The Mistake

Kalani

It was a normal Friday afternoon, everything was perfect. I got up and got dressed, remembering to grab my favorite light blue hoodie. I ran outside, eager to see my friends. As I got to the stop, the bus was already gone. I smiled, "Welp, guess I gotta go back." I said out loud. I looked down at my watch and typed "20 minutes." I went back in time by twenty minutes. I ran out the door and made it to the bus just in time. I know what you're thinking, 'Kalani, how did you do that?? Time travel hasn't been invented yet!' That's where you're wrong. A great inventor figured out the science of it and made these watches for everyone. He made it free so it was accessible to everyone. It could send you back as far as you wanted, but you can't change anything that happened over a week ago. The butterfly effect and all that, like from a sci-fi movie. I get to the school, looking for my friends. I stumble across Emerson. They're surrounded by people, as always. They moved here from another country and instantly became the most popular students here at AGHS. I walk around the crowd and make my way to homeroom. All of my friends were gathered around my desk. I always sat in the back of the class. I didn't care where everyone else sat, as long as I had my spot in the back. I sat down, everyone greeting me at once. "Kalani! What are you doing this weekend? I can't wait to kick your butt in Mario Kart again!" Jenelle said happily. "I'll be out of town, but maybe next weekend," I responded. "Aww, alright," she said, a hint of sadness in her voice. Emerson walked in as the bell rang, the whole class sat down. As the teacher started to talk, I started to slack off and draw in my sketchbook. I drew everything I could imagine; stars, flowers, people. I especially loved drawing my dad. He died when I was little, and mom won't show me any pictures of him, so I drew and guessed what he looked like. The class went by in a flash, and soon everyone was piling out of the classroom. I stayed behind, not noticing the bell ringing. I felt a slight tap on my shoulder and I looked up. Emerson smiled down at me. "Hey, the bell rang. You might wanna head to your class." They said, helping me pack my stuff up. "Oh, thank you," I respond, blushing and putting my stuff up quickly. I pick my bag up quickly, pushing my glasses up. My watch started to freak out, sparks shooting everywhere and making weird noises. "Everything okay?" they said, looking down at my watch and pointing. "Yeah! Everything is alright, I'm sure it's nothing." I say, quickly covering my watch with my jacket sleeve. I smile awkwardly, wanting to bury myself under the earth. As I try to escape from the conversation, a giant hole opens behind Emerson. It was this big, black and purplish hole, like what you think a black hole looks like in books. "Look out!" I said as I grabbed their hand, trying to pull them away from it. They got yanked harshly into the hole, dragging me along with them. We landed in the year 2020. I landed on top of them, hearing them wince from the weight I put on them. I got up quickly, "Sorry! I am so sorry," I said. "It's alright, you didn't really get a choice," they responded. I stood up and looked around. Everything was so different, almost like we weren't in New York anymore. Everyone was wearing masks and trying to stay away from each other, and doing a terrible job at it. We learned about this in history class, Covid-19 I think. It lasted for years when it randomly disappeared without a trace. It took so many lives. As soon as I realized, I knew today wouldn't be like anything I've experienced before.