The Didymus Contingency by Jeremy Robinson

ears thrumming with each pulse of light. He fell back into the grass and watched the passing clouds overhead as his eye closed shut. David lost consciousness and light enveloped his body.
    In a flash, David was gone. Boom! Time resealed itself.

    *   *   *   *   *

    Sally gasped when David reappeared seconds after he had disappeared. He was a bloody mess, sprawled out on the floor. Sally thought something must have gone wrong with David’s time jump. She imagined David’s insides being twisted and disfigured by the time travel process—the side effects of which, if any, had yet to be documented. Sally kneeled down next to him and said, “David! David, please be alive. Please David…”
    David’s good eye cracked open and he saw Sally looking down at him. “Sally, thank God… it works… it works…” was the last thing David said before passing out again.
    When he woke up, David found that all his wounds had been tended to. He could see out of both eyes again, and he looked around the room. It was a standard hospital room—nothing fancy. An old TV was bolted to the ceiling in the corner; the room stank of dry cleanliness and to his right was…Sally? She was sitting in a chair to the right of his bed, sound asleep.
    David couldn’t believe what he was seeing. How long had she been with him? How long had he been unconscious? He slid out of bed and picked up the clipboard containing his vital stats. He strode to the window and looked out. The skyline of Phoenix greeted him. A sign by the road read, “Phoenix Baptist Hospital & Medical Center”. They must have flown me in , he thought.
    David looked at his chart and read the damage report. Three bruised ribs, a dislocated shoulder—now repaired—and a few scrapes and bruises. Nothing life threatening, but David knew it would have been if it weren’t for Megan. David remembered the sparkle in her eye, the long hair and smooth skin of the woman Tom loved. While David had never loved a woman so deeply, he had a better understanding of what Tom survived and how it could’ve shaped his life and beliefs.
    “Ahem,” Sally coughed, “You’re ah, exposing yourself.”
    David nearly jumped out of his white and blue, polka dot, hospital johnny as he spun around, realizing his backside was bare and exposed. David’s bruised face flushed red and he said, “Sally, you’re awake. I, uh… I…”
    “Relax,” said Sally, “It wasn’t that bad of a thing to wake up to.”
    David froze. Was that a compliment? On his butt? Sally must have realized how it sounded too, because she quickly corrected herself. “I mean, it could have been worse,” Sally insisted. “How are you feeling?”
    David was relieved the subject had changed. “I’ve been better, but I’m glad to be alive.”
    “What happened?” Sally asked.
    David sat on the edge of the bed and cringed in pain as his ribs flexed slightly. He stared straight ahead, as he relayed it to Sally, “I saw her,” he said. “I saw Tom’s wife.”
    David thought for a moment, staring out the window. “The only adverse effect of time travel is temporary, but extreme: nausea. After I arrived, already disoriented, I was confronted by four men. The ones who put me in this sorry state,” David said, as he waved his hand over his injuries.
    “I would have died had it not been for Megan. She was running toward the field, no doubt to warn Tom when she saw me being beaten. She stopped… I recognized her. She was so beautiful, so afraid. I told her to run, and she did. The rest, as you know, is history,” David said with a frown.
    “I was lucky this time,” David said, “My presence could have changed the entire event. If they had let her go and killed me, if she hadn’t stopped on the path, if that one man hadn’t spotted her, we wouldn’t be here having this conversation.”
    “But it works? They work? The watches?” Sally said.
    “Without a hitch,” David managed a slight smirk.
    “That’s good