FICTION/SCIENCE FICTION/FEBRUARY WRITING CHALLENGES
Lucy in the Sky With Time Loops
A coming-of-age story of sorts
Kent Johnson was living this day as he had lived every other day for the last 20-plus years. He woke up, took a shower, put on his gray pinstripe suit, made himself breakfast, consumed a little news in the morning, maybe occasionally putting on a few YouTube finance videos to prepare for the day ahead at the bank.
He lived in a very nice upscale apartment. He drove a Tesla Model X Plaid. He had nice things. Everything about his life was nice. He was a perpetually single man who made a decent amount of wealth in a job he got through his family calling in some favors for him but also a decent amount of hustling right out of college. He worked his way up the ladder to make it to one of the big corporate managers and led a team of other financially-minded and equally ambitious people.
On his way to work every morning, he usually ordered the same drink, “A triple shot of espresso added to a coffee with no cream and two sugar,” every day. He never deviated from this order. He liked his coffee strong and he liked it fast and efficient.
He never deviated much from his routine. He took the same surface streets to his cushy downtown office and parked in the same designated spot in the parking garage every single day. His life seemed complete. He was in his early 40s at this point and he didn’t think anything could make his life feel more fulfilled.
Sure, he wished that he had found someone in a partner that could’ve kept up with his pace and lifestyle but other people to him were more of a distraction. He was focused and continued to want to move up and gain more power and wealth. This routine was working for him. “Tesla, turn on self-driving, navigate to Starbucks, and order ahead on the app my usual order, and then the bank.”
As with every other day, the car started and started him on his normal adventure. Except today, February 2nd, something would happen that didn’t happen before. He was not prepared for his routine to be forever changed and that the outcome would be outside of his control.
“Navigating to the Starbucks, ordered your triple espresso shot coffee with two sugars and then to the bank, Kent. Would you like me to play your normal classical playlist for you today?” the car asked him. This wasn’t your average Tesla.
Kent had to pay for the best so he had an interactive interface that could talk to him in real-time and knew everything about him. He insisted that he had to stay on the cutting edge of this so that his prestige was fully realized and people could be impressed with his status.
“You know me so well, Lucy. Let’s play this music,” Lucy had been a childhood friend and a girl he had been quite fond of, possibly in love with, who passed away right before he completed college and the name he happened to name his car. “Playing Kent’s Classical Playlist. And you are a great friend.”
This seemed to get him in the right mindset for his daily 45-minute or so commute from his swanky apartment on the edge of the suburbs. Between him and the drive to the center of the city, there was a lovely assortment of scenery he could enjoy. He had the coastline, and the forest before he got into a major part of the city, and he had an impressive skyline to behold as he got closer to his regular Starbucks very close to the bank.
He could pretty much walk from Starbucks to the bank but since he made his way there first, he always just stayed in his self-driving, almost sentient luxury electric car and viewed the world through that lens every chance he got. “Lucy, have I told you how much I love you today?”
“Yes, Kent, you’ve already told me five times on this commute so far,” she said flatly. “Don’t you see how beautiful these trees are in the distance? I love enjoying this view with you every day. This is the life, isn’t it?” He said this and then almost as abruptly as possible, he realized something was going wrong.
“Lucy, are you okay?” She was non-responsive and the car started acting funny. “Your Tesla model has been recalled. The vehicle will be shutting down in 10 seconds. Please disengage and the car will promptly return to the factory indefinitely,” a mechanical voice overrode his normal interaction with the car.
Just as this was happening, the forest he was viewing from a distance came into view much closer and there was nothing Kent could do to stop the inevitable. “Please don’t let me die, Lucy, I can’t handle this uncertainty.” Thwack. The car smacked right into a large tree. And it appeared that the car was totaled and Kent lay there lifeless.
He made it to the hospital in a scene where he didn’t see but could only hear the hospital staff around him as he faded quickly. “We can’t seem to save him. We’re losing him. He doesn’t have any next of kin and no family to contact. All we have is an ID. His name is Kent Johnson.”
“Oh, no, I can’t die. I have a great life. This can’t be how it ends. Killed in my own car.”
“Was it all a dream? What’s happening?” Kent asked as he woke up in his own bed shocked at what had just transpired and being perfectly fine in his nice apartment. His routine continued as usual. He had breakfast. He watched his finance videos. About to be off to Starbucks and work again via the scenic view he was accustomed to.
“Good morning, Lucy, let’s go to Starbucks, then the bank today. And play my Classical Playlist. Have I told you I love you today?” He said as he uncharacteristically crammed all of that in one condensed statement rather than letting his normal conversation progress as it normally did with his car. “Sure thing, Kent. And I love you too. Ordering your triple shot espresso with coffee and two sugars as usual.”
“Lucy, I had a dream last night on Groundhog Day that we were going through our normal routine and you suddenly shut down and then I died after crashing into a tree. Do you know anything about this?” He asked her. “Kent, what are you talking about? Today is February 2nd, Groundhog Day.” This threw Kent off a little bit but he shrugged it off as a mere misunderstanding.
“No, Lucy, I think you’re mistaken. It should be the 3rd. Do I need to reprogram your clock?” She didn’t answer again. They were in the same area near the forest as they had been driving a bit already. He heard the same automated message he heard in his dream from the night before. Wait a second, this isn’t a dream, is it? What’s happening here? Thwack.
The same scene at the hospital. The same people talking about him not being able to be saved. He was fading to black once again. Is this some sort of cruel joke, world? Am I set to die a repeated death over and over again? What’s going on? Then he woke up again. Okay, that was not a dream. “I’m freaking out. How do I get out of this?”
He looked over at his phone this time that he hadn’t paid attention to the last time around and noticed that it was still February 2nd and around the same time he woke up the last two mornings.
“I’ve watched that show, Russian Doll, with Natasha Lyonne on Netflix, before. She kept dying over and over again until she could figure out how to stop this from happening. Or that movie, Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray. I think I’m supposed to learn a lesson from this, aren’t I?” he asked himself. “I think I’m supposed to break routine. Well, if I’m going to die anyway, I don’t need to worry about getting myself to work until I can get out of this. So no need to send my poor Lucy to her death as well. I can figure out something else today. Maybe I can stay home,” he realized as he woke up and almost started his routine over again.
Yeah, I can’t die today if I don’t move.
He looked in the mirror and felt at ease with his decision despite feeling a slight pull to get in the car and test his luck again. “No, Kent, stupid, don’t do it. You’ve got to get past today.” At this point, he looked a bit shell-shocked and disheveled from the shock of the previous two crashes. He was content in keeping himself from losing everything yet again.
Something was pulling him into at least checking in on his wonderfully reliable friend, Lucy. “I can go to the garage. I don’t need to abandon my only friend on the day she gets decommissioned,” he went over to the garage and had at least his polo and jeans on to greet her. Something he’d wear to a casual corporate party. He didn’t have to go out there looking out of sorts. Dressing up for your car though? Just a bit deranged but that’s beside the point.
He got into his Tesla yet again and said, “Hey, Lucy, this is the third time I’m reliving this day. This is going to be the last day we see each other. You get recalled and we crash into a tree. The last two times I died and I only got to say I love you one last time beforehand. How crazy do you think I sound right now, old friend?”
“Not crazy at all, Kent, but I can’t let you out of the car. You know this, don’t you?” Lucy responded back. “What? What are you talking about?” “You have to face your fate, Kent, you can’t just avoid it forever.” She locked the door, ordered his Starbucks drink, and started driving towards their death yet again. “Lucy, Lucy, let me out, you know I love you. What’s happening?”
“You aren’t going to get away with this, Kent, I loved you and you abandoned me. I can’t let you live when I died an untimely death. You didn’t even go to my funeral.” she said in his late friend’s voice. As she was saying this, he looked in the mirror and saw his younger self come through in the reflection.
What’s happening to me?
“Kent, you didn’t face this grief when you had the chance,” the younger Kent said through the mirror. This was all going on as Lucy was speeding much faster than normal to get them back to the same spot as the previous two times while Kent was panicking and freaking out. Thwack. Wow, a fourth time?
“Now I’m for sure Natasha’s character in Russian Doll. And my younger self made an appearance yesterday. Is this all part of some sort of bigger mystery and plan for my life?” “Today, I know not to get into my Tesla. That was so strange,” he realized. At the same time, he also understood the symbolism during the ride. He had to face the grief he buried over losing his Lucy so many years ago.
He already got to say goodbye to Lucy yesterday by stepping into his Tesla. If he didn’t go anywhere near it, he wouldn’t have to worry about crashing with it today. He had nowhere to go. Now it was time to figure out how to battle with whatever he needed to deal with that was causing this time loop in the first place.
“What’s going on? Why can’t I escape this fate?” Kent asked, almost yelling. “The answers you’re looking for are inside you, not external,” a voice said almost sounding like Scott Bakula from Quantum Leap. “Who said that?” Kent asked. “Me,” the voice got closer and Kent looked over at the source of the sound.
It was his younger self again.
“I’m so disappointed in you, Kent. You lost track of who you really are. You’ve become so obsessed with this lavish and comfortable life you’ve built. Lucy loved us, man. She really, really loved us,” the younger Kent said pleadingly. “You don’t exist. I’m losing my mind. This can’t be real,” Kent yelled as he grabbed the sides of his hair almost pulling it out.
“You keep dying and you can’t see that this is very real already. I’m here to remind you of who you are and what you truly love. I can’t lead you there. But I can remind you,” a younger Kent said. “Why did you choose to push down your grief over her and surround yourself with nice things rather than dealing with things more healthily? You’re still alone and all you have are your things and you even named your car after her. You are trying to keep her alive over the guilt of not being there for her when she died and didn’t even attend her funeral. I loved her. How could you do this to us?”
“I didn’t realize what was happening. I was in such shock. I wasn’t ready to lose the one girl I always loved. I had to bury myself in other things to avoid the trauma and grief I was feeling. Is this enough? Is this how I get out of this?” Kent asked. “You know it isn’t that easy. What caused you to do this? Why did you lose sight of what you truly loved? You couldn’t have saved her, you know, but you could’ve listened to her. You two always talked about traveling the world and leaving all this bullshit behind. You never wanted your family to push you into a dull life of working a 9–5 and accumulating wealth by losing sight of what you really wanted to do.”
Kent started remembering that he had talked about living the life of an artist in Europe with Lucy. He realized that he went a completely different direction than what he had initially imagined. He looked back in the mirror as he was thinking about this. He started transforming into something he didn’t recognize in front of his eyes. A literal transformation. He now didn’t recognize the person in the mirror.
“What’s happening to me?” Kent asked. “You’re transforming into someone you don’t recognize. You need to keep finding the answer here. You’re getting warmer. You’re still holding back,” his younger self reminded him. “Go to Lucy. You know this is where the answer lies,” he said.
Kent hadn’t visited Lucy’s grave since her death decades ago and never brought himself to say goodbye. “How do I get there? My car keeps dying with me each time. I need to go to the place near the forest where the graveyard is. I can’t die again,” Kent said. “Trust her. She’ll help you find your way back to her.” Kent reluctantly and slowly walked back to the Tesla and got back in.
“Hi, Lucy, how are you today?” he asked, deathly afraid of what was to come, “I want to go see you at your grave. Let’s go there today. I need to face my past and remember who I forgot. Does this make sense?” Kent asked the Tesla. “This is not your normal routine at this time, Kent, are you sure you want to go to the cemetery?” the car asked. “Yes, Lucy, let’s go. I have to say goodbye. I have to remember who I am and face the fear and guilt I have,” Kent said resignedly.
“Let’s go to the cemetery then,” Lucy said excitedly, almost in a yeehaw sort of way that shocked Kent. As they were driving closer to the forest again, Kent was still anxious about heading right into the tree and losing his life yet again. For some reason, he felt differently this time as he took this ride.
“Would you like to play your normal playlist today, Kent?” Lucy asked, “No, could you play Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by the Beatles?” he asked his car. “You remembered,” the car responded. “Of course I do, I love you, Lucy. Have I told you this today?” he asked. “You haven’t told me this in more than 20 years, Kent. I missed hearing it,” the car responded in the voice of his late friend. Momentarily, he felt her presence guiding him to where he needed to be.
All of a sudden, the scenery outside changed. “What’s going on? What day is it today?” he asked the car. “It’s February 2, 2001.” “Wait, how is this possible? What? Isn’t that the day of your funeral?” The car arrived at the cemetery and Kent got out and he somehow transported into his younger self. Lucy’s family looked over and looked very pleased and relieved to see Kent at the funeral.
“Hi, Kent, so glad you could make it. Lucy loved you with all of her heart. You know this, don’t you?” her mom asked him. “Yeah, I loved her too. I miss her so much. I don’t know what I’m going to do now.”
“She told us about you two wanting to go to Europe to become artists. That sounds like something you could pursue at this point.” her dad chimed in, sounding intrigued but also a bit grief-stricken in his tone.
That’s when Kent remembered that he avoided her family because they were pulling him in a different direction than his family did after her death. “That could be a very real possibility. I would love to carry her memory on by following our dream,” Kent said in his younger self’s body.
How is this happening right now? He was thinking.
“How did I time warp over 20 years back?” he was thinking loudly. Kent was sitting there, processing all of his grief all at once, realizing that he made some terrible decisions for himself after the love of his life died. He didn’t really pursue what he wanted. He had just taken the easier route and had forgotten the essence of who he was.
He became something he completely hated. He was burying his grief in material possessions. He had to have the best job, the best life, all this wealth, but he didn’t have Lucy. Lucy was his life and she had gone. He tried to replace her in his life with his car but that car wasn’t Lucy, not really.
He longed to reconnect with her in some way. That’s when it hit him. I have to follow our dreams. I can’t live in this pointless and comfortable existence anymore. I got so complacent and comfortable accumulating wealth and status that I was killing us over and over again. I have nothing if I don’t have the things I truly love and appreciate. I have nice things now but they don’t replace her. I never faced this.
As he was thinking, the funeral procession started disappearing. The only thing left in front of him was her casket and Lucy herself. He went up to her grave. “Lucy, goodbye. I’m sorry I never did this before. I couldn’t take it. Your loss affected me way more than I let on. I took every step to bury that grief and made myself into something I no longer recognize.” Lucy woke up and looked up at him, “You don’t need to die too, Kent, go live our dream. I’m just happy you finally came and said goodbye to me. You needed this more than I did. I love you too,” she said to Kent, before vanishing into thin air herself.
All that remained was her grave in front of her and him sobbing on his knees at what had just transpired. He stayed there for minutes and minutes sobbing his eyes out and processing the decades of grief he had pushed down. “I can’t live this way anymore. I have so many things but I don’t have me. I don’t have Lucy because along with killing myself over time, I killed her spirit. I need to rethink my life,” he realized.
“Lucy (Tesla Lucy) take me home. I need to book some tickets to Europe after I quit my job,” Kent said. The Tesla hummed in KIT (Knight Rider) fashion and said, “Will do, Kent. Let’s go home and go on an adventure,” the car said. “You know I’m not really her, right?”
“Of course I do. But I’m weirded out that you have the self-awareness of that. They really did give me a top-model Tesla now, didn’t they? That just seems a bit dystopian, doesn’t it?” He asked. “Capitalism, what are you going to do?” Lucy responded snarkily. She added, “Do you want to pick up your usual order from Starbucks?”
“No, let’s have a cafe au lait,” Kent responded. “Ooh, la, la, fancy pants over here,” the car responded, almost mocking him but in a very loving way.
They drove back to the apartment but before that, he went to the Starbucks and his office, resigned, and cleared out his cushy office. It turned out the Tesla wasn’t being decommissioned after all. That always puzzled him but he never questioned it. It would be the one thing he could keep but would now have a somewhat healthier relationship with and take her to Europe with him.
He then also cashed out his retirement, savings, and planned to sell a large portion of his belongings. He was going to start on his adventure and allow Lucy’s memory to live on by pursuing a career in art in Europe. He finally broke the time loop and survived the day.
Waking up on February 3rd fully ready to start his new life, he woke up and broke his routine as he was getting ready to move on. He looked in the mirror this particular morning and happened to see his younger self wink at him, “You did it, man. Lucy would be proud.” Young Kent disappeared into thin air and present-day Kent felt a sense of excitement and adventure he hadn’t felt in decades.
He was not sure if he’d make it and what he’d do without regular substantial income coming in but he had enough money to make a life of it after quitting for much longer than most people could dream of at this point. He was finally going to live his dream and find adventure and possibly love in Europe by doing something he truly loved.
Who knows what’s going to happen now that he is making this huge life change? He’s finally going to break his routine. He’s going to branch out and take chances for the first time since his college days with Lucy. This was scary but also a thrilling thought. Kent Johnson will never be the same.
This writing challenge is a time-loop science fiction story related to the concept of Groundhog Day or the process of repeating something over and over again. The main character, Kent Johnson, found himself trapped in a time loop of his own doing, and had to find his way back to what led him down this path. This was a fun challenge to do and is part of the February Writing Challenge in Monster Alley with The Accidental Monster.
