The Illusion of Time

The Assignment

"Time is relative. Time is flexible. The dividing line between past, present, and future is an illusion. Reality is ultimately timeless..." a voice echoed around me. I heard a faint...annoying noise beginning to sound too.

"Beep, Beep, Beep...

Beep, Beep, Beep....

BEEP, BEEP,BEEEEEEP!!!!!!"

"Alright already, I'm up, I'm up. SHUT UP!" I curse at my alarm clock, missing the snooze button several times. I sigh and rolled out of bed. Literally. I Stretched and tried to shake off the feeling of sleep deprivation. I looked at the various textbooks littered across my room and began to pick them up and stuff them on bookshelves. I looked at the one I apparently used as a pillow: "A Stubbornly Persistent Illusion: The Essential Scientific Works of Albert Einstein"

"No wonder my neck hurts like a b-"

"BEEP, BEEP,BEEEEEEP!!!!!!"

"I thought I turned that off- Oh, crap, I'm late." I noticed the time on my alarm clock. I Jumped in the shower, barely tried off before putting on clothes, put my hair in a quick messy ponytail, and raced out the door.

I got in my car and drove to the college campus. Traffic was...do I even need to describe traffic? When is it ever really good?

I quickly parked in the student section and made a break for the school doors. "Morning Joe!" I shout as I passed the lazy security guard.
"Morning (Y/n)" He said not looking up from his phone.

I rushed down the halls and slowed down as I reached the doors of my classroom. I opened the door quietly and tried my best to sneak through the room undetected-

"Ms.(L/N), how good of you to join us today. I have to say you're earlier than usual. You're only...an hour late." I heard my professor taunt. I groaned, my peers giggled, and my professor sighed.

"Take a seat (L/N)." I felt eyes follow me all the way to my seat. "Now let's continue..."

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The bell rang and the classroom had people flooding out like air escaping from a popped balloon. I was about to make my escape when the professor called me.

"(Y/N)" I froze. I turned to see the professor at his desk. "Come here."

I sighed and reluctantly stalked over.

"We need to discuss your...learning methods." He began. "You've missed over, hold up let me check again..., 1080 hours of class time. That's 45 days worth of class time and makes up 25% of your time in this semester and we're not even halfway into the semester yet"

"Since when are you a math teacher Mr. Darwin? Last time I checked you were a physics professor doubling as a history professor." I made a weak attempt at joking with him.

"(Y/N) this is serious. You need to shape up." He reprimanded. " Look I have an extra credit assignment for you to start on during thanksgiving break and turn in before the end of the year. It will count as all of the work you missed and count for any assignment you failed during this last quarter and the next quarter. Sound good?"

"Sounds amazing! What do I have to do?" I say jumping at the opportunity.

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"Gosh dangit." I curse as I walked across campus to library. Professor Darwin assigned me a 300 page essay on American history and the people who contributed to it. This means I need to write about something I could write in four pages, but now need to write for 296 more. That sounds even worse in words. But I have no choice to argue.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the Library checking out a backbreaking amount of books . I was walking back to the parking lot with my haul when someone bumped into me knocking me over. The man just kept walking though. I groaned an began picking up everything when I noticed a weird pen on the ground. It was a black fountain pen with a feather sticking out of the end of it.

"Hey Jerk! Ya dropped something...HEY!" I yelled after him but he just kept walking. I gave in with a shrug. "Welp guess I got a free pen." I said stuffing it in my pocket. I reached the parking lot and saw Joe heading to his car. After some begging I got Joe to help me load the books into my car and drove home.

By the time I got home it was 9:00pm and I was borderline passing out. My room was once again a disaster zone of books. I was able to write up to 40 of the 300 pages. I had written everything up to the revolution. My brain I read for hours and yet I still struggled to write. I needed a plan. Maybe I should just start by circling all the important people in the book and writing about the individually. I started with page I was on and skimmed through until I found a name.

"Alexander Hamilton..." I attempted to circle it but the pencil I was using wouldn't work with the gloss of the page. I suppressed a groan and began to look for another writing utensil. The pens were out of ink, the mechanicals were out of lead, and markers and colored pencils were simply out of the question because they are in the other room and I am lazy. I whined in defeat but then I remembered the pen in my pocket. I pulled it out and tried to circle the name again. It worked! I continued circling people.

"Aaron Burr...Marquis de Lafayette, Hercules Mulligan, and John Laurens...Thomas Jefferson...James Madison...George Washington...King George III..." I can't tell you when I passed out but I definitely did. When I woke up I was prepared for what was in store.