Birthday Nightmare

“Happy birthday Anastasia, look what I’ve got for ya!” Nah..too indifferent.

“Happy sixteenth year to my sweetheart, I’ve got something I’m sure you’ll simply adore!” Too romantic. 

It was the twenty-fourth time I’d been rehearsing how to wish my bestie on her sixteenth birthday. Well, she was more than a best friend to me but she did not know that. Tomorrow was her sixteenth birthday and I’ve planned to give her a mind-blowing gadget. A time turner.

I had worked days and nights to make this one. But it’s gonna be worth it. This spectacular piece of work was only for her, my first love since eighth grade. It turned out to be a breathtaking invention. I too, was stunned by my own creation. The most unique aspect of it is that it was a mirror. A glazing mirror on which tiny, electrified, technical buttons were fixed upon to control things such as, how much into the future or past we will go, et cetera.

I simply loved the gift I was about to give her. I was damn sure she’ll cherish it her entire life and also remember me (the wonderful inventor) of course.

I had decided what to do. I took my phone and texted Ana#BestGfEver. Yup, that’s how I’ve saved her as.

“Hey Ana

Care to come @our secret hideout….10am tmwr?

Text me back when ur free b’day girl :D”

Oh yeah, we had a secret hideout. Not a soul knew about it except us. It was an old abandoned oak tree at the edge of Tiverrainne Woods. Not exactly the oak tree; there was a hollow space in the trunk and we transformed it into a room. We even carved out a wooden door somehow. Tiverrainne Woods was abandoned a long time ago, though we never knew why.

Anyway, she has texted me back. Here’s how,

“Oh hi Dylan..was helping dad with some tech stuff

Well, I would certainly

Can’t wait for tomorrow..xoxo

Byee” 

Jeez, hugs and kisses. I gotta reply something:

“That’s gr8

Can’t wait to see you :3

Night Ana”

Again a reply:

“Night Dylan”

I should probably not reply to this ‘cause it would seem weird, so I sent a Zzz emoji.

I’m so nervous and tensed for tomorrow. What if she doesn’t have the same feelings for me. Will she like my gift? Obviously, she’ll love it. Duh?!??!! It’s a time turner. I’m being over concerned. I guess it’s past time I go to bed. I took my alarm clock (which sounded like a braying donkey) and set the alarm for half past six. A peaceful sleep for five and a half hours. That’s a bit underrated sleeping time for a teen, but yeah.

Woah, it’s eight already and I haven’t even brushed my teeth. I freshened up and I’m on my way to our hideout. I thought I’d feel more confident if I were early. I had everything planned in my mind and it just had to go perfectly (which it did initially but..later turned out to be a realistic nightmare).

Oh, there she comes. She hasn’t seen me yet. Aw..she looks so pretty with that white top and denim mini skirt. Her short, shoulder-length, wavy black hair matches perfectly with those magnificent but fierce black eyes. Well, I forgot to mention that she’s kind and loyal but also is a fierce defender. I won’t be least surprised if she follows Emma Watson’s path and becomes a feminist.

Here she is with her warm smile. Don’t panic. It’s all right. She’s your best friend (don’t think so).

“Hey Dylan” she called. 

“Hey, birthday girl! You look stunning” I said. 

“Gee, thanks! What’s up? You wanted me here.” She said. 

“Well, yeah. I’ve got something you might love.” I said “Happy sweet sixteen…can’t believe it’s been almost three years since we met.”

I handed over my breathtaking invention wrapped in a bright red gift cover to Anastasia.

“Wow, thank you Dylan.”

I’m glad she liked it (the presentation, I mean). “Go on, open it.” I shrugged. 

“Yup.” 

She opened it with great excitement but as you know, she was not impressed at first seeing the mirror. “Er..Dylan..this looks nice but can you gimme an idea of what exactly-” 

She was roughly interrupted by my “Uh oh.” 

She had pressed the launch button and goodness knows which year she had set. This was a big NO. 

“Dylan, what’s happening to us and the mirror?” I heard her shaky voice.

“Er….I was about to tell you that this is not just a mirror, it’s a time turner. But then, you’d already pressed the launch button.” 

“Oh my god, that’s amaaaazingly dangerous.” She shouted. “You know how to work it right?” 

“Course I do. Wanna go into the future?” I said. 

“Yeah, let’s do this. How ‘bout we go to 2050?” she suggested. 

“Do you know how old we’ll be then?” I exclaimed. 

“Thirty-two right?” 

“Yeah..one last thing, where do you think we should locate ourselves in 2050?” 

“Here, our secret hideout in Tivverrainne Woods maybe..” 

“Great. Ya ready?” 

“Yeah, totally. Here we come 2050!” 

We had to look into the mirror and press the buttons together. It was tiny. We hardly managed to get an inch of our faces squished. We pressed the buttons and the next thing we knew is we’d landed in 2050. 

There was fog in the air. I couldn’t see anything. Everything was blurred. “Ana, are you alright?” I asked. My voice had changed. It was deeper than before. 

“Hello. Dylan, you there” I heard a familiar voice. 

The fog started vanishing and before my eyes was a beautiful Anastasia wearing slim jeans and an off-shoulder white top, sixteen years older than I had known her. I was no longer wearing my denim but cargo shorts with a blue tee.

“Wow! Ana, you’ve changed. You look so beautiful, er..I mean beautifuller because you were already beautiful.” I stumbled on words. “C’mon Dylan, stop flirting with me. We’re a-dults now.” she grinned. “Whaaaat, me? No way..you’re my best friend!” I said blushing. 

She did not reply to this but looked around in awe. “Dylan,” 

“Yeah,” 

“If this is our secret hideout in Tiverrainne Woods, where the heck are the trees and the stream” 

“Oh no, this is terrible. We gotta hide. Quick.” I grabbed her wrist and went inside a mall nearby. 

“Where’re we going?” she asked.

“There’s gonna be so much chaos and confusion if someone sees us, especially our real thirty-two old selves.”

“So..we gotta disguise or something?”

“Good point.” 

“What, no. I was just kidding.” 

“Too late.” 

We entered a shop that sold disguises. Luckily, the shopkeeper did not know us. We took a handful of disguises and made our way to the cash counter. I searched my pockets to find a credit card.“Oh no, I’ve got a credit card.”

“Darn, now we can’t pay ‘cause you don’t know which pin you’re likely to give as your credit card password.” 

Oh, think, think, think. What’s my favorite number….eight. Yeah. Let me give it a try. I crossed me fingers and swiped the card. I entered the pin as 8888.

“Yay! I did it.”

“Next time, never make your password that easy asshole.”

“Okey-dokey fierce ranger.”

“Dylan, let’s put these on.”

“Yeah okay. Meet you here after ten minutes sharp.”

” Okay, good luck!”

“You too.”

I went into the changing room and tried in vain to put on those junk. It was easy for Anastasia I guess because she was already there glancing at her watch. She looked funny, exactly like a grandma.

“Oh grandpa, what took you so long?” she chuckled.

“Well, I was grooming up so that I could impress my wife.” We both laughed at this. Then, we set out into the city dressed up as an random old couple. It was unbelievable. We couldn’t recognize ourselves. “So…….where’re we goin’ first?” I asked.

“How ‘bout we visit your house..like in the sense walk past your house..”

“That’s fine with me.”

“Great.”

We reached the place where my house was eight years back but it was abandoned. I went into Mr. Philips’(my neighbor) house while Anastasia stayed on the footpath. I knocked on the door and a man about forty opened wide.

“Excuse me kind man, but do you know where the residents of this house are?” I asked in an elderly manner, pointing to my house.

“Oh, such a disgrace to speak ‘bout them.” He said with a look of disgust. “Don’t you live here?”

“Oh, no..I come from a far-by town to see my friend, Mr. Daniel (my dad).” I tried controlling my emotions.

“Come in sire, come in.” the same man who hated me, welcomed me into his house. I went in. I was given a seat.

“I’m very sorry to tell you sire, your friend is no more.” I was dead-shocked. A man just told me my father’s no more. “He and his wife..th-they killed themselves.” I shouldn’t cry. I was overcome with grief and needn’t have to act it.

“Wh-what happened to my fa-friend….why did Daniel do it-” I stopped and let him say. “Sire, you know they had an only son.” “Y-yes” I whispered. “That filthy boy, h-he-” “What did he do?” I said feebly. “Aaah, disgrace to say that he ELOPED. 

This girl, what was her name…….ah, Caroline. Love it seems, they eloped. The girl was twenty-two. Dylan, twenty-five. Ah, what a shame-” he stopped, his face was boiling up with anger. “That wretched boy. I knew something like this would happen. But I got the girl wrong. There was this best friend of his..that Anastasia. Too bold for a girl-” I was traumatized.

My parents were likely to suicide because of me? This is NOT happening, I won’t let it. “Ohh, my dear Daniel.” I faked a friend. “I’ve known much. I have to go now. My wife is waiting outside. Thank you.” I blurted these words and rushed out of the house to meet Anastasia.

“Oh Dylan, what took you so long? Where’re your parents?” asked Ana reading my emotions. I explained everything to her and she was too dumbfounded to speak.

“Swear by me, you won’t run away with Caroline.” she said after coming to her senses. 

“What dya mean!!???! I don’t even know a Car-” 

“Shut up freak. You’re on the lane.” 

“I don’t even know a Caroline YOU freak.” I whispered angrily. 

“What do we do now?” 

“Oh my god….I just remembered. We got only one hour before we stay in the future forever.” 

“Oh shit.” 

“Do you have a watch?” I asked hopefully. 

“Yeah.” 

“Did you che-” 

“Yup. I checked the time when we came. 10:17.” 

This is one of the main reasons I love going on adventures with Ana. She’s so

spontaneous. 

“Thank goodness.” I said relieved. 

“And by the way, was ante meridiem, so don't get yourself confused.” she said, trying to cheer me up. 

“I know that.”

“It’s 11:08 now. We gotta hurry.” 

I carefully took the mirror (a.k.a time turner) from my pocket. In a few moments, we were back to normal. The us who’s sixteen. I wanted to rush to my house to see if my parents were fine. But that’d be rude. So I did this instead. 

“It’s wonderful to come back right.” 

“Yeah, sure.” 

“Happy birthday again, fierce ranger.” 

“Thanks Dylan.” 

Her lips arched into a warm smile. We almost spent one whole minute staring at each other. She broke the awkwardness in the air by, “Dya’ think it’s time we go?”

“What..oh yeah. Sure.” I shrugged. 

It’s funny how birthdays can turn into nightmares. Oh, at least not MY birthday.