At 1676971801.002, the universe didn't just take her; it traded her. Arthur felt a violent, invisible vacuum pull at his chest. He realized his mistake too late. The law of conservation applied to time just as it did to energy. To pull someone out of a moment, someone else had to take their place.
That was the exact fraction of a second his sister had vanished from a locked room. 1676971801.002
He reached out a hand, his fingers tingling with static. He was a ghost in his own past. Elena paused, shivering slightly as if a cold draft had just swept through the sealed room. She looked up from her screen, looking directly toward him. "Arthur?" she whispered into the empty air. Then, the clock flipped. At 1676971801
Elena blinked, the confusion on her face suddenly replaced by the sight of her familiar garage. She was safe. She was in 2026. The law of conservation applied to time just