~June 18th, 1982~

~Cycle 103~

A woman with auburn hair in a dress shirt, formal skirt, and heels sat in a booth of a train riding into La Ville Sans Fin. Her name was Renee. The thirty-three-year-old held her purse on her lap as the train began to slow down. They were nearing the train station. Again.

The other passengers aboard were all eager to rush off. Most of them had come to enjoy the festivities centered around the comet. Renee had come to report on the event for her job. She would've liked to have her husband accompany her, but he was busy with his own work.

At the beginning of every cycle, the train would bring them into La Ville Sans fin. As soon as the train came to a complete halt, the passengers scrambled to be the first one off. Many of them felt trapped and wanted to escape. They shoved each other, some falling over and getting trampled as others hurried outside.

Renee waited for the chaos to subside. It wasn't like leaving the train would make a difference. They'd still be stuck in La Ville Sans Fin.

Once most of the passengers had cleared, Renee finally stood and headed out. She saw a man picking himself off the ground after falling over. She helped him up.

"Are you okay?"

His face appeared bruised, but he nodded, "I'm fine."

He went on his own way, while Renee took her own.

Ordinarily she'd look for a taxi to take her deeper into the city, but after this many repeated cycles, no one was bothering to uphold their job like before. What was the point? So, Renee walked the streets. She wanted to find a payphone.

The city was starting to become more familiar to her. After so many cycles, she'd been forced to acquaint herself with it. Tall skyscrapers all around them. Traffic was always packed. With the repeated cycles, people handled it differently. As she passed an alleyway, she noticed a group of men pinning a young woman against the wall.

She grimaced. The police of the city had abandoned their duties after so many cycles. Some people figured they could get away with whatever they want now. Renee wasn't one to allow terrible things to happen.

"That's enough!" Renee hollered as she walked down the alley towards the men. She slipped her hand into her purse as she approached them.

The men immediately loosened their grip on the black-haired woman, and she fell to the ground, some of her dark clothing torn. The young woman picked glasses from the ground and put them on. One of the men looked Renee up and down, "What do you want?"

"Leave her alone." Renee ordered.

The girl began to crawl away, but one of the men grabbed her by the hair to keep her from escaping. "Want to join her?"

One of the men approached Renee. She slipped a pistol out of her purse held it firmly at them. She sternly said, "Walk away."

The man at first was stunned, then gave her an annoying smirk. "You're bluffi-"

Renee fired. The man toppled over, gripping his kneecap. His scream echoed through the alley way. The other men promptly backed away.

"Y-You shot me!" The man yelled.

"You'll be fine on the next cycle." Renee calmly replied. With the same day repeating over and over, she knew she hadn't done any permanent damage. She pointed the gun at the other men, "Are you smarter than him?"

The other men glanced at each other and bolted down the alleyway, away from her. Renee tilted the gun upwards and fired a few more rounds into the air. She watched as the men jumped and quickened their pace to escape. She hoped the fear she instilled in them would discourage them from anything else unsighltly like that.

Renee passed over the man she shot to the woman who was picking herself off the ground. She appeared be in her early twenties.

"Thank you." The woman said.

"Are you okay?"

The woman shrugged, "It's not the first time they came after me..."

"It should be the last," Renee glanced back at the man who was still writhing on the ground grabbing his knee, "It'll be the last time, won't it?"

The man gritted his teeth and nodded.

The woman shook her head, "I doubt it."

Renee frowned. Clearly, she had been through a lot. But maybe she could help.

"I'm Renee. What's your name?"

"Elise." The woman replied.

"Elise, where do you usually start out at the beginning of each cycle?" Renee asked.

"Why?"

"If we meet up early, those men would never be able to get to you." Renee explained, "I always start out on the train heading to the southern station near here. What about you?"

Elise took a moment but replied, "Umm, I usually start out by the college dorms."

"... I'm not really familiar with the area so I'm not sure where that is."

Elise thought for a moment, "We could meet at the park near the library and the courthouse. That's a good mid-point for us. I could show you where it is!"

Renee briefly glanced at her watch. It was nearly 9:00 AM. "Is there a payphone at the park?"

"I think so."

"Let's go then!"

Renee and Elise went through the city together. Whenever they came across other people, Elise was noticeably nervous. She had not seen the best of people lately. But Renee made a point to wave and greet them. But she kept her hand in her purse gripping her pistol, just in case.

They found a park surrounded by other buildings. There was a courthouse across the street from on one side, and a library on the other. Renee couldn't help but notice the glass windows of the library had been shattered.

Elise brought Renee to a payphone on the street near the park. "Thank you, Elise. Mind giving me a little bit of privacy?"

"Oh, of course!" Elise replied.

Renee stepped into the payphone booth and closed the door behind her. She dialed a number and waited eagerly.

"Hello?" A man's voice came from the other side. Hearing him made Renee melt. She felt safe and comfortable with him.

"Hi Nicolas."

"You must be calling from the hotel. Are you settled in already?" He asked. Admittedly, Renee hadn't been to the hotel in a while. The staff stopped showing up to work. She found a few card keys and was able to let herself into whatever room she wanted, but without a taxi ride it wasn't worth walking the entire way. But she wasn't going to tell him that.

"Yes baby. It's very nice here." Renee replied. She sighed and said, "I miss you."

Nicolas laughed a little, "Babe, you just saw me yesterday."

"Still." Renee replied.

"Well, you'll be back this weekend, won't you?" Nicolas asked.

Oh, she wished she could see him that soon. But with the cycles repeating, she knew that wouldn't happen. But since Nicolas was outside of the city, he had no memory of the repeated cycles. As far as he knew, Renee had taken a train for La Ville Sans Fin yesterday. So, she replied, "Yes, I should be back this weekend."

Renee had tried to explain the situation in the city to him before. But it always left him confused and distraught. Even when he started to understand, he'd forget when the cycle repeated anyways. Renee would be stuck trying to explain things over to him again. So instead, she spoke to him as if everything was fine. She needed this simple time of talking to him. Maybe it was that little bit of normalcy that kept her grounded.

It was the best she could get now. She couldn't see him. Even if she took a car, he was too far away to drive all the way to him in a single day.

"Hold on, babe," Nicolas said in a hushed tone. He must've covered the phone, as the audio became muffled. Renee listened carefully for some chatter in the background. Probably one of his co-workers. Nicolas took his hand off the phone and said, "I got to get back to work, baby. Want to call me tonight after the comet flies over? You can tell me all about it."

Renee would've liked to make up reasons to keep him on the phone for a little bit longer. On previous cycles she had. But it was usually more trouble than it'd be worth. She'd be able to talk to him again on the next cycle. So, Renee replied, "Sounds good baby. I love you."

"I love you too." Nicolas replied sweetly. Whenever he said it, he tried to make it count.

Renee waited for him to hang up the phone. She took a breath and stepped out of the phone booth. Elise approached her as she did.

"Who was that?"

"My husband." Renee replied, "He's not in the city."

"Oh... so he doesn't even know what's going on here."

Renee nodded.

Elise paced around the park for a moment, "I was thinking, if we're going to meet here at the beginning of every cycle, would you mind if I brought a few of my college friends? I figure the more of us there are, the better."

Renee smiled, "That's a great idea. It won't feel quite so lonely that way."