The End of the world

Earth1974

I was waiting patiently inside the time machine for the procedure to start. I was crouched down and following all the instructions that were being given to be via the headset that I was wearing, Henry was speaking to me all the time making sure all was well and that I wasn't facing any problem. The final countdown began and I was told to close my eyes as the lightning that occurred once the machine was in its final stage was unbearable, though I had solar glasses on still I closed my eyes and began the countdown inside my head  ...10...9...8...7...6...5..4..3..2..1...  kaboooooom, the last thing I heard was Henry's instruction to open my eyes only after the machine fully stops, with a loud noise much like the sound of lightning and lots of vibration as if I was in a major earthquake I was taken to the year 1974, hopefully!

I slowly opened my eyes, nothing was visible as I was still inside the machine which had big tinted glasses, I got up and opened the door with the button on the side of the entrance door. with a little buzz sound, the door squeaked open slowly. I stepped out of the machine and looked around with wide eyes. I was in an alley with walls all around , I stepped out quickly and closed the door to the time machine, Henry was smart enough to drop me off at an alley which was deserted so as to not attract attention.

Exiting the alley I looked around to memorized the place where the time machine was so that I don't waste my time finding it once it was time to go back. I looked at my stop watch, I had exactly 28 minutes left to grab something which had the year on it, most preferably a newspaper so as to make sure I was in the right time. I looked around and saw a few people staring at me, I had to blend in and make sure no one follows me or gets suspicious of me. I started walking at a fast pace to find a magazine store or a newspaper stand to grasp a copy and then rush back to the machine. On the way I saw people dressed up in their classy 1974 attires, women in their bell botoms and men in their check pants, it was wonderful. 

I couldn't find anything other than restaurants or clothing stores, seeing the stop watch I almost got a panic attack, I had another 15 minutes to return to the time machine, I reached the end of the road and suddenly at a distance I saw a man selling magazines on the roadside, I quickly made my way towards him and grabbed the first magazine that I could put my hands on, I paid him 50 dollars and asked him to keep the change, the man was obviously surprised because 50 dollars for one magazine was too much even in today's time but I did not have any time for small talk or to get back the change, I thanked him and started running towards the time machine, I remembered it was in the alley at the end of the road, another look at the stop watch and I almost had a mini heart attack, I had 7 minutes to get back, as much as I tried not grabbing attention I was running so fast that not one not two but everyone around looked at me as if I was some outlaw trying to get away from a crime scene, the speed at which I was running I'm sure Ussain Bolt would have a run for his money!

Finally I reached the alley where my time machine was parked, I stopped and looked at the watch, 2 minutes it showed, I quickly typed in the code with shaky hands and slowly the door to the time machine opened, I eneterd quickly and crouched, I was still panting when suddenly the door closed and a similar bright light filled the space, I shut my eyes tightly and grabbed the floor to make sure I reach back in one piece. I did a mental countdown 10...9...8...7..6..5..4..3..2...1... and with a familiar loud noise I was out of that time. Once again a bright flashlight was thrown straight into my eyes and I shut them even more tightly, I started opening my eyes slowly when I heard a loud thud which indicated I had reached my destination. 

Withe the tinted glasses alI around I wasn't sure if I was back in the right time, I quickly got up with the magazine still in my hand and reached the exit door and opened it, arms wrapped around me as soon s I stepped out, I could hear loud cheers and congratulatory voices filling the space, I was still a bit nauseous due to the panicky situation that I was in a while ago. After adjusting my eyes and mind to the present situation I noticed Hnery and Mark hugging me tightly and Mr. Collins standing at the corner feeling proud, "Hey, you made it back in time, we were so scared that you might not make it and we will loose you, but you made it back, our experiment is a success", all of them said in unison. I hugged them back and we all had tears in our eyes, our hard work, our 5 years of planning and executing this project were not a waste, we had successfully invented the first-ever time machine, this was a huge success Mr. Collins was such a big support in all this. "I'm proud of you boys, now lets take this to the management, Henry did you manage to record the whole thing in your camcorder?", asked Mr. Collins. "Yes I did sir, everybit of it!" 

The thing about time travel is that no matter how much time you spend in the era of your choice, in the present its just about a minute, you don't loose time in the present. Though I spent half an hour in the past, I was back to this year in am minute. This was amazing I thought to myself, this experiment, our work, all this was a so surreal, unbelievable. We head achieved what no once could achieve in all these years.  This was a major breakthrough in science!

With this thought we all headed to our favourite hangout joint, the beer parlour, it was time for some celebration and we deserved every bit of it.