Back To The Viper by Antara Mann Page A

waves caressed her feet again and she took a few steps deeper into the sea. She liked the feeling of the seawater caressing her skin. She wondered whether what had happened before wasn’t actually for their good. She smiled and then remembered Harry and his discovery. She wondered what he was doing now and how they looked like, lying down in his lab.
    “Ash!” She heard Chad’s voice behind her. He ran to her and asked, out of breath:
    “Where have you been? We were worried about you.”
    She looked out at the dark waters of the sea.
    “I was thinking that maybe fate did us a favor when we failed to become famous.”
    He didn’t say anything, just looked at her.
    “So, where are Wayne and Craig?”
    “In the club, burying the hatchet.” Chad smiled. They had been arguing like a married couple.
    “Did Craig calm down?”
    “For the moment yes, but Ash…” His voice shivered. “When are we going back? Craig is right – this here isn’t real.”
    “So it’s time, isn’t it?” she asked quietly. Only the distant sound of music coming from the club was disturbing the silence around them.
    He nodded.
    “Sometimes you just have to let go and be impulsive,” Ashley added. “When I watch Briana, I feel like I want to be like her; not to think about the past or the future, but to just live in the now. I miss her.”
    Chad touched her hand. Although he didn’t have children, he could understand. Their eyes met and suddenly the space in front of them faded away.
    “What’s going on?” Ashley asked, but it was too late – the white light enveloped them. For a few seconds, they were beyond time and space. Then all of them realized they were back in Harry’s lab. Despite the fact they had been in different places, they had come back simultaneously.
    “We’re back!” Craig, still lying on the floor, cried, beyond himself with joy. “God, I have to call Monique! How much time has passed?”
    “How did we go back without doing anything? I thought we had to move a body part first?” Wayne asked. He remembered Harry’s instructions clearly and was puzzled.
    “Yes, that’s a good question,” Harry answered, fixing his glasses. “The duration of UTST’s effect lasts between four and five days. You spent four very intensive days in the past.”
    “So what’s the time now?” Craig repeated his question.
    “Half past eleven.”
    That had made seven hours since the start of their trip.
    “Oh my God, I should have been home already! Monique is going to kill me!”
    “Wait a second, I need to tell you all something very important.” Harry approached them with a serious look on his face. “I wasn’t sure what influence a change of a past event would have on the present and was eager to test it. Now I know: every change of the past causes a chain reaction of changes further in time. Your case has proven it.”
    “Damn it, man, can’t you use any clearer words?” Wayne complained. He’d always hated the exact sciences, especially physics and mathematics.
    “Okay, let me put it this way: now each of you has a completely different life.”
    “What?” they said in one voice.
    “Harry, you joker!” Wayne laughed.
    “You don’t believe me? Read this, then.” He pushed his smartphone into Wayne’s hands, who paused while reading.
    “ Punk’d host on MTV? Engaged to the model Olivia Hamilton? Producer of The Razor’s Blades and The Devil’s Pouch?” he read aloud. A pop-rock band producer? That had been his long-standing dream. Wayne lifted his surprised eyes from the cell phone and asked, with a change in his voice, “But how? Have you done any magic on us?”
    “I told you already – the change in your past has led to a change of the other aspects of your life.”
    There was silence. Suddenly Craig said, “So what’s the fate of the rest of us?”
    Harry handed him his phone. He looked up his name on Wikipedia and read the following: Craig Bloomingdale, one of the most influential