5. Tempi

CHAPTER 5

TEMPI

F ive hours later, a testament to the emergency room hustle, they release me with instructions to get some rest and drink some water. That's it. I'm a bit dehydrated and suffering from exhaustion. Apparently that can cause intense hallucinations like what I described. Who fucking knew? Not the paramedic.

I can't help but roll my eyes at the thought of it all. When they came back with that, it reminds me that the emergency room really only helps if you're bleeding or having a stroke. If you come in with some ailment they can't see, they don't always know what to do. I once took Bella to the doctor for an allergic reaction, and they tried to tell me she had scabies. With zero testing at all. Even when I got the day wrong, they didn't bat an eye. I should have known better than to go into the ER, but I was panicked, and it was right there.

Still, I manage to take the subway across town back to my apartment. Again, La Llorona is back at work, leaving me without a car. And now, it's apparently two days later if the ER nurse is to be believed. I blinked and time disappeared. I'd tried to check my phone to see if they were lying to me, but the thing is a waterlogged brick now. At least I somehow still have my keys on me. At least there's that.

Walking into my apartment is a surreal experience. If I've really been gone for two days, it's no wonder the apartment smells a little musty from being closed up and the air conditioner being left warmer from when I left. I usually turn it down when I get back home to help with the humidity. Perhaps out of everything, that tells me that I've been gone. Which doesn't make any sense. It felt like I was in the ocean for maybe twenty minutes. But it must have been days? I don't get it.

"Ugh," I groan in frustration out loud, before throwing my keys on the table. I'm so over this momentary loss of time. Am I having a stroke? Maybe I'm developing schizophrenia? I'm gonna have to make an appointment with a regular doctor.

I take a step deeper into my apartment only for the air to start sparkling. A small blackhole opens and sweeps wind through my apartment, blasting me with it. The scent of chamomile tea hits my nose, but a second later, the blackhole collapses and leaves me standing in my apartment. I breathe a sigh of relief and go to fix the picture that the wind knocked over. It's a family photo, one of my favorites, and as I stand it back up and smile at it, a whooshing sound echoes behind me.

I sigh. I knew it was too good to be true.

Before I can even turn around to look, I'm sucked backwards across my apartment and dragged inside the blackhole. I don't scream this time. I think I'm all screamed out honestly. I just hope I'm not going to land back in the fucking water.

When I hit the ground inside a humid jungle, I nearly sigh in relief a split second before another blackhole opens beside me and a literal fucking elephant comes charging through along with a whole heap of other animals. I have just enough time to step out of its way before it trumpets and rushes through the trees in a panic. Two people stand there staring at me, a woman who makes me want to run and a very pretty man with a frown on his face. Neither make me want to stick around, so I don't, not bothering to speak to either of them, not when the woman sends chills down my spine.

"Not again!" I growl, frustrated.

And the poor elephant. That guy doesn't know what happened at all. I rush after it, hoping that the blackhole will open back up and suck it inside. I'm pleasantly surprised when it does just that a few minutes of us running later. The elephant runs right into it, and it disappears before I can follow it inside. I brace my hands on my hips and grunt.

"Well, I guess there's that," I say, shaking my head. Hopefully, he got back home.

And then the floor literally drops out beneath me.

A blackhole opens up in the fucking ground and sucks me inside. I have just enough time to grunt in fear, before I find myself outside the office, standing in front of La Llorona.

"What the fuck!" I snarl, kicking my tire. I'm still wearing my uniform from before, the saltwater making it crusty and stiff, and somehow, the sun is fucking shining here again. I know I was gone a matter of minutes that time. It couldn't have been the entire fucking night.

"Gonzalez," someone calls, and I look up to see one of the other EMTs from a different rig.

"Hey, Jimmy," I say nervously. "What's up?"

"The boss has been looking for you. Tried to call and everything when you no showed the last two days. Leo has been in a tizzy. Said he went to your apartment, and you weren't there, that you disappeared on shift."

I grimace. "Yeah. . . I, uh, family emergency. And my phone died. You know nowadays none of us know phone numbers."

He shrugs. "True. Boss told me to tell you to head to Patty if I see you. So. . . consider this me telling you."

"To Patty?" I ask, tilting my head. "Random Psych evals?"

"Not so random when you went to the ER," Jimmy points out.

I grimace again. "Y'all heard about that, huh?"

He nods. "The nurses talk. You good? Need me to take you there?"

"I'm fine. Thanks for letting me know."

Jimmy nods and disappears to his own rig. I don't see mine in station so Leo and Ben must be out on shift. At least I won't have to answer Leo's questions yet. No doubt he's losing his mind with worry right now. I'll need to get my phone replaced after this to be able to call him.

I head inside to Patty, knowing I'm going to have to jump through hoops to convince her I'm okay.

/-/-/-/

It wasn't that difficult. Patty apparently has a full schedule today and she doesn't have time for my lying ass. After ten minutes of questions, she stamps on my file that I'm approved and that I'm cleared to head back to work in a few days after some rest. Apparently, I look haggard. Her words, not mine. It might have something to do with the dark circles beneath my eyes. I haven't gotten any sleep at all.

I walk out to La Llorona and go to unlock her only for that familiar whoosh to appear behind me. I literally have my hand out with the key almost in the lock when it hits me.

"Motherfuck—"

I don't even get to finish my sentence before I'm dropped somewhere else. I glance around, confused. This still looks like home, but well, it's not New York. Where the fuck am I?

I'm right outside a convenience store, so I shrug my shoulders and head inside. The cashier looks like he's barely sixteen and he hardly wants to be here. He's leaning on the counter, flipping through a comic book, ignoring my presence.

"Hey. Where are we?" I ask him, knowing that's a really strange question to ask in the time of Google Maps. I hold up my dead phone as a means of explanation, so he doesn't think I'm weird.

He startles as if he hadn't even realized I came in. The bell chimed over the door and everything. "This is Wallace."

I narrow my eyes. "And where is Wallace?"

He glances around, noticing there's no car out in the parking lot, trying to figure out where I came from. "Wallace, Idaho."

"Idaho," I repeat, flabbergasted. "Is there a bus stop somewhere around here?"

"Sure, in the next city over, but it's at least an hour walk," he replies. "If you don't got a car."

"You have ride shares here?"

He laughs. "You'd probably be waiting for a long time until someone comes out this far. We're in the middle of nowhere."

"Fucking fantastic," I grumble. "Thanks, kid."

I step outside and take a deep breath. Idaho. The air at least smells cleaner. I look left and right and decide after a moment to head right. At least this is somewhere I kind of recognize and know how to navigate. I take one step. One step. That's all it fucking takes. I'm sucked into a blackhole before I even realize it's got me. What's worse is the moment I step inside one and fall, I'm pulled into another before my feet can even touch the ground. Three blackholes, one after the other, before I'm on my feet again staring up at my apartment building.

I bare my teeth. "Real fucking funny, magic portal," I growl, but I hurry up my stairs in case it decides it wants to drag me back in again. I need to fucking sleep. Let's hope the black holes don't work when I'm sleeping.

I'd hate to wake up in fucking Idaho again.

Or worse. The ocean.