‘Damn,’ Ava patted her pockets. ‘I forgot my phone!’

‘How will you survive?’ Nolon teased, grinning.

‘Guess I just won’t let you out of my sight,’ Ava said, kissing Nolon on the forehead as he scribbled away at his notes on parallel universes and time. She remembered him telling her about a moment in his childhood where everything had suddenly gone backward and he was the only one moving forward for a second. She’d insisted it was a dream. He’d agreed.

‘I have to go to that meeting at noon. I’ll meet you at the Student Union afterward though, around 12:30?’ Nolon said, glancing up from his work finally.

Ava nodded. She decided she’d go hang out in the library for a bit and try to get some homework under her belt. They gathered up their things and Ava followed Nolon out the door, taking a separate path that went behind the Student Union to reach the library.

She checked her watch. 11:58.

‘Ava!’

She looked up in surprise. It was Nolon. He was waving to her, but somehow his movements seemed off.

‘Og tnod!’ He screamed, then his body seemed to twist around, his arm pointing strangely toward the Student Union center behind him. She wondered if he was having a stroke, and rushed over to him.

‘Noon! Retoohs!’ He cried, grabbing her shoulders, with tears in his eyes. ‘Ereh yats esaelp!’

‘Nolon, baby, I’m going to go get you help, okay?’ Ava insisted. ‘Stay here!’

‘Ava!’ He screamed, reaching out for her as she took off past him.

‘Help me!’ She screamed as she reached the Student Union. ‘My boyfriend is in trouble! Please!’

She stood for a moment in horror before realizing that no one was looking at her. They were looking to her left; many screaming and pointing, some running, others ducking. As the clock tower in the Student Union struck 12, and the bell began to clang, she slowly turned and saw the cause of all that terror. The bullets pelted her body, killing her before she even hit the ground.

XXXX

Nolon stood up slowly, ears ringing from the gunfire. Ava had just been murdered, along with several innocent bystanders, right there in front of him. He looked on in shock as the world shifted around him, bodies rising from the grass and concrete. Screams playing backward as bullets returned to the shooter’s weapon. Ava opening her eyes, calling out to others unintelligibly. He watched in awe as she ran backwards from the Student Union, as those around carried on as though nothing had happened, but all of them moving in reverse.

He looked up at the clock tower.

11:59

He rushed after her, searching everywhere until he saw her running backward down the sidewalk. He cut across the grass into her path, holding a hand out toward her.

‘Ava!’

Her eyes were wide as she grabbed him and muttered words he couldn’t understand.

‘Please stay here!’ Nolon begged.