The first few seconds after a jump are always a doozy. Once the room stops spinning, I can take stock of where I am… and when I am. This time, I’ve jumped into my past self from about two years ago during one of my training sessions with Jonathan. He is in the ring with me, complete with boxing gloves and shin guards. 

“Keep your hands up, Rachel,” he says. 

I block my face in time for a kick, which glances off my arm. 

I remember this moment now; it’s all coming back to me. He had faked a right jab and caught me off guard with a hook. I’m not going to fall for it this time. 

He fakes his jab, but I’m not fooled. I immediately roll under the hook I know is coming. 

Jonathan holds out a gloved fist for a knuckle bump. “Well done! How did you know to do that? I was planning to teach you how to roll and slip in our next class, but I guess I’ll have to come up with something else.”

I unstrap my boxing glove to get a drink from my water bottle. “What can I say? Guess I have a good teacher.”

Before the water touches my lips, my mind is yanked back to my own time and body. 

I only knew how to roll under a punch because Jonathan taught me. If past Jonathan decides not to teach me those boxing skills because he thinks I already know them, will I still know how to do them in my own time? Will it ever have happened?

I shake my head to dispel the circular chain of thought. 

“Ugh, temporal mechanics gives me a headache.”

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I wrote this flash fiction piece as part of 2020’s Writober. These characters are from my novel, No Exit. I’m a time-travel junkie and decided to have a little temporal fun with some of my characters!