The Reverter

Strange Sensations

We entered her home. The eerie feeling was gone. I turned back to look outside the apartment door…and the feeling was back. Do you know how you feel if you look down at those very deep diving pools? The pool is so deep that you can't see the bottom? That was how I was feeling. But then Akriti closed the door, and all was well. But what was it? Why did I feel that? The house itself didn't feel out of place, but I felt quite strange being here.

"Come, sit! I am coming in a minute," Akriti said, pointing to the couch. She   was wearing a yellow sundress and round bangle-like earrings. Her hair cascaded down to her neck and ended in a beautiful curve. She was looking very pretty. Then I looked at Rohit, he was wearing cargo shorts and a multi-coloured checkered shirt with the collar button unbuttoned. The shirt hem was outside his pants and the sleeves were folded up to the elbow. And to top it off he was wearing a sophisticated-looking watch, with a luminous dial. And then I looked at myself: just a plain red t-shirt and blue jeans. How did I become friends with such fashionable people?

Akriti went into the hallway and into the kitchen. We went on to sit on the couch. It was a set of two similar golden-coloured couches arranged in an 'L' shape. In the front of us was a 32-inch smart TV sitting on a beautiful brown cabinet which also had an intricately made sculpture of a horse on it. And then there was the rectangular coffee table in front of us. To the left of the Television cabinet was a bookshelf separated by a green potted plant and to its left was the door. The top of the bookshelf had a lot of awards, which I assumed belonged to Akriti's father. Then there was the wall to our left which had wooden wallpaper on it in contrast to the other walls which were just light cream coloured. It had a dining table in front of it and a framed photo on the wall of Akriti with her parents. It was an old photo, for Akriti was just a child in the photograph. The walls also had shelves with a lot of expensive-looking showpieces on them.

Akriti came back with a tray in her hands, which she put on the coffee table and then sat on the couch to our right. The tray had cookies of several shapes and sizes. Rohit picked one up and while pointing around the room he said, "You sure you aren't rich Akriti?"

Akriti smiled.

"Most of them are gifts from grandpa. You take one of the cookies too Anriudh! I made these!"

I took one, with a surprised expression on my face.

"You can bake?" I asked. Rohit was busy munching on the cookies.

"Yeah, I have made dinner too!"

Impressed-is a small word to describe what I was feeling at that moment.

"Akriti, These are the best cookies in the world!" Rohit said as he took one cookie after another.

"Hey, leave some space for dinner too! but thank you so much!"

"Akriti," I said, munching a cookie, "How are you so good at so many things?"

"My aunt taught me a lot of things. Cooking was one of them."

"I am severely impressed, Akriti!" I exclaimed.

Akriti laughed and thanked me with her hand on her chest.

"Anyways, my dad will be home by 9:30, so we have about an hour to discuss the time traveller things."

"Yeah right, let's start with you Akriti," Rohit said.

Akriti clapped her hands together and said, "Alright so..." She paused to clear her throat, "I have thought a lot about how our dear Anirudh could have predicted what he predicted today but there is no explanation...unless you really are a time traveller."

"I know right...it just doesn't...make any sense...but then you are a time traveller?" Rohit said.

"Yeah, that is the only explanation…mostly. And you made Another prediction about Notre-Dame burning right? Tell us more about that."