CHAPTER 2
The smell of stuff rotting and extremely polluted air was enough to make me vomit more than a few times. I looked at the mess that I’ve made and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference whether I cleaned it up or not. I looked around and I realised that I was on the edge of a cliff. All I saw were industrial chimneys spewing out smoke, clouding the horizon with toxic fumes. I felt my pockets and pulled out Steve. It was still glowing but not as intensely as before. I slipped it back into my pocket and walked off, not knowing where I would end up.
After what seemed like an eternity, I finally came up to a newspaper stand. I approached it and grabbed the nearest newspaper I could get my hands on. My eyes scanned the front page, hoping to find out where I was but it turned out that I was looking for the wrong thing. It wasn’t a matter of where, but when. I looked at the date on which the newspaper was printed and almost had a heart attack. In the top right corner of the newspaper, 21 January 2153 was printed on. I stared at the fine print, frozen in a plethora of emotions. Suddenly, a raspy voice behind me said “Hey kid, mind sparing some change for a homeless man?” I turned around and came face to face with an old man. He had rags for clothing, a shaggy beard and untamed hair. He also had soft hazel brown eyes that made him look kind and trustworthy. Without saying a word, I dug in my pockets and pulled out a five dollar bill. The homeless man looked at it in awe. “I haven’t seen one of those ever since I was a boy! How did you come to possess such a rare thing?”
“Rare? Are you kidding me? It’s like the most common thing you can find… well… from what I’ve seen at least.” I replied
The homeless man looked at my pockets and pointed at the bulge that was there. “What have you got there?” he asked. I pulled out Steve from within my pockets and showed it to him. He stared at it, wide-eyed and snatched it from me. “Y-you… when are you from?”
“Umm… England?” I replied
“Not where, when! Answer me, boy!” he snapped. I stared at him, unable to process what was going on. He grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me along as he walked to an unknown destination. “Don’t think I don’t know what that machine does, boy. I might be homeless but I’m not an idiot.” He said as he dragged me along the road. After what seemed like an eternity, he turned into an alley and stopped before a door. The door was made out of metal and a symbol of a falcon with its wings outstretched and leaves right under it.
“Forgive me” the homeless man suddenly said. The next thing I knew, he punched me square on the face and knocked me out cold.
