Chrono Codex (in sickness and in health)

04:00 - KIT

Monday 3rd June

A music store? I wondered.
I approached a man who presumably was the owner, or someone who worked at the indie shop, filled with intricately designed instruments of every kind, ranging from vintage to modern. There was also a wider range of CD's vinyls - any imaginable genre, I could almost guarantee had a place in the store.
"Excuse me sir, could you tell me what day it is?" I queeried.
"It's the third of July."
I'd clocked how much I sounded like a cliche time traveller in a film, which only embarrassed me more as I'd opened my mouth in preparation for my next question.
"And the year?" I pressed on, grinning nervously meanwhile the man's demeanour became indirectly mocking, taking my question as a prank. Whatever he ended up saying, I ignored, observing a familiar presence I somehow sensed within my radius. A trouble exuding energy, channelled into the electrical chord progressions being strummed. I leaned forward for an actual look.
I blankly thanked the man, prior to walking in the direction of the girl - Eden Reyes - sat in a corner, her eyes locked onto the neck of the guitar, as though she were daring the instrument to defy her.
Impulsively, I sat by her, uninvited which caused her to flinch suddenly, nearly dropping the guitar.
"JEEZ?! What happened to hello??"
"Do you know what time it is? And maybe the year?" I countered.
"Erm.."
"Kit. That's my name."
She paused, raising a brow as her wide eyes pierced mine.
"I've been transported back a few hours by a weird supernatural book and I need someone to help me make it send me back to normal time." I added.
"I'd really like to punch you right now."
"Wh-"
I was cut off by the intense pounding of her fist meeting my eye, sending me jerking in imbalance. The cramp made it nearly hard to process anything before I could feel myself submerged within what felt like the book's pages all over again. I gagged, having already known the excruciating feeling that would soon come upon me.

Again, I was blasted through the door of the music store, dismissing the man I'd spoken to the previous time - but now hesitant to re approach Reyes after the spontaneous violence she had unapologetically inflicted on me. Nevertheless, the book had now revealed I could have do-overs, which in a way put me at ease on my way to the corner Reyes was sitting at, mediocrely producing a guitar riff.
"Excuse me, do you know what the time is?" I asked her.
"Yeah it's- wait, don't you go to my school?"
"Hey, hey- one question at a time."
"Four pm. What happened to your eye?"
"Yeah, we're in the same form at school - and it's a long story about my eye."
It was slightly strange that after going to the same school for roughly four years, and unlike myself, she hadn't been able to remember exactly everyone in her class.
"Kit. Nice to meet you I suppose?" I added, extending out my hand for a welcoming shake.
She set aside the guitar and stood up to my level, taking my hand only to then grip it so densely, I felt dizzy at the thought of my fingers potentially snapping viciously. Just thinking of the possibility made me space out, not hearing anything she was saying.

"Uh hello??? You've been standing like that for about four minutes."

That was embarrassing.
And... do-over.
Again, I was blasted through the door of a music store, dismissing the man I'd spoken to, two tries ago - my hesitancy increasing as I planned to re approach Reyes, after she'd unapologetically inflicted spontaneous violence on me in one timeline, causing anxiety to paralyse me in another. Honestly, it did take some bickering with the book to at least heal my eye enough to be able to see clearer- which it eventually did, and left my eye with a lighter bruise rather than allowing it to throb. In that rewinded moment, I could only pray that the phrase 'third time's the charm' was a solid fact, rather than just a hollow saying. With a now forced confidence, I strided in her direction.
"Nice tune, you compose that yourself?"
She shuddered subtly, taking a few moments to silently scrutinise me. It took her a few awkward blinks for her to respond.
"Oh, um, no, it's-"
I had to cut her off before it turned into a one sided conversation about music. Will was always pestering me about new skateboard tricks he was learning, so I just knew a conversation about someone else's interests was not for me.
"I'm Kit."
"I know who you are." Eden retorted, with a guarded tone in her scoff.
"Oh yeah?" I crouched down to her level, my eyes observing her, head to toe. "Who am I, then?"
"Aren't you always with Will?"
That was humbling, I wanted a do-over. But behind my back was the book, I held in one hand, declining my inner request with a condescending hit to the knuckles.
"And you're Eden Reyes, yeah?"
"Eden? No, it's Eve."
I smirked at the slight tinge of embarrassment shining through her rough exterior. Assuming her first thought was that I'd heard rumours about her, I decided to play along with her blatant lie, curious as to how long it would last.
"That's a pretty timeless name, Eve. Speaking of time, I actually happen to be stuck three hours in the past."
Before I knew it, she was suddenly laughing so much I could've sworn I saw her turn red. Clearly she  thought I was playing some sort of joke.
"Kit, don't you have better things to be doing?"
I sighed, and once again tried to explain the situation in more detail, and how my only aim here was to get back to my normal time and pretend none of this ever happened. I was serious, and growing more frustrated, after all this was my third attempt at talking to her - and believe me, there was nothing about her so far that would've made me have any interest in being her friend.
After various minutes, Reyes had taken a minute to scrutinise my manner, she definitely took me for a joke but I hoped that my growing frustration would be convincing.
"Okay... how am I a part of this?" She muttered.
"Well - I ended up here - you're the only familiar face. It's not really about you, but I need to know I'm not going insane if I want to get back to normal time."
She scoffed, rolling her sharp, deep set eyes. I knew she was difficult, and I knew even more that this was going to take a while.