Life They Left Behind

An Echo Chamber Short Story.Michael Walker and Nicole Donovan work together at the Continuity Office, where they know better than anyone that the past is not supposed to be changed. But they are also in love, and each is trapped in a marriage that began before they ever met. Together, they make the impossible decision to use the Echo Chamber to return to 1997 and change the choices that led them to their spouses, thus creating a new life in which they can finally be together.For a while, they get exactly what they want. Then Michael faces a personal tragedy. Only afterward does Nicole discover the cruel truth: in the life they erased, Michael's original wife had unknowingly saved Michael's life. By changing the past to create the life they wanted, they had also erased the life that had saved him.