scary timeskip

[WP] Your superpower is Montage, the ability to set a task and then fast-forward through it without aging. You usually use the ability to bypass boring bits, like building things or travelling. After setting a simple goal, you activate the ability and when it finishes, decades have passed.

*****

"Think, Skip. THINK!"

Skip paced around the small unfamiliar apartment room. The more he let the situation dawned on him, the more unsettled he became.

What happened?

As he wondered, he slowly began to piece his memories bit by bit. What happened...to his family?

Skip was a normal man, by a lot of measures. He was a loving husband to a loving wife, Mary. They had a house together, which they bought together in 2019 after 2 years of being married. And they had lived there for three years as far as Skip remembered.

"Mary? MARY! MARY! WHERE ARE YOU?", Skip shouted, hoping for his wife to be there in that unkempt apartment.

But of course, it was but a wishful thinking. He was all alone.

"Think, think, think. Remember, damn it!", Skip muttered to himself, slapping his head as if forcing his brain to work.

"What's the first question, Skip? The first question after you fast forward?", Skip finally managed to gather some sense.

"How far did I fast forward?", Skip said as finally he fell on the right mind track.

That's right, Skip was no ordinary man. He secretly held a superpower. One he had never told anyone, not even his wife.

Skip had the ability to skip forward in time. Once he set a goal in mind, of what he set to accomplish, Skip could snap his fingers and let the flow of time went by him without him having to live it. Every time he did, a flash of images would play in his mind-- images of the events in between.

Of course, there were some drawbacks. The more he skipped, the more difficult it became for him to recall the events skipped.

"How far? How far, damn it?", Skip scrambled to find his phone, which he found was covered underneath a pile of unwashed clothes.

As soon as Skip turned his phone on, his heart dropped. A gut punch was sent deep into the pit of his stomach.

"20...2047?", he muttered in horror.

Twenty-five years had gone by since the last time he fast forwarded.

Skip fell weakly onto his couch. Breathing rapidly, he closed his eyes tight and pulled on his hair.

"What was it? What did I set off to do?", Skip asked himself again.

A moment passed before Skip gasped and jumped off his couch.

"Katie...", Skip uttered his daughter's name.

Skip was a good man, by a lot of measures. He was a good husband, a decent colleague, a loyal friend, but he was a lousy father.

"Her 8th birthday...you stupid son of a bitch!", Skip cursed himself.

He finally remembered. Twenty-five years prior, the night of his daughter's 8th birthday, Skip decided to fast forward himself out of her party. His reason? He wanted to wake up early the next morning to play golf with his buddies.

Skip swiped on his phone with shaking hands. Thank goodness his password remained the same after more than two decades.

"Mary...Mary...Mary...call!", he said, looking for his wife's phone number.

The phone rang for a bit before it was cut off. Desperate, Skip tried again.

"Come on, Mary. Please, please..."

Skip held his breath as finally the ringing tone was cut off and his call was picked up.

"Hello? Mary? Are you there?", Skip blurted.

"You have some nerve calling me", his wife's familiar voice said from the other line.

Though it was not a welcoming voice, Skip felt a sense of relief hearing his wife's voice.

"Mary, please listen! I don't know what's going on! I slept last night in our bedroom and this morning I woke up in this...strange apartment! I..."

"Skip, are you high? For god's sake! Twenty years you put us through hell, destroyed our family, and now you're on drugs? What do you want? Money? I have nothing to give you!"

"Wh-what? Mary, what the hell happened? What happened to us? What happened to our family? What happened to Katie?", Skip asked.

"How dare you ask about my daughter? After you ditched her, she refused to talk to you ever since!", Mary snapped.

Skip's heart dropped. "What...what happened?", Skip asked. "Did I...did I ditch her birthday party?"

"You bastard! You decided to ditch her, ditch us, and she refused to acknowledge you ever since!", Mary lost her temper. "She refused to celebrate her birthday and all her birthdays ever since!"

Skip was at a loss for words as he let Mary shower him with all of her pent-up anger.

"I don't know what your game is here, Skip! But we've all moved on! I've moved on! She's moved on! All without you!", Mary shouted. "So, stop calling me and just drop f*cking dead!"

The phone slipped down Skip's hand as his body went limp on the floor. Tears streamed down his face, and he sobbed for hours.

Skip had always wondered what happened when he was on fast-forward mode. And he found it out the hardest way...he became an empty shell, just a body without his mind, without his soul, without his heart...

"Come on, Skip. You can do it", Skip muttered to himself as he paced around in front of a house in a quiet suburban neighborhood.

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HangryHangryHipHoe9h

It was a chilly night, and the residency was quite lively inside. Skip could hear the voices of children laughing and their parents talking.

With anxiety riddling his heart, Skip walked towards the front door and meekly knocked on the door.

A moment went as steps walked closer to the door. Skip's heart skipped a beat as the door opened and he saw a familiar face.

"You...", said the woman answering the door, clearly seething.

"H-hello, Kitty Kat. It's...it's me. It's dad", Skip smiled wearily.

"How dare you come here! I told you the last time, I never wanted to see your face ever again!"

Before Skip could say anymore, the door was slammed on his face, and he was left defeated.

"Katie, who is that?", Skip could hear a male voice asked as he walked to the door.

"Uh hello? Can I help you?", the man answered the door.

"Uhm I...my name is Skip. Skip Fosworth", Skip offered his hand to shake, and the man hesitantly shook it. "I'm Katie's...father", Skip said, not even sure he could call himself that by that point.

"I...I'm aware", said the man. "Edward. I uh...", Edward looked inside for his wife, unsure on what to do, but he followed his gut anyway.

"Come in, come in please", he said, opening his door for Skip.

Though unsure, Skip came in anyway.

"I'm sorry it's a bit messy. We just celebrated Katie's 33th birthday last night", Edward said, swiping the balloons away with his legs as they walked further.

Skip felt even gloomier...as that was the age he was when he made that last fast forward to skip Katie's birthday.

"Ed! What the hell are you doing bringing that man in?! I want nothing to do with him! Not now, not ever!", Katie screamed in disgust, his eyes were filled with rage all targeted towards Skip.

"Katie, please lower your voice. Don't let the kids hear you", Edward tried to calm down his wife. "And besides, I've never met your father, Kat. Please, at least let us hear him for a bit"

Katie bit her lips and turned. "Do whatever you want. I'm putting the kids to bed", she said walking away.

Edward sighed. "I'm sorry...Skip, isn't it? She's in a mood tonight", Edward said gesturing Skip to take a seat.

"No, it's fine. She uh...she has all the right to be mad", Skip said truthfully, though it hurt him to do so.

"How did you find where we live, Skip? Katie said she's never in contact with you for years", asked Edward.

"Facebook. I uh...I looked for her mother's profile, and I found hers", Skip admitted.

"Right", Edward said, considering deleting his address from the internet. "Why are you here, Skip?"

"Oh I...I just want to talk to Katie, is all", Skip said meekly. Looking around the living room, he noticed the pictures of Katie's family. Her, Edward, their two sons, Mary, and some unfamiliar people Skip assumed to be Edward's relatives. But none of his.

"You have a nice family, Edward", Skip said, hiding his broken heart. "I uh...I'm sorry I was never a part of it"

"Yeah, speaking of...Skip, what happened between you and Katie?", Edward asked directly.

"I...it's hard to explain", Skip said.

"Then why are you here then?", Katie asked, walking back to the living room. "Why are you here then, dad?", Katie said in disgust.

"Twenty-five years you suddenly decided you want to talk? First you bailed on my 8th birthday! Then you bailed on me! On mom! On us! I didn't celebrate my birthday for twenty-five years because of the hurt you caused! Now I decided to finally celebrate it again, you decided to show up?", Katie yelled out her frustration, all twenty-five years' worth of it.

Skip was speechless. He wasn't sure on what to say, what to do.

"Well? What's your excuse then? Huh? What could you possibly say after twenty-five years, dad?", Katie shouted on Skip's defeated face.

"I...I don't know", Skip muttered.

Katie scoffed and turned on her heel. With nothing more to say to her father, she left him there.

"Kat, wait! I uh...", Edward said, confused. "Skip, I'm sorry, but I think tonight's not a good night. Maybe you should leave..."

Skip didn't hear him however as he was drowning inside his mind. He couldn't explain it to Katie, how could he? She would never believe it! And even if she did, she would hate him even more knowing he used his power to skip on her birthday.

Skip closed his eyes, and his moment of absolute weakness he set up one last task in his mind. One task that he didn't care would take him forever to accomplish.

"Make amends with Katie", he said to himself before letting his mind fast forwarded once more to an uncertain future...

***

Skip felt his breathing was heavy, his body weak. As he opened his eyes, he found himself lying on a bed.

"Wh-where am I...?", he muttered weakly when he noticed her sleeping on a chair beside his bed. Though she was much older, Skip could never forget her face.

"Katie", Skip said his daughter's name, smiling weakly as he tried to move his old body up.

Awoken by Skip's gruff whisper, Katie shook off her drowsiness. "Dad, take it easy", she said, guiding Skip to lie back down.

"What...what's today's date", Skip asked, remembering his first question.

"Um uh...", Katie took out her phone, a bit confused. "December 11th"

"What year?", asked Skip.

"Dad, are you okay? Are you losing time?", asked Katie concerned.

"What year, Kitty Kat?", asked Skip again.

Still concerned, Katie answered. "2077, dad"

"Thirty years...", Skip lamented, cupping his teary eyes with his hands. "It took that long for you to forgive me. I...I'm useless. I'm so useless..."Skip cried. His heart hurt and he felt oh so worthless, as a father, and as a man he promised himself to become.

"Dad, you're not...you're okay, okay?", Katie said, calming Skip down. "Whatever it was you went through, you were there for us, for me. The last thirty years was hard for you, I could tell"

"I didn't want to have anything to do with you, but you got through to Edward, to Jonathan and George, to their own families. Even mom decided to speak to you again...", Katie softly held Skip's hands. "You were there for all of them"

"But not for you...", Skip muttered.

Katie sighed. "I was stubborn, I guess. I was still that abandoned 8-year-old girl deep down. And I never wanted to forgive you. Not until now..."

"Not until...I'm dying", Skip said, resigned. "But that's all I've wanted, Katie. I just wanted you to forgive me"

Katie smiled wearily and kissed Skip on his forehead. "I did, dad. I forgive you"

Skip's lips trembled as tears of joy streamed down. Softly he grazed Katie's hair, remembering that last time he did, she was but a little girl. A bright and bubbly little girl still sitting on his lap.

"You should rest now, dad", Katie patted Skip's hand before standing up.

"Kitty Kat", Skip called out. "Before you leave, can you do one more thing for me...one last thing?"

"Dad, don't talk like that. I..."

"Please?"

Katie sighed. "What is it, dad?"

"Can you ask the nurse for a candle and a lighter?", Skip smiled.

Katie sighed and nodded.

Fifty-five years went by, a huge price for a man to learn that it was never the destination, it was the journey you should enjoy. After all that time, Skip finally came back to the first forever moment he skipped.

There sitting on his dying bed, with his daughter opposite him. Lit up by a small candle on top of his hospital pudding, the two sang the Happy Birthday song. With laughter and tears, the two cherished the moment.

And as soon as Katie blew her candle out, so did Skip finally let his flame out, knowing whatever he had left behind, what mattered was then and there, and it should never be taken for granted.

*****

THE END.