5.

It is eleven fifteen back on the Saturday morning of May twenty-six, 2018, and Christine Evans is back home and as alone as she had been when she had been woken by the phone call her friend Karen Devlin had made. She sits in total quiet, unable to rid herself of thoughts of how her Saturday has gone up to now. Despite being sure that the right decision had been made to leave that diner, Christine can help but feel an urge to go back there.

The urge to go back is so strong that it is overwhelming. There are questions to which she wants answers such as who was that guy sitting alone? Does he belong in 1984? Does he somehow know who Christine and Karen are? And what relation is he to the guy who had come through the main diner entrance, if indeed there is a relation to speak of?

Thing is that she desperately wants answers and if she were to possibly get them, then how would she go about accomplishing such a thing? On top of this too, the door, the door Karen brought Christine through, Karen locked it upon return to 2018. Christine cannot return through that door if she were to go back alone, not without a certain item.

She could always go back to the Diner, but if she does, then she cannot be certain that the sitting man would still be there. In all likelihood he would be gone. Time in both places moves along parallel to one another like Karen kinda mentioned, so Christine cannot just pick and choose a moment in time to go to. With that, there is no way that a rewind can be done. She cannot relive a moment she already had in that other place. Why does she feel a need to know anything? Surely leaving things be, is the way to go. Compulsion, or something which can be described as such, is a compelling thing.

Slowly she moves until she is in a position to stare out her living room window. There is someone out there, someone is outside, just beyond the wall at the bottom of the garden, someone is looking right back at Christine. An older lady stands just beyond the bottom of the garden that leads to the house Christine lives in. This older lady looks oddly familiar though Christine is not sure why.

This older lady, she looks troubled somewhat. This moment is a little unnerving, and it soon will also be a little surprising. She, this older lady, places her hand upon the wall she stands by, she then turns to one side and begins to move away. No, she can't leave. Christine has questions to ask of her. Christine makes her way outside and down to the end of the garden, but the older lady is nowhere to be seen. There is something a top of the wall the woman had stood by.

This something laying on the wall rests right where the older lady had placed her hand. What is on the wall is a key, a key not unlike the key Karen had shown Christine earlier that morning, a key that Karen used to open the door which Karen and Christine walked through to bring them to a diner in 1984.

What is this? What is going on? This older lady, did she just give Christine exactly what she wanted? Wait, that older woman? No, there is no way, no chance that she could be an older Karen? No, this is too mad, too crazy, but not impossible, right? That would go some way in explaining a sense of familiarity at the risk of creating so many more questions. What the hell is going on? Does this particular key open the door to 1984? Only one way to find out.

It is not long before Christine is right back at the casino. Of course, the casino on the edge of town in 2018 is located right on the spot where the diner exists in 1984. Alright, Christine stands right at the door, the portal between two points in time. She looks at this key that has come to be in her possession. She shouldn't be here, she shouldn't be doing this, but she can't help it. Maybe she is right where she is supposed to be, for she has drawn here and now that she is back, the least she should do is insert the key into that door, so she does this and it goes in with ease.

Christine turns the key and opens the door; perhaps indeed, she is exactly where she should be.

Through that storeroom she goes without being noticed and on she goes until she is stopped in her tracks within the main diner and by one booth in particular. Now in this moment, there is no one sitting at this particular table at this particular time, but this particular booth is by a window and Christine is looking out at what is beyond that window. Karen is outside, she too must have had some uncontrollable urge to come back, and with her proximity she most likely returned only moments ago and without having said anything to Christine.

Not only is Karen outside the diner in 1984, but she is talking with someone, a someone who so happens to be the older guy who had been sitting alone while Christine had been here with Karen only a couple hours or so ago. What is Karen doing? Christine is determined to find out but before she can do this, she is approached by the waitress who had taken her order when she had been here earlier.

'Excuse me Miss, may I inquire as to why you made an order earlier only to leave before I could bring it to you?'

'Oh, I am sorry, there was a bit of an emergency and I had to go.'

'Would you like me to bring you your food now?'

'Sorry again but there is another emergency, I need to go ...'

'Gees Miss, then why did you come back?'

'Excuse me please ...'

Christine moves to the main exit and as she does, Christine cannot help but collide with the door or more so with the person coming through from the outside.

'I am so sorry; guess I am saying that a lot at the moment ...' Christine says.

'That is quite alright ...' speaks a male voice.

It is only at this point that Christine notices just who this fellow is. It is the same fellow who had come in earlier on only to sit at the counter and order a coffee. She stands a moment in disbelief, giving him a brief look of confusion before moving on outside. He was about to make an offer to buy her a coffee to make up for colliding with her, but she has already moved outside.

Yeah, Christine has made her way outside the diner but once she has done so, there is no sign of Karen. Neither Karen, nor the guy Karen had been talking with, are anywhere within her line of sight. Not knowing where her friend has got to, what else is there for Christine to do other than head back into the diner?

It is just after midday, and the diner is about to be hit by the lunchtime rush but in this exact moment there are a few tables available including the one she had sat at not so long ago, so Christine makes her way back to that table and sits with the hope or thought that maybe Karen will be back soon or at least soon enough to ensure there is nothing to worry about.

What if Karen does not return? She will have to return for how will she get back to 2018 if she does not come back through the Diner? Speaking of possible returns that waitress makes her return to Christine.

'So, I'll bring you that order after all?'

'I am sorry ... yet again. My friend, the lady I was with earlier has our money; I hope she will be back soon.'

Coffee guy comes over.

'I can get that order for you if you like ...'

'That's quite alright. I'm sure my friend will be right back.'

'It's the least I can do since I collided with you a moment ago. Do you mind if I join you?'

'Sure ... what the hell? This day cannot get anymore weird, can it?'

'Weird?'

'Long story.'

'I will be right back with your orders then so' speaks the waitress.

'And more coffee too please.'

'Sure thing, and ya know since the word "weird" has been mentioned,' waitress can't help pointing out. 'It is a bit of a coincidence that your friend's last name is Devlin. Devlin is also my last name, and I didn't know there were other Devlin's in town.'

Christine notices that the waitress's name badge says Lydia. How did Lydia come to know Karen by any name, let alone her last name?