"The Man Who Cuckolded Himself," part 2 now available to read online

The second part of my story of time travel gone awry has been published at Terror House Magazine.

Here is a brief teaser:

Somehow I waited things out in the dark; my invisible self even lapsed into sleep for a few moments a time or two, despite the discomfort I suffered, both from the cold and from leaning my back against the trunk of the moribund oak. Finally, the end credits rolled on the lovers’ Blockbuster rental, and they retired into the upstairs bedroom, which provided me with my chance. I attempted to open a window, but found to my dismay that they were all locked from the inside. Then I suddenly recalled something helpful: my wife and I, like many silly people, kept a spare key under a flowerpot on the front porch, “just in case” one of us found him- or herself locked out and in need of obtaining entry.

Creeping around to the front, and witnessing for a moment my “beater” car in the driveway, reminded me of a time when I actually had a car, albeit purchased on the cheap; of course, at the time, I actually envisioned possessing a better, more reliable source of transportation when I got older. If only “young me” could see “old me,” 22 years hence: clambering onto the same piss-scented bus every weekday morning in his ill-fitting suit, in order that he might attend his soul-crushing job which had no savor whatsoever of anything resembling literary glamour. What would “young me” think of the notion that his future mobility was anything but “upward?”

And what was more, that the love of his life, the girl who so adored him now, would in time grow utterly cold to him?

Better for him not to know these things, I concluded. Spare the poor kid such hardship. Let him enjoy his youth. Let him continue to fantasize about the golden future he was anticipating.

Here is the link to part two.

Here is the link to part one.