The Many Lives of Zane Montgomery by Ben Mariner

Author:Ben Mariner [Mariner, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ben Mariner
Published: 2012-12-13T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

“Well, crap,” Abigail said, after Zane had finished telling her the story of his life that ended in the first few hours of the new millennium.

“I know. Murdered over an inconveniently timed power outage,” Zane said shaking his head. “That’s messed up, right?”

“Well, it is,” Abigail agreed, “but that’s not actually what I was talking about.”

“Oh,” Zane said, slightly embarrassed.

“I’m not trying to demean your death or anything,” Abigail added quickly when she saw the look on Zane’s face. “I had begun formulating a hypothesis last night, and that story just kind of shot a big gaping hole right through it.”

“Sorry about that,” Zane apologized, “What’s the hypothesis?”

“Well,” Abigail began, “I had taken all the lives you’d told me so far and compared their timelines. Some of them are fairly hard to pin down given the era of time you lived, but I think my calculations are close enough. Prior to meeting Zooey, or whatever her name was at the time, your life’s timeline was completely random. Nothing matches from one life to the next, up until, that is, she comes into that life.”

“And that’s where they do match?” Zane asked, intrigued.

“More so than prior to that moment,” Abigail amended. “There is an average of about three weeks, give or take a day or two, from the time your paths cross and the time you die. It’s really quite remarkable when you look at it from a high level. But, like I said, that last story just ruins that theory.”

Zane sat for a moment in silence and thought about all his past lives. “It could be an outlier,” he said finally. “I mean, I can’t say for certain unless I really sit down and write it all out, but I can’t specifically remember any other life I’ve lived in which it took that long for me to die once I’d met her. Maybe this one is just an exception to the rule.” It was a long shot, but it felt right nonetheless.

“Hmm,” Abigail mumbled. She jotted a quick note on her steno pad, and looked back to Zane. “We won’t know for sure until you’ve told me more. Enough about that for now. Tell me how your date went Friday night.”

Zane groaned in reply.

“It didn’t go well?” Abigail asked, giving him a look of genuine curiosity.

Zane groaned again. “That’s the understatement of the century right there.”

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