15-Day Writing Challenge

Day 10: The Time Machine

Day 10: You/Your OC Has A Time Machine.

I traveled millions of years into the future in my cardboard box.

It was a sturdy cardboard box, covered in little golden swirls and metal gears and such. There was a little lever in the "driver's seat" which I used to control the time. In front of the lever was a time-dialer. It read the year, the month, the day, the hour, the minute, and the second. I had seen a lot in my cardboard box.

Now, I was on a beach. Large crabs, the size of my head, scuttled across the sand. The sun was set low and red over the horizon.

It seemed like a pitiful sun, dark and dying, ready for its life to end. I wished I could help it. It looked so sad.

That was when I heard something, a gasp. And a pop. Another time machine appeared on the beach. This one was nothing like my cardboard box.

This time machine was fancier, made of shining metals and jewels, and a man sat in the seat, wearing a brown suit and a rather odd mustache. He didn't see me, so I didn't make a sound.

He was having a hard time breathing. I admit, there was little oxygen available here, but my cardboard box had a handy little oxygen mask in the trunk. The crabs scuttled toward him, completely ignoring me.

The man was starting to weaken -- I could feel it. He was losing strength, losing focus. I didn't know what to do.

The crabs scuttled closer. And they scuttled into his machine. Over him, they swarmed, forcing even more breath from him.

In his eyes, I saw the beginnings of panic. He tried to push his own lever, to leave and return to from where he had come. He pushed harder, but his muscles were failing him. His eyes widened, and his mustache drooped just a little more. Sweat broke out on his forehead. He took more shallow breaths and pushed, harder, harder. Finally, there was a cranking sound. The lever surged forward, and in a bright flash of light, the man and his time machine disappeared. The crabs had gone with him.

I shrugged and touched my lever, ready to go home. Hopefully, he was okay, wherever he had gone.