June 26, 2025

​OVER AND OVER 
​by Tim Law

Click here to listen to this story on the Kaidankai Podcast.


I feel the music, so loud it shakes my soul. You need to shout to be heard, and even then you’re lucky if the bar staff understand you. I come away with two plastic cups of something frozen. One is for me, and one for my girlfriend. The sweetness disguises the hint of alcohol while the icy particles give the illusion that it is not hotter inside compared to outside, the heat meddles with your brain.

Then I see him again. The stranger who just does not belong. The sweat that drizzles down his brow has nothing to do with heat. He is nervous. He is purpose. He is going to destroy my world.

“What are you looking at?” my girlfriend asks, her voice too loud as the song changes and there is a brief moment where her shout fills the void.

I indicate the stranger, and she turns to look. That is when the world implodes.

Flame, and dust, and chaos erupts as the stranger vanishes in a red mist. My girlfriend who stood between me and the man falls to the floor, skin bubbling. I can feel the warm wind; as if in slow-motion it drifts past me and around me. In an instant, I cop the same amount of sun as a day at the beach. And then the breeze becomes warmer and warmer, and then uncomfortably hot. My skin feels cool, and then excruciating as it peels away. I can see my bones. I feel exposed as my clothing and my skin are burned from me. My heart speeds up as the next song plays, and then the world becomes a blur, and people run through me.
 
I wake up. The sound is familiar. That song again, the volume too loud.

“Let’s go!” I beg my girlfriend.

She shakes her head and smiles.

“I don’t want to go... not yet!” she shouts back. “One more drink?”

Reluctantly, I head to the bar, order two margaritas, and hand over what looks like the correct money, plus a tip. The two plastic cups chill my hands. I bring one to my lips and sample the contents. I taste nothing.

“We need to go!” I urge.

That’s when I see the stranger again. I know what is coming, but I cannot turn away. I cannot leave without my girlfriend.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

The song stops. Chaos erupts. I lose her again.
 
The song is so familiar.

“I love this place!” my girlfriend shouts, barely audible above the boom of the base.

“I love you!” I shout back.

She smiles and then begins to sway.

I am hypnotized by her beauty, I love this woman, completely and in all ways; body, mind, and soul. For a moment I am distracted, so I do not see the stranger enter with his brow knotted, equal parts nervousness and determination. The song stops though, and instinctively my girlfriend turns away from me to see what it is that has caught my attention.

We should have left, but we didn’t. Thanks to that one last drink.
 
I feel the music, then the blast, and finally, I feel the pain as the wind whips around me. Flesh dribbles from bones like a faucet without a washer. I seek the chill of the ice in the cups, but even that hurts, naked nerves take every sensation to the worst extreme. I no longer notice my girlfriend, her fate seems inevitable, just as mine is. All that I can do is seek relief from this agony. I search high and I search low, rummaging through dust and ash, and broken dreams. This was supposed to be a holiday, a way to celebrate. Why we chose to come and why we chose not to leave is anyone’s guess now. There are no answers, only echoes of thoughts from those who once existed here.
 
That sound… That irritable, awkward sound… Is it my heart? Is it the voice of the one I used to love? Is it me? Am I screaming at the fury and frustration of it all? No… Of course, it is the song I am hearing… That fucking song that haunts me as I possess it… I possess this moment, this place, this day and time… This experience seems destined to loop around me, through me, about my being. Two souls entwined, never had I considered a place to have enough spirit to be sentient, and yet I can feel it now. And then I realize the truth… It is not the place that has a soul of which I am so joined with… It is the man. He smiles at me now as he steps into the club. We lock eyes. He knows me as I know him. Nothing else exists, just as, in mere moments nothing here will exist. Not as it once was, it will of course still be, just as I still will be. A mere shell of what we once were. Red mist, charred remains, broken, bent, soiled, and stained. Still, we are. Ashes to ashes…
 
I step into the club and look about me. The place is full, full of statements, full of that which will… What? Support my cause? Win the war? No… There will be no winning here, not today, maybe not ever again. Still, I am compelled to do that which I have come to do. I take one cautious step, and then another. I count in my head as I explore the most potent place in the room… I am jostled, bumped, ignored… I will not be ignored forever though. In a moment I will be the centre of the world’s attention. In that single moment, we will all be one. I lock eyes with myself, and I can see the memory playing over and over… Nothing can change what I am about to do… Nothing can destroy my resolve… I feel the music, so loud it shakes my soul. I wait for the moment when the story ends. There in that silence, I find my courage. In that heartbeat of time, I make my choice. Nothing can destroy the spirit. Together forever, our fates are sealed.
 
I hear the song… It is so familiar… It plays over and over in my mind… Until it, like us, finally fades away…

                                                               💀💀💀


Tim Law has loved to write from a very young age, but has only recently discovered the joy of being published. He is happily married to a wonderful girl, a proud father of three humans, and a reluctant father figure to four cats. He writes fantasy, science fiction, general, detective, humour, and a lot of weird stuff that doesn’t seem to fit anywhere. He encourages everyone to give writing a go. Some of his stranger stories can be found here on the Kaidankai, but if you want to read more try his blog at 
https://somecallmetimmy.blogspot.com/?m=1