Fast Forward

by William Burton McCormick

About the Author: A five-time Derringer Award finalist, Williams's fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, Black Mask, The Crime Writers’ Association Anthology of Short Stories: Mystery Tour and elsewhere. William earned an MA in Novel Writing from the University of Manchester(UK) and was elected a Hawthornden Writing Fellow in Scotland in 2013. He is the author of the historical novel of the Baltic Republics, LENIN'S HAREM.

Excerpt

I am a time-jumper.

Whoa! Stay with me, friends. I don’t mean a time traveler or any such Doctor Who nonsense. This isn’t a science fiction story bound for Analog or Asimov’s. You’re in the right journal. Everything, I tell you is not only possible but absolute truth. All will be explained.

Let me ask you this: Have you ever wished to fast forward through the difficult times in life? To avoid the drudgery of an arduous task by skipping ahead on the calendar until it is completed? Or spare yourself pain after heartbreak or a loved one’s death by jumping in an instant to a day when the wounds have healed?

This is what I mean by “time-jumping.” I can do this. Have done it. Many times. Call me a coward but I often opt-out of the unpleasant moments in life. Doing so has never harmed me.

Story Comments