The leaves of the forest were turning yellow.

As the sun set, Martin grew increasingly bored.

He had been sitting still for close to an hour, and he desperately needed something to do.

What was he even looking for? What was the point of all this? He was searching for something that had a high likelihood of not being there. Plus, he had fallen asleep at four. Even if something magical had hit him, he had no idea when it happened. There was no point in staying there.

‘But this could be your first clue!’, his wizardly side (Martin had now begun to name it Magic for convenience) exclaimed.

‘It’s probably not. Look, this could have all been a dream. You have no idea that magic actually exists,’ his grounded side (Martin had named it Ration) remarked.

‘Come on, this is the closest thing to real magic and you know it.’

‘No, actually, I don’t. While squatting in a park at seven thirty may seem like a good idea to you, there are better things we could be doing with our time. Such as genuinely trying to figure out if this was a one-time occurrence or not.’

‘What if it is a one-time thing and you’re throwing away our only lead?’

‘So much the better. Look, we’ve wasted so much time on this. How will magic, which doesn’t exist, help us get a job?’

‘Well, it would be cool to have skills on hand-’

‘Are they core skills?’

‘Well, no, but they could give us an edge-’

‘So will going home and doing homework. Therefore, we can investigate this mystery by using the most efficient way. By scanning for anything out of the ordinary while also accomplishing what we’re supposed to be doing.’

‘… Fine. But please, don’t drop this mystery.’

‘I won’t. This genuinely interests me.’

‘Also, quick question: Do we have split personality disorder?’

‘No, personality disorders are usually accompanied by memory gaps. This is just us getting really into the debate. And we should really go.’

Martin stood up.

It was seven forty five pm, and he had wasted close to an hour and a half in the forest.

He took one last look around, before stealthily leaving the park.

About an four hours later, the entire forest experienced a slight tremor.

The rangers dismissed it as a minor earthquake; on the West Coast, those were pretty common.

However, the seven year old child that was passing by the scene of the ‘earthquake’ as he walked back to his house didn’t think the same.

He saw a rising plume of fire; almost blocked by the trees, but still distinctly visible.

Of course, when he attempted to tell the adults, they dismissed it as a creative story made up by the kid.

Though, Martin knew none of that when he woke up the next morning.

He just brushed his teeth and left the house, right after squeezing through the ever-tiny dining room.

He had decided to passively keep an eye out for anything supernatural.

‘But what, exactly, does supernatural entail?’, questioned Magic.

‘Something that doesn’t fit the bounds of reality.’, replied Ration.

‘Have you heard the story of a mother flipping a car to save her child? That’s supernatural.’

‘Well, that is true. But I think we’re looking for something a little more … distinctive.’

‘Like what? What could possibly be more distinctive than a car being flipped?!’

‘Well … I don’t know. Something inconsistent, I guess? We should set standards.’

‘Well, I think we should keep an eye on anything supernatural. There isn’t that much in this tiny town, so we should be able to get it all.’

‘Well, sure, we’ll try that. But before that, we should see if we can make it past today. Also, the teacher is glaring at us; we should probably be paying attention to that.’

Martin put on his best I’m-a-very-interested-student face. The teacher looked slightly mollified, though she kept glancing at him specifically.

Martin had never gotten out of that class faster in his life, and that was saying something. He ran out of the door and bolted back home, where he … waited.

And waited.

And waited.

He didn’t really feel like doing homework.

Not now.

Even Ration was slightly quiet.

This was boring.

He waited some more.

And some more.

It was eight o’clock when his mom showed up in the doorway.

“Martin, come downstairs. Dinner’s ready.”

She glanced at him, and then furrowed her eyebrows.

“Have you not started on any of your homework?”

“No.”

“And why not?”

“I wanted a break.”

“From what? Listen, Martin, you haven’t been doing anything hard.”

Martin buried his face into his hands.

“No, no, don’t do that. Doing that won’t get you anywhere.”

“I’m … just tired.”

How could he tell her he was waiting for something even he couldn’t identify?

“Yeah, well, funnily enough, your school doesn’t actually care, sweetie. Now get up, eat dinner, and do your homework.”

“…Fine.”

As he trudged downstairs, Ration spoke up.

‘She’s right, you know. If this was a one-off occurrence, we’d have wasted our time for nothing.’

‘But we should be paying attention to see if it really was a one off occurrence. What if it wasn’t?’

‘We should be preparing for the worst. Also, assuming this was a time loop-’

Magic let out a cry of joy.

‘Oh, come on, I may have said “assuming”, but there are other possibilities. Anyway, assuming there is a time loop, wouldn’t retaining information be the most important part?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Come on, all we have to do is be awake when this “time loop” thing happens. I think we would notice time rewinding. Also, there could be other possibilities.’

‘You keep saying that, but I think you’re starting to believe that there’s a time loop.’

‘…’

“Oi!”

Martin’s head jolted up.

He saw a yellow napkin hanging from his mom’s fingers.

“Are you even paying attention to what’s in front of your face?”

She waved the napkin in front of his face some more.

“I’m sorry.”

After he ate dinner, he went back up and actually did his homework.

And then he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

He could hear his parents trudging up the stairs to bed.

He waited some more.

It was eleven o’clock.

He waited more.

He closed his eyes for a brief second.

And then everything blacked out.