The Time Capsule

Chapter Four.

      Sitting down on a rusty old seesaw, Nadia sighed. She had decided to come to this old park that she used to visit before her parents had died. Now, it was abandoned, and you could probably contract multiple diseases just by coming in a near vicinity of it. She didn’t care, though. It’s not like she could get sick. And if she did, she would just wake up the next day, only to find that the time loop still continued.
       With the nasty swingset moving in the slight breeze and the Merry Go Round that slowly spun around and around in languid circles, most people would be terrified of this place. For some reason, though, it had always given her comfort. She kept on thinking back to that conversation with her friends. Carina said that she was withdrawn most times, while other times, she was upbeat and friendly. ‘Do I really act like that? I guess I hadn’t noticed…’ Crossing her arms, she groaned. “I’m so sick and tired of being in this time loop. It’s been about six months. I would be 18 by now if this day hadn’t restarted over and over again!”
         And then she began to think aloud about the Keeper of Time. “Why is he even helping me? And what does a Keeper of Time even do? Some kind of existential nonsense, probably.” The wind picked up, and Nadia had to hold onto the handlebars of the seesaw for fear of the rusty joints breaking and hurting her. Which seemed unlikely, but who was she to question logic?
      “Existential nonsense? How hurtful. I suppose being trapped in a time loop for 6 months and 4 days would make anyone angry. You still haven’t figured it out yet? It’s been several weeks since I last spoke to you.” She felt the see-saw tip with the weight of someone else, lifting her higher into the air. The Keeper of Time seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and he was now sitting on the other end, disgusted at his surroundings but doing little to hide it. “Of all the places to come and sulk, you chose this little dump? How strange.”
       Nadia’s eyes widened when she saw him. He looked completely different. Now, he was 5’10” with light blonde hair and the palest skin she had ever seen, with the same black orbs. He noticed her observation. “Oh, I can change my appearance. After all, I am immortal. And very powerful.”
       She glared at him. “Why are you here again? Just come to bother me some more? And I like this place. It's relaxing.” ‘Why am I explaining myself to a stranger?’
      “Because it brings back memories. Memories of you and your parents taking you here on a hot summer day. Or in winter, when the snow covered the ground, and they bought you hot chocolate at a stand, only to have you spill it all over yourself.
      “How do you know about those memories?” Nadia looked at him suspiciously.
      “I’m the Keeper of Time. Did you not get the memo? I just told you a few weeks ago about my title. I know all that goes on with time. Beginning, end, in between… Past, present, future… You hide nothing from me.” Sighing, he stood up, dusting off his pants. “Lucky for me, I cannot get sick. I would worry that I could get tetanus from sitting on this junk of a swing.”
       Nadia stood up, rage flashing in her eyes. “If you’ve just come to judge the playground, you can leave.” ‘I have no idea what he is capable of, and I don’t trust him at all.’
       “Oh. My apologies. We can’t all grow up in a quaint little town with broken-down playgrounds. Anyway, I have come to offer my assistance. Unless, of course, you’d rather me leave you to your suffering?”
        Nadia crossed her arms. “I might accept. On some conditions. You will promise not to have any ill intent, such as being bent on killing me. Secondly, you will not play any games. I don’t want clues or whatever else you want to do. Lastly, I need to escape this time loop. And I will do whatever I can to get out of it.”
        “Those are some pretty hefty conditions, but I accept. On one condition from me: You help me choose someone else to become the Keeper of Time. I have been in this job for thousands of years, and I have been getting tired of it. I wish to retire and start a new life in a new place. The first Time Keeper, my teacher, passed this onto me, and, in turn, I would like to pass it on to someone else.”
        Nadia squinted. “You want me to find a successor for you? Sure… I guess.”
       “It’s settled! First off, we only have about 20 minutes until you go back in time again, so we need to handle several issues. You need to escape the loop. We need to find out if you’re stuck here by accident or on purpose.”
         She gritted her teeth. “I didn’t put myself here on purpose.”
        Roman Adair frowned. “Or someone else put you in here. Wow. You really listened to nothing I said the other day. Anyways, you probably have an enemy, or, perhaps, Fate is trying to put you here to teach you some kind of lesson.”
       Nadia’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Fate? Is that a being?”
       Roman nodded. “In a sense, yes. Fate is in control of destiny, and it might have put you here for a lesson in character, moral value, or some other-”
       “Existential reason?” Nadia finished.
       “Yes, actually. That might be more likely unless you have an enemy you’re aware of that purposefully trapped you in a time loop?”
       “Wait one minute: Why do you have the hourglass on your palms? I got the hourglass from the Time Capsule. Then the time loop started.”
        Roman’s eyes widened, the neverending black depths growing darker by the second. “You have the hourglass?” He asked in an urgent tone.
       “Yes…? I do.” She reached for it in her pocket, showing it to him.
He snatched it from her, inspecting it carefully. “The hourglass has chosen you for a reason. It always does. I haven’t seen this hourglass for hundreds of years. The last person that held this…”
        Nadia looked confused. “What happened to them?” A pause thickened the air.
        “They died.”