October Nano Prep 2025

Oct 25 Plot Contest Round: “Honeymoon Time Phase”

”Honeymoon Time Phase”

Nolan Navarro could smell the ocean air. He could hear the waves and the sounds of seagulls as he hid behind some shrubbery. The blue sky only had a few clouds on this warm summer day. He was watching his younger self and Natalie Gaines, now Natalie Navarro, on their honeymoon.

The Pacific Ocean dominated the skyline in front of the posh hotel his younger self and his new bride were staying at here in Pismo beach, California. There was a grassy area above a cliff where his younger counterpart and Natalie were standing, not far from a concrete bench.

Natalie returned to their hotel room to get something, then his younger counterpart was pulled through a temporal teleportal that emerged and surrounded him. When the time rift closed up, the younger version of Nolan was gone.

Nolan approached Natalie, the woman he had married five years prior. They had yet to consummate their relationship.

“Deuce?” Natalie asked. “What are you doing here? Where’s Nolan?”

Nolan sat her down on the concrete bench and explained the whole ordeal. How he had ended up trapped five years in the past and was forced to pass himself off as the distant cousin of his younger counterpart.

Natalie was familiar with the younger version of Nolan being obese, though he had gotten lean and muscular over the past five years. During that time, the older version of Nolan had also become more muscular than he was when he had first arrived in the past.

He told her about Major Terry Grant, the military officer from the distant future who had conducted the time travel experiment. He showed her the transponder Major Grant had given to Nolan to contact him in case of an emergency. He explained that though she was accustomed to there being two of them, now he was the only one of them left. He would now go by his true name, instead of Deuce.

“Somehow, I always knew!” said Natalie, and they kissed.

About two weeks later, Nolan was at the apartment he shared with his new wife emerging from the shower. Natalie was in Hawaii with relatives. Nolan couldn’t go with her, because he had to work as a personal trainer during that time frame. The doorbell rang.

Nolan quickly dried off, and got dressed as the doorbell continued to be pressed, as if something was urgent. When Nolan opened the front door, he saw two uniformed police officers standing there. Glenn Tana, his arch enemy, was standing behind them.

“We want to question you about your cousin, Nolan Navarro. This man claims you killed him and are assuming his identity!”

“Natty Gaines married his cousin, and he has her convinced that he’s from the future!” said Glenn. “It’s probably an insurance scam! He probably disposed of Nolan’s body!”

After push came to shove, Nolan found himself in a jail cell about twenty-four hours later. The odds were stacked against him. The transponder was still back at his apartment, and his wife wouldn’t return from her trip for another week and a half to summon help. There was no way to contact Terry Grant and have him prove that Nolan wasn’t a murderer.

When he was chained up and taken to the court house the next morning, his public defender listened to his testimony for about thirty seconds and interrupted him.

“You’re going to need to hire a real lawyer if any of this is even remotely true, because I don’t get paid enough to deal with crazy people! Whether you win or lose, I still collect a paycheck!”

The End

(600 words)