One hour forward

One hour forward:

By Sunshine Moore

There was a feeling in the air. I can't explain it, only that I dreaded tomorrow. Tomorrow. The first day of spring. I would set my clock one hour forward, but perhaps time would not be the only substance to change. I had much anxiety through the night, almost a quite panic. Was it the magnetic quality of time moving forward or was it my mind racing against time. What was this dread and from where did it come? Through the twilight mist in the night, I peeked through my window, which let in silver light from the gazing moon. A glow. A hollow ring hung round the moon like a sign, like a symbol of the changing season. Out like a vast vision, the glimmering ocean swished and wrestled back and forth like it played tug a war with the shore itself. One thing caught my attention. A large group of dolphins surfaced the water. It was dark, but the sound they made their identity obvious. A high pitched squealing, a cry echoed the shadowy waters. What must it be? Why do they cry out? Then birds encircled the air. They squawked furiously. "Squawk! Squawk!" They dove and rose and flew with fright. I studied the situation with great intensity. But could not understand what on Earth caused a reaction from the animals and the sea so strange, so incredibly strange.  At last I did walk away from my open window to sit on my bed. Very well I held my clock in my hands. A Clock. An instrument man has used since time began. Without it, one would be lost. I changed it one hour forward and sat it upon my wooden chest. I lay down, and pondered. A gentle wind blew in and the smell of the salty sea found its way engulfing my room. I grew weary and feeling faint. My head felt light, the room it seemed to spin. My music box next to my clock seemed to wind itself and play it's own enchanting melody. I was gazing at the ceiling, but that's all I saw as my eyes closed and I drifted to sleep. In my sleep, I fell prisoner to dreams. I tossed and turned and dreamt for what seemed like hours. I dreamed of wandering through a green forest, where snakes hung about the trees hissing at me and I cried horribly. Oh how I ran in terror in the dream. I mumbled in my sleep and breathed heavily. Then I awoke after what seemed like forever of dreaming. I looked around. My room was the same. I was the same. My bed was the same. Thank goodness I was safe and sound in my room. Then I wiped my brow, full of sweat. The adrenaline left me gasping and shaken up. I sat on my bed, probably ten minutes doing nothing but letting my chest rest. Then I heard birds squawking close by. Fresh air, that's what I need. I rubbed my half opened eyes. I was on the upper room of a two story house and the floor creaked as I walked to my window. My window was closed, strangely. I could have swore I left it open. I reached to open my window. And opened it, I did. My eyes grew to look as big as two moons. My chest dropped. My heart pumped. Just below my window was an ocean of water. A whole ocean surrounding the bottom half of my house. It engulfed the area for as far as I could see. I only saw water less than a foot below my window. Then my floor creaked loud and scary. Oh no! No! Please Dear Heavens! It then became clear to me. The only thing that separated me from the depths of the ocean was a thin floor of wooden boards which now had become unstable. Part of me panicked. What would I do? The house wasn't safe. Any minute, those creaking floorboards would collapse. And I don't know how to swim. I only can somewhat kick, and dog paddle. But to swim an oceans depths, that I could not be prepared for. I slowly crossed the floor, and grabbed a pair of pants from my dresser. I quickly whipped them in the air and tried to make a floatation device the best I could. I was somewhat successful. Then I looked at my clock. What time was it? It only stayed on 12:00 midnight. Why had it stopped? Where was everyone? Everything? Where were the houses and city? Why was I alone? Then the clock fell onto the floor. The floor began splinting and broke. I peered into the deep waters that lay below me. I climbed outside my window onto my roof to get a better look for what was around me. Then I saw an island. An island of green forest. Maybe I wasn't alone after all. That would be a good thing. I put my homemade flotation device on with hesitation dove into the water. I swam towards the island, which might be my only chance of survival. I feared what creatures swam beneath the surface. I feared for sharks mostly. I began to tire quickly and the sun added to the exhaustion. I fought the harsh waves and washed upon shore of the green island. So beat and shivering from adrenaline. Then I did feel a sting. A bite. I looked and a snake had struck a bite into my ankle. I cried out. I yelled loudly. I saw people approaching. Most of them were fair with whitish hair and their faces pink from heat. They were dressed in feathers and loincloths. I fainted on the sand as they ran towards me. It would a few days before I would awake. When I awoke, a boy sat by my side. His hair was a bleach blonde and his eyes were sea green, almost see through. I never saw anyone with such a striking combination. I sat up. He jumped up. He spoke. "Please rest. You must be hungry. Wait here." I hadn't said a word and he ran to get food out of a pot by the fire and ran back quickly to bring it to me. He handed me a bowl and smiled. "Thank you, but please I don't know why I'm here. What year is it?" He looked at me carefully concentrated. " The island has always been magnetically connected to the seasons, to time itself. Everything has seasons. The native people of this island warned settlers not to build their homes here. The settlers did not listen, and built anyway. They destroyed the green forest and killed many natives. The last great chief pledged that one day the Island would restore itself. The chief claimed that a pocket beneath the ground held a chamber that gave the island a force all on its own. Only when the ocean stirred by the moonlight on the one thousandth year of spring. Spring is a symbol of restoration and a new beginning." I was engulfed in what he had just told me. "But, please what year is it?" He looked at me like he could see through my eyes. "It's the year 2120." My eyes grew large. My jaw dropped. "It's been one hundred years!" I placed my hand on my forehead. "Where is everyone?" I asked. "In the great flood of 2020, the water engulfed houses and rose up and stayed that way. Few people remained and all was lost. Another tribe formed. With all lost, many turned to nature, which grew abundant. My grandparents tell me the stories by the fire at night. I know the legends. I also know what scientists said. They claimed that a magnetic chamber was directly beneath the island and stirred the ocean when pulled by the gravitational moon. It flooded the area and over a hundred years, the island and vegetation grew back. However this is only possible on spring. If you were here a hundred years ago on the first hour of spring. You must have traveled into time caused by a magnetic reaction." "I don't even know what to say. How or can I ever get back?" He wore a wooden cross around his neck. He looked the same age as me. He was around eighteen or so. His green eyes pondered. ”Well I, I don't really know. It seems around a hundred years ago, you used to set time an hour forward in spring. We don't do that anymore. Civilization is not the same." "It's like The Garden of Eden, the dawn of time." I pondered relentlessly. What in this world would I do? Then he began. "Well I mean do you have the clock that you set?" "No. It's back in the house, in the upper room on my wooden chest. It was sinking, last I saw. I'm scared to go back." "I'll go, and get the clock. If you can set it back one hour, you might be able to go home. Maybe. I don't know." "But how could the clock change what time dimension I'm in?" "I don't know that it can, but it seemed to work last time." "I trust you, and if you think it'll work, maybe it will. We can only try." The boy took a wooden canoe out to the halfway engulfed house, and fetched the clock. He was a skilled swimmer and watched as all sorts of creatures swam through the bottom half of the house. He grabbed the clock and rowed back to shore. I watched from afar, as the sun was setting. What a beautiful place. What a breathtaking time I was in, but it was frightening and captivating all at the same time. The boy brought the clock. I wondered what would next happen from here. The boy began speaking. "We must travel through the forest to the other side with the tribe. It will be dark soon and the creatures of the night will come out." The boy and I began walking through the green forest. A tropical Paradise, that hid fearsome animals as well. It seemed like nothing but glowing eyes peered from the trees at us. All sounds arose. Hissing and howling and growling. Then he took out a candle. "That was back in my room, wasn't it?" "Yes, we will need it to see in the dark." He lit the candle. It got dark indeed. We trudged through the dark. Then the moon came out. We walked on. I got anxious. Then a noise began. A hissing. It got louder and louder. Then we walked upon trees of hanging snakes. I screamed. "Ahhhhhhh!" I ran and ran. The boy called out. "Don't, it's very dangerous!" I ran for my life, it was like my dream. Then I tripped over something. The clock fell out of my hands. It suddenly began ringing frantically. It shook in my hands. Like an earthquake, it shaked harshly. I opened my eyes. All was calm. I was in my room again. The adrenaline pumped through my chest. I looked around. Was it all a dream? My sister yelled below. "Get up sleepy head, it's the first day of Spring!" I gazed around looking for answers to my predicament. My clock which lay on my wooden chest had stopped at twelve pm. The time I woke up. I looked for my candle, it was mysteriously gone. A feather lay on my wooden chest. Was it all a dream? Or was it just the first day of Spring?