"This just looks like a wristwatch," Eric said, hefting the device in his hand. "This is really going to take me between parallel realities?"
"Right," the technician said. "We wanted it to blend in and be attached to you. When you adjust the second hand on the watch, it'll take you to a reality that many ticks from your own."
Eric's heart raced already. He was excited to try this out. He was lucky to have the chance, by virtue of his money and his lack of attachments.
"When you get there, you'll slot into wherever you are in that reality. Wherever Eric is," the technician continued. "At some point while you're there, you should eventually get access to the memories of your host in that world. I'll warn you, it can be confusing to remember different versions of events."
"Just how different are these worlds going to be?" Eric asked. "Where I'm going, is there a World War 3 or something?"
"Probably not. They'll be worlds adjacent to ours, but different based on your choices in the past. For most people, those choices don't add up to world events."
"But like, what if I go to a world where I'm dead?" Eric asked.
The tech wavered on his feet. "The watch won't take you to those. At least, we haven't heard of that ever happening."
Eric thought that wasn't very reassuring, but it ought to be good enough. He needed this, a vacation from his current life. He thought if he didn't accept even a little risk, there'd be nothing to gain from the experience.
"Sorry about all the questions," Eric said. He felt nervous about trying a relatively new technology, visiting a parallel reality. "So...if I'm taking my place? Eric's place?...in these alternate realities, what's going to happen to me back here, while I'm gone? Will I be gone?"
"You'll kind of be on autopilot, going through your routine," the tech answered.
Aren't I always? Eric thought. That's what made this escape so interesting. He had stability and security in his life, because he had managed to avoid any real risks. But he wondered how else things could have played out, and whether there was something better possible for him.
"How long should I be gone for?"
The technician straightened his tie under the lab coat, looking a bit uncomfortable. "That's where the waiver comes into play, unfortunately. The danger is that, if you're gone too long, you here--Eric 'prime' as we call him--you might be confronted with a choice that splits this reality into two. Then there's no 'zero' for the watch to bring you back to. That's why the contract absolves us of liability and bills your estate for the cost of lost equipment, et cetera."
He was starting to think it sounded too good to be true, and now hearing this gave him a dizzy spell. Did he really want to go through with it? He reminded himself that this risk aversion was exactly what made this so important to him. The possibility that he might not be able to return didn't sit well in his stomach.
"On average, though?" he asked.
"When someone doesn't come back, it's hard to tell whether they've gotten stranded, or whether they're just visiting another reality for a more extended time," the tech said. "Most people return within one week, and have no problem doing so."
Putting a hand on the steel table, Eric steadied himself. "Is that it, then?"
The technician was starting to look bored. "Yeah, you can leave whenever you're ready. So if you need to say goodbye to anyone, you can wait until tomorrow, or..."
I don't have anyone to say goodbye to, Eric thought grimly.
"So I can go, like, right now," he said.
"Yeah." By the time the technician answered, Eric was already adjusting the second hand on the watch. Better to do it right away, than to give himself the opportunity to have second thoughts.
He set the watch one second ahead. It locked in with a click. In a blink, his surroundings changed. Eric himself changed. Now he was in a bluish suit, standing in front of a sink in an office bathroom.
Wait, I know this bathroom, he thought. It was the company he worked for right after college, but got bored of after a couple years. What was he doing here? Looking in the mirror, Eric recognized himself, but this was definitely a different version of himself. He had a more stylish haircut. He could feel a soreness in his knees.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. Distracted as he was, and wearing unfamiliar clothes, it took him too long to get the phone into his hand. By the time he did, the call had gone to voicemail.
The missed call was from Angie Robins. Gosh, he hadn't been in touch with her in years. What was she doing calling him now? It couldn't be coincidence.
Angie had been his high school girlfriend, his first love, the girl who took his virginity. Just for one night when they were eighteen, and about to leave town for separate colleges, they had made love. They found a deserted spot in the woods to park, and for once they let things go that far.
Eric knew that going to separate schools would be a challenge to their relationship. He suggested to Angie that they should try making love, at least the once, so they could know for sure if they were really compatible on that level. He worried she'd hate the idea, but making out turned into heavy petting, and then that turned into getting naked together.
Even though they were both unfamiliar with each other's territory, they were both extremely nervous and excited. They quickly started to figure out how they fit together, and what kind of touch elicited a gasp.
He pressed gently into her, relishing every millimeter of her flesh enveloping his. She was eager and wanting as well, drawing him closer, until their hips met. They just stayed conjoined like that a moment, feeling their breaths, their pulses, the subtle movements of their muscles, the constant singing of their nerve endings, before they started to move again.
With her egging him on, they settled into a sensual rhythm. But even taking it slow, Eric knew he couldn't last.
"I should pull out," he said.
"Yeah," she sighed, with a reluctance matching what he felt about it.
Soon enough, he knew it was time. Now or never. He pulled out of her and thrust once against her stomach before his semen poured out onto her skin.
Working together, they wiped her clean of it. He bent down to kiss her again, and slipped a hand down to her slit, which was still soaked and puckered and ripe. With her hand guiding his, he found her clit and fingered her to orgasm. She moaned into his mouth as they shared another kiss. He felt himself firming back up, but they knew it would be too much of a risk to take him back into her again.
Part of him was over the moon about the losing his virginity, about experiencing intercourse for the first time, about sharing all of that intimately with Angie. Yet he could also tell there was something awkward about it, something not quite perfect. He felt like he had done the right thing, and left her about as satisfied as he could, yet it felt kind of anticlimactic anyway. Maybe that was inevitable.
A week later, he was at college, settling into a new dorm, meeting lots of new people, making fast friends. It was quite a change, and an intense experience, to be thrown into college life with so many other freshmen. Neither he nor Angie were any good at making time to talk on the phone. Other girls quickly caught his eye. He knew what sex had felt like with Angie, but he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like with someone else.
It was only a couple months before he and Angie amiably agreed to let each other go. They were both too busy, too distracted by other people. They didn't want to end up paranoid and jealous of each other. Eric thought they'd stay friends. Maybe they'd even get back together over the summer, or when they graduated. It just didn't play out that way. Angie stayed on campus the next summer, to complete some extra credits and start an internship. When they graduated, Eric got recruited for a well-paying entry level job in the next state over. Their paths diverged and never really intersected after that.
He was still friends with her on social media. She was living in rural North Carolina, and she mostly posted pics of herself hiking with her dog. It didn't seem like she had anyone in her life either, at least not in frame.
Eric was distracted as he walked back to his office. Motor memory helped guide him to it. He had a corner office now. He was VP of sales apparently. But why had he stayed at the company this whole time?
As he sat down at his desk, an email came through. It was Angie again.
"Hey, just wanted to remind you that Tim's tuition is due again next month."
Eric searched through the other emails from her. He quickly came to understand that Tim was their son. His and Angie's. In this reality, they had a son, and Tim was already in college by now.
He found a birthday email that he had sent to Tim a couple years back. Based on the timing, Angie must've had Tim in the spring of her freshman year of college. Something must have happened differently in this reality, and Eric wanted to know more. He had to.
He called Angie back. "Hey Angie, I got your email. I thought maybe I could come settle up with you in person. Maybe tonight?"
"Really?" she asked, surprised. "Okay...you know it's about a two hour drive, right?"
Eric looked it up on his computer. It was going to be more like three hours. If left right away, he could be there by dinner time.
"It's no bother. I mean, I'd like to. Maybe we could have dinner. If you'd..."
