Around the age of 33, Ernesto discovered that by closing his eyes and thinking very hard of a specific moment in the past he could travel back in time.
This happened one day when sitting on the bus during a moment where he recalled a particularly cringe moment in front of a client. Saying "you too" to a waiter when told "Enjoy your lunch." Frazzled and confused he excused himself to the restroom before the horrible exchange and confirming the data and time on his watch and phone, slinked back and defused it with a simple 'Yes, thanks."
The time travel however required Ernesto to come back to "long way." So he would he would need to follow the natural flow of time and return to his present at the same speed as he already did once before. There was no snap back to the present, or, at least to where he began.
Because of this, this power was used for overwhelmingly petty things. Uncanny sports betting mostly. Bouncing through other Sundays just running a clean sweep on NFL scores and spreads. Then he followed each season and then also expanded to high school sports. Once he began on the NHL and trying to convert Canadian dollars he spent the idle time "resetting" just catching up on everything and scribbling in the spiral notebook that skipped along with him.
Stopping assassinations or trying to influence elections were out of the question. Not just because of Ernesto's lack of prowess (he get a good 12K steps a day between the office and the commute but he not a trained counter sniper) but also because of the time. Go back 40 or 50 years into the past and effectively sentence himself to death leaving a jilted present, or in such a case, for him, future.
The betting made Ernesto major money but cost him a relationship when his girlfriend, suspicious of why he would disappear for two days and return on Tuesdays often wearing same clothes from Saturday, decided he was cheating on her and simply left. On seeing the flurry of angry texts from her and the final word of "I'm blocking your number" he thought about explaining this to her. or showing her, but it would need her patience to wait for his return. And that was gone.
Ernesto did tell someone. He left his job after six months of this power. He was loaded from all the betting, each game giving him the confidence to drop bigger and bigger amounts on the results. This was key and he never wanted to demonstrate his "luck" to someone multiple times. Once was luck. Twice a fluke and three times something un allowed.
But on a trip out to Seattle he ran into a friend from college, Zack who asked him "But I heard you quit your job? How can you afford to travel so often?"
And Ernesto told him and offered to prove it to Zack. "Give me your address. I will go back to tomorrow. Ill think about landing at the airport and then just get a ride to your place. Then you will know"
"But if its in the past and this is now. How would I know. I would just be surprised."
"Tell me something you planned on doing today. That you know. All the details. What did a a cashier wear? Stubbed your toe? The subject line of an email."
Zack backed away and said he wouldn't have time but that he believed him. "Sure. But I just don't have the time for that. Good luck."
Ernesto then wondered if he could have handled that better. Maybe flash back to that scene and try again. bring something from the past. Predict with accuracy every game score Something with a bit more teeth to it.
That was the only person Ernesto ever told. His body let him know that the cumulative effects of the extra days added up to extra birthdays so by age 35 he effectively was getting closer to 40. He swore the falling hair and adult acne were not genetics but side effects of this. So, he kept his winnings in savings and stopped using the ability until one evening it fluttered away from him so all he could do was daydream about the past.
