Rise of the Desperate: Billy Wood's Save and Restart System

Chapter 4: Deja Vu

Billy gasped and nearly took out the person next to him, who happened to be his manager. The man luckily avoided Billy's swinging arm and glared at Billy, who was trying to process what just happened. He was pretty sure he had been attacked by a crazy person, so why was he back in the office? Then he noticed how his manager looked ready to blow a basket and braced himself.

"How dare you. I'll have your job for this," the man exploded, with spit flying everywhere.

Even though Billy should be upset about the spit landing on his face, he was still trying to figure out what was going on. Had he been daydreaming? He placed a hand on his face as he recalled the pain of having his face being torn apart. It had felt too real to be a dream. What was going on?"

"Are you listening to me?" the manager demanded as he got into Billy's personal space and stabbed a finger into his chest.

Looking down at the finger pointed at his chest, Billy thought about what he should do now. If everything that happened before really did happen, had he somehow gone back in time? It seemed completely outrageous, but how else could he explain it if it wasn't a dream or hallucination? There was only one way for him to find out.

As the manager was about to start shouting again, Billy suddenly bowed his head and said, "I apologize. I was distracted."

The manager stared at him for a few moments before crossing his arms and saying, "That is no excuse. We can't have such unruly behavior in the office. It will affect the productivity of everyone involved. How will you fix this?"

"I'll get everyone coffee," Billy offered as he assessed the manager's reaction.

The man took a moment to think about it. "Get me a coffee."

Even though the events leading up to the event were different, the manager still reacted the same way. He had the ordering tone and was pointing a finger at Billy in the exact same pose. It was uncanny, but it wasn't enough evidence to prove that he had traveled into the past.

"Right away, sir," Billy said without batting an eye.

Suddenly, another coworker said, "Get me a coffee too."

"Me too," another said.

"Okay, does anyone else want a coffee?" he asked.

Everyone within hearing distance immediately gave their orders. As he was accepting everyone's orders, he compared them to his memories and found things were the same. The people ordered the exact same coffee, down to the little details. Of course, it could be that he was used to what kind of coffee they wanted.

That was when Jacqueline stepped in with her arms and a stern expression on her face. "What's going on here?"

The more the same events repeated themselves, the more unnerved Billy was. It was really shaping up to him being transported to the past through some unknown method for some unknown reason. He tried to recall his last moments, but the only thing he could recall was unbelievable pain. Having his face bitten off made it hard to focus on anything else.

He vaguely recalled seeing something out of the corner of his eyes. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to get a good look at it. Maybe whatever the blue object was had been responsible for him ending up here. As he was about to come up with more possibilities, he was startled when Jacqueline grabbed his arm.

Billy flinched, but he didn't fight back as she dragged him away. He took a moment to look around and noticed the looks his coworkers were giving him. They were shooting him jealous looks. Billy couldn't recall if they had made the same expressions last time. He hadn't cared too much about it then. Suddenly, they came to a stop.

Jacqueline was strangely silent. Last time, she had let go right away and apologized for grabbing him. However, this time she was still holding onto him while facing away from him. He was about to ask what was wrong when she suddenly spun around while holding his sleeve.

"Are you okay? You weren't responding," she said, as worry was obvious on her face.

It took him a moment to realize why she was acting like this. Based on his memories, he had spoken up in the middle of her conversation with the manager to reassure her that everything was fine. This time he had remained silent, probably making her worry that something was really wrong. Unfortunately, he really was caught up in something.

"I'm fine," he said as he pulled his hand free.

She reluctantly let go of him with an odd expression on her face. The expression vanished as soon as it appeared, leaving him uncertain about what he had just seen. Jacqueline crossed her arms and huffed. She almost looked like a child ready to throw a tantrum, and the image made him chuckle softly.

However, she misinterpreted his action and said, "It's not funny. I was really worried back there. Did something happen? Was it your wife?"

The mention of his wife wiped his smirk off his face. Seeing his reaction, she fell silent, unable to speak up. He was still uncertain how much of his memories were real and if his wife was really cheating on him. Clencing his fists, he considered just rushing home to confront her about her infidelity.

No, he needed to be completely sure that he really did have memories for the future. That would mean trying to stay close to the previous timeline. Of course, it would be difficult since he already messed it up a bit. He would have to try to put things back on track and hope that things worked out themselves.

"I have to see my wife," he said, despite his plan to keep things the same.

That wasn't what he said last time, but Jacqueline didn't bat an eye as she asked, "Do you want me to cover you?"