This Time Tomorrow

Alice wonders if she’s dead or having a psychological crisis. The idea that she could truly be 16 years old again, and that the world around could be 1996 again, is too mind-boggling to comprehend. Alice marvels at her young body and clear skin. She looks around her room, and it’s exactly as it was when she was 16, including pictures of Sam and Tommy. She calls Sam and asks her to come over.

Alice has breakfast with her father and admires Leonard’s younger looks and health, the knowledge of his eventual decline always at the back of her mind. She realizes that at this time, her father is 49, less than a decade older than her 40-year-old self. He reminds her about her SATs, but adult Alice knows that the scores don’t truly matter.

Sam and Alice call each other several times over the morning to plan their walk to school together and discuss their outfits. In their adulthood, they mostly text; Sam is always too busy to be on the phone. Alice revels in the ease and intimacy of their calls and wants to call Sam again and again just to hear her