He held his hand out. ‘Can I have a look?’
I hesitated. What was the worst that could happen? I handed it over and watched as he poked at the screen. The photo of my house on the day I’d moved in glowed from the screen, then disappeared, the screen turning black.
‘I’ve never seen anything like this,’ he said.
‘It’s just an iPhone,’ I said. It wasn’t even a new one.
‘You see, you’re saying that as if I should know what that is, but I’ve never heard of it.’ He crossed his arms.
‘I…’ I stopped. ‘I honestly don’t know what to say. I mean, these are pretty ubiquitous.’
He looked down at it again and held it up to his face. ‘I don’t get it. Is it a camera or a phone?’
‘It’s both. Look.’ I gently prised the phone from his hands and swiped my fingers across the screen, which sprang back to life instantly. Surely he was going to laugh at any moment and tell me he was only kidding. But he just kept staring at the phone in wonder and the more he stared the more my anxiety grew.
‘Can I ask you something?’ he said.
‘Sure,’ I said.
‘Don’t freak out, but what year do you think it is?’
‘What year?’
He nodded.
‘It’s 2019,’ I said.
He didn’t reply for a moment, and I held my breath, wondering what on earth he was going to say next. Was he about to admit he was mentally unwell, that he lived in some sort of fantasy world? I tried to marry this up with the Nick I’d been speaking to over the last couple of weeks, and it just didn’t seemto match. But then again, how else could this strange behaviour be explained?
‘It’s 1999,’ he said.
I stared at him. How did I respond to that?
‘What do you mean? What’s 1999?’
‘Today,’ he said. ‘Right now. The year I’m living in is 1999.’
4
NICK
Emma was staring at me, a look of terror in her eyes. I couldn’t blame her.
‘I know you might think I’ve gone mad,’ I said, and she gave a small nod. ‘But listen to me. This photo, this house. It’s mine. I live there right now. And you say you do too. And thatthing –that phone thing. It doesn’t exist, where I live. But you seem to think that’s weird.’
She continued to stare at me, not speaking. I ploughed on.
‘Remember when I didn’t know what you were talking about when you were telling me about dating the other day? You called me a relic. But what if… what if I’m not a relic, what if I’m simply living twenty years in your past?’
Emma leapt up and backed away from me.
‘You’re not serious?’ Her voice trembled.
I needed to try and explain what I meant before she got up and ran away.
‘I know it sounds impossible,’ I said. ‘Itshouldbe impossible. But if you assume we’re both telling the truth, can you think of a better explanation?’
Emma froze for a moment as though torn between going and staying. Eventually, she sank back down onto the bench again.
