8.

Eight in the morning and Christine has made it back to that Diner. She has no intention to hide her presence or to try and distract from where it is she wants to go. She is going home, no one else may understand this but she is going home one way or another, and she is not going to allow anyone to stop her from getting there. Sure, once she is through that door then she will hardly be followed but then again.

Looking quite the mess, Christine storms the diner, a woman on a mission. Immediately calls come her way.

'Miss ... excuse me Miss.'

'You can't go in there, Miss.'

On duty waitresses follow her around the Diner. Christine moves right into and through that storeroom. Female voices soon give way to a male voice; a voice possibly belonging to that Steven fellow she first heard when Karen had brought her through.

'Miss, you can't be in here.'

Fumbling for the key, Christine turns her head slightly and sees a guy, a Diner cook, coming her way. Not answering him, she continues to focus on the key and the door. She has the key, it goes in the door, the guy is closing in, but the door is open before he can reach her. She goes through, closes the door, and locks it as quickly as she can.

She stands back for a moment or so, in fear that someone will come through after her. Shock soon sets in for the door vanishes right before her. This might be a good thing but what about Karen? Where is she? Christine so happens to have her own cell phone with her. She kept it hidden in 1984 for it doesn't belong there.

An attempt to reach Karen is made but there is no answer. Karen's home has a land line, so Christine tries that. No answer there either. Without much thought, Christine heads straight for where Karen lives. Her knocks at Karen's home go unanswered. There is nothing else to do now but head to her own home and wait.

Christine Evans sits at her dining room table staring at the plain white clock hanging on the wall right ahead of her as it ticks off the last few seconds up to nine o'clock. The seconds after nine o'clock don't get to accumulate all so many before a knock comes to Christine's front door. It takes a moment to get past the fact that she did indeed hear a knock come to her front door and once that moment passes then Christine is quick to get up and answer it.

There is an older lady standing out there, the same older lady that had stood just outside the garden wall, the same lady who Christine thought looked familiar, same lady who had left a key upon that garden wall. Christine is now sure as to why that older lady looks so familiar, and the words this lady is about to speak confirms the familiarity.

'Hello, Christine. May I come in?'

9.

What a head trip it is and must be to open your door for a friend, a best friend, and see that this friend is not quite what he, or in this case she, was only hours prior, well hours for Christine. It has been less than twenty-four hours since Christine Evans last saw Karen Devlin though for Karen Devlin it has been thirty-four years since she was last in proper contact with Christine Evans. Indeed, Karen had gone back to 1984 as Christine was aware though Karen never made a return to 2018 via that door on that occasion. She took the long way round.

When this older version of Karen Devlin came to Christine Evans's front door and asked to come in, there was a pause. Christine needed to take a moment, and in some ways Karen did too. Tears came uncontrollably and a tight hug came too. Karen had not needed to ask to come in, whatever incarnation of her that came here, she was and always will be as welcome as if she were as much a part of this home as Christine is.

Yeah, if opening that door brought with it a head trip then what was and is coming would in more ways than one be an out of body experience.

'I think we both are going to need to sit down' Karen says.

They both do move inside and sit down; taking seats at the dining room table with only the tick tock of the clock on the wall bringing sound to a moment that otherwise is completely silent, silent for a moment or two until the words come.

'Are you ready for what I have to tell you?' asks Karen.

'No but ... bring it on. Maybe I should have myself a drink first.'

'Ah, maybe you should stay off the drink for the next few months ... nine to be precise.'

'You what?'

'If there were somewhere small that I could start then I would begin there, but there isn't. What I have to tell you is big, it all is big.'

'Alright Karen, out with it.'

'Christine ... you, my dear, are pregnant.'

Christine laughs out loud expecting to hear the punch line, but one isn't coming. 'Think about it Chrissy. Where did you spend last night?'

'How would you know where I spent last night?'

'I know many things. Would you like to know them too?'

'I guess you are going to tell me Karen, whether I want to know or not.'

'Brace yourself, this is gonna be one heck of a crash but we both will come out of this just fine.'

'Just fine? Karen, you are an old woman.'

'Old woman? Well, thank you, I thought we are best friends.'

'We are or ... were or ... whatever, I don't even know what tense to use here. How old are you anyway?'

'That part is not rocket science. I was twenty-three heading into 1984. It's 2018 now so twenty-three and thirty-four ...'

'Fifty-seven ...'

'See not old at all ...'

'I guess ...'

'Not a guess ... a fact.'

'Alright, alright.'

The mood lightens a little though the content of what is to be told is serious, very serious indeed. Christine is nine months away from giving birth to a son. She will call him Darren. Darren is Evan's son, yeah Evan from 1984, the guy she spent the night with, and that night was, of course in 1984. Christine had gone there via the door. In 2054 Darren will create a vortex, a portal through time and he will hide this portal in plain sight where it can be accessed in 2018.

The portal will be protected by a locked door to which there will only be one key. When the door serves its purpose, it will vanish, which it has. Whatever has been done has be done and will be done again and this will remain so for all time. The purpose of the door? Well, this is to ensure that Darren's parents meet and meet they have ... conceive, they have.

All this is a start of sorts as Darren not only travelled to 2018 but he also went to 1984 as a kind of observer, the guy sitting alone in the booth in the Diner, the same guy Karen was talking with outside the Diner.

Karen also went to 1984 as we know and came back to 2018 the long way since she stayed beyond the point when the door vanished. Darren, Christine's future son, did not get to make a return to 2018 or to 2054. Karen and Darren met in 2018, this is how she came into possession of the one and only key that opens or opened the door, the portal to 1984. He, indeed, as has been said, had been the man sitting alone in the Diner when Christine had gone there with Karen.

She, Karen, indeed went back to 1984 after Christine went home in 2018 with questions for Darren. Being stuck together in 1984, Karen and Darren became quite close. Their unique situation ensured this closeness. In 1988, Karen gave birth to a boy. Darren is this boy's father. Karen's son is Christine's grandson ... what a head trip this must be.

'Wait a minute' speaks Christine listening to what Karen tells her in an attempt to make sense of all that is. 'I am twenty-three and in 2018. In 1984 I spent one night with a guy and now in 2018 I am pregnant with his son. And when our son becomes thirty-four-year-old, he creates a way to travel into the past when he and my best friend have a child together in 1988 and now, I have a thirty-year-old grandson?'

'You got it. Wanna meet him?'

'Obviously yeah.'

'Well, you kinda have already and your son too.'

'What do you mean?'

'See that grey and white rabbit you have up on a shelf over there?'

'Cory, your grandson chose it for you. He, Darren, and I visited you in hospital on the day you were born, and we brought that bunny for you.'

'You are friggen messing with me?'

'Totally serious, I remember how that rabbit never left your side when we were kids. If only I knew then what I know now.'

'So, I am definitely pregnant?'

'One hundred percent, the door would not have vanished otherwise. Hey, Cory is not your only other visitor either. There is someone else with us. He and Cory are outside.'

'Who?'

'After you returned to 2018, we had to let him in on it. Took some convincing but he believed us, eventually.'

'Who?'

'Who do you think, silly? Evan was twenty-five in 1984.'

'So, he is fifty-nine now? And he has met our son?'

'He did, yeah and his grandson too, obviously.'

'Okay, hold on a sec. Why didn't Darren create another door in 1984? Ya know, so you guys could get here sooner?'

'The world was made right, no need to alter things any further.'

Christine begins laughing uncontrollably.

'What? What is it?' asks Karen.

'I take it you guys are gonna be here for the immediate future?'

'Sure, and beyond hopefully?'

'What am I gonna tell Darren when he gets old enough? His father is closing in on sixty right now after all.'

'The truth, you tell him the truth, for how will he know to build to door if you don't?'

'Yeah, good point.'

'You ready to see Evan and to meet Cory?'

'This is all real Karen, isn't it? You are not having a laugh at my expense? This is not dress up with the fact I was a Halloween baby ...? I always knew being born on that day would mean something out of this world would be in store ...'

'It is real and as real as real can be ...'

So, is this right here the end? Or is it a beginning? Maybe it is the middle? Who knows? One thing is for sure and that is all things linear may not be so linear after all.