The Unintended Consequence
For the first few minutes after she wakes up, Pauline has forgotten.
And then she remembers. Dread descends as she does, and she shoots out of bed like a firework. Connor.
She’d known this was going to happen for months. He’s been secretive, rude, sullen. She’s been waiting up for him, all hours. There’s been a series of escalating behaviours. And now this.
It began with the déjà vu. Last night. And then, right after that, Connor was arrested. The police said he’d committed all sorts of offences: drugs, thefts, the lot. He’s been involved recently, over the past few years, with somebody called Joseph. He’s supposed to have the rest of his life in front of him, and here he is, ruining it.
She needs to call a solicitor. She needs to fix it. She needs to do so many things. She needs to get to the bottom of why he did this.
She heads out onto the landing, ready to fire up the computer and find a solicitor. But there he is, her boy, on the landing. ‘Er?’ she says to him. ‘Did they let you go?’
‘Who?’
‘The police?’
‘What police?’ he says, with a laugh. And that’s when Pauline sees it. The date, flashing up on BBC News, blaring from inside his room. It’s
October the thirtieth. Wasn’t yesterday the thirtieth? She’s sure of it.
HYSTERICAL STRENGTH
Hysterical strength is a display of extreme strength by humans, beyond what is believed to be normal, usually occurring in life-or- death situations, particularly involving mothers. Anecdotal reports are of women lifting cars to rescue newborn babies, sometimes creating a huge force field of energy. Indeed, more supernatural
reports have also been noted, such as time loops, though none has been proven to date. Sufferers often report déjà vu alongside
episodes of hysterical strength.
