The Time Capsule

Chapter Two.

          A few days passed, and each time she walked into the kitchen, only to find her aunt dead, she woke up again. And again. And again. It seemed to be a never-ending cycle. Eventually, Nadia started to try out different things. Staying with her aunt all day. But it seemed to her that even if she decided to stay home, her body would somehow control her and move her to, say, the bathroom, or to her bedroom for a few minutes. Then she would run downstairs, discovering her aunt.
          It was almost as if someone didn’t want her to save her. Which made no sense… And the one thing that always came with her whenever she woke up? The tiny little hourglass. Seemingly harmless, and yet, Nadia had started to wonder if it was the cause of all this.
          Now, about a week into this strange loop, Nadia opened her eyes, and she decided to sit there for a few minutes. 'Maybe if I just don’t get up today, nothing bad will happen. Although… I kind of doubt that. Maybe I should try to go somewhere other than my old house or here? Talk to someone other than Carina and my aunt?'
            Nadia quickly put some black exercise shorts and a white button-up, tying her boots and grabbing her backpack. Once out the door, not even saying goodbye to her aunt, she got right on her bike, considering where to go.
          Doménikos went to the same school with her. Carina, Niko, and Nadia were fairly close friends. Niko lived a few blocks from here, and they usually carpooled to school with Carina. ‘But the problem is… what if he doesn’t even believe me? Should I even try to tell him? You know… even if for some reason it doesn’t work, I’ll still have another day to try again. And… Do I even age in this loop?’ She decided to ride to his house, quickly sending a text to Carina to meet her at his house before her cheer meet.
             About 15 minutes later, she arrived at his one story brownstone. Nothing particularly exciting decorated the outside of the house, save for the colorful plastic flamingos all over the lawn. Courtesy of some students from school. They wanted to prank Niko, and so they dug the flamingos into the ground insanely far down, so only the heads were visible. Unfortunately, the students knew that Niko’s least favorite animal was a flamingo. Unfortunately for them, he was legendary for his revenge schemes. Nadia felt a tiny bit bad for the kids who tried to prank Doménikos.
           Pulling up and setting her bike on the ground, she carefully sidestepped some pink heads in the grass as she knocked on the door. Niko opened the door, nodding to her. Her friends were quite striking. If you saw them on the sidewalk, you would probably stop and stare. Niko had long curly black hair, with skin the color of coffee and bright green eyes. Carina, on the other hand, had fiery red hair in a short bob, always unkempt and messy. Her skin was so pale, the color of a cloud on a sunny day. Her eyes were two different shades of blue, one being a deep ocean blue, whereas the other was a light sky blue.
           “You said you wanted to explain something? What do you need?” Carina parked her car, hopping out and striding over to them casually. “Yeah, Nadia. You seemed a bit… off… earlier. And it IS 5:30 in the morning. I actually came by a few minutes ago to say hello, but you had already left to go to Niko’s. What’s up?”
Sighing, she sat down on the grass.
            “I’m in a time loop.” No other explanation sounded reasonable to her, so she just came out with it. A thick silence descended upon the group. “A time loop? Are you serious?” Carina responded, looking worried. “She’s serious.” Niko replied. “Why do you think that?” Nadia rubbed her temples.
          “Everyday when I wake up, it’s 5:00. My aunt is sitting on the couch, reading the same exact book. I tell her I’m going to go, and she responds by saying to me: “Be back by 4:00. Then she says she’s making Alfredo tonight. Every single night.” Her friends glance at each other. “I’m not crazy. Maybe I am… I don’t know! It gets worse. I leave to go dig up the Time Capsule, right? And the first day I found this hourglass.” She pulled it out of her pocket. “See? And then I go back, confused about my findings, since I didn’t put the hourglass in the container. I go back into the kitchen, and my aunt is DEAD. On the ground. No pulse. And then I look up, and the clock is moving backward. And then I wake up and it’s 5:00 and… This has happened for a literal week! I’m so sick of seeing my aunt die! And no matter what I do, it keeps on happening.”
            Niko and Carina stood there, both looking at the ground. “I’m… I only have 10 ½ hour days. I wake up at 5:00, redo the loop at 3:30. I need help. And Carina. I spoke to you the other day about the Time Capsule and cheer meet. Do you remember that?” Carina shook her head. “No…” Nadia raked her hands through her dark brown pixie. She was the only one in their friend group that she didn’t find to be very striking. Nadia had boring medium brown eyes, dull brown hair, and olive colored skin. She was about 5’6”. There was nothing too notable about her appearance, besides the tattoos that weaved their way up her arms and onto her neck.
         “Do you believe me?” Carina wrung her hands.
       “I’m TRYING to believe you… it’s just… difficult.” Niko shrugged. “I know you’re not lying. But… you have to admit… This sounds a little crazy. And before you say that you’re not crazy, I believe you. It’s hard to wrap my head around, but I believe you.”
      “Carina? Do you..?” Nadia asked.
        Carina tucked her hands into her pockets. “I need time to think about it.”
         Nadia groaned. “You don’t HAVE time! I only have a few hours left, and then you and Niko will forget it all again. And I have to explain it. All over again.”
        Carina sat down on the grass, joined by Niko. “I’m sorry. It’s unbelievable. A time loop? That sounds like something that we would’ve come up with when we were kids.”
        “Hey, Carina. Be nice. She’s serious. After all we’ve been through together, is this really the least believable thing we’ve talked about? Maybe you should give her some trust.” Niko spoke up, frustrated at Carina’s attitude towards Nadia.
          Carina wrapped her arms around herself. “You don’t think this seems ridiculous? I’m worried about your sanity, Nadia. Ever since your parents died, you’ve been acting a lot different. Some days, you’re really nice, and other days, you feel withdrawn. I’m worried.”
          Niko was about to speak up and argue with Carina when the hourglass began to glow in Nadia’s hand. Nadia quickly started to ask if they had any suggestions about how to fix the time loop, but it was too late.
      “Oh no. It doesn’t want me to ask-” As her eyes began to close, a scream started to claw its way up her throat, effectively silenced by the sunlight poking through her eyelids. She opened them, tearing up with emotion. “No… just when I was about to ask…” A note was on her bedside table: “Asking for help is against the rules. If you wish to sentence yourself to an endless life in this loop, go ahead. Ask. Or maybe you’d like to figure out a way out by yourself.” The note quickly disappeared, but she understood what that meant. She was alone in this