different time zone? But doesn’t Florida only have 1 time zone???? Love you baby girl.”

“Florida is great. And yes, the top left - the ‘panhandle’ as they call it - is Central Time. Ma it took me wayyyyy too long to figure that out so dont feel bad. Haha. Love you too! :)”

The rest of the messages were from friends, and she would get to those later.

After taking a quick shower, she had a quick breakfast consisting of a bagel with cream cheese and a banana, with glass of orange juice and a bottle of water. While eating she scrolled through Reddit on her phone and watched the news on the TV mounted to the wall in the living room part of her hotel room. Trump and Harris had agreed to a debate. [That should be interesting] she thought to herself.

The US had won some golds at the Paris Olympics, including men’s 400 meter Hurdles and Women’s 4x100, but the US men hadn’t meddled in their 4x100 due to a poor handoff. Again.

Claire loved the Olympics and was already looking forward to sleeping in followed by Uber Eats and intensely watching sports she hadn’t known existed until moments ago. She’d recently discovered Breaking, which looked like a break-dancing-dance-off-competition-thing. And the closing ceremony was on Sunday!

She put her plates in the dishwasher, placed a mug on the coffee machine and put a Keurig cup into it. After finishing getting dressed, Claire grabbed her bag and checked that her laptop and ID badge were inside, even though she knew they were. Habits. She grabbed her mug from the machine and left her room, checking that her door, 542, was locked before moving down the hall to the elevator.