Faces in Time Read Online Free

in which he is capable of changing single-handedly.
    He pats his pockets frenetically, still clutching the paper in his right hand. The device is still there, and he knows he needs to get to a place where he can use it.
    His mind lingers on the horror of not being able to alter anything—the thought of reliving New Year’s Eve after New Year’s Eve with no one to kiss, no one to hold, with no one to dream of what could happen over the next four seasons. And on the occasions when he did have a date, he was almost sadder because he knew she wasn’t the one for him, and he knew there were no future dreams to be made with her.
    The throaty rumbling of his car calls to him in a perfectly-timed hum. Its vibrations course through him and bring him to attention.
    He glances at the clear shards around his shoes and suddenly realizes that he did indeed shatter glass with his fist. And on top of that, it’s glass that belongs to someone else. He can’t afford to spend his first day back in time in jail; after all, he has an audience with destiny in two days. If he’s late, things will go horribly awry, and he has to test out his abilities before then.
    He runs to his car, slams the door harder than he ever has, and accelerates quickly down the side street.
    The street itself has been of no consequence to him, and he has paid it no attention until now as he looks around in his mirrors to see if anyone has spotted him. The newspaper receptacle is on the side of a small gas station at the end of a strip mall that also contains one storefront with a faded FOR RENT sign and a fried chicken restaurant with half of its lights burned out, leaving the body of the chicken illuminated and its head missing somewhere in the darkness.
    The strip mall is just around the corner from the schoolyard. During his childhood, the gas station convenience store was a popular hangout for the students after school getting an ICEE, some candy, or a comic book. The larger street that it faces is Planeline Highway, and the side street that he barrels down now remains nameless to him, but the houses are very familiar.
    H Even through his panic to test his surroundings, he notices how nice the houses look before leaky gutters will leave rust-colored stains on the sides of the homes and before time will tear at the wood trim on the windows and doors. He knows that within ten years time the aging Planeline will turn into a crime-ridden area where only the gas station will remain open in the strip mall, but after 6 p.m. customers will have to make their transactions through a tray at the bottom of a bullet-proof pane of glass.
    Had he a moment to spare, he’d enjoy returning to the neighborhood before its ruin.
    It occurs to him that he was able to shatter the glass. It didn’t prove to be unbreakable to his hands; he changed something in this reality. He wonders if it will cause any alterations to the old reality that he knew in his past life, the history that he’s experienced.
    Will those jagged shards of glass pop someone’s tire, causing an accident and killing someone who was supposed to be alive in the old reality? Maybe some kid would’ve broken the glass pane later that evening anyway, leaving things just about as they originally were. Maybe some drunk in a pickup truck would’ve backed his bumper through the glass pane on his way to fill his ice chest from the ice machine to the left of the newspaper dispenser.
    Possibly, that glass would’ve been broken regardless of his actions, and that’s the only reason why he was allowed to smash it. He hopes not, as that would suggest events can’t be changed and reality is constant. The one original reality that he’s known includes his love marrying an abusive egotist that she will meet at a party in two days. That reality includes his previous miserable life of lonely hours and regret. Weighing in heavier than those on his mind is the sad life that costs Rhonda her face. He doesn’t want to think