Time Travelers Book 1

Chapter 4

"rise and shine, my friend" a voice with a thick Scottish accent said into my ear, as I felt my body being rolled back and forth. Light streamed into my eyes as I opened them. Brown and metallic colors filled my vision. Footsteps echoed in the room and I rose my aching body of the bed. My left hand ran through my new wavy ginger hair. So I was not dreaming and I am really trapped in some unknown time and place. James were placing a clay jug and a porcelain plate with a loaf of bread and some cheese that made my nose hair raise. 

I rose from the bed and walked over to the table that had been set with two plates, rusty cutlery and two cracked cups. Mold had formed on the breads crust and the cheese had blue spots all over it. It felt like a lump was trapped in my throat as I gazed across the table. 

"Take a seat" James said as he pointed towards one of the two chairs. Small drops of sweat formed on my forehead as I tried to sink the lump in my throat. The chair creaked as I sat down on it and dragged it closer to the table. James sat across the table and cut out a piece of bread and cheese. He put it together like a sandwich and began digging in. Rumbling sounds echoed in my stomach as it twisted under the touch of my hand. 

I cut out a piece of bread, that had the least amount of the green sponges on it, with a rusty knife. Crumbs fell onto the plate as I scrapped off the dry mold. I took some of the expired cheese and placed it on my bread like the man in front of me, who was feasting like there was no tomorrow. The food was dry and stiff. I drank the liquid from the jug, which made my pupils widen, because of the strong sensation of alcohol that filled my mind. Holding my hand in front of my mouth, I began to cough as if my lunges were falling out. A squeaking sound came followed by footsteps. James patted me on my back and looked down at me with worry. 

"Are you alright, Buddy" he asked as I tried to regain the air in my lungs. I nodded my head and James removed his hand from my back . We both went back to eating our so called breakfast. 

"Mr Watt, could you by any chance tell me a little about this town we are in" I asked followed by lying " my memories are still a bit confusing after the incident last night". I tried my best to cover up, that I was not the person that he thought I was. 

James gazed at me like if I was some sort of test subject, which made my hands shake as if they had been dipped in a bucket filled with ice. A smile came on his face as he said "of course my friend, besides your were suppose to accompany me to the university today anyways". 

We had finished cleaning up the shop and James was now looking the door to the place I had spent my first night. He had told me that we had brought this little place together, when we arrived in Glasgow a year ago, and that I was the one that had created all the clock, which I saw when I woke up from my so called fall yesterday. James worked at a university in the city while I spend most of my days making clocks for rich people. 

The streets were crowded and filled with a mix of mud and animal droppings. Everything smelled horrible, but at least it did not smell fake like back in my time. For some reason I would rather smell something nasty that is real, than smell something good that was fake. Even though I had not know James for very long something about him made me trust him blindly. James said that he had to deliver a letter to the university. It was something about a science competition he was going to enter. 

We came to a giant Gothic inspired building and walked through the front door. For all my life I had only seen such building in history books. I felt weird that I would be the first and only one of my classmate to ever walk into such a building. It smelled like old and new book mixed together to create an euphoria sensation. 

James walked over to a wooden box that had a hole in the top and was lock so that no one could open it. He smiled at me as he pressed the envelope through the hole and then said "This year George, this year I am going to win the science competition, I can feel it". He was like a child that had just gotten new toy filled with hope and joy. 

"Step aside looser, the science competition ain't for amateurs" a voice yelled and made us both turn. James joy vanished as he said "what do you want Cailin". A man wearing a black smoking was walking towards us, his hair was a shady black and his eyes looked like they could kill someone with that ice cold color. I bad sensation filled my stomach as the guy walked up to us with a smirk on his face. 

"well still think you have chance to win James even do you have lost god knows how many times against me" Cailin said while James right hand turned into a shaking fist. I placed a hand on my friends shoulder and sent a glare towards the stranger. 

"Well this year James has an invention that is going to win against any load of crap you can come up with" I uttered and James looked towards me with surprise and a laugh just came from Cailin. Seriously what am I doing, I am not suppose to interfere with time, who knows what damage it can cause. Cailin had a smirk on his face as he placed an envelope in the box and said "ohh dear, I look forwards to seeing this invention of your Mister Watt". 

Those was the last words the man spoke, before he walked away from us. James turned towards me with red covering his face as he spate out "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINK GEORGE".  I placed a hand on his shoulder and said "relax my friend, I have faith in you". Might as well go all the way now, since there probably is no turning back anyways, I thought. 

"George I haven't even started my invention, how am I suppose to make something that is better than Cailins invention" he said while biting down on his lips. A sigh escape my lips as a guilt came over my body. I gave him half a smile and said "if we work together, we can create something much better than Cailins invention".  I reach out my hand and asked "right partner".  A small laugh came from James as he grabbed onto my hand while saying " of course partner". 

James decided to take me to a bar that evening, as a thank you for standing up for him. We went in and you could see poorly dressed woman walking around flirting with men. This place was so filthy I swear I saw a rat running underneath a woman dress. James handed me something called ale and told me to drink up. I drank it and had a burning sensation floating into my mouth. It tasted good and bad at the same time. Never in my life had I ever come across such a weird drink. I took another one and another one. We sang songs with some of the men from the working class and had fun smoking badly rolled cigarettes. At some point my vision became blurry and everything went black.