Memories from a Different Future: Jump When Ready, Book 2 by David Pandolfe Page B

deal, after all.
    The browser kept reciting different versions of the same
information, essentially. Two sad events striking the same family a long time
ago. A teenaged boy who’d drowned, followed by a sister who’d gone missing just
weeks later. God, that must have been incredibly painful for the parents. Some
articles offered more information than others, such as background information
on the family. Professor Russell’s father had also been a college professor
who’d taught Sociology. Funny how that ran in families. Ian himself was
considering going into education like his own father. Another random bit caught
his attention. She’d once played lacrosse on a team that won a regional
championship. Damn, pretty impressive. Ian could imagine it easily, though. He
guessed Professor Russell to be in her late thirties but she remained totally
fit. He suspected she probably worked out often. Another article reported that
Henry’s death had been speculated as a possible suicide.
    Ian slowed the car as he listened but didn’t learn much
more than that. Evidently, at the time, there had been reports that Henry had
walked directly into the rapids that killed him. At least, that’s what
witnesses had said. Suicide stories always caught Ian’s attention for some
reason he couldn’t understand. He tried to avoid them but somehow they hit home
with him every time and he found himself wondering how anyone could sink that
low. At the same time, part of him understood that sometimes people
despaired—that they could no longer imagine a future worth bothering with. What
really struck him most was how that feeling would resonate for him, almost as
if he’d felt the same way once when he never had. His life was amazing, he
reminded himself. He enjoyed almost everything about it. Okay, maybe not the
college workload so much, but still. Even that brought with it a feeling of
achievement he appreciated at the end of the day.
    He pulled up in front of the apartment building and sat
in the car, more of Julie’s words coming back to him. Words he’d made himself
forget. Almost like you have a group of friends there who still think about
you. Wait, I’m seeing something else. Yes, definitely. I’m getting an image. A
chill rippled up his spine. Was he really going to ask again about whatever it
was that made her go pale? No, he wasn’t. He’d driven here to pay her—if she
was even home. Besides, she’d said the image was random, unrelated stuff.
    Ian climbed the staircase and knocked on her door. He
could have sworn he heard someone moving around in there, then footsteps
approaching. If they were footsteps, they suddenly stopped. Ian waited,
wondering if he’d instead heard something from a different apartment. Another,
less certain, instinct made him wonder if he was being viewed standing there in
the hallway from the doorscreen. Julie had mentioned a roommate. That was
probably it. Whoever she was, she’d have no idea why he’d be knocking on the
door. Ian typed a quick message on the doorpad. I forgot to pay for my
reading. Sorry. You have my info. Ian.
    Ian walked back downstairs thinking it was all for the
better just to put the whole ridiculous thing behind him now. Amazing how, if
you let it, your imagination could just run away like that. What had he even
been thinking going there again in the first place? He could have just phoned
in the payment. Obviously, he had her information too.
    As he got into his car and started it, Ian looked up at
Julie’s window. For one brief moment, their eyes met before she stepped back
and disappeared.
     

9
    The Need
     
    It was the last thing in the world they wanted to do, but
all they could think of was jumping forward again to the day of Ian’s death.
Those moments had happened incredibly fast and there hadn’t been time to change
anything. Still, at least this time they’d know what was about to happen. Maybe
they could think of some way to stop the event from taking place.