Slip : Part 8 : Crossing Time

Thud! Crash!!!

“Ouchhh!!”

A startled male voice echoed nearby.

Sunny shot upright in shock — the noise had jolted her awake — only to find herself face-first on the floor, having stumbled over something. The stranger who had tripped over her dropped the things he was carrying, which scattered across the ground, releasing a sweet aroma.

“Who are you? Why are you sleeping here?” asked a man’s voice — slurred slightly, accompanied by the strong smell of alcohol.

“Who are you? How did you get here?” Sunny blurted out, but before she could say more, her eyes fell on the smashed cake lying on the floor.

She lunged toward it and scooped up a piece with her bare hand, shoving it into her mouth, eating greedily.

The man — a young guy with a fair face, slightly flushed from drinking, wearing a party hat and a sling bag — stared at her in shock and disbelief.

“Hey, hey! Where the hell did you come from? That cake’s all over the floor! You can’t just eat that — it’s filthy!” he said.

Sunny looked up at him — and froze.

That face.

She recognized it instantly — the same face from the old photo Belle had shown her.
The man who vanished sixteen years ago after the New Year’s Eve party.

“...Wait a minute…” the man muttered, glancing around the office. “Why does this place look so different? When did they rearrange all the desks?”

“You came from another time,” Sunny said flatly, her mouth still full of cake. “I mean — we’re both stuck here. You used the stairs, didn’t you? That’s how you ended up here. You walked down the stairs and… got lost in this place.”

Even as she said it, she knew how insane it sounded.

“Another time? What are you talking about? I was just going home. Yeah, I walked down the stairs, then felt like I needed to pee, so I went back up to use the restroom. The lights flickered for a second, then when they came back on — I tripped over you lying here! But before you say anything, I really have to pee first.”

Without waiting for a reply, he dashed off toward the restroom.

After a few minutes, he came back out — his face pale and confused.

“...What the hell? The bathroom — it’s different. Looks like it’s been completely renovated. Did I black out and dream this up?”

Sunny, now sitting up and drinking from the water bottle she had filled earlier, watched him mutter to himself.

“Sit down,” she said firmly. “I need you to calm down and listen to me carefully.”

And then she told him everything.

All of it — her story, the disappearances, the endless stairs, the broken time loop.
The man listened in stunned silence as she showed him proof — her smartphone, unlike anything from his era; her watch, frozen in time; every bizarre detail she could demonstrate.

He sat there, speechless.

“You’re saying I’ve slipped into another point in time… and that I can’t leave? And from what you’re telling me, this —” he gestured around “— is sixteen years after my time?” he asked, struggling to grasp it.

“That’s right. What’s your name, by the way? I’m Sunny,” she said.

“I’m Aem…” he answered, still dazed. “So this place… it’s sixteen years in the future for me?”

“I don’t know,” Sunny admitted. “Every time I go up or down the stairs, time seems to shift. Sometimes it goes backward, sometimes forward. At least, that’s what I think. I noticed that only the things in the stairwell ever change. Out here — in the hallway — everything resets. No matter what I write on the wall or move around, once I step out of the stairs and come back, everything returns to normal — like nothing ever happened.”

“You said the lights flickered when you walked down, right? Same thing happened to me — and to Pu, the woman who vanished before. Maybe… maybe that’s the trigger — whatever causes all this.” Sunny said, thinking hard about what might have started it all.

Aem was silent for a moment. Then he stood and walked toward the stairs.

Sunny’s instincts screamed — she lunged forward and grabbed his arm.

“Don’t go alone! Please — if you go, I swear, when you come back down, you won’t find me here. You won’t find anyone here! Please don’t leave me! Please!!”

She was crying uncontrollably now, tears streaming down her face, raw fear written all over her.

“Then come with me,” Aem said gently. “If you’re telling the truth, I’ll see it for myself. Because this isn’t funny — not on New Year’s Eve.”

He took Sunny’s hand firmly. Together, they climbed the stairs.

And, just as before —

When they came back down, the smashed crumbs of cake on the floor were gone.

— To be continued... —

Slip #1,  Slip #2 , Slip #3,  Slip #4,  Slip #5,  Slip #6,  Slip #7, Slip #9,  Slip #10