[ WP ] You are in Time Square in New York . You get an unknown call . Everything the person on the line says starts to unfold around you as if predicting the future .

*Derek? * 
 
 “ Yeah this is Derek, who is calling? ” I was pretty sure that everyone knew I was on holiday. It seemed very strange that anyone who knew me would call me. 
 
 *Derek Calderwood? In two minutes there will be a huge explosion, three blocks south of you. Approximately twenty-five people will die. * 
 
 “ Umm… what the fuck kind of joke is this? ” I had no time for a prank call and definitely when I was being charged trans-Atlantic roaming charges. 
 
 *There is no time to explain, I ’ ve tried that before. You will hang up now; in two minutes time I will ring again. * 
 
 “ Fuck you. ” 
 
 I found Gemma rummaging through some ridiculous ‘ I Luv NY ’ t-shirts, the sort only the most abrasive tourists would be caught seeing. I told her I would be waiting on the steps, I already had my share of tacky tourist crap weighing me down. 
 
 As I found a comfy space on the bright red steps an almighty roar filled the air around me. I felt the rumble in stairs beneath me. There was a moment of eerie silence as we all tried to diagnose the source of the noise. My ringtone cut through the silence like knife. 
 
 *Derek that was the first of five attacks. * 
 
 “ Who the fuck are you? ” 
 
 *We need to... * 
 
 “ How the fuck did you know that was going to happen. ” 
 
 *Derek, there isn ’ t much time. Please let me speak. * 
 
 “ Wait was that you? ” 
 
 *Derek in thirty seconds, the police will begin to clear Times Square. * 
 
 “ Where ’ s Gemma? I am going to find Gemma. ” The silence around me had now erupted into an alarmed hubbub. There were a few people who were hurriedly trying to get out of the square but mostly people were murmuring, I guess fearing the worst. 
 
 *Gemma, is fine, she is about to find you. She will have forgotten to pay for her t-shirt. * 
 
 “ Gemma! Gemma! ” I started waving through the crowd, she looked panicked. A policeman was trying to corral her down the street. I dragged her from the pavement and went to hug her, but she broke off the hug almost immediately and headed back into the shop. “ Wait, how did you know? ” 
 
 *Gemma has gone back to the store to pay for the t-shirt. * 
 
 “ How did you know she would forget to pay for the t-sh… wait who the fuck are you? ” 
 
 *I am a friend of a man called Brian Taylor. Brian Taylor is related to a man called Robert Taylor. Robert Taylor is the owner and manager of the Black Swan. * 
 
 “ Why has Robbie given you my number? ” 
 
 *Because I asked for it. * 
 
 “ That prick! I will fucking kill him. ” 
 
 *People are quite literally dying just three streets south of you, and yet you are always concerned with who is calling you? * 
 
 “ This is probably costing me a bomb you know! ” 
 
 *Speaking of bomb ’ s there are three more bombs in New York City. * 
 
 “ … ” This was like something out of a movie. The people around me were moving past. But my mind wasn ’ t processing the information. 
 
 *We are going to stop the second of those three bombs from going off. * 
 
 “ We!? ” I could feel the fear rising within me. “ How the fuck are we going to do that? ” 
 *First you will head east on Forty-Seventh Street. * 
 
 “ Gemma! Gemma! Wait hold the line I ’ ve got ta … ” 
 
 *Gemma will be fine here, leave her, there isn ’ t much time. * 
 
 “ How do you know? ” 
 
 *Head east on Forty-Seventh Street, you have ten minutes. * 
 
 “ Fuck! ” 
 
 *Derek, please, just this once can you trust me. * 
 
 “ Why do you speak like you know me? You don ’ t know me!? ” 
 
 *No! No, no no no! Don ’ t…* 
 
 I hung-up the phone, I didn ’ t need some nutter sending me on a wild goose chase. I had to protect Gemma. 
 
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 The antique clock on a grand mantelpiece chimed to as it ticked past the quarter past 12 mark. The cold dark glare of a television screen illuminated an old man sat on his sofa. Stroking his greyed and bushy beard, he strained through the darkness. His eyes fixated on the screen. 
 
 Graham sighed and leant forward from his sofa. His TV was displaying the familiar headline appear again. ‘ Reports of an explosion in downtown New York ’. The fear and dread that he used to feel had long drained away from him now. Normally he would end things now. Just jump back to the beginning. But it had been a few loops since he had watched the whole thing. 
 
 *I might spot something new*, he thought, although he knew this was just wishful thinking. He had seen the events unfold countless times before. And each time the result was the same. No matter what he did, he would wake up again in a cold sweat wrapped up in his bed an ocean away from where he needed to be. 

