A Timely Matter

Chapter 1

Screams of Solitude

The sound of a high-pitched buzz was the source of my drowsiness, it left me restless throughout the entirety of the night, and despite it now being midday I believed that I could still find sleep through all this. Not that 'all this' counted as much, but it would have been nice to see the world of dreams at least once this week. I slowly moved my head away from my arm, I seemed to be propped upright on a chair with my head resting on my arms, which were in turn resting on a wooden table. It was only when the buzz turned into a soft hum that I returned my head to its former throne, but as soon as this happened I heard the high-pitched squeal again.

This time, though, there was both a hum and a squeal, which was strange, the machine couldn't make two noises at once. I tried my best to look over the sleeves on my arms and out the small window about two meters away from me, there was a small girl with thick curly hair letting the world know she had a voice. And by the world, I of course was over exaggerating, but it was certainly a loud shriek, I was tempted to walk over and shut her up, but something told me that was a bad idea. It was not at all the parent-looking figure who stood nearby, watching me through the window with a contorted face and a questioning hand gesture.

I finally found it in me to remove myself from my sleeping position, and exited the small room I was in. I had forgotten that I was in the school, and the girl must be shrieking because I appeared to be a strange man who had infiltrated her classroom. Alas, I was merely assisting the teacher a few hours ago, playing with wires and electrical cables to try and get a small computer running. I hadn't used one of the old ones in years, so I had to slow down time a bit and play with it while the teacher was busy moving at the pace of a snail. I couldn't appear a fool to her, or she may just ask my boss to fire me.

Turns out, she understood what I had done and fired me anyway. Or, at least, that's what the note beside the computer told me. It said, word for word:

"Please do not use such magic in my classroom again, Mr. Simon, you should know that these things are not tolerable in zones near children and workers. Information prior would be necessary in order to evacuate those who are unable to withstand the pressure of time manipulation."

Which to me was absurd, there wasn't one living being which couldn't handle some simple time tricks. Although, if anyone was allergic to Peanuts there may be a problem, I often ate it for lunch and I could be carrying the scent of a squirrel.

I trudged out the room and toward the small girl, she was still staring at me, but had stopped her sound of death. I reached out my hand, "My name's Mister Simon, but I've been fired, so I guess to you it's just Chrome".

The girl looked at me, "But Mister Simon, you fixed our computer and you slept in our classroom, how could you have been fired?"

I was shocked she had any voice left, after the incident, and decided that speaking to her would only cause confusion. If she was the age I thought her to be, which was around 5 years, she wouldn't understand the concept of time very well and I could possibly damage her brain. So, I just shrugged my shoulders and continued out of the school's building and toward a small van out in the car parking zone. If there was one thing the boss couldn't take away from me, if I were to be fired, it was the van which I kept all my knowledge in. Losing that would be like losing the Great Library, it would cost millions of generations their lives.

Time is the greatest currency of the future, and I am not about to lose it all because of one single incident at a primary school. Or, I suppose that counts to about 50 incidents, perhaps I am in for a ride.