The Reverter

2019

"Hey, are you ok? You look very stressed."

I sat down on the bed to my right.

My mother came and sat beside me and ran her fingers through my hair in a comforting manner. I was confused, but I had to say something to her.

"I...I have a headache"

She then put her hand on my forehead and said, "you don't seem to have a fever...but...look if something is wrong you can tell me. The Annu I know won't let a simple headache stop him." She smiled at me, her eyes glistening with love for me.

"Oh...I know what's wrong! You forgot to do your homework!"

"Yeah..."

"Oh don't worry! I will talk with your teacher. Besides, he will be angrier if you're late."

She kissed my forehead and then left my room.

I looked around the room. This was my room from when I was in school, and that woman was my mother. But how was this possible? What was happening?

I found a bag on my study table in front of me. I stood up and looked at the bag. It was my tuition bag. And beside it, was my phone (my old phone). I went towards the table and picked up my phone pushing the power button.

The lock screen read: 5:02 5th April 2019.

"Wait this means that I am at the beginning of my 10th standard!" I shouted in disbelief. Maybe a little too loud.

"What was that Annu?"

"Nothing...it turns out I finished my homework!"

"Then leave already!"

"Yes, Ma!"

So I had somehow travelled to the past? My head was spinning. How is this possible? A few minutes ago I was in the middle of a nuclear blast, and now I am here? How is any of this possible?

I put on my bag and sandals. If  I was really in 2019, I needed to see the world to confirm it. And my mother probably won't stop nagging me unless I leave. So I decided to head out.

I headed towards the lift, pressed the button, and the door opened. I got in the lift, and while it went down, I contemplated the possibilities about what exactly was happening.

Was I in heaven? Maybe. Is this one of those experiences, in which people see their entire life right before they are going to die? But I already died right? The blast should have killed me instantly. Is this what happens in the afterlife? Do you randomly go back to some time in your past? The last theory seemed the most plausible. But was it?

The lift door opened. 

"Ground floor", a female robotic voice iterated.

I headed out. This was the main lobby of my building. Everything was exactly as I remembered. I spent nine years here. The white marble floors and the walls of the lobby painted in golden yellow, the name plates of the residents which always had dust on them, and the CFL bulbs that lit up the lobby, looked exactly the same.

Out of the lobby, there was the main gate of the building. The watchman at the gate looked at me as I went out the gate, and then went back to listening to the radio on his phone. The neighbouring buildings and housing societies all looked exactly like I remembered. The cars parked on the side of the road reminded me of the time me and my friends had broken a window of one of the cars, and how the car owner had castigated us for it.

I walked onto the road leading to my tuition classes and headed towards the gate of the tuition building. But as I reached the gate of the building, I stopped. I couldn't believe it. My eyes became teary. In front of me was my best friend, Rohit Srivastava.