Twice

Alfie Logan sits in the office of Detective Vincent LaPorta in the Bahamas after winning two million dollars at roulette. Vincent is convinced that Alfie could never have guessed three numbers correctly without doing something illegal and demands to know how he did it. Alfie sits quietly, reserved, and makes no definitive statements. 

When Vincent mentions Gianna Rule and how Alfie sent her the money, Alfie grows uneasy. He asks for his bag, which contains a black marble notebook. He hands the notebook to the detective, telling him that all his answers are inside, though he may not believe them. Within the pages, says Alfie, is a love story.

In 1966, Alfie was living with his parents in Kenya, who moved there to become missionaries. Alfie was eight years old, and he made two friends there: a girl his age known as Princess and an elephant who lived on a nearby ranch. Both Alfie and Princess often spent their Saturdays playing with the elephant and each other. At one point, she mentioned getting married and buying a house in Kenya together.

On one of these Saturdays, Alfie awoke to his father telling him to go sit with his mother while he went to get medicine. Alfie’s mother had become extremely ill after a bug bite, and her life was nearing its end. Alfie preferred to play than sit with his sleeping mother and, after only a minute, went out to run through the fields with his Superman cape. When he came back, his father was distraught, and his mother was dead. 

Alfie spent the night in grief and awoke the next morning to the exact same day unfolding. He was confused to see his mother was still there. Alfie’s mother could sense what had happened and explained that he had a family gift to be able to do things over one more time. She warned him not to use it for greed or to use it too often, and she told Alfie what she loved about him before dying again. Alfie remained confused and in shock about his new gift, but he was grateful for the chance to see his mother one last time. Still, he realized he could not change the order of death, and that if someone was meant to die, they would.

Vincent is still convinced Alfie is making up his life story and asks Alfie where he got his name. Alfie explains that it was from an old movie about a man whose escapades with women eventually lead to his downfall. Vincent questions whether Alfie is a “player,” but Alfie clarifies that he only ever experienced the downfall. Vincent is impatient and just wants to hear about the roulette winnings, but Alfie insists that it will take time to explain it all.

Alfie’s life went on after his mother died, but living alone with his father was difficult, as both were grieving and at a loss as to how to help one another. Alfie leaned into music, playing on a piano that his mother used to play at church, as it was given to the family after her death. 

Alfie developed anxiety and a constant fear of something horrible happening, and it often led to episodes of panic. After a while, he grew tired of always feeling afraid, and one day he was dared by some friends to knock on the door of a house rumored to belong to a witch. Alfie was terrified and only knocked once before running down the street in tears and hearing his friends laughing behind him.

That night, Alfie remembered what his mother told him about his gift, and he did everything to wish for another chance. He woke up the next morning to the exact same day and found there was a sense of power involved with knowing everything that would happen. When the moment of the witch’s house arrived, Alfie decided to suggest knocking himself, and he told the others to watch him as he did so. It was like an entirely new Alfie, but he still had to live with the memory of his initial mistake, as he did every time he lived a day over. He clarifies that he cannot time travel in the traditional sense; he is limited to his own life and to a single second chance.

Vincent laughs and tells Alfie he still doesn’t believe him, but Alfie questions why he would write down an entire fabricated life. Vincent thinks it must just be a quirk related to being a criminal and teases Alfie. Vincent unwraps a Life Saver and puts it in his mouth, and when Alfie asks if he’s quitting smoking, Vincent mocks Alfie as some sort of time traveler.

Alfie learned how to jump back in time instantly by tapping his body and thinking the word “twice.” In order to reach a specific moment in his past, he had to focus on it intently, which meant keeping record of everything he did using composition notebooks. Alfie began skipping backward for poor grades on tests, incidents of embarrassment in school, and whatever else went wrong. Once, he skipped back in time to help a friend (Wesley) who was being bullied by getting a teacher involved just in time, but Alfie regrets that he did not use his ability to help others as much as he could have. 

He muses on the reality that he must have lived many lifetimes by now. In sixth grade, to prove his courage to a girl, Alfie climbed into a lion cage at the zoo and then skipped back in time right before he was eaten. He realized then that he could not prove his courageous acts to anyone but himself.

Vincent announces his plans to look up the zoo incident to prove Alfie’s story, but Alfie tries to explain that doing so is impossible, because in this timeline, it never happened. Vincent finds the reason very convenient and reluctantly continues listening to Alfie read from his notebook.