The Cutting Room: A Time Travel Thriller Read Online Free Page B

and cracked open my book. Two hours later, Stephen and his mom left the house, got in the car, and drove to the Safeway.
    That spooked me a little. I waited for them to get inside, then passed through the automatic doors. She pushed her cart from aisle to aisle, reading the ingredients on the back of the boxes. She stopped to examine canned pineapple. Stephen wandered further and further down the aisle, trailing his fingers along the bottles of juice.
    "Stephen," I said softly.
    He glanced up. "Yeah?"
    "I need to talk to you."
    "What about?"
    Down the lane of goods, his mom frowned at a can, set it back, and glanced our way. I studied the grape juice. She picked up another can.
    "Does your mom ever let you go out by yourself?" I said.
    He cocked his head. "Sometimes."
    "After you get home, I need you to meet me at the park."
    "But I don't know you."
    "My name's Blake," I said. "And if you don't like me, you can yell and yell until the other people call the police."
    He blinked his blue eyes, puzzled but wanting to please. No wonder the killer would be able to take him away without drawing notice. Well, I was about to take advantage of his trust first.
    "Okay," he said.
    I winked. "Keep it secret. Okay, buddy?"
    "Okay."
    His mom put two blue cans in her cart. I turned and walked out into the bright sun. My head felt as light as a plastic bag on the wind. I went straight to the park and sat on a bench and got out my book. I even managed to read some of it before minutes became an hour and I began to doubt if I'd ever see the boy again.
    A little later, a kid wandered onto the grass. I closed my book. Stephen saw me, then glanced at the swings, where a couple watched their kids. Two other families were scrabbling around on the slide and the bridge. That seemed to reassure him.
    "Can I help you?" he said.
    I laughed. "Got a question for you. Do you believe in time travel?"
    "Like for people?"
    "Yeah."
    He spoke in a rush. "No because if there were time travel then people from the future would already be here."
    I laughed again. "That is a very smart answer. But if there were people from the future, do you think you'd recognize them?"
    Stephen frowned. "I don't know."
    "Or what if you're not supposed to go back in time except under very special circumstances? Making it very, very rare?"
    "I guess."
    "So it could be real."
    He glared at the grass. "Yeah, but then someone would know."
    I raised my eyebrows. "Maybe it's a secret."
    A guarded look stole over his face. "I'm not supposed to have secrets with strangers."
    I glanced around the park. None of the adults were looking my way. "Then why did you come to see me?"
    "Because you're kinda strange."
    "That's because I'm from the future," I said softly. "I'm here to save your life. But I need your help."
    He was too young to hide the expressions wrestling for control of his face. Doubt. Suspicion. Wonder. In the end, curiosity won. It usually does.
    "Really?" he said. "What's it like?"
    "I can't tell you. Even if I could, the future from my world is very different from this one. But if you promise to keep it secret forever, I'll tell you what I can."
    He bit his lip, then nodded. "I promise."
    I put my hands in my pockets and gazed at the traffic on the street past the park. "There's more than one Earth. More than one future. I'm from the only one that can travel into the past. We're not supposed to, but some people do. Bad people. Criminals. Sometimes, they go back in time where no one can see them. They hurt people."
    "Are you one of the bad people?"
    I shook my head. "I'm the one who stops them."
    His face went sober in the way only a child's can. "Someone's going to hurt me."
    "No, they're not. But I need you to help me."
    "Why?"
    "Because I don't know who they are."
    "But you can go back." He scowled, then raised his finger like a pint-sized professor. "So you can see who it is and then you can go back again and stop them for real."
    I grinned. "Hypothetically, yes. But I would