A Rip in Time

I kept tapping my watch to try and get the second hand to start ticking again. I didn’t know when it stopped, I woke up to it stuck. That made me nervous, I would be stuck in this dimension until I got it ticking again. The watch allowed me to jump around from different dimensions, I could escape what others couldn’t run from: Reality. 

Nervously I clicked the side button, they would find me soon. “They” were creatures that slithered in and out the various planes of existence. Shape shifters that cause a ripple in the fabric of realities to feed. They are creatures of chaos who feed on flesh. I had witnessed them tear peoples bodies apart by their limbs and gnaw on the bones in Dimension-45. They caught my scent before I clicked my watch and zapped to a new reality.

I was able to brush them off in the Dimension-86, and continue on with my mission to find her. It was rumored that there was a dimension that mirrored my own, it was ten years behind. If I could find it in time, I could save her. Save her from death. 

I walked outside into the empty street looking up at the purple sky of Dimension-204, I saw the sky tear in two and a blue light spark. They found me. Creatures poured out from the tear, their tentacles slithered, their purple tongue made horrendous clicking sounds as they hit the street in front of me. 

I looked down at my wrist, tapped the side button. Finally! The second hand started ticking, I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in.

1st Second- I threw a couple rocks at them. Their purple tongues clicked in anger. I wasn’t going down without a fight.

2nd Second- I tapped the face of my watch, at random I jumped into Dimension- 92, they followed me.

3rd Second- I ran through a backyard, and saw one of the creatures get stuck in a tire swing. The muddy puddles spattered onto my shoes. I jumped over a picnic table and zapped into the sky.

4th Second- I found myself in Dimension-178, I was running on yellow sand while dinosaurs drank from a lake next to me. People with four arms were picking fruit the size of my head from the trees.

5th second- I zapped into Dimension-549 which was in space. I held my breath and looked around. The stars and planets speckled the dark abyss around me. They were illuminated with fluorescent fish and vivid dragons, like a children’s storybook come to life.

6th second- Next was Dimension-24, I dropped into a field of flowers. I got up and before I left I could see beautiful bluebirds. They flew low enough that their bellies skimmed the petals of the flowers.

7th Second- I panicked in Dimension-461 because I ran through a carnival with an old Ferris wheel and fried foods on sticks. Filled with people. I glanced behind me and spotted a bluebird being crushed in the tentacles of one of the creatures. It threw the bluebird into its mouth, blue feathers caught in its teeth. They continued after me, but some got side tracked at all the people running around the carnival rides. They started snatching people from their games, it was a buffet for the creatures. I had to get away.

8th Second- I was grateful that they stubbornly slithered after me into Dimension-1001. Here a village was on fire, screams were lost into the red sky. Bombs fell from enormous air crafts. Ashes swayed down. This dimension was filled with agony and war, and I had to zap away from it.

9th Second- I wasn't running, I was falling in the next dimension. I wailed my arms trying to reach for anything. My heart beat fastened because below me was a sea of boiling lava. I could hear the creatures made it to this dimension. They were a few feet above me. Their tentacles flailing in the air. I had to get rid of them for good. I couldn’t be a second off or I’d be welcoming an early death.

10th Second- “Eat this!” I yelled at them. Their clicking tongues grow louder. I would almost hit the lava surface. I closed my eyes. I tapped the face of my watch right before I collided with the bubbling lava.

I opened my eyes, and wiped the sweat that beaded on my forehead. I made it! I looked around to see blue sky and white snow falling. I shivered at the cold weather, and started counting to ten over and over waiting for the creatures to tear through the sky and consume me. They would be here any second if they made it. But they didn’t come, and I took a few breaths and smiled. I have a feeling I won’t be seeing them in a long time. Time, it was the one thing I couldn't run from. There millions of other worlds, gazillions of other people, beasts the size of skyscrapers, extraordinary places, there were things no one would believe were real. But everything was still under the rule of time. It controlled everything. It tormented me, but I’ve encountered worse. 

The last world was Dimension-152, and I made a mental note to avoid it at all cost. Unless I wanted to succumb to the same fate as those hideous flesh eating creatures. 

I looked down at my watch to see what dimension this was. It said Dimension-800. The ground was buried under snow, and the trees held icicles at the ends of their branches. Something felt familiar about the air in this world. Like maybe I’ve seen it before. In the distance I could see buildings and vehicles. He ran towards them, until I reached a street. People passing by stopped one and asked what year it was. Someone muttered to me: “2010.” I fell to my knees, my bones freezing. I found it. The mirrored dimension. I had to find her quickly. I had to be on time.