Running Through Time

Imagine, you are in a crowded city and you pass millions of people on your way to the library. But everyone and everything you pass is exactly the same. Your book is overdue and you will have to pay a fine if it is not returned soon. Everyday from now, the fine will increase by a dollar. The library is just a kilometre away and you could run it in a minute. But every second that passes is a day and every minute that passes is a year. What if Time was dragging you back with every chance? What if you could see yourself going through this while it is happening? What if you could see what will happen next at the same Time? And what if you could see your life running from your fingertips and you couldn’t do anything about it? What if you could see it all at once?

How would you react if everything in this Time apocalypse was reality?

Hana had been running for hours, each hour only took a second. Hana was feeling all emotions at once. With every step she took she would be yanked back to where she had started, the creepy bit was she had a birds eye view of herself. Nothing made sense; she was running through the past and future at the same time. She could also see others' thoughts floating past her, a few forgotten dreams floating past too. Cast out things from the past were no longer unknown to the world. What was happening?

Suddenly it was like Time had decided for some more fun, with a big tug, it launched Hana into nowhere. Hana drifted around, she could still see everything. As far as the eye could see, the world was blank and empty. Now every second seemed to take years, Hana’s watch was going crazy. By now the book was ancient, you could hardly read the cover. Hana had forgotten the story’s name but at the same time she remembered it clearly. Why did Time do this to her? Wait was the book glowing now?

“Out of time! Out of time!” Words rushed out of the book. “What do you mean out by of time?” Hana cried desperately. “You have failed to return the book!” The book chanted. “For that you have been banished to the time realm!” By now Hana was beginning to feel worried. She would be stuck here for of time, she would never die in this time error. There was still that flicker of hope, she couldn’t give up. “I will return the book! I promise,” she begged. A second later (or a year) Hana found herself back in the future. She had to go to the library, fast. She raced to the library, but when she got there all that remained of it was a pile of rubble. She was probably 673855634278675624378394 years in the future.

Still Hana knew the punishment if she didn’t return the book. She would have to return it, somehow. “How am I going to do this?” She asked Time. Time replied “Go back in time, to the day you were returning the book," ok so now she knew what to do. WAIT, HOW COULD SHE GO BACK IN TIME WITHOUT TIME? “Now I’ve done it!” She screamed. She should never have gone to the library in the first place. How would she go back in time? Wait! That’s it, she could rebuild the library. Then she would be able to return the book. The only problem was, where would she get all the money?

Hana so found herself on a gameshow called Money Go Round. You would be given ten questions to answer. If you got all 10 questions correct you would win a million. However, if you got one wrong, you would lose a one hundred thousand dollars. All of the questions were very difficult, so not many had succeeded. In order to be able to enter you had to have one hundred thousand dollars, to be sure that they were going to not pay. Hana had just shown them the ancient book and they thought that was worth enough. Hana had to win though, If she lost she would lose the book and Time would catch her.

“Today's questions are going to be very difficult, they will be about the future back 673855634278675624378394 years ago.” Said the game master. Hana felt a wave of relief wash on her, she had existed 673855634278675624378394 years ago. The questions were so easy, no one could believe it when Hana left with 1 million dollars.

Soon the library was back in construction, now Hana just needed to buy the books. By the end of the month all the books were ordered and it was now the waiting game. ‘The library has to be built soon’ Hana thought anxiously, remembering how much money the fine would be.

2 years later…

It was built, the library was now finished. But Hana’s smile was turned upside down when she saw the fine, there were millions of numbers sitting on that small piece of paper. How would she pay the fine. With time, she could do it. Wait! With Time! “Time!” She screamed  “I knead you to find me some money." “How?” Asked Time, Hana thought for a moment. People wouldn’t miss a dollar, would they? “Take one dollar from anyone that has ever lived, change Time.” A second later, a gold coin landed on her head. Wait? What? It was raining coins. Billions of coins were flying through the air, each meant one human that had existed. Hana had more than enough money now, she could pay the fine and not get captured by Time.

Still something didn’t feel right, she was being pulled away. Time was taking her away, but where? Hana found herself sitting outside her house, her Mum and Dad walked by her. “You returned that book quickly,” they said. Hana’s mind was beginning to spin, “Mum, Dad, I don’t think I want to go to the library again,” then they walked inside, but to normal times.