Missed Appointments

“ I'm going to be late! I'm going to be late!” I shouted, my voice rimming with anxiety and tension.

I practically jumped down the steps, taking two steps at a time.

“ Lisa, I told you to come faster," her sister Abigail muttered, “ Here.”

I practically snatched the protein bar she offered to me, running to the door and slamming it behind my back with a loud THUD.

Great. Just great. It was my first interview with a very prestigious company, and I was already 10 minutes late because my stupid alarm didn't go off on time. I grabbed the keys from my pocket and hopped into my car. The engine growled as I turned the keys and stepped on the pedal. The rest was basically a blur of me literally sweating pigs and trying to get there somewhat on time.

When I finally got a decent parking spot, I sprinted to the door, prying it open. The building was huge and made me seem like an ant in comparison. It had marble walls that seemed to go up forever, with tinted windows that made it difficult to see what was inside. Stepping inside was like entering another realm. The place was spacious and cold, so very cold. I went to the front desk where a woman sat. She had a stern face and a tightly tied up bun. She wore a dark blue navy suit with a silver name tag

I glanced up at the receptionist and we stared at each other for a second or 2 before she looked down at her computer, shaking her head with disbelief, embarrassment ; I couldn’t tell.

“Excuse me,” I asked, “ Is there an appointment for Lisa Thorne?”

She looked up at me with pity, and a sense of sorrow mixed with guilt washed over me.

“ Your appointment has been canceled due to the interviewee not coming on time.” The receptionist said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“ A-are u sure?” I stammered out , desperation seeping through my voice.

“ Yes I am.” She said, still not meeting my eyes.

Tears formed in my eyes as I stumbled out of the building, not believing the words that I just heard. I stared at the ground, waddling like a duck to the direction of my car.

“ Dang it. Dang it. Dang it.” I thought, feeling blue. I kept walking until I tripped over something. Something hard.

The Humming Watch

I glanced down to find what had tripped me, expecting perhaps a rock or a pebble. However, what stared back at me was definitely not just a boring boulder. It was an intricate golden pocket watch, practically begging me to pick it up. I glanced around me, checking if this watch potentially belonged to someone. There was no one. So I reached down and picked the object up. It was a rectangular shape with golden intricate details of hourglasses and symbols along the edges. It ticked softly, and had a gold short chain attached to the side of it. The watch was literally humming with this strange energy.

“It must be old.” I pondered to myself, still inspecting the foreign object from every angle imaginable.

I noticed that the watch was slightly off time compared to the other watch on my wrist. 10 minutes apart from each other. I slightly adjusted the time by turning it counter-clockwise.

“ There,” I murmured to myself, “It should be better by now.”

I get up from the road pavement, keeping the watch where I found it. I walk around halfway from my car, when I feel a wave of dizziness and nausea crash into me. Crumbling to the ground, I can barely open my eyes without feeling like the sun has descended to the Earth. I clutch my hair, barely able to form a thought without bringing on an ear splitting headache. This isn’t a wave of dizziness anymore, this is a full blown tsunami crashing on to me, threatening to take it along with me.

The pain in my head reaches its breaking point before suddenly leaving me as if it was never there. I sigh in relief as all that's left is a sour taste in my mouth and confusion on what happened to me. I take a deep breath while slowly opening my eyes. My mouth falls in confusion and I’m stuck in a state of bewilderment. I’m back at my house, in my bed tucked in as if nothing had ever happened.

“What the…” I managed to say.

I rub my eyes once more before I throw off the bed sheets and look around. Everything looks the same, as I think to myself, “It must have been a nightmare.”

I hop out of bed, putting on my slippers and standing up. I’m about to leave the room when I spot it out of the corner of my eye. The pocket watch gleaming on my nightstand.

Time Travel

I pace for a while, the pocket watch gleaming in my hands. I try to make sense of what's going on when I spot my alarm clock. It reads 12:23, 20 minutes before my meeting started. I stare at the clock for a minute before looking back at the pocket watch.

“Can you travel through time?” I ask, to no one in particular.

I think back to the moment I picked up the watch, to the headache. I looked back and forth between the pocket watch and the alarm clock. The dizziness started not long after I adjusted it backwards until . Testing the watch out, I already felt sick to the stomach. I doubled over, the sour taste in my mouth already returning like before. This time it was even worse than before as I doubled over clutching my head. I woke up, figuring out that I was 6 years in the past. This was when the accident happened, the one that killed my best friend a few years back.

My friend, Olivia, died in a car crash because of me. It happened when I had urged both of us to go to the new burger place downtown. I had dragged her across the street not looking at the stoplight when it flashed green. It was fast and I didn’t even notice the huge truck rolling towards us. She had pushed me out of the way in the nick of time but didn’t get herself out in time.

She ended up dying after 3 days in the hospital, and the last I saw of her, she was attached to what seemed to be millions of millions of tubes.

I could change that all in an instant now. All I had to do was prevent it from ever happening.

I started by going to Olivia's house, checking that she was there. She was. Watering plants in her backyard like she had done the day before. Next I went back to my apartment and wore a black hoodie. It was a little tight but I managed to fit in. I waited on the sidewalk near the burger place. I could feel pairs of eyes watching me but every time I turned around there was no one. I chalked it up to nervousness.

After what felt like a few million hours, I finally saw Olivia and me but younger. I paled at the sight of my supposed dead friend. I saw myself grabbing Olivia’s hand and dragging her across the road.

“ Wait! Watch out!” I screamed.

Olivia was the first one to react from my warning, seizing younger me's hands and moving out of the way just in the nick of time.

I quickly moved out of sight making sure that Olivia or younger me could spot me. After all, watching time travel movies always highlights what could happen if someone spotted me. I quickly rewound the watch to the present day. This time I didn’t feel as bad as I did the last 2 times I traveled.

I found myself in bed once more, except this time my bedroom looked different. I found like 20 pictures around my room, of me and a person that I recognized as Olivia. I breathed a sigh of relief mixed with joy.

Going back in time, I have saved my best friend but in doing so I have changed the course of history. It brings me joy to know that she is still alive however I can not tell if this is a blessing or a curse. Only time will tell. Now all I have to do is go back in time once more and go on time for that dang interview!