Free No Regrets by Elizabeth Karre Page A

past or future selves. They shoot them or think they’re crazy—”
    â€œBut not always,” I argued. “I wouldn’t shoot myself, that’s stupid.”
    He shook his head again. “OK, do whatever you want. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Under his breath he said, “Like they say, you’d argue with a tree stump.”
    â€œWhat else?” I asked.
    He turned a page carefully. “Mmm, you can only go to a moment, a specific time, once. No ifs, ands, or buts. You pick your moments by the date and time. Hope you remember exactly when these things happened that you want to change so bad.”
    I ignored that.
    â€œAnd it would probably be a good idea if you could only change one thing in each moment. Yeah. And you can’t stay in the past or future more than …” He pursed his lips. “Five minutes.”
    â€œWhat?!” I burst out.
    â€œIt probably don’t matter anyway. Some things you just can’t change,” he said.
    â€œWait, are you saying that my life is already decided? Like, fate? For real?” I asked.
    â€œPlease, you think I know that kind of stuff?” he said. “That really isn’t my department, and I’m already so regretting letting you do this. I think you should lay off the hard questions, OK?”
    I rolled my eyes.
    â€œYou can take whatever’s on your body. So you don’t have to travel naked—that’s just messy.”
    â€œThanks,” I said, getting smart. “But wait, while I’m not here, in the present, is time still moving? Or can I freeze time and go back or forward?”
    He snorted. “Ain’t nobody can freeze time. No, time … time’s like a train. You’ve been on a train, right?”
    I nodded.
    â€œSo, like, you’re in your car in the middle. And usually you stay there. But there are other train cars behind your car and in front of it, too. All I’m doing is giving you the key to the doors between the cars. But the whole train is still moving, see. That’s why you can’t be gone too long from where you’re supposed to be, or else someone will notice.”
    I thought about all that. I didn’t want to admit it, but this was starting to make my head swim a little.
    â€œThat train thing—that makes it sound like you can’t change anything. Like you always come back to the same place, no matter what,” I said.
    He cocked his head. “Look, don’t overthink it. That’s the best I can explain what I don’t really understand myself. Are you sure you don’t want to tell me what’s going on with you? Maybe there’s something better I could give you. How about sensing someone’s weaknesses?”
    I shook my head. “Naw, I’m good. I can take care of it myself. OK, is that it?”
    He smiled. “Don’t you want to know how to do it?”
    â€œOh, yeah…”
    â€œYou have to say past or future and then the date and time out loud and click your heels together three times.”
    â€œWhat?!”
    He showed me, pivoting his toes and banging the heels of his kicks together.
    â€œYou look stupid,” I told him.
    â€œNot as stupid as you’d feel if you accidentally time traveled when you didn’t mean to. Like, if you disappeared right in front of someone. This will keep you from making mistakes. Plus, when you get to when you’re going, you can say, ‘Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.’” He started skipping around, whistling the song from that movie.
    I figured I’d gotten as much as I could from him.
    â€œOK, thanks.” I wondered how to wake myself up. This dream had gone on long enough.
    He stopped skipping and looked at me. “I’ll be checking in. I’m a little worried about this.”
    I forced a smile. “I’ll be fine.”

chapter three
    I woke up right away. It