Day 1

Sham awoke in a rage-induced frenzy, Vigour shouting in his ear about “that damned woman” and describing her as other, much worse things. With the living skill shouting his blood red nothing in his mind, Sham found that he awoke earlier than was usual for the first day.

He peeled his incredibly hungover head from the cold wood of his table, his forehead squelching as the sweat-soaked skin came free.

Sham groaned gently, but caused himself off prematurely when he heard deep thuds echo from outside. It was the memory. The one that Recollection had kept throwing at him when he’d woken on this first day. The one that he’d been too asleep—

‘Too hungover, more like.’

—to ever really register.

Sham bit his tongue to stop him moaning from the alcohol-related headache and crept over to his front door, pushing his eye to the crack between panel and frame. He placed his hand over his mouth to help hold back the vomit, and then found himself glad that he had; his palm silenced his unintentional gasp.

On the external staircase, knocking down Sham’s neighbour’s door, were… the Legion.

With another thud of boot against door, the wood gave way, and the three officers of the Legion gained access to the apartment.

‘Hello?’ the tallest of them shouted out. ‘You there? Gonna come out yourself, or you gonna make us do this the hard way?’

The three officers of the Legion waited in silence for a moment, and Sham did his best to keep his breathing silent. Finally, the female officer sighed dramatically. ‘Can’t wait around all day, can we?’ she said. ‘Got a dozen more of these Loopkeepers to pick up before day’s end.’

Another of them shrugged. ‘A dozen civilians? So what? You trying to clock off early?’

‘Yeah, got a date with your mum,’ the woman replied. Sham realised he recognised her; this was the woman who’d chased after Kryl as he’d jumped from his apartment, all those Loops again.

‘Who doesn’t?’ retorted the third—the brute who had kicked the door in. Before the other man could reply, he shouted out again, ‘We’re coming in. Armed. If you got a weapon on you, we aren’t gonna hesitate to shoot you. Understood?’

They waited in silence again for an answer, but this time it didn’t land on them to fill it once more. Sham neighbour—an older, slightly chubby chap much like himself—appeared in the now-broken doorway. ‘What…’ he stuttered, ‘What did I do?’

‘Boss says you’re talking about Loop shit,’ the female officer said.

‘What shit?’ the neighbour replied, his voice shaking.

‘Loop shit,’ the brute reiterated. ‘Yeah, I don’t know what that is either, but it’s not my place to question orders.’

‘I didn’t… I haven’t…’ the neighbour stuttered, raising his hands in the air only now—a minute too late. ‘I don’t think you have the right guy.’

The officers all laughed, almost at once. The more timid male officer and the woman shared a knowing look. ‘Yeah, we heard that one before,’ the brute said. ‘“Oh it’s not me, officer, honest!” Yeah, right. Come on, now. It’s either to the dungeons with you, or to the morgue. Which is it gonna be?’

Sham took a step back from the door for a moment. His neighbour, of course, wasn’t lying; this really was a case of mistaken identity. And it was Sham that they were mistaking him for. Pieces of the puzzle began clicking into place.

This was why Sham hadn’t remembered his neighbour’s apartment being trashed before the Loop started for him. He hadn’t remembered it because it hadn’t happened. Sham hadn’t before known about the Loop, so there was nobody for the Legion to come after. This did still pose one question, however: if the Legion don’t remember the Loops, then from who were these orders coming? Surely it wasn’t the PM himself… was it?

And Ariel too. She’d warned Sham about this. Warned him not to make trouble else risk the Legion coming down upon him. Sham had thought she was exaggerating; that she was just trying to keep the peace rather than worrying about Sham’s wellbeing specifically. The Legion had come down on him, it’s just that… they hadn’t. They’d pinned his neighbour for it.

‘You’ve got the wrong guy, honest! I don’t know about any loop thing.’ The neighbour sank to his knees, intertwined his fingers as he begged them.

‘Honestly, sir?’ the going-on-a-date-with-your-mother officer said. ‘This is about the most pathetic display of this I’ve ever seen.’

‘Yeah, be a good chap now and come along, yeah? Make this easier for all of us.’

‘Oh, I dunno,’ the brute said, ‘The gun’s quite easy too.’

The neighbour edged forwards. ‘You’ll interview me? Down at the station? Make sure I’m really the person you’re after?’

The female officer and the timid one shared another knowing look. And a smirk.

‘Yeah,’ the brute said. ‘Course we will. Ain’t that right?’

‘Yeah. Yeah, that’s right,’ the other two replied.

The neighbour stepped toward them, eyes darting around the room.

[SEASONED] DARTING EYES: SUCCESS

The Legion might not recognise this for what it is, but you do; this is a man looking for a way out. An escape route.

Sham bit his tongue as the man passed between the two male officers, and then—thinking his path clear—made a bolt for it.

But the female officer was faster. In a fraction of a second, she’d whipped her leg out in front of him, tripping him to the floor. Before the neighbour could move, the brute yanked him from the metal of the stairwell and raised him into the air with ease.

‘Alright,’ the timid one said. ‘We got him. Time to—’

But the brute interrupted him by tossing the neighbour into the air and back into his apartment. Sham winced as he saw the man knock his brow on the frame in the process.

The neighbour staggered upright, touching at the blood pouring down from his temple as a result of the fresh wound. ‘I told you, I ain’t done any—’

The woman was upon him in a flash, bashing the neighbour into the wall behind him.

‘Nobody tries to run from us,’ the brute said.

‘Yeah. You know what that would do to our reputation? It… wouldn’t be good. Can’t have that.’

At this point, Sham tried to muster the willpower to intervene. But even with Vigour in his system, he didn’t fancy his chances against these three. These three had plenty skills of their own.

‘Looks painful. We don’t like painful, do we, darling?’ Joy sang.

But would he be able to live with sitting it out if the Loop didn’t reset it when the time came? Could he live with this being made permanent?

‘And just what probability do you think there is of you succeeding this time?’ Recollection asked. ‘I haven’t seen much in the last few Loops to suggest success.’

Sham ignored them both. Or, told himself he did. Told himself that remaining hidden, remaining silent, was all his idea. He pulled himself away from the slit in the doorframe as the beating continued, his neighbour’s apartment being destroyed in the process. From the sounds of furniture breaking, Sham realised: this is what had happened every Loop since he’d first remembered them. This is what he’d been hearing. A pang of guilt bounced about his stomach.

Once the Legion had left—Sham’s beaten neighbour in their grips—Sham had turned his attention towards resolving his hangover some. There was no quick splash of water about the face this time, but a thorough clean instead. He sipped on strong tea, too, the hydration helping to clear the worst of the pain away. After that, all he could do was rest—but the haunting images of his neighbour’s beating made that task near-impossible.

‘Recollection?’ he’d asked. ‘Any chance you can hold those memories away from me? Just for a bit?’

‘Who says I can do that?’

Sham licked his dry, cracked lips. ‘We both know you’re keeping Her from me, don’t we?’

There came no immediately reply, but suddenly Sham had wondered just what it was that was keeping him from sleep, and it swept over him.

It was evening when he awoke, and it took little time for Sham to decide what was next on the agenda. With the revelation of Julya’s story still weighing on his mind—and the memories of his neighbour now creeping back to him—he needed someone to talk to all this about. He needed Riot.

Sham took the hour-long tram to the other side of the city, to where Riot’s glamorous apartment towered over even the tall complexes in this part of town. It was as he was approaching the front door from the nearest tram stop that Sham saw a face he recognised. As he laid his eyes upon Riot, he found his mouth stretching into a smile.

She stopped near the bottom of her building’s steps, having now spotted him. ‘You weren’t there,’ she said in place of a greeting.

‘Where?’

‘At the Tower. At the end,’ she replied. ‘Me and Kryl were there. I know we never explicitly agreed upon it, but I had assumed it was a standing arrangement. That all of us would be there to stop the—’

Sham cut her off with a raised hand. ‘Let’s talk upstairs, yeah? Never know who could be listening.’ Perhaps his near run-in with the Legion was speaking, there.

Up in Riot’s apartment, his friend put the kettle on the boil and asked Sham a question that there was only one correct answer to. ‘Tea or coffee?’

‘...Tea,’ he replied, not quite sure if the offer of coffee had been a joke.

‘Yes,’ Riot said. ‘Good choice. Not sure I have any of the other anyway. Earl grey fine?’

‘Perfect. Black, if you don’t mind.’

Riot nodded, and left Sham to sitting along in the space that served as her living room. He allowed himself to sink into the settee, finding it comfortable enough that it was lulling him back into the world of sleep. The aroma of tea leaves was all that kept him conscious.

He opened his eyes to find Riot standing in front of him, teacup—and saucer, how posh—in hand. ‘This a good strength?’ she asked.

Looking down, Sham could see that it was a bit paler than he’d have liked. He bit his tongue on that point, though. ‘Perfect, yeah, cheers.’ He took the cup, blew on it as though that would actually cool it down at all.

Riot took a seat opposite him, drunk from her own cup, and then finally asked, ‘So. What happened? Why weren’t you there?’

Sham took a sip of tea. Felt the warm liquid run down his throat, soothing it. ‘I was. For a bit.’

‘Oh?’ Riot prompted him, leaning forward.

‘I woke up on day 9 and found her in my room.’

‘She knows where you live?’ his friend baulked, her eyes widening. ‘Is it safe there?’

Sham shrugged. ‘Not sure. Probably not. Truth is it hadn’t really occurred to me. Guess she must have tracked—’

‘Sham…’

‘I know, I know.’ He waved her concern away. ‘I’ll keep an eye out.’

‘No. Stay here. Until you know it’s safe, just stay here.’

‘You sure?’ Sham replied. ‘Worst case scenario, if she kills me, then I’ll just wake up again.’

‘And how many times do you think your mind can take that? I know mine is struggling, so I can’t imagine how yours could be.’

Sham resisted the urge to ask, “Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?” and sipped on his tea instead, buying him a moment.

‘Look, even if I was not concerned with you dying over and over—and remembering it—it does mean that Kryl and I would be unable to break the Loop.’

‘Without locking in my death.’

‘Yes,’ Riot replied, ‘Of course that’s what I mean. I’m not going to do that. Not after all we’ve been through, now.’

Sham smiled a hopeful smile at the woman opposite him.

‘So what happened then? She found you in your room, and then…’

‘Then we fought. I commandeered a tram, chased her. You should’ve seen it, really. Never thought I’d get to do that without facing any consequences. And then Mona came along and… Well, that’s where it ended for me. But that isn’t important. What is important is…’

Sham proceeded to tell Riot all that Julya had told him, confident that with Recollection in his brain, he hadn’t left out any details. Riot sat in patient silence until Sham finished, her only replies being in the widening of her eyes and raising of her eyebrows.

‘That’s… quite a story,’ Riot finally said, still holding a half-drunk tea that had since gone cold. ‘You think it’s all true?’

‘Don’t know if I think it could reasonably be a lie. You wouldn’t say that if you were lying. You’d say something that made you seem less…’

‘Mad?’

‘Yeah.’

Riot pursed her lips, gave the matter some apparent consideration. ‘It’s no excuse. Not for sustaining the Loop like she is. Not when she knows she’s the cause.’

‘She’s just looking out for her family,’ Sham found himself replying. ‘I don’t know if I’d do any different.’

‘“Looking out for her family?” By killing? Her family is gone, Sham. There’s nobody left to do this for. She should seek help from the justice system, rather than keeping us all in this—’

‘The… justice system?’ Sham repeated. ‘It’s the Prime Minister she’s after, Riot. I haven’t known the police, or the courts, or whoever, to go after wealthy people, let alone the one man with the most power in all of Haven. You really think the justice system is going to help her here? Is going to believe her, even?’

Riot opened her mouth to retort, but then whatever had immediately occurred to her faded from her tongue. Instead, her brow softened, and she asked, ‘Are you really taking her side in this, Sham?’

‘I’m not… I’m not “taking sides”, I’m just applying a bit of—you know—nuance to the situation. Ain’t anyone all good or all bad, are they?’

‘Didn’t think you, of all people, would be lecturing me on not seeing the world in black and white. Never met anyone who paints wide aspersions on people like you do.’

‘I hang around with you, don’t I?’ Sham retorted. He only heard the words as they left his mouth. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean that.’

Riot hadn’t reacted, but that in itself was a reaction; this wasn’t a woman who hid her feelings. ‘Yes… Yes, Sham, you did.’

‘No,’ he insisted, ‘I really didn’t. That’s… that’s the old me, I think.’

‘The old you?’

‘From before all this’ — he waved at the general situation around him — ‘started.’

‘Sure,’ Riot replied, ‘And after it ends? What then? Do you go back to being the person you were before?’

‘No, Riot, you know I won’t. You know I—’ Sham caught the words before they escaped his mouth. He wasn’t ready for that yet. Wasn’t sure Riot was either.

‘Well, let’s see, shall we?’

‘You have a plan?’ Sham asked.

‘Yes. You said Julya was set into action by Gresley Manwaring?’

‘Yeah…’

‘Well, we both know he shares a mutual friend with us, don’t we?’ Riot replied, already gathering her jacket and heading for the door.

‘Kryl,’ Sham said.