“You…you…rewound time?” Anna asked. The 18-year-old sat under the covers in her bedroom while a mysterious student sat on her computer desk. Maxwell chuckled at her question.
“Hah, yeah. Actually that’s exactly the way I think of it. I picture a VCR in my mind and imagine pressing the Rewind button. But,” he looked at Anna. “I’ve never met anyone that remembers like you.”
Maxwell hopped off the desk and knelt next to Anna’s bed; he begged with clasped hands.
“Now you have to be in my movie! Please! With me rewinding time, you can have as many takes as you want! It’ll be so much easier with you knowing what’s going on.”
“What else can you do?” Anna asked. The thought of being an actress was something she often daydreamed about. She was ready to agree but did not want to appear too eager.
“You mean with time?” Maxwell asked. Anna nodded.
“If you think about it like a VCR, you’ve tried all the buttons right? You can pause and fast forward too?”
“Yeah,” he grinned. “And I can record.” Anna’s eyes widened.
“Record!?? What does that do?!”
“It makes a time loop. This morning is the starting point for my new project, that’s why you wake up here again when I reset it.”
“Whoooaa,” Anna stared at him in awe. “So what does eject do?”
“Eject?” Maxwell asked, and gave a half shrug. “I never thought of it.”
“But it’s on there, right? Every time you picture the VCR in your head, there’s an eject button on it, isn’t there?” Maxwell took a moment to close his eyes, then nodded.
“Yeah, it’s there,” he said without opening his eyes.
“Push it,” Anna whispered. “Pretend you’re going to change the movie.” Maxwell nodded, then took a deep breath.
“Here goes,” he said. “I’m hitting eject… now.”
“Oh. My. God.” Anna whispered.
“What?!” Maxwell opened his eyes; Anna was staring and pointing at something behind him, so he turned around. A black hole hovered in the air in Anna’s bedroom. It reminded Maxwell of the “portable holes” he’d seen in cartoons; but, it was tall enough for him to walk through. He stood from Anna’s bedside and took a step toward it.
“Wait!” Anna yelped, then she scrambled off the bed. “I’m going with you.”
