MONOTONE.

Meet our protagonist. He was not popular, or handsome, or clever. He's an average 17-year-old teen who has high aspirations in life, who has tremendous potential but feels like he’s stuck in an eternal slump. Growing up, he never had a definite goal of what to do in his life. So following his peers after grade 10, our protagonist chose the science stream. Now he is in his second and hopefully the final year of his preparation for the most prestigious entrance examination for undergraduate courses in India – MEET (Medical & Engineering Entrance Test). The Stress of preparing for one of the most difficult and competitive exams in the country was a little too much his poor soul could take. The protagonist is now 3 months away from giving his examination. Let’s dive into his daily routine.

4.00 AM

The elegant opening theme of Star Wars plays in his phone as the alarm tune disturbing his sleep. It's like as if the protagonist wants this theme to be the opening intro of a daily serial known as his life. Feeling the weight of a thousand elephants on his body, the protagonist forcibly picks himself up from his bed which felt like a pile of roses considering the little sleep he had. As he was just awake - The pride in himself for waking up early, the dissatisfaction that he’s not putting in enough effort and the anxiety that the D-Day is only 3 months away hit him so hard that the sleep escaped like the sand grains from a clenched fist.

4:30 AM

The world is no longer in colors for him. Just like the black letters printed on a white paper, the world was in black and white for him. He tidied himself up and sat on his table to study for his exam according to the ridiculously hectic timetable he prepared just yesterday. As he sat down to study with a little confidence and a little fear that came along with it, it seemed to him as if he was the David and the syllabus was Goliath. Just after 2 minutes into studying, he felt his eyes dragging downwards. He’s feeling drowsy. He fought and fought and fought until eventually he gave in to the desire to sleep. Furthermore, he slowly escaped into the clutches of sleeps until he heard a loud voice and a thud on his table that said – “ WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING ?”.

The protagonist woke up to see a 30-year-old adult who stood before him. He was shocked by both the facts that the adult looked his future self and the world was in colors to him. The adult looked like he had been through a rough time. He had a patchy beard and a thin hairline. His plus size body was clearly visible in his corporate outfit.

“ I’m you but from the future.” declared the adult.

“Uh mm, I can… I can see that, but why are you here ? How…is time travel possible?” replied the protagonist.

“Stop talking. What the hell are you doing? How can you sleep with your exams 3 months away? It’s thanks to you that I’m in deep debt with a failed marriage and a tedious job that I don’t even like. Figure out what you want or else work hard and get into the best college. Just don’t be mediocre. I’m going now, and I don’t have a lot of time. I hope we can change us. NOW DON’T YOU DARE SLEEP!!” the adult disappeared.

The Protagonist was in shock seeing what had happened. He hardly processed what just happened.

“Don’t mind his words, darling” a very intoxicating womanly voice was heard by the protagonist from behind.

As he looked behind him, it was a gorgeous woman wearing a metallic silver colored frock. She was too humane to be a robot and too artificial to be a human.

“Who are you ?” questioned the protagonist with a shaky voice.

“ I knew it. You forgot me completely. Of course, what am I thinking ? You barely even see me these days. Even if you see me, it’s for those stupid assignments and question papers. Did you forget all the stuff we did ? Did you forget all the chats we had with beautiful girls ? Did you forget all the places that I took you to ? After all we’ve been through, I never expected that this day would come.” replied the phone with tears in her shiny eyes.