The Void is silent. People are sleeping peacefully. Due to less population, people started to synchronize their cycles.
I just woke up, Jay is asleep, with Sam is just beside him. They look close. Tim should be at his spot. I went to check on him, he was sleeping soundly. Then I went to check on Maya.
She was wide awake, kind of zoned out. My sudden appearance had no reaction at all. When I shook her by shoulders, she snapped back to reality.
"What- oh hey, Nate, when did you get here?"
"About five minutes ago, guess time still doesn't matter here. What were you thinking just now? You were totally zoned out."
"Oh, I was just thinking about how we all are from different timelines, stuck together. To be frank, I miss my home." she said. her voice had a lonely tone. "Hey, I never asked you, when are you from?"
This question made me realize that I only knew about Jay and Tim's timeline. I felt little weird that I only asked those two.
"I am from 2019, summer end. Now you tell me, when are you from?"
"Well… I am from winter 2019, December to be exact. I got here when I tried to skip the New Year's Eve, I skipped too far ahead. Then I met Sam here. She was very friendly and open, so we got close due to our age. Then we met Jay, he was hitting on her. Then you came up, messed around with him." her voice was simple and sad, "Then he chased you, you were good at jumping even then. Then he punched me, it really hurt you know?"
"Yeah sorry about that, I forgot to apologize to you. Well I am never good at apologizing, but forgive me for using you as a meat shield. But tell me, why did you tried to skip the New Year's Eve?" her story didn't make any sense.
"Well, you see, I always wanted attention. Due to being a middle child, I never got that because I always was pushed to the side. This made me jealous of both my brother and sister. So I decided to vanish on New Year's Eve, only to return several days later. I thought that will get me the attention from being lost." she knew it was a stupid idea, "I think I messed up the stop time and ended up here. I was scared of being alone, but you all are here to keep me company. Thanks for that."
This answer made me little uncomfortable, I was always an only child, I got all the attention and I hated it. This was probably one of the reasons why I didn't like going to crowded places. However, I never felt any need for gratitude. Her sudden thanks threw me off guard.
"Maya, come with me for a sec. I need to show you something." I remembered about Jay and Sam, i wanted her to see that. I took her hand and jumped to my spot.
"Will you stop doing that all of a sudden, it takes time to-" I cut her off before she said anything more. Then I pointed to Jay and Sam, they were still asleep, too close for that.
"What are they doing? When did they get so close?" Maya said softly. "Did you mean this when you said that you wanted to show me something?"
"Yeah, I saw them this way when I woke up. So I went to check up on everyone else. Wait here while I get Tim."
I jumped to Tim, who was still sleeping, picked him and returned. He didn't even flinch when I transferred him to Maya.
"Why are you handing him to me like I am supposed to wake him up?"
"Because you are, I am not good at these things. I never had anyone to take care of, so you are definitely better than me. Now wake him up."
She just shook him up and down, due to lack of gravity, he was very light. He woke up after several tries. And when he did, I had to close his mouth to prevent him from waking those fools up.
"What the hell guys, this is how you wake someone up? Give me a break. Well whatever, what are they doing." Tim said pointing at the two unaware sleeping bodies.
"I don't know the details, but it seems like they got really close. Tim, I think he succeeded in getting a girl. Damn... remember when he told us that he never talked with a girl? He's grown." I said sarcastically.
"Guess we have to leave them to be, let's go. He will need some privacy. He probably didn't sleep because of his anxiety. We will mock him when he wakes up." Tim suggested.
"Wait you guys. How can you be so calm about it? And don't jump to conclusions. They probably turned in their sleep and got so close." Maya argued, "Why are looking at me like that?"
Maya's statement made sense, but her tone made both of us to shut her down.
Tim attacked from front, while I was behind. As we caught her, we suddenly jumped. I didn't trigger it, so I looked at other two for an explanation. They too gave blank look.
"ATTENTION EVERYONE, WE WILL NOW BEGIN RETURNING EVERYONE TO THEIR TIMELINE. THOSE WHO HAVE WOKEN UP ARE ALREADY TRANSFERRED TO THE STATION. OTHERS KINDLY MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE STATION USING YOUR BAND. I REPEAT…"
As we looked around to find our location, I saw a door. It was just above us, light emitted from other side. I looked at other two, it was probably last time we'd see each other. We all gulped and proceeded to the door.