Text, call, FaceTime, voice memo.
Even a single GIF, honestly.
Like, a dancing lizard in a party hat under the wordsI AGED!
My phone lights up.
YES.
It’s Shana. Damn.
Any word?
This isn’t good.
Carter
The room spins.
“Whoa!” Dad says, grabbing me under the arms and steering me toward a chair.
“Link,” Mom says, after sliding the phone out of my hands, “we’ll call you back a little later.”
“All right,” Lincoln says. “CT, you can call me whenever to talk! I’m here. You’re going to be okay! Love you!”
“Thanks, sweetie. Love you.” Mom hangs up, and now she and Dad are sitting on either side of me at the table.
Dad puts a hand on mine. “Do you want to say anything? Ask us any questions?”
I shake my head, even though I feel like all the blood flowing through my circulatory system has, in fact, been replaced by questions.
“Here,” Mom says, pulling up something on her phone. “Watch this.”
Before I can protest, she’s holding up the screen, and there I am, talking to the camera, delivering a message to myself.
Carter
“Hey there, sexy,” the me on Mom’s phone says, filming himself in my bedroom, wearing the same purple plaid shirt as me. “If you’re watching this, it means you’re back to the beginning of sixteen. Damn. That sucks. And, unfortunately, this is not a prank.
“I know. You’re staring at me saying these words, probably at the kitchen table with Mom and Dad, and thinking,I can’t ever remember filming this!And that’s not because I’m some, like, AI deepfake version of you. It’s because you literallycan’tremember. The memories are gone. And you are sixteen again.”
Mom rubs my back.
“Again?you’re thinking.I’ve never been sixteen!Alas, you have. We have. I’m sixteen as I’m filming this! But every time we’re about to turn seventeen, we wake up the next morning a couple inches shorter, several pounds lighter, the growing stubble on our face a little less... existent. And, of course, with no memories beyond the last night of being fifteen.”
I feel the seed of a headache blossoming above my right eye.
“So now,” the me on-screen continues, “the billion-dollar question is:WHY?Why is this happening to you? To me? To us?” He throws a hand into the air and shrugs, falling backward onto the bed. “Dude, I wish I knew! We all wish we knew. Because being stuck forever at age sixteen is... not ideal! We’ve gone to all kinds of doctors—neurologists, oncologists, blood specialists,aging experts—who’ve tried to figure out what’s happening, how to get us to seventeen. Also healers and psychiatrists. Even a couple rabbis. No one understands it. Though some of them pretend to.
“And we’ve been seeing this therapist guy, Soren, since the second or third loop. He doesn’t know why it’s happening either, but he’s good to talk to. Kind of a dweeb, but a helpful one who occasionally says wise shit. I’m sure there are some other experts we’ve seen that I’m forgetting to mention. I’m the Loop-Four Carter, so some of this happened before my time. And that makes you... the Loop-Five Carter.”
“Loop Six, actually,” Dad says. “You didn’t want to make a new video this time around. You were hoping it wouldn’t be necessary.”
“So, yeah,” Loop-Four Carter says, sitting back up in bed. “I know it’s gonna take a lot longer than the length of this video for you to process all this. But, if you take away nothing else from what I’m saying, at least know this: It’s real. Not a prank. I repeat: NOT. A. PRANK. The sooner you accept that, the better this year is going to be. Oh, also in the Good News Department: You already have your driver’s license! You’ve had it for five years, so it’s not even a junior license anymore. It’s the real thing. Drive at all hours. With as many people as you want in the car.”
“Well, within reason,” Mom interjects.
“And you don’t need to waste time taking a stupid driver’s test on your birthday! Cheers tothat?!” Loop-Four Me takes a long exhale, taps his fingers over his mouth. “And that’s basically the deal. This won’t be as bad as it feels right now. It really won’t. I’d tell you to reach out whenever you need me, but I’m you! So unfortunately that’s not possible. You should lean on Lincoln,though. And Mom and Dad, obviously. We’re gonna figure this out. We’re gonna get to seventeen. And till then: Just know you’re the same cool-as-hell Carter you’ve always been. We got this, baby!” On-screen Carter gives a peace sign. “That’s kind of a stupid way to end this video. Ah, whatever.”
