Riffs in Time

Seeing how freaked out Eliza was by all the chaos, Gerard decided to skip the search for the mysterious bathroom. Instead, he stuck around with her, quietly reassuring her and doing his best to help calm her down amid all the chaos.

Meanwhile, the rest of us headed outside to check on the bathroom. The corridor felt dead, empty—eerily silent. The bathroom, the very portal I'd just emerged from, had vanished without a trace, leaving behind only the harsh glare of fluorescent lights.

Frank was the first to break the silence, his skepticism unmistakable. "So you're saying that bathroom just... vanished? Like it was never there?" he demanded, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

I fumbled with my phone, determined to prove my unbelievable story. I pulled up headlines, futuristic apps, and video clips from 2019—evidence that only someone from the future could know. "Look," I said, my voice trembling as I scrolled, "this is 2019. All of this proves what I'm saying."

I even switched to the front camera to demonstrate its advanced selfie capabilities—and then had to explain what a front camera was to them...and what a selfie was. They hovered over me, eyes darting between the phone screen and my increasingly desperate expression.

"This isn't possible," Ray muttered, rubbing his temples. "Even if we wanted to believe you, this is just... unreal."

Mikey, who had been mostly quiet up until now, finally spoke. "She knew about Party Poison before anyone else did," he admitted, glancing at Ray. "Even I didn't know that Gerard was working on something like that."

That's it! Gerard didn't believe me until I rattled off details about his future—facts only someone from a different time could know. Things that he'd been working on but the others didn't even know about. So, I did the same for them.

I pointed at Frank. "You're working on Leathermouth." I then turned to Mikey. "You're creating a comic book. You've named it Collapser." Finally, I looked at Ray. "And Ray, you're seeing someone named Christa right now."

For a moment, the group fell silent, shock written across their faces as they processed that I knew all their secret projects. I mean, who wouldn't be stunned? I'd just laid bare the fact that they'd all been working on separate things when they should have been laser-focused on the album.

Frank broke the silence with a half-laugh and a sigh. "Dang, Ray. Are we really not that close anymore that I have to hear from a time-traveling girl that you're dating someone?" His teasing carried a hint of sadness.

"Sorry, man. It just slipped my mind," Ray murmured, guilt coloring every syllable.

After a moment of awkward silence, Mikey finally asked, "So everything is real, huh?"

I nodded.

Ray leaned against the wall, his tone pragmatic yet edged with concern. "Maybe we should just let the police handle this—or heck, even turn it over to Area 51," he suggested, half-joking yet sounding oddly serious.

"No way, man," Mikey interjected sharply. "You really want government scientists poking inside her? They'd experiment on her before she even stepped foot in there."

Before they get to deepen the conversation about me being poked and prodded by the government, Gerard reappeared, this time accompanied by Eliza—Twiggy, as I called her. Eliza's eyes blazed with anger, and she stormed forward. "Gerard, what the hell? You're seriously buying into this shit?" she snapped, clearly furious at his willingness to entertain the impossible.

"Yes, Eliza. I want to help out a person in need. Sue me." With that, he turned and walked away from their conversation.

"Fine! If you help her, I'm out!" Eliza threatened, stopping in her tracks, unwilling to follow him any further.