Paradoxed (Welcome to Brookville) / Welcome to Brookville (ePub)

It's Mason's 33rd birthday and this past year has been awful. Divorced. Depressed. Mason cares for little these days. In an effort to cheer him up, Dusty and Phil, devise a great birthday night. Unfortunately, Phil's cousin, Connor, tags along. No one like Connor. No one.

Once Mason learns they're visiting the same arcade they spent most of their teen years, the idea of Connor being around lessens in annoyance. They meet the original owner, Billy Hopkins, who they remember from back in the day. The years have not been kind to Billy.

They find one of their favorite games, Discs of Tron. After they pile into the machine and drop a quarter into the machine, something different happens. The outside world around the machine is moving. They travel through time and space.

20 years into the past! They experience the ultimate trip down memory lane. Mason realizes that they've traveled to the same night as the big Billy-Peggy fight, which means their younger selves are in the arcade. But they're changing history! They return to 2005.

Only they forgot Connor.

They've made it back and they realize their mistake. An old man is looking for them. It's Connor. Twenty years older. He's angry after all these years. He takes a shot at Dusty. There's a struggle. Connor has a heart attack. He dies.

Mason, Phil and Dusty have no choice but to go back to 1985 and find Connor to prevent what just happened. Time-Jump! Again. They're back. They split up to look for Connor. Mason meets Peggy, who remained outside after the fight. They hit it off. They leave the arcade and find themselves at Brookville's make-out spot. Mason is too weak to prevent a time paradox. They make love.

Mason returns to the arcade to much fanfare from Dusty. Phil is less enthused. They found Connor. They need to get home, but the arcade is closed. They sneak in, but get caught, as younger Billy fires a shotgun, hitting Mason in the stomach. Chaos. He goes down. Blacks out.

15 months later.

Mason wakes up in the hospital. October 18, 1986. Phil and Dusty arrive and fill Mason in on what he's missed. They've been living in the 80s waiting for Mason to wake up. The arcade is shut down. The machine is gone, and they lost Connor.

But Connor is not lost. He appears in the room. Explains he's been managing the arcade this whole time. The arcade machine is in the garage of the owner. They have a way home. They hatch a plan for tonight. The friends leave and Peggy visits. They share a moment and Mason feels the pull to stay with her, but he can't, and he won't. He doesn't belong.

That night, they sneak into the garage and find the machine. Mason also runs into Peggy again. He also learns of his daughter, Emily, from that one night 15 months ago. Mason's a dad, but he has to go back.

The four friends time-jump to 15 months ago. They need to make sure their earlier selves succeed this time with their time-jump, so they can prevent Mason from being shot. To keep Phil and Dusty from being stuck in the 80s. They just need to keep Billy busy. Which is what they do.

Mission accomplished. The friends time-jump. Mason reaches behind the machine to unplug the machine and he finds a notebook with a note written by him to him. He gets into the machine and time-jumps.

They all live happily ever after, unless they decide to time jump again.