You skip lunch and use the Janitor’s Key on the basement door. The server room is hot, humming, and filled with monitors displaying security footage of every hallway—but the footage is from different versions of the school. In one, you’re a freshman. In another, you never existed. Riley’s avatar stands in the corner, frozen mid-walk cycle, her dialogue box reading: “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to crash the timeline.”
You turn. His face texture is higher resolution than last week. You can see the small scar on his chin, the way his eyes don’t quite track with his mouth. Marcus has been flagged as a person of interest since Day 4, when you found a torn schedule in his gym locker with Riley’s name crossed out in red ink. High School Master Version 0.372
Ms. Kowalski takes attendance. “Alex? Alex Chen?” You skip lunch and use the Janitor’s Key
Then he smiles, picks up his mop, and walks into the hallway. In another, you never existed
The clock reads . But your phone—an in-game item with accurate system time—says 8:13 .