The woman was confused.

The woman was confused. She wasn't certain what time she had set the alarm clock. Was it the time she was familiar with or was it something anomalous? She had to wake up at the appointed instant and ride to the airport, could not waste a minute. Feverish, her perception of time had become a fuzzy concept. Time had split the way spectral lines sometimes do. She could picture her real self setting the clock before she hit the sack. She could also picture herself setting the alarm clock in the secondary time branch she was in. Her sleep was in a shambles, a nightmarish night of uncertainty and sweat. Before dawn the wave function collapsed, removing all unpredictability. As she heard two bells ringing, distinctly clear, she realized she hadn't got the guts to open her eyes.