A Glance Through Time

Chapter Three

  I motioned for him to sit on the bench next to me, folding my hands together nervously in my lap. I had no idea what I was doing, or where I was even going with this. Surely I couldn't just come right and say that I was from the future, and that I time travelled here and had no idea how or why he could even see me? 

  I opened my mouth to speak but no words dared to come out. This was insane. I couldn't do this.

"So whats going on?" He asked nervously, valiantly breaking the deafening silence.

"I-i'm sorry I have to go." I stuttered. "Just forget this ever happened." 

  I bolted up from the bench and began running furiously away from him and towards the street. I could hear him yelling after me, asking me to stop, but I ignored his pleas and continued running as fast as I could. I stopped at a dark alley and began anxiously trying to catch my breath, my eyes prickling with tears that threatened to spill unto my cheeks. I shakily pulled out the time box and turned the knobs back to my home time, stopping to catch my breath once more. My thumb had begun moving towards the reader when I saw a faint shadow appear at the end of alley, almost completely hidden he in the dark. They inched towards me, slowly revealing their features under the soft glow from the streetlamps above. 

  I watched as his face emerged from the darkness, his hazel eyes weighed down with concern, until everything began to blur into a white light and he was gone. 

  The foggy image of my room began to appear before me, until I once again found myself sitting alone in my bed. I fell back onto my mountain of pillows, gasping for air and trying to keep from crying once more. Everything that just happened was laid out right in front me but I just couldn't seem to fit the pieces together. It didn't make sense. There was no logical explanation for why he could see me, especially when no one else in the area could. Is it possible that he was also a time traveller? That's definitely not possible or else he would have figured it out as soon as he saw that no one else could hear or see me. 

  I reluctantly lifted myself out of bed and reached out to grab my phone from my nightstand. I turned it on and checked the time - 7:33pm , looks like I've missed dinner once again. I stripped off my school schools and changed into a fresh pair of lounge wear, then I solemnly made my way down to kitchen. My mother was sitting on the couch with her information chip stuck on to her left temple, most likely watching the news for this week. She looked blankly in my direction and then proceeded to detach the chip from her temple and fold her arms against her chest.

"You missed dinner." She sighed. "Again."

"Sorry mom. I guess I just got carried away again. I've had a lot on my mind. You know, with school quickly coming to an end and exams being only a few weeks away."

"You see, that's the thing." She scoffed and shook her head. "You haven't been thinking about school or the exams and you most certainly haven't been thinking about what you're going to do once you leave. All I wanted from you was to spend the next few weeks together and eat dinner together before you leave me alone. But of course you're too busy messing around with that time box to ever think about anything but yourself."

  Her words took me by surprise and a wave of shame and regret come over me. My mother has never been the type of person to speak her mind and call other people out on their shortcomings, so I couldn't help but feel that she was really hurting over this. 

  I made my way to the couch and sat closely next to her, draping my arm affectionately over and leaning my head on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry. I guess I've just been having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that everything in my life is changing so quickly, and i'm scared of whats next." I whispered.

"I know honey. I just want to see you more throughout the day. Before you leave and go start your life. Even if it's just dinner once a day. That's all I ask."

"Alright. I'll try to be better and join you for dinner from now on."I said and kissed her softly on her forehead. "I'm going to head upstairs now and start getting ready for bed."

"You're not going to have anything to eat first?"

"I don't have much of an appetite right now. Maybe later. Goodnight mom."

  I sat up off the couch and made my way back upstairs. As soon as I made it back to my room I shut the door behind me and sat back down on my bed. I grabbed my information chip from my nightstand drawer and attached it to my temple, instantly seeing the multiple screens of websites filling my vision. I needed to do as much research as I could on time travel to see if anyone else had gone through what I was going through, or if it was even remotely possible. I  was well aware that something like this was technically impossible with the consumer targeted time boxes, but if there was even a sliver of a chance that I wasn't going crazy I needed to know. 

  I spent hours scavenging the e-net, looking for any bugs or viruses that could potentially cause the time box to malfunction in such a peculiar way. Time boxes were well known for having certain technical difficulties, but only ones that would cause it mix up certain dates and times or stop functioning completely. There was absolutely no record of anyone being able to communicate with another person from the past. I was at a complete loss.

  I removed my chip and laid back down on my bed. I couldn't deal with this now, not when in a few weeks my entire life as I knew it would be uprooted. I wish I could just forget about what happened, or pretend it didn't matter, but no matter how hard I tried to pretend it didn't happen, it was all I could think about - he was all I could think about. He was beautiful, and like no one I had ever met before. He represented everything I wished was different about my life and the time I was born, and all of the things I wished I had. I barely knew this boy but already I wanted to see his face again and talk to him about all of the crazy stuff that's going on. However, I knew he would never understand. How could he? He lives in a time where time travel is just a magical theory, and couldn't possibly imagine that over 200 years in the future a girl would be time travelling back just to see him. It sounds delusional even to me, and I was born in a time where time travel is as common as brushing your teeth.

  My eyes suddenly began to feel heavy as I imagined the hazel eyed boy standing over me and smiling, as if we've known each other a thousand years. My body began feeling limp and I tried to reach out and touch him, but he was no longer there.