A week later. Time: 4:30 p.m.


I have been sleepwalking through my tasks all week. Backlogs are clawing at me ferociously. Deadlines are overdue, and I haven’t glanced at the Physics website. Not once. It’s almost time to go home, and I’m exhausted. Come Friday, I want to hit the pillow at 5 pm and wake up Monday morning, only because that’s inevitable. I start packing my backpack, taking my time to slide everything leisurely. It may well be meditation but I don’t feel calm. Then, the phone emits a long buzz.


Seriously?


Still in the meditative state, I take a few moments to lift the phone and unlock it, and grin wide with relief when I see the blinking X.


Sally!


This time, the O is much farther away but the ‘intersections’ don’t have predetermined coordinates. At least that’s what Sally had said.


I grab my backpack, race to the lifts, and punch the button until the doors ping open. My fellow travellers in the elevator can feel me fidgeting. Some smile while others frown. Out on the street, I bump into more people. Some curse me aloud and others just swerve. Unabashed, and with the phone held up so I can follow the X, I break into a run.


Several blocks away, breathless and panting, I reach the spot where the blinking O is pulsating. The X and O are not overlapping yet, although they’re close enough to send my heartbeat racing.

I am at a pedestrian crossing and desperately wishing for the lights to turn green. The lights change, and I glance at the phone one last time.


No!


The blinking O is gone. The X is still pulsating but fading away. I am frozen on the spot even as other pedestrians rush past me. Some brush against my arm and others bump my shoulders, followed by apologies as they rush across the road.


Sally had mentioned the intersections aren't stable and don't last long every time. Yet, I feel a pall of gloom engulfing me, and after what seems like years, I turn around and make my way to the bus stop, where I am condemned to board a bus back home. It is barely two blocks away, but I’m dragging my feet with my senses glued to the phone. At the bus stop, I am glad to join the end of a serpentine queue. Despite guessing if the O will reappear, I eventually board the bus, and soon it pulls away.


As I stare out the bus window in despair, my phone buzzes to warn the battery is in its final throes. I switch to battery saver mode, just in case. Despite my best efforts, I surrender to the rhythmic rocking of the vehicle.



Same day, a week later. Time: 4:51 p.m.


We’ve lost the cricket match, and the crowd at the playground is chasing me again. I stumble and fall. Among the people crowded over me, this time, there’s also Sally. Instead of joining the crowd in condemnation, she urges me to escape, trying her best to be heard over the din.


“Get up,” she screams, “and run; run as fast as you can. Don’t let me down now!”


I want to stand up and bolt. I am scampering yet struggling to move. Something is rumbling nearby, and I realise it’s in my pocket. As the rumbling grows, there’s a jolt, and I feel Sally yanking me as I fall forward.


***


The bus has stopped, and there’s a small queue of passengers alighting. The buzzing is my phone, which I manage to unlock. As I notice the blinking X, I jump from my seat and race to the exit, which is about to close. The driver mutters something, but I’m already on the footpath.


Once again, the O is back and pulsating outside a shopping mall close to my location. Once again, I am racing to match the X and O.


At the mall, I am looking around for Sally. I’m looking around only for Sally. There are seven billion people in our world and several million in my city, but I'm looking for that one face in the Universe: another Universe. My fingers are crossed hard, and I'm wishing it would be her.


It must be her.


My phone is like a bumblebee, and I have trouble keeping it clutched. Given its critical battery levels, it will shut down any moment now. I'm panting as I scan the crowds entering and leaving the mall. Time appears to have slowed down, as if in an emergency.


It is an emergency!


"Pete?"


Oh, how I've missed that voice! I turn around, and she is under another ‘No Stopping’ sign! An X inside an O. The most beautiful icon ever.


She's all but invisible in the hazy intersection. I don't know when I break into a run again and, suddenly, I'm standing before her. Now, my breath is struggling to keep up with my heartbeat. As if on cue, my phone shuts down.


Everything is fuzzy again, except her, yet blurry things were never clearer.


I'm clueless about what will happen next, and I'm not taking any bets this time. It's unnerving and yet exciting. But all I'm doing is staring at her. She is staring back at me and smiling. She knew I would come. "Entanglement?" she laughs her enigmatic laughter, and locks her fingers in mine.


Before I can react, she tugs me to the other side of the haze.