The loop

Surreal was the most apt discription of Alex’s position, watching the moment his life had pivoted twenty five years earlier, spectating on the worst decision of his life. The man sitting behind the wheel of the Jaguar sovereign next to the beautiful woman that would become his greatest source of joy, but also his greatest source of pain. Alex was in position to alter the trajectory of life for his twenty five year old self. Of course this would also become his final inalterable act, committing suicide by time travel.

Alex had become bored with the hollow, opulent and tastefully appointed life. Life, Alex had discovered, quickly becomes lifeless when one has the capacity to fulfil any desire without effort. After a spate of mid life crisis’ Alex turned to soul searching and truth seeking. To say that Alex had everything was a grosse misrepresentation, but if he didn’t have it, he could definitely get it, if he could be bothered. In the the not so distant past Alex had been a struggling inventor trying to get seed funding for a prototype of a zero emission engine he had designed. Now, just a year later, Alex was in the mega rich league with an income that needed teams of accountants to manage. For tax purposes his personal income is disproportionate to his responsibilities but the companies he founder generated more money in a minute than a lifetime of average wage. You could be forgiven in assuming that Alex had made a breakthrough with investors and developed his engine and while he did complete the engine project, it was only after he accidentally discovered his design could move things through time, which of course is how he actually became so rich.

At first it had been very exciting dropping back in time, picking up some Important shares, in companies like IBM and Microsoft and the like, drop back in time and buy a bunch of bitcoin and things of that nature, not enough to alter the flow of time of the company but enough to make sure his personal financial position had changed for the better. Then there was the lottery incident, he had become a little greedy and went forward in time learning all the numbers for the major games before coming back to the present and winning all the games in the same week, this brought attention from the authorities and there had been a rather thorough investigation before the hundred million dollars in winnings were released. Of course he had been forced to repeatedly alter the timeline as the authorities had discovered things that were incriminating, and would have lead to certain demise. The latest timeline was that he was the luckiest man on the planet and there had been no wrong doing or cheating of any kind, the truth is subjective, but it had been a close call. Alex had then found himself in the limelight as for all appearances he looked like the most successful business man and savvy investor to ever grace humanity. All the untold riches and trimmings however quickly faded.

Alex knew it was absurd but he could not enjoy any of it and the people around him respected his money, power or both more than they respected him. Alex had decided to go back and find pivot decisions in his past and correct the ones that Alex considered he may have been wrong the previous time, and most importantly the one decision that would make him feel again. This was how Alex had arrived at this point in his history, a time his wife had long lamented as being the moment Alex had convinced, conned, or coerced depending on her mood when delivering the story. Alex on the other hand held the point of view that it was the first time he had really demonstrated compassion toward her and that’s what sealed the deal. Unfortunately this type of petty bullshit was usually the high light of his day, unless it was the morning then it was a warning of things to come, these days ended poorly to say the very least. Sitting on the precipice Alex knew that altering this decision could possibly lead to not marrying his wife and everything that followed, including time travel. The monstrosity his life had turned into had to be put out of its misery, the moment was here, the beautiful young version of his wife stepped out of the car, walked across the car park to the water front and onto the jetty, turning to face the half moon. Alex stepped forward and timed his walk to coincide with his younger self opening the car door, vividly remembering his doubting thoughts that night, “careful mate, once you start chasing that’s when they know you’re caught” Alex chuckled to his younger self as he strode by, before going around the corner of the building and ducking into the shadows. Alex watched to be certain his actions had caused the desired effect.

Surreal was the most apt discription of Alex’s position, watching the moment his life had pivoted twenty five years earlier, spectating on the worst decision of his life. The man sitting behind the wheel of the Jaguar sovereign next to the beautiful woman that he had royally screwed up his chances with, in just a few minutes she would leave the car and then the old man would walk by having a verbal jab at him and Alex had waited in the car, now was his opportunity to marry the beautiful girl by not being an arsehole. Alex was in position to alter the trajectory of life for his twenty five year old self. Of course this would also become his final inalterable act, Alex waited, vividly remembering the thoughts going through his mind that night, Alex waited for the old guy planning to engage him before he approached Alex’s younger self. Alex waited, the girl left the car even more gorgeous than Alex remembered, going to the foreshore and then the jetty, Alex waited there was no sign of the old man, Alex waited and watched as his younger self exited the car, retrieving a blanket from the back seat and followed the girl to the jetty, wrapping the blanket around her while sneaking in a hug. Alex watched, waiting to see if there was an effect.

Surreal…