I always had trouble getting up. After tough nights, I would always have trouble. The night before he was on Jupiter, tracking down a Rogue Agent from the United States Government. It was a tough night, but he had some clues on where he was.

After getting waking up,  I went to get breakfast and i saw a  name tag of one of the waitresses. Her last name was the same as the Dylan, the Rogue Agent. He could see His eyes in her, because they were such good friends in the academy.

While i was eating at a Cyber bar, I see a waitress. She has the same last name as Dylan but I doesn’t make too much of it. As I was eating my breakfast. I find something at the bottom of his cup. A phone number, I dials it.

AsIi was walking to the Warehouse, I become completely surrounded by people with blasters and masks on. They take my weapons, And search for any bugs on me. They say: “He’s clear”. So they take him to the warehouse. And, he finally sees Dylan for the first time in 5 years.

Dylan: Long time no see man.

Cole: A little over the top for just a meeting huh?

Dylan: I told them to trust you, they’re just usually OCD about that kind of thing.

Cole: Who is the “They”

Dylan: The Rebellion.

Cole: What?

Dylan: Cole, the people you work for. The Government we so truly think are good people, are actually bad people. They run underground operations in Galaxies around the Universe the enslave the people to make money Cole. They are bad people, The government is not who they are anymore. They are just run by people who want money, people who will do anything for it.

After arriving on Earth with the Rebellion. They wear their identify changing masks, they completely change the outlook on their faces so they don’t need to hide or run. They hid in plane Sight. After going to McMulls office, they find out that, McMull is dead. They called his death an “Accident”. Shocked and confused, I start feeling fearful for my life and my families.  But, Dylan gaves me comfort, and told him that with they’re actions. They will make my children’s lives better.  “I understood” I said.

After their only chance of bring down the Government is dead. They needed to take immediate action. They needed to go into the Government building. And, take the President. Try to talk to him. But, it isn’t going to be easy. It’ll probably be a fire fight, Dylan said.

3 weeks later,  I called my family. And told them that I was conducting a mission on Saturn. And, I told them that I loved them, fearing that it would be the last time talking to them.

As Dylan Brings in all the guns and ammunition. I am reminiscent of years before when we were working for the Government, killing people we thought who were bad, but were actually innocent. It was killing me thinking about it.  Their were 20 of them, 20 of them going in to a heavily guarder building, it’s  basically a suicide mission Cole was thinking. But, it needs to be done.

As everyone gets into the Ship, Dylan gives me a hug and says ‘Thank you”. I just nod and proceeds. As they near the Government facility two aircraft droids are flying along them. And ask for their clearance. As the rebellions ship doesn’t comply they start banging on the ship and then shots starting firing, one by another the aircraft droids were going down. And, the gunner had a hot shot. As the decanted. Blasters are fired and everyone takes cover. One by one, the droids get shot down. But, one by one. One of the rebellion gets show. One after another. 20, 19, 18, 17. I was counting as he saw his friends being picked off one by one. Dylan and I were tag teaming this. They were blasting threw everything. As they got to the doors. There were only 10 of them left, they weren’t even in the building. As they go in, they are completely mortified to see that the Government is completely ready for this attack and have hundreds of droids lined up to fight. “Someone tipped them off” Dylan said. As they see their doom,  Dylan tells me  he’s sorry.

As I swiftly made my way across the campus to the Dean’s office, I can’t help being slightly nervous about our presentation.

What is he going to say? Will he approve? What’s our next step? These few thoughts swirl around my head. I feel as though I shouldn’t have anything to worry about. However, for some reason I just can’t seem to rid these thoughts from my mind. I arrive at the office door, with a plaque that says “Dr. Mark Clover, Dean of University”, took a deep breath, and knocked.

            The door opens, and there stands Dr. Mark Clover, Dean of Tasker University.

“Well hello Dr. Connor, very pleased to see you”, exclaims Dr. Clover.

                        “Hello sir! Nice to see you as well”, I replied.

As I entered, I took the time to glance around the room. Dean Clover has a pretty nice office. I’ve always admired the art that covered the walls, and the huge windows that overlook the East side of the campus.  I then caught sight of Liam sitting in a chair in front of Dean Clover’s desk. I went and beside Liam, in the chair adjacent to him.

                        “Are you ready?” he whispers to me as I take the seat.

                        “Yes, I think so” I hesitated.

                        “Alright… let’s do this,” he declared.

And now… the meeting begins.

            As I quietly sat in the seat, I tried to think positive, and keep my composure. It’s not everyday that you’re sitting in the Dean’s office, awaiting for a make or break decision, that could change your life. 

            “Well gentlemen, look how far you’ve come,” stated the Dean as he strolled to his seat. “What information do you have for me today?”

                        “Sir, we’ve finally come to the end of testing. This formula we’ve created is strong enough to get rid of all the clones that were mass-produced. The array of chemicals that we’ve conjured up, have the power to shut down the clone within 3 minutes.” Liam states with excitement in his voice.

                        “That is impressive. Does this formula have any effect on humans?” questioned Dean Clover.

                        “Thank you sir. It does not have any effects on humans. It is not made for humans, so it won’t have any effect on us” replied Liam.

                        “Excuse me, but we’re not exactly sure of the effects this could have on humans. We never tested…” I stated, before being interrupted by Liam.

                        “Yes, but we did not see any need to test humans. Yes, the clones are more important to worry about. The effect the formula might have on humans is not nearly as much as an effect it has on the clones,” Liam interjected. 

            The room was silent for a few seconds. Who would speak next? What else does the Dean want to know?

                        “I have one last question… Dr. Liam, you told me earlier, that this could make us loads of money. How soon can we start producing and selling this?” asked Dean Clover.

                        “We could put this on the market within a few months. No questions asked.” Liam blurted out.

                        “Actually… no we can’t. We have not finished the appropriate tests to assure that this product will get rid of the clones. If it is not correct, the clones will just continue producing, and will wreak havoc everywhere,” I retorted.

The office got silent once again. This time, I was confused… there were new questions that entered my mind.

                        “Why would Liam discuss manufacturing this, and we hadn’t perfected it?”

 We already discussed that this couldn’t be marketed yet, so why did he go behind my back? I pondered.

                        “It is clear that there are a few minor details that the two of you need to work out. I’ll let you two go, and discuss them, and once they’re sorted out, we can come back for another meeting. Thank you for your time Dr. Liam, and Dr. Connor”, Dean Clover stated as he stood up and shook our hands.

Once outside of the office, Liam immediately began jumping down my throat about the comments I made.

                        “Why would you tell him it wasn’t ready? We’re almost done with our testing. We’ve already gone through the “business” side of this, so there shouldn’t be a problem”, shouted Liam. 

                        “Listen, we can’t produce something unless it is complete and perfect. I can’t lie to him, and tell him that we’re completely finished with them”. I shot back at him

                        “Connor, I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately, but I will work on getting more money for us. With the formula, we’ll be getting paid a large sum of money.”

                        “Liam, you can’t possibly believe that this will do well on the market without the proper testing. That’s not smart, and you…”

                        “Honestly, if you have such a problem with it, then fine. Don’t worry about getting a paycheck. We don’t need to worry about humans… this is for the clones. It will have no connection at all.  Liam stated, as he began to walk away.

As, Liam walked away he turned back around to give me an “evil look”. Something just doesn’t seem right. After Liam walked away, I had this weird sensation that something would just go wrong. I stood there confused about how I should handle this little ordeal, but also worried about what would happen next.

                        “What are we going to do about the clones? How much more testing needs to be done? Is Liam going to begin to produce it? What can I do to stop him?”

Little did I know… that soon my worries would become far greater than anyone could have expected. 

            As I entered the laboratory the next morning, I was startled to see what had taken place. Vials lying around, chemicals spilled, broken glass, and papers strewn all across 3the floor. What do I do now? 

How hard and uncomfortable this seat feels is the only thing that matters to me right now. It is a flood, the way the rap music from the earbuds of the high school boy opposite me seep into the cracks of my subconscious. In this one bus ride, my last bus ride, the only thing I can think about is the bass of the song and just how much I actually do hate siting on this bus everyday, twice a day. 

But, I mean I just don’t understand why this is necessary, though. It was ONE party. My parents are just going to drastic measures! The Academy? Really? Shooting me into East Jesus Nowhere in outer space is not what I need. Honestly, I’m a good kid. I clean my room, I walk the dog and complete my brain uploads. Why exactly they think sending me off to some ‘school’ is a good idea is a mystery to me. Apparently this is they way they learned as a kid. Being taught by a person? Having to sit in a lesson all day? It  all makes no sense. 

I have two days. It’s two days until I have to board an intergalactic flight to my doom. 

I meet up with Jeremy at Mario’s Pizza. 

“The ACADEMY?! You must be kidding me. You’re yankin’ my chain, right?” 

“Unfortuately, I am neither kidding or yankin,” I match. “It’s happening, dude. I might doubt it if not for the fact that my dad has been talking non-stop about it.” 

Jeremy leans back in his chair and shakes his head with his typical smirk, “You are in for it, man. I’ve heard they have no internet!” This was something I hadn’t heard before. No internet? I gape at him; that is unreal. Jeremy seems satisfied having shocked me with that tidbit.

Later on that night, Mom comes in to talk to me. I couldn’t handle any more tears. Luckily, she looked stoic instead. 

“Now honey, you know this is going to be unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. You know that Itzahseekret is a very different planet than ours. You’ll need your--”

“I know mom,” I interupted, “my winter coat. We’ve been to Ryland for holiday, it’s basically the same planet, right?” She nodded, but she bit her lip as if she wasn’t so sure I really did understand. Mom just hugged me gently as if she had never done it before and left me to “my own devices” as Dad called it. She doesn’t really want to send me to the Academy. My dad is the one. He believes in learning your lesson to fullest extent; whereas, Mom just follows along thinking it’s what is best for me.

I loaded up my Digi-screen and the holographic image splayed out in front of me. I came to a plain website, probably a free, not to mention ancient, Geocities site. I skimmed over a short text describing the school. Something about books and something called a classroom, I think? Finally, I found a photo. The actual Academy was not quite what I expected in terms of aesthetics. I thought at least it would look modern, maybe made of all glass or something cool. Not quite. It was ordinary in all aspects like the kind of stuff you see in 2000’s movies. The inconspicuous rectangluar shape and unassuming brown color did not give me any indication of what was inside. 

I spend the rest of the night and the next night searching the internet for something to cling to. I’m used to knowing exactly where something is and exactly what it looks like from my Digi-screen. I don’t go anywhere without checking it. The lack of information keeps me awake. With no luck, my ceiling offers no repreive. I wake up knowing no more than what Dad and Jeremy have told me. The bus route and people on it that I know by heart do not seem as alien anymore. 

_________________________

I wake up on the day I’ve been dreading since I was caught doing it. Don’t make me bring it up again, ya know, the party. My mom flips my light on without saying a word.  Dad’s been waiting for something like this. He went to the Academy too, so technically it’s legacy. In his day, it was some sort of honor.

 “Made me a man!” he recounts to me for, I’d safely say, the billionth time.

Now, it’s pure punishment and that is exactly the point--punishment. Breakfast is a quiet event on all fronts. I imagine the house will be this way when I’m not here. As Dad and I are leaving, my Mom doesn’t say much but just looks me in the eyes with tears in hers. She hugs me for about 4 hours before my Dad finally beeps his car horn to wake up the whole neighborhood. Different though,  Dad talks the whole ride. He is beside himself with excitement.

“Sound as if you’re happy to be rid of me.” I tell him.

“No,” he answers, “just happy you screwed up enough to convince your mother this is good for you. The Academy will do you some good.” 

As we approach the flight station he gets more serious. “Kid, be good for once and don’t make your mother and I have to come get you.” 

I don’t know what it is; my parents think I’m a hooligan. I think they read some parenting book that says as soon as I hit 17 I must be close to criminal. 

Dad just claps me on the back and drives away. Not that I expect much else, we have a no nonsense relationship. 

He warned me about the flight days ago, though, and hell it is. The turbulence is horrible and I now am aware that I do in fact, get space sick. 

Parker, Steve. "US Flag | Flickr - Photo Sharing!" Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/sparker/2427517816/>.

Designs, SmartBoy. "The Sparse Planet | Flickr - Photo Sharing!" Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/smartboydesigns/3797823072/>.

Fotography, Sarai. "Outer Space Simulation | Flickr - Photo Sharing!" Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/wingsofahero/3374370563/>.

October 28, 2125

“You remind me of your mom when she was your age”

The infamous line, but it has no meaning to me. I say this not because I hate my mom, oh god no! I say this because I never met her. It’s weird though, I feel like I knew her my entire life. I love her unconditionally. You see, my mom died while giving birth…to me. Yeah I know, that’s a hard pill to swallow. Whenever someone brings her up I can’t help but be reminded that I’m the reason that she is no longer with us But let’s be honest I am the reason.

Every year around my birthday, my grandparents tell me stories about my mother. It seems like every year I learn more and more about her. Although I love the second hand stories, I want to know what my mom was like firsthand. The idea may seem a little far-fetched, but I’m almost confident that It will be easy.

Everyday after 6^th period, all of the juniors have to go to Time Capsule class. Before we graduate, we must know how to properly operate a time machine. Even though our training just started a few weeks ago, I feel confident in my ability to work the machine. I mean, it’s as hard as it looks!

Tomorrow, after class, I’m going to hide in the coat closet until Mr. Briggs locks up. At about 6:00 the school should be empty, and then I will borrow a time machine. I’m a little nervous… but hopefully nothing goes wrong. Wish me luck!

Xoxo Ariel :)

November 22, 2025

Wow! It’s been a while since I’ve last written in here… Well let me get you updated! I’ve been in the past for about a month, but in the future it would have only been a few hours. My mom and I are best friends. Oh yeah, did I forget to say that I found her?! I went back into the past far enough that her and I are the same age. It’s so cool! But what’s even cooler is that we practically look like twins. I think that’s part of the reason we became so close. She introduced me to her parents today. Yup, my grandparents. They look so much different so they do in the future. They appear to be a lot younger and happier… but I guess that should be obvious.

Oh yeah, she told me about her boyfriend today. I’m surprised that it isn’t my dad. I wanted to ask her about him but if there is 1 thing I learned in Time Capsule class, it’s do NOT temper with the past. I must follow the rules, especially since my existence depends on it. But I gotta go! I’ll try to keep you posted!

Xoxo Ariel J

November 25, 2025

A few days have passed, and a lot has changed! Where do I start? The other day I met my dad at my mom’s school. He looked nothing like how he does in the future. Anyways, the whole time we were at school she was saying such horrible things about my dad. At first it funny until I started making jokes about how one day she would end up marrying him. She seem utterly disgusted by the thought, and kept repeating that no one would marry a man so dumb. I snapped. I didn’t know what else to do. I blurted out that she would marry “a man so dumb”. I told her I was from the future. I told her I was her daughter. I told her about her death. I told her everything. I was a victim of word vomit. We learned about this in Time Capsule class. Some people can’t handle what they see in the past and as a result, they blurt out the future. It never ends well after that.

            My mom… Catherine she thought I was crazy. She left. She left me there and continued to scream insults at me. I thought she’d understand. I forgot that people from the past cant fathom the things that happen in the future. Immediately after I went back to where my time capsule was… or where it should have been. It was gone! It had self-destructed. I knew this because right where the time capsule used to be was nothing but rubble from the time capsule. I panicked! Then I thought about it… I had altered the future, my future. I remembered back to when we had learned about the cons of going to the past. One of these was that there was always a possibility you wouldn’t make it back because of something you might have said. The time capsule would be the first thing to go. Without a time capsule, I wont be able to get home and no one knows where I am. Back home it hasn’t even been an entire day yet… No one would know to come looking for me. And if they did, they wouldn’t even know where to start. I was trapped, and my only friend… my own mother thought that I was looney. A weirdo. I don’t know what to do, I haven’t completed that chapter in time capsule class. I was lost in the past. 

July 18, 2030. 

I’ve finally found it. I’ve found the perfect specimen, who will prove perfect for my creation. Intelligence, average height, devoid of any mental or physical defects, amongst other things. She also shares my dream, the dream of creating the perfect human. Someone devoid of all frivolous emotions such as: jealously, anger, happiness, lust, or sadness. It shall only think through rational thought and rational thought only. It shall be selfless, having no need for such irrelevant things like money or wealth. Too many people of the present are fueled by their emotions and their own selfish needs. Countries going to war because of something like oil? That’s preposterous. How can thousands of lives be lost in a meaningless war just so I can fill my gas tank? Idiots! All of them. We humans are imperfect by nature, too controlled by own emotions. Even as I write this, I’m becoming enraged at the current state of the so-called “human race”. My anger solves nothing, anger begets nothing. Nothing but violence and more suffering. I will create the catalysts for the new world; they will be perfection, perfection that will breed more perfection. I will God and they shall be my Adam and Eve.

September 24, 2042. 

I’ve done it. After years upon years they are ready. But not now. I can’t let them go out into the world now. The world isn’t ready for them, it’s full too much of imperfection. I have a better solution, I shall place them in an remote area, we were they shall begin the new world there. This way they won’t have any interaction with those of imperfect nature, and thus taint they’re imperfection. Yes, this is what I shall do. But there is one last thing to do. I must take my own life. I must do this, because I am imperfect. I exist as the very my creation intend to rid of. If I’m to see my dream come to true fruition, ALL imperfection shall be gone. 

Sci-fi story

Tony just got done with his third patient for the day, he looked at his “Best Doctor Ever” mug, on the right side of his desk, after taking a long sip of steaming coffee, he looked at his list of appointments for the day, his next patient Tim Mcmillan was supposed to be there in a few minutes for his appointment. Tim has schizophrenia and recently was very unstable, so Tony thought this session could do him a lot of good.

As time passed by Tony got increasingly nervous, Tim was never late to an appointment. Tony decided to do something after painful 30 minutes had gone by, Tony to called Tim’s phone. Tim always picked up his phone and came to his appointments on time, but this time the phone was disconnected. Tony understood the signs; he had seen it enough times with his patients, he knew now all he could do was go home, watch TV, and see where it happened.

Tony arrived home at around 8:40, as he entered his home he thought about adjusting his bracelet for 50% gravity, but decided not to at the last moment. Tony had never liked the government being able to control your gravity, of course as a kid he had played with his bracelet, like everyone had, but now as an adult he knew how controlling these were. Tony had a clean record, meaning that the government would process his requests first if he wanted to adjust his bracelet, and Tony knew this, but he still wouldn’t do it. Tony had worked out that he should only use this when in a lot of danger from someone on the outside, for example if one of his patients brought a weapon to their appointment.

The news was basically the same as every other day; some weather for the next few days, a storm was brewing over the west coast, and then some local news. This was the section Tony was looking for, he was just listening for Tim Mcmillans name, waiting for the inevitable, when he would find out what had happened to his former patient. Tony started to drift off, but then he heard it, “A local mans gravity was raised to 300% today as police surrounded him. Witnesses say the man was yelling gibberish in a hostile manor for about 3 minutes before the police arrived. The police who arrived on the scene shot immediately for fear that this man could cause potential harm to civilians.”

This took Tony a long time to digest this information, he had seen people in the newspaper that were Gravity-bound before, but never to someone who Tony known well, especially not one he would talk to every 2-3 days for almost a year and a half. Tony turned off the TV and laid down on his couch, pondering what he should do about this predicament. Tony realized that the government was getting increasingly strict with their use of the PYC machine, at first they would only use in high-risk, hostage like situations, but as more machine have been built, the use is much more common in every day life, but never used for harmful purposes like it was today. Tony could read the signs better than others, so his final thought before drifting off to sleep was that he should do something to show the government how wrong they were.

The next few months went by in a blur, doing his daily routine over and over, watching the world changing around him. Every once and a while, one of his patients would be Gravity-bound, with the governments increasing intolerability of any type of misbehavior. Tony was slowly loosing patients, everyone that could come to him was either too scared to go outside, or had been Gravity-bound. He pondered what to do, and eventually decided to actually get up and do something about it. Tony had never seen anyone stand up to the government since the PYC machine was invented, and he wanted to make a statement.

Tony spent weeks planning how this would go down, he gathered about 700 people to march on city hall. Tony made signs, having tons of people come over and help him plan for this event. He closed down the office to work solely on this project, not that it mattered; he only had 2 patients left. The plan was to attempt to get in to city hall, and look for the PYC machine controlling the city, or the people who control it, and talk to them sensibly. If they found the machine first, they would stand there until someone they could talk to showed up. The main idea was to not be violent at all, so that the government couldn’t take any forceful action against them.

The time had come; Tony was the first on the scene, observing the landscape until people started arriving. The security guards outside started to notice something was up when about 20 or so people gathered in a group in front of city hall. The group continued growing until almost 150 people were there, then they started making their way in to city hall. Around half made it in to city hall easily before the security started organizing them in to a line, making them walk in between security guards in order to enter.

This is when all hell broke loose, one of the protesters in the line brushed up against a guard. The guard took this opportunity to take out his baton and hit the man. About 6 people around this brawl joined in, while the rest of the bystanders watched. In less than 40 seconds, the 4 protesters involved in the fight had been Gravity-bound, the starter being killed by the guards afterward. The other 3 were led off in handcuffs. Seeing this kind of treatment appalled Tony, especially with the realization that he had caused this to happen.

Things only got worse from here; the protesters arriving outside saw the commotion and ran in, causing a ruckus much worse than before. This started a riot, between all of the guards and many of the protesters. Tony could only stand there and watch as one by one his companions were Gravity-bound and arrested, or Gravity-bound and killed. Tony even watched as one mans gravity was turned up constantly, until eventually his bones were crushed completely.

Tony ran. It was all he could do, his people were getting over run and shut down. Edging his way around the destruction that he caused, seeing fallen comrades everywhere, beaten by the batons of the law enforcement. Past all of the men whose deaths he caused, barely making it under the radar of the guards. 100 feet until the entrance, 50 feet, halfway down the steps, just 20 steps and a small courtyard until he was safe.

Tony made it safely down the stairs, but then he was spotted by one of the guards outside who recognized him as the leader. Tony heard the guard yell out, but ignored him and continued running, then right as he was about to take the last step out of the courtyard, it happened. His body just stopped working like he was used to, Tony was forced to the ground, and couldn’t get up, he had been Gravity-bound. He was surrounded, a gun pointed straight at him.

The moon is rising again and the mutant birds are chirping . (Yawn). The air smells of fresh cow butt and the sky is as green as my new string beans. That’s Venus for you. It is 9 o clock in the morning again and another day  I have to go to work. Oh excuse me I forgot to introduce myself. I am Zuruck Chew the IV. I am a single father with 12 kids and blab bla bla. I’m sorry it is the same everyday.

         Driving to work can be a real drag. It’s the same as always. Just seeing the same thing everyday makes me ill at ease. Broken houses, parks with no tress, stinky diapers on the floor. You know the usual. But driving to work is not the worse part.  The worse part is actually being at work. As a national service guard I do absolutely nothing. I just sit here, look at this virtual box and see if any enemies try to attack us. But it’s so boring. First of all, of living Galactic creatures in the Milkyway, who the hell would be stupid enough to attack us. We have absolutely nothing here to take unless people want recipes on how to make bunny chow. So yeah this job sucks. I mean who the hell wants to sit there and watch a box that does nothing . And I have to watch it with an idiot. And trust me when I say idiot I mean idiot. His name is Ghahu Betch and he says 1 + 1 = 2 . What an idiot. But it’s not that bad sitting next to him. In fact he smells like Strawberries.

So anyway today I had enough. I’m not going to take this anymore. I had finally arrived at the halls of death walked up the endless flight of stairs to my station and sat down and wait. Now Ghahu is talking about how we are dumb and uneducated. I’m pretty sure the one who thinks there are living creatures on earth. Is he an uneducated one.  He just kept on blabbing on about something. And that’s when I blew up. That’s when I told him. AGGGHHHH!!!!! “I had enough. I’m not going to do this BLEEP anymore. ” My rage of furry took over my body and I stormed to the bathroom. I sat down on the slimy and relaxing stall and finally I got some peace. As the big brown and wet poop came from my butthole I notice a strange smell. It was like a hint of fruity sensation. Almost like Strawberries. That’s when I realized oh god no. Not strawberries.

 “ Hey dude you seemed upset out there”

“ I’m fine Ghahu I was just”

“ It was just that lately you been acting like a douche and that explosion outside….”

“ I’m fine Ghahu”

“ Are you sure?”

“ Yes, now leave me alone shouldn’t you be watching the box”

“ It is a high-tech state of the art mega super Del 7000. It’s not just a box. And we should maneuver our way back pronto before something god-awful happens”

“ First of all me and my butt have a little date with Mr. Toilet right now and second of all who’s going to care? Nothing bad will ever.” Little did I know I would later regret those words.

         As soon as I rose from my toilet I heard a boom sound. Almost like an explosion. Then the power on Venus turned off. In the span of 5 minutes, Venus shook,  there was an episode  of maddening   flickering lighting and  a lot of screaming. Normally a red-alert like that would make the Venus’ sirens go beep beep beep. But Ghahu and I were still in the bathroom. As soon as we got out we left towards our station when our 4 arm,  7 ft , 500 pound of muscle body building boss was sitting at our station.

“ Now you see what you had done” I said

“ You and moi are in this predicament together.”

“ BOYS!!!!!!

“ By all means monsieur, what could possibly be bothering you today?

“ Your smartness can’t get you two out of this one. You two should realized that our world was just attack by earthlings.

“ Um s s-s-sir  w-w-what exactly are earthlings?”

“ Obviously people from PLANET EARTH. Now Listen. I”M REALLY ANGRY. BECAUSE OF YOU TWO, the planet of Venus will go into a planet shut down. NO LIFE WILL BE  HERE. If you idiots didn’t get  our world ends .  They stole our life emulator. I need you  to go to planet Earth and take our Life emulator back. You have one week or your both FIREED Grrrrrrrr.”  As he stomps out of the room Ghahu whispered, “So I guess we have an adventure together partner.”  All man.

         To make a long story short we jumped on a rocket, took about a 17-hour hyper speed flight and landed on earth. The ride was boring listening to this man talk and talk. short,  I’ll resume the story to me and Ghahu landing on planet earth. Once we landed I was in complete shock.

“Dude are we at the right place?”

“If my scientific theories are correct I must conclude that we are indeed on planet earth.”

         I guess we were on earth. But the place is so different than from Venus. The sky was blue instead of green. The air was a lot fresh then I could ever dream. But we were  on a mission. I could not waste time gawking at this new place We had to  find our life emulator.

“Ok so we need to move forward to a place called the DC.”

Luckily there was a nice earthling kind enough to tell us where DC was. But that was  really far away. But Ghatu said that on the way here he read somewhere on how to get free rides. He puts one hand out with his thumb sticking up and the other hand is behind his head. If I didn’t know better I would say that he was in a sex position.

Oddly enough this creepy guy came and gave us a free ride to DC. I still feel guilty about not paying him some Galactic money. But he seemed to be in a rush when told him weren’t woman. But he did give us some great information. He said the President is in something called the white house. We went to this big white building with a big pointing thing on top of it. We asked one of the stylish earthlings to let us speak to Mr President. Then we found out that we were in the wrong building. But then we were arrested because Mr. Smarty thought it would be a good idea to tell them  we wanted to speak to the President and take something from him.

At this big building that seems like it needed major renovations someone called a judge gave me and Ghahu a 30-year sentence for attempted robbery. But somehow Mr. Smarty found a way to escape. He just took his finger nail and clipped us out of our handcuff. We somehow escaped from earthling prison. We walked for what seemed to be forever or it could have been  about 5 minutes . We found another big white house. This one was a bit flatter then the last one but I got that feeling that this could be the house. But Ghahu probably almost saved my life. He seemed to elude several men dressed in black suits, talking in miles  and wearing guns . Luckily , we joined a group of people  touring the house. So we made our way inside the house and we had found the emulator. So we tried to not walk suspiciously   and we made our way back to the ship. Once we took flight we heard explosions. The nice old humans were shooting RPGS at us. That was when Ghatu took us on hyper-speed and we made back to Venus safely. So now Venus is saved, I am taking my job seriously, I had an adventure and now enjoy smelling strawberries

Keiren reached into the locker he had rented at the recreation center, locker 13. His back was to me, he pulled something towards him and froze. His shoulders stiffened. 

“What is it? What’s wrong?” I asked.

He turned and looked at me while holding something out. There were two of them; little bronze, metal hearts with gears showing. They were both on bronze chains.

“Do you know what these are? Or how they got here? I’ve never found anything in this locker before and I always rent this one out.” He stated.

“Maybe someone else rented it and accidentally left them; they could be best friends necklaces or something. See how they’re identical?” 

“But what’s with the numbers?” He asked.

If you looked really close at the hearts, you could see numbers through gaps, on three of the gears. 

“It looks like a date. What’s the sense of having that, time moves faster than the days do. Most people carry watches that only show the date as an extra feature, not as something primary.”

“Why’s it frozen on that one date?” He questioned. “It isn’t today’s date.”

“Maybe the...batteries died.” EHHHH, wrong. I could hear the buzzers going off in my head. I turned one of the hearts over in my hand. There was no battery cover, nor anywhere to fit a battery. Maybe it’s solar-powered? There aren’t any little black squares to collect the sun’s energy with, so no. That couldn’t be it. 

“Maybe it’s a type of remembrance thing, ya’know so the owner could remember an important moment in time?” Keiren suggested.

“I don’t think so. It looks...too complicated for that.” There was a little button on the lower end of the right side of the heart and two on the top left. I tapped the left side button that was closer to the bottom. It made a clicking noise and changed to today’s date.

“Hey. The date on mine just changed to today. Like magically.”

I bet it was because I pressed the button on mine. I pressed the lone button that was located to the right. It moved a year backwards.

“Did anything happen to yours?” I asked Keiren.

“Yeah, the year changed to last year, that was weird.”

“Every time I change something on the one I have, yours changes, too. Hm, curiouser and curiouser.” When I looked back down, I saw that there was a light in the middle of the heart that glowed bright green. “Hm, what’s this?”

“What’s what?”

“It’s glowing...look so is yours!”

He looked down at the heart in his hands and turned it over and over, looking over every square inch to try and see what was making it glow. I decided to just push the light to see if it were some type of button.

As soon as my finger applied a slight amount of pressure, I felt like I was a ribbon being pulled behind a running child. I felt like I was being twisted this way and that, I felt like I was being waved like a flag. Everything was pitch black, then all I saw were stars that expanded so they became the light of day. I was pulled to the concrete sidewalk, like a screw to a very powerful magnet. I wobbled slightly and steadied myself as I came to a stop that left my head spinning. I heard a snap and Keiren landed next to me with his hand on his head. He almost fell over as he tried to steady himself as I just had. 

“What was that?” He asked with a slight slur. He, then shook his head and asked again more clearly.

“I don’t know. What I want to know is how we’ve gotten outside. I don’t remember stepping through those doors.” I said matter-of-factly hitching a thumb at the doors of the old recreation center that loomed behind us. We both looked around. Things looked a little different. Where was the bench that was out outside last month? They couldn’t have brought it in already; the nice weather just started. There was a newspaper booth behind us. It looked old and rusted, though a new one had been bought about 3 months ago. It was supposed to be shiny and red, with maybe only a few scratches or evidence of wear. I felt a pull towards it. 

“Hey, can you grab a paper?” I asked Keiren as I turned to look at him.

“A paper? For what?”

“I don’t know. I just want a paper, can you get one, please?”

He walked over to the old newspaper booth, grabbed a paper and handed it to me. He then walked over to the window of the recreation center and peered through. A few people were walking on the street, but no one paid us mind. I recognized them all, that’s a good sign; things couldn’t be as out of whack as they seemed.

I looked down at the paper. The news story on the cover was something about a house fire that had happened. I don’t remember hearing about this. In this small town, news traveled fast. Way too fast for my liking; if there was a fire, I probably would’ve known and there would probably be some type of donation box at the recreation center for the family. I looked at the date of the paper: “April, 15, 2010.” But today was April, 15, 2011. That is a nasty misprint; something the editors definitely wouldn’t have overlooked.

“Evie! Look here!” Keiren still had his faced pressed to the window.

“What is it?”

“Look, it’s Miss Daisy! I thought she died this past December.”

“You must be mistaken, maybe it’s someone who looks like-” but there she was. Sh even had her metal walker, which was adorned with pink tennis balls on the legs and the teddy bears attached to the top bar. She was walking slowly toward the door to the hall they reserved for bingo. She smiled at everyone who she scuttled past.

“Hi, Miss Daisy. Nice day, huh?” “Here, Miss Daisy, I’ll get the door for you.” It was definitely her. But it just couldn’t be. I backed away from the window slowly. The Pizza shop across the street had its Thursday special board hanging in the window. Today was Friday. I jogged across the street with Keiren on my heels. I went up to the shop clerk.

“Hi, how can I help you?” the clerk asked with generic happiness.

“I was wondering why the Thursday special was in the window, today’s Friday isn’t it?” I asked very quickly.

“No, today is Thursday, thanks for your concern though.” the clerk replied as she hitched a thumb towards the calendar on the wall.

I went to look at it. Sure enough the heading read: April 2010. The kittens on the calendar looked down at me with their big eyes. It felt like they were begging me to understand. I realized I still had the metal heart clutched in my hand. The smallest gear read: “4,” the middle sized one: “15” and the biggest one: “2010.” I saw Keiren’s head shoot up in surprise. He was looking at the metal heart in his hand, too. I think he came to the same realization that I had.

“Evie. I think we traveled a year in the past.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~❤~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We went over to the recreation center and sat down on the steps in front. 

“I don’t understand. All I did was press a button. I didn’t turn any dials or anything. I don’t see why it would send us to today.” I said with a bit of exasperation. “And how are we going to get home, to our time, if we don’t have any clue as to how to work them?”

“Well, let’s retrace what happened before we traveled here.” Keiren said. “Ok, so first what did you do to it?”

“I pushed the bottom, left side button and it changed to today’s- well the present time’s- date. Then I pushed the right side button and the year changed to 2010.” I said with my my fingertips pressed to my temples. “Then I pushed the glowing green button. And finally we ended up here. I didn’t do anything else.”

“Maybe we should try that again. Then maybe it’ll change back to 2011. What do you think?”

“Okay, we can try. If it doesn’t show “2011” we just won’t press the green button to make us travel.”

“Alright. Sounds solid. Ready when you are.”

I nodded at him and pulled the metal heart closer to my face. I pushed the bottom left button. The heart clicked, but nothing seemed to change. Then I pushed the right side button. I stopped breathing for a moment. What if it didn’t change to 2011? What if we couldn’t figure it out? What happens if we can’t get back to our present time? 

I tried willing it. I kept saying a steady mantra of “2011” under my breath. I pressed the right side button. The click seemed to echo, my eyes squeezed shut at the sound of it. Please, please, please. I carefully opened them and exhaled easily. On the biggest gear “2011” was displayed. The green light started a steady glow and I showed Keiren with a smile. 

This time, he pressed the button. Then everything went pitch black and the sky ignited into stars.

We ended up back where we were; at locker #13 in the recreation center. The florescent lights were buzzing at an almost inaudible level. I was surprised that I could hear them over the sound of my beating heart. We decided not to put them back in the locker. What if someone who didn’t know how to work them found them? They’d be stuck.

“So, what should we do with them?” Keiren asked as he kicked rocks across the concrete.

“Hide them, I guess. So no one will find them. Who knows what trouble they could get into? Besides, many people today believe that wishes don’t come true.” I replied with a smile.

Keiren looked at me strangely. I looked down at my feet. I was skipping over all the lines in the sidewalk. After all, wishes really do come true. I just wanted to see my grandma. One. Last. Time. I just wished I could’ve brought her daisies.