Patrick had done stupider things in his life to win the affection of a pretty girl. In this case, his neighbor Sheila. Sheila was friendly enough, but she just didn't seem interested. But she walked her dog every day.
Patrick had near given up, until his coworker had asked if he could dogsit while he was on vacation. The perfect opportunity to talk to Sheila. He'd just gotten his new houseguest settled in, who came with a box of supplies...dog food, a leash, toys, a water and food dish. He leaned down to place the water dish in front of the dog.
Unknown to Patrick, he was one of a small percentage of the population with a natural awareness of reality alteration. Transdem Labs, the creator of the Chronivac had identified an artificial way of making people aware of alteration. However, the same way did appear in nature, if extremely rare. As a result, Patrick would be completely aware of what was going on, as reality continued to change around him.
As Jeff sat back in his chair across town, the room suddenly began to spin around Patrick...as if he had suddenly jumped onto a carnival ride. He fell to the ground, experiencing a kind of vertigo for the first time. And as suddenly as someone hitting the emergency brake on that carnival ride...the feeling stopped.
Patrick was lying on his stomach in front of the water dish. "Woah," he muttered, starting to rise up.