 
A Glitch in Time

Published by Yathansh Sharma at Smashwords

Copyright 2020 Yathansh Sharma

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

# Chapter 1 - Introduction

Have you ever tried to make someone understand that you are not different, that you are just like them? I have, always. Trust me, things are a lot easier when you are trying to make them believe that you are different. People lack the wisdom to understand that what is different is not bad, and that they must not fear or despise it, rather embrace it. For what is different is also 'Progress'. Most of the time.

I have, like I said, always been different. And people have not appreciated that fact. How am I different? Nothing much, I just seemed to have too much knowledge about everything. And it's like they say, excess of everything is not very healthy. In time I adopted to the life of solitude, until it happened. The Purge, the massacre, nuclear warfare, call it whatever you want. But it was devastating and took out most of the entire human race. All because one person cannot keep it together.

For an entire year people lived underground in special shelters that various governments had constructed in preparation for such an event, if it happens. Our main target was to avoid the radiation, and even when we found a way to come out and breath the fresh air, due to our radiation dampening equipment that we created, we realized that the nightmare is not over. We still cannot find a way to stop the psycho. She kept on fighting as if she was taking out a decade old grudge on the world. We are at war, her military vs our resistance. Although we are winning, but we have lost a lot of good people, family, friends. We are tired and willing to stop at any cost. We want to bring those lives back. But we cannot. For what is done must stay in the past and should only remain part of our memories. Still I always knew that if anyone finds a way to bring back anything they will try it no matter what the cost. And that is why I had to come back 10 Years into the past, because someone did find a way.

The day is, 15th April 2020. Ten years from now we will be fighting the war for our freedom and most of what we have achieved till today, will be lost in the future. In another year or so I will create the time machine with the notes that I will get from another future me from an alternate timeline. This could get very confusing and therefore for now, let's just get back to the basics, and give you a brief **introduction**.

I am, Alex Richardson and I am the person who invented 'Time Travel', in the future. One day when I was living my life, thinking about that very simple question, 'Why am I different?', I saw someone staring at my house. I went out and there was an old man who seemed weak and also counting his final days. His face cut was round, just like mine, had white colored hair, a lot of wrinkles and he was using a cane to help him walk. He was wearing a black color suit and a pair of goggles.

"Hello Alex" he said as I walked towards him.

"I am sorry do I know you?"

"Yes, in fact, no one knows me the way you do. Although there are a lot of things in my life that you have yet to experience. In time."

"I am sorry, What?"

"It's fine, come let's go in there. I haven't seen my house in years." He said pointing towards my house.

"Are you my far away relative? Because I am pretty sure that if you are not then I need to call 911 as you are forcefully entering my property."

"Obviously, you should. The last time you failed to report something like this you lost your parents" he replied.

"Who the hell are you?" I said while becoming a bit more aggressive.

"Now! Now! no need to get hostile. I come in good faith. I won't be able to explain this to you unless you come with me inside. Besides, I am just an old man, what can I possibly do?" he said that while giving me a smile. Somehow, I didn't feel that this smile was intended to be a threat and so I decided to comply with his request, while I was still alert if something were to happen.

"Come on now, be quick" he said opening the door to my house, and I started walking towards him. Once inside he quickly sat on the couch and asked "Tell me, what makes you different?"

"Who said that I am different? I am like everyone else"

"Exactly! Your persistence to achieve something even if you know that it is not true. It is that very belief in things that make the impossible, possible."

"Enough with your riddles. Tell me, who you are?"

"I will but first..." he said pulling out a mobile phone from his pocket, "take this and move the slider one click only."

"Why? And what kind of phone is this? It does not even have a camera, or a speaker, or fingerprint sensor, or basically anything that a phone has, except for a touch screen."

"I cannot answer any question unless you do as I ask, so please move the slider from the left of the screen to the right, only one click."

I looked at the screen and it had current date and time displayed in a holographic texture, 30th sept 2020 7:31. The next thing that I noticed was the mode selection which had two options, rewind and leap, out which rewind was selected. Going down, there was the unit selection, which displayed minutes and at last a slider like the unlock slider for any iPhone. This is what I was supposed to move. I kept the index finger of my left hand on the slider and moved the slider which changed the time to one-minute back.

"Now click on the date," he said, and I did as he asked. All of a sudden everything around me turned white and I was outside again with the old man walking towards my house opening the door saying "Come on now, be quick".

# Chapter 2 –Time Machine

For a moment there I froze in shock and confusion. I didn't understand what just happened. Did this man hypnotize me? Was I suddenly pushed into some AR or VR? Am I dreaming? Or did that man actually hand me over a **Time Machine**? I did not notice enough things to understand all of this the first time. So this time I looked around and had a clear picture of everything. There was a white civic parked just across the street till now and just left in front of me. My neighbor came back after walking his dog and waved at me. I waved him back in response. His dog, like always pissed at the small bush right outside his house. Since it was early morning so the newspaper man was throwing newspapers around to the houses where people still haven't heard about the internet. I believed that this was enough. I quickly went inside the house to find the old man sitting on the couch just like the last time.

"You need some water?" I asked.

"Yes, of course, please." He replied.

I handed him a glass of water while counting the seconds on my watch. I am supposed to click the date at exactly 120 secs this time. As he finished the glass of water he kept it down and said "Tell me, what makes you different?"

"My persistence to achieve something even if I know that it is not true. It is my belief in things that make the impossible, possible."

"And I thought that you might say that you are not different." He said smiling.

"Well I figured, since you know me a lot so there is no point pretending anything in front of you. Although that still doesn't answer the question. Who you are?"

"I will answer that but first..." he said pulling out the supposed 'Time Machine' from his pocket, "take this and move the slider, one click only."

I took a very small look at the machine and then replied "Why? And what kind of phone is this? It does not even have a camera or a speaker or fingerprint sensor or basically anything that a phone has except, for a touch screen."

"I cannot answer any question unless you do as I ask, so please move the slider from the left of the screen to the right, only one click."

By this time, I still have like 20 seconds to kill so I had to keep the conversation going. "Why exactly one?"

"You ask too many questions. Just move the slider."

I moved the slider twice without him noticing, since two minutes had passed since I started observing everyone, the clock moved from 7:32 to 7:30 again.

"Done" I said.

"Now click on the date" he replied, and I did as he asked. All of a sudden everything around me turned white, again, and I was outside, again, with the old man walking towards my house opening the door, again, saying "Come on now, be quick", again.

I observed everything, the civic, my neighbor, I waved, the newspaper boy everything happened at the same time stamp it happened the last time. I was certain that either I am in a VR machine, which I don't realize how. Or I just travelled two minutes back in time. So I went inside the house, again! And saw that old man sitting on my couch, again.

"You need some water?" I repeated everything just like the last time.

"Yes, of course, please." He replied.

I handed him a glass of water however, this time I gave a one second gap in giving him the glass of water. When he finished his glass of water he started his routine, "Tell me, what makes you different?"

"Persistence, trying to achieve the impossible," I replied.

"And..."

"You thought that I might say that I am not different"

"We have already done this, didn't we?"

"Twice"

"So what kind of VR do you think that you are stuck in?"

"I am not. That machine in your pocket. It's the real deal."

"How can you be so sure? Tell me that"

"I gave you the glass of water for a reason. The first time I didn't offer you water, out of hostility. You didn't even ask for it which means that you really weren't thirsty enough. The second time I gave you a glass of water to see your drinking habits and movements. It seemed like a normal human, but that can be programmed. This time I intentionally gave a one second gap just to see it you convert that one sec gap into two."

"Smart. You need to stop breathing while you eat or drink, and you cannot swallow anything if you have taken your breath in. You wanted to see if I will release my breath first or not?"

"A computer program might replicate movements, reflexes or even linguistics. But it cannot imitate the basic human behaviors. It does not have a body to replicate something like breathing and eating."

"I really am a fan of myself." He said with an excited look.

"The fuck?" I replied in confusion.

"Why so much confused? You do not recognize the person in front of you?"

"You are me, from the future?"

# Chapter 3 – Rewind and Leap

For a moment everything seemed to be in my control. I knew what was happening. I knew what kind of power this man has. I just needed to take that machine so that I can get rid of him, when suddenly he gave me a shock by saying that he is me from the future. Seriously, after seeing so many various movies where the most basic rule of time travel is not to interact with your future self, I come back in time to meet me? I could have done whatever I have wanted. I could have met famous historical figures. No told the president about the 9/11 attack. Even better I could have gone back in time and prevented the world wars 2 by killing baby Hitler. And here this man, which is me to begin with, tells me that he took a walk across time to meet himself. Go to the fuckin Himalayas. The monks would have done a better job to help you meet yourself. Since I have already come back, let's see what kind of earth shattering event made me break the very basic rule of time travel? He continued on with his story.

"I have come back in time to teach you how to make this happen. I am here to teach you how to make a time machine"

"That might change everything for you. You might not even exist"

"It doesn't matter. So many years of research has taken a toll on my life. I have a rare cellular degenerative disease. My body is dying faster than it is supposed to. Doctors believe it has to be genetic, however I know the cause. Repeated experimentation with time lead to this. For just me, time is ticking way too fast. My body is ageing faster than it is supposed to."

"You have come back to warn me that? Isn't that supposed to be illegal? Because if I do not create the time machine then I would break time itself, and then paradox, singularity, etcetera, etcetera."

"That is not how time works. Besides I saw only one cure for my disease. I never experiment, but go straight to the finish line. If I teach you now, how to make the time machine you'll never do those various experiments and it will essentially change my timeline. I just need to be back to future before time solidifies."

"You lost me there. Time solidifies?"

"See there are two ways to travel in time. **Rewind and Leap**. Rewind is what you experienced just now. In that scenario everything including your age go reverse in time. However, your memories remain intact of what is about to happen. Very essential for changing short term events since a grand rewind will take a toll on your mind and most probably leave you brain dead."

"Is this why you did not try rewinding time to cure yourself?"

"That is different. I am no longer affected by the flow of time. It does not matter whether time flows forward or backward around me. I will keep on ageing at an accelerated rate."

"Let me guess due to the experiments that you did on yourself."

"Exactly! and this is where the second method comes in, which is a bit dangerous. This is called a leap. You not just go back in time, but you make a jump from one timeframe to another. You will stop existing in the future timeframe and will start to exist in the past. However, the timeline is still stable, since you are too inconsequential for time to take you as a factor for major leaks. That is until you make a change which will start a series of chain reaction and make everything different, including the future of everyone around you, like telling the president about 9/11 or killing baby Hitler."

"What? It'll save a lot of lives"

"I know how you think, but first, really, a kid? Secondly, the punishment always comes after the crime. Always. You can try to prevent the crime by guiding the criminal, but not by killing him first. Remember, anyone who is about to do something bad, might not do that something bad. Now getting back to the topic, chain reaction, at this point you will never be able to return to the future that you came from. Time will solidify and now you will be forced to stay here or to return to a future where there is a high chance that you might not exist, because someone else has married your mother instead of your father and they do not even know each other."

"Ok enough with the confusing theories. Tell me something, you just told me about all these things. Isn't it supposed to start the chain reaction?"

"What exactly can you do with the information that I just gave you? Except for becoming curious and start working towards becoming me? I know what I am doing." He said this and took out a box from the side pocket of his coat. "Take this. This box contains information which will help you create the time machine. You might have a few minutes before it gets wiped from existence. If it doesn't, consider yourself failed. But hoping that you will not fail, you will have about 5 minutes to memorize the research that I have saved inside it. Use those minutes." He said while working on his time machine.

"You're leaving?" I asked him.

"Yes, I believe that you have all the information you need. 5 minutes, make them count." He said pressing the time machine button to travel into the future. A huge flash of light happened and he left.

"I am confused. He said that time solidifies and that he will become a part of that time. What makes this box any different?" I said to myself while looking at the box, when I suddenly realized that the old man lied to me. He has never done this. Obviously, why else would he be confused about himself being solidified and not the box?

"5 minutes? From the point I start looking" I said again while looking towards the box.

# Chapter 4 – A New Present

Remember I told you in the beginning that there was a nuclear warfare ten years in the future. However, my future self remembers nothing about that nuclear warfare. How come my future self never warned me about that it? Because there was no time machine to create that nuclear warfare. The chain reaction happened with the biggest bang possible. No one, who saw the mushroom cloud this time, lived to talk about it. The lives that were lost, I will always blame it on myself. The early creation of the time machine was the reason behind everything bad that has happened and I created this time machine.

But humanity needed a hero, a person who would lead them to victory and I couldn't do anything but gather the pieces of the torn nations. I cannot make things right by taking a leap, because I saw firsthand what happened when Alex from the future tried to correct the course of time. So we were forced to push on with whatever we had left. I went ahead and threw the time machine in a corner somewhere, where no one will ever find it. Or at least that's what I thought.

Trust me, I thought about destroying the time machine, but somehow it filled me with fear. What could be the consequences of doing such a thing. If it would be wise destroying it? What if the small blast gives me the cellular degenerative disease? Maybe that's what Alex from the future thought before making the time jump. Perhaps he was scared. But this is **a new present** , and I knew that I hated it.

Now if you have ever seen the terminator give yourself a pat on your back. You will easily understand what is about to happen. If not, never mind I'll try to make it as simple as possible. Someone found out about the time machine and went back in time to kill a girl who is supposed to be really important to this timeline. To make matters worse, he is my student. Everything I know I have taught him and he, although not better than me, is still good enough to complete his mission all by himself.

It is unfortunate that we have to meet in such circumstances, but I cannot let him kill someone in the past. So I followed him and landed right next to the girl who I had to save. Hope, she used to work with me. She is a pretty, cheerful girl who always know what to say to someone to make their day. She has red straight hair, beautiful blue eyes and her lips were again as red as a rose blooming on a sunny day. Seeing her smile feels like a calm breeze near a waterfall. Her dressing style, like always, a jeans and the simplest top that you can find on the shelf of any store. Yet somehow she makes that top look like it was made by some celebrity designer. I stood there, looking at her while she worked.

All of a sudden she turns towards me and smiles. This surprises me as I know I am just projecting myself into this timeline, I am not here actually. This technique is used to audit the position that you'll be landing on before you actually make the leap, so that you don't land on the wings of a flying plane, or in the mouth of a volcano, or even worse, in the middle of a girls' bath. That last one most probably made you feel awkward, but it happened once, and do not ask for specifics. That event made me take measures for such scenarios.

Back to the question at hand, I am supposed to be a ghost in this timeline then why would she look at me. Perhaps she is looking at the person behind me, so I turned around to look at him. It was me, the Alex from the past was sitting right behind me. I took a look at myself, so careless and focused. I haven't met my future self yet and have no idea that I'll be the person who'll invent the time machine. There is no weight of the world on my shoulders right now and I have nothing to be scared of. What more could I ask for, but go back to being him. I have my parents, my friends and the whole friggin world is intact. However, it was time to focus on the task at hand, I have to take the leap and actually be there so that I can help Hope escape before that idiot wannabe assassin gets his hands on her.

With that settled, I have put my mind to it and with that I forced my hand towards the date displayed on the time machine. In a moment I was there, standing in the middle of the office, with everyone staring at me. They are all probably wondering why is it that there is a second Alex standing in the room? And since I don't have time to explain that so I'll think of it as bullet dodged. I looked at Hope, while she looked back at me with confusion.

"Is that the secret project that you were working on? A robot?" said a voice from behind. It was the girl who used to sits opposite to me in the office. Her name is either Carla, or Claire. I don't remember the specifics, it's something along the lines.

"I did not make a robot" the past Alex replied while taking a step back. Upon hearing that I thought that I should try to explain myself, however I took a look towards my watch and I knew instantly that this was a bad idea.

Now I know what you are wondering, I am from a distant post-apocalyptic future then how do I have a wrist watch with me? Well it is not a normal watch, as it tells me how the timeline has shifted. It has a needle which is pointing towards the top, and the markings show about 30 degree arcs either side of the needle. The right side arc is colored blue and the left side arc is red. If the needle stays in the neutral position, then that means that there are no major changes to the timeline. Whatever you have done makes no difference or a larger scale. The blue shift tells that a positive change has happened in the timeline and when I'll return, I might see something really good. The other side signifies just the opposite. Red means something terrible has happened and that I must be prepared for anything. I presume that sums up the functionality of the watch. Oh! Yeah! It also shows the current time.

In all my adventures across time, never once have I seen a positive shift. I know for sure that the watch is working fine, which could only mean one thing, that messing with time always leads to bad things. And the same was with this scenario. Things have already started to go bad in the future.

# Chapter 5 – The Girl Named Hope

I need to be careful of what changes I bring in the timeline. I have to try to keep the damage to a minimum, since the timeline is already in a very bad place. And so, without talking to anyone, I started walking towards Hope. Suddenly a senior member of her team blocks my path and asks me, "Hey mister, care to explain what is happening?"

I was not interested in such nonsense and so I quickly put my hand on his face and shoved him aside. I believe this act angered a couple of people as they started shouting stuff like, "Hey who the hell are you?... Get lost dummy.... You do not belong here... We will break you...". To be frank, all these things do not matter much to the timeline, and I believe that my watch shares the same opinion since it did not move at all.

It is really intriguing that you manage to forget the most important things at the most crucial times. Considering, I haven't seen any movie in the past 150 years, yes I said 150, the 0 was not a mistake, I'll explain later. So considering I haven't seen a single movie in the past 150 years, I had completely forgotten what all happened in the terminator. And without knowing I went ahead and said it to Hope.

"Hope Summers" she looks at me with a shock and amusement, "Come with me if you want to live".

This was the point when everyone forgot that they were angry and burst into laughter, except the person who I shoved aside a minute ago. Speaking of a minute ago, the expression that was on Hope's face a minute ago got transferred to my face. I hadn't realized what a gigantic fool I've made of myself and everyone was saying one thing, "Look The Terminator has come back in time to save **The Girl Named Hope**."

Although time waits for no one, and apparently neither does people. I was really worried about the assassin's arrival and the person I shoved, Sean was his name, pulled my shoulder back saying "She isn't going anywhere, douchebag"

Well survival teaches you a lot of things. One of those things happened to be the art of kicking your opponent's ass. I mastered it a few years ago. The first thing that is enhanced are your reflexes. Due to those reflexes, I quickly twisted the arm of the man who I shoved earlier, Sean's arm, and held him there for a few seconds. He was on his knees facing opposite to me with his right hand twisted behind his back, begging for releasing him.

I think that I have made a mark on everyone by now since everyone has stopped laughing and have grabbed something to hit me. I had to do something, and quickly or else I believe that the watch won't just go 30-degree negative, it'll surely burst out of its orbit.

"Ashley," I said calling out the name of the girl sitting beside, past Alex, "I believe your umbrella would be a better weapon for hitting me from a distance instead of your pen". Yes, she was holding a pen. "Jack," I called out the name of the person sitting beside Hope, "you'll damage your fist trying to punch me just like you always hurt yourself when hitting a punching bag, slapping would be a better alternative for you." He heard me and loosened his fist. "Buck," I called out the name of the person sitting on the far corner of the same desk that Hope as hope "your small pins are bound to get stuck in your own hand no matter how smartly you use them, just like the last time. Xenia," I said pointing towards Claire/Carla "You literally cannot expect to pick up the chair you are holding with your soft and weak hands, yes there was a bit of a compliment in that. And bitch," I said pointing to the girl who was sitting behind me. Yes, I hate her to my very core, never hated someone that much, "you too are holding a pen. For crying out loud, don't you guys have a better weapon in this office, perhaps one Gun for self-defense? I believe that the Dildo in your purse would do a better job scaring me to death." And it was this point that everyone started looking at her bag and she started blushing.

By this time, I was more concerned at what changes I've made to the timeline, and what repercussions we are seeing? So I looked at my watch and it was showing about a 10% negative shift. This means that things are about to get worse in the future. Before I could think about anything else, my spider sense started tingling, and I am not Spiderman, that was meant to be a metaphor. I quickly looked up and saw someone swinging a keyboard towards me. Obviously I took a step back and dodged it.

It was me, the past me, who actually thought of something good to pick up in situations like these, at least it is better than a pen.

"I hope that this does a good job of scaring you" my past self said to me, and then looking at Hope he said "no pun intended" and after hearing that she blushed. I thought in my mind "What just happened?".

He kept swinging the keyboard towards me, I kept stepping back, and everyone started cheering up for him. And yes, this pisses me off, people are cheering for me, but not for me. Let's put the confusion aside and address the matter at hand. Stopping the past me from stopping the current me is the most important task. I quickly took a shift towards my right while my past self was trying to hit me from left swinging the keyboard upwards, then I instantly grabbed his right hand making his movement ineffective and then I pulled him towards me while taking a steeper shift so that I would land behind him and he would land on the chair which was behind me a second ago.

# Chapter 6 – And I am here because...

"You're me from the future, aren't you? You knew every corner of the furniture; you knew about everything there was to know about these people. You appeared out of thin air and look just like me. There can only be one explanation, that you are me from the future." the past Alex said sitting completely relaxed on the chair.

"Alex, I cannot explain everything, but I have worked here for 150 years." When he heard this he had a shine in his eyes, which clearly showed his excitement for the next question he was about to ask, and I was ready with the answer before he even says it "And no, I'm not immortal" I said, which made him give a disappointed look with the same speed.

"Hope," I said turning towards her and suddenly I was interrupted again by me.

"What about the rule that we are not allowed to meet ourselves?" he asked.

"There is no such rule. However, there will be consequences if I tell you too much about the future" I said replying to him while turning towards him and then again I turned towards the star of the moment saying "Listen to me Hope..."

"Do I succeed in creating an army of super soldiers? Am I famous? Do I save the world even once?" All these were the questions that were asked by me and pissed me as well.

"Listen to me moron, you never make anything super, you are the most famous infamous person and you never save anyone, let alone the whole world. Speaking of which, the whole world is in chaos and it's all your goddam fault. My fault. You talk about the whole world; I couldn't even save my parents tomorrow." And I realized that I have said more than I should. So I quickly looked at my watch and what I saw surprised me. Never, in the history of existence has it ever shown a positive shift, and now, for the first time it had a 2-degree positive shift for one second, then it went back to 0.

"So you are here to save me?" Hope said from behind. Upon hearing her I slowly turned towards her and looked her in the eyes. It filled me with pain and despair, and reminded me of the horrible things that are about to happen, yet at the same time looking at her filled me with a certain joy, and HOPE.

What would you do to get back someone you love? What would you give? What wouldn't you try? Trust me, when people say that things are better the way they are, they are not lying. Unknowingly, they are telling you the correct thing to do, although their motive is to make you understand that you should not dwell on the past. However, given the moment they would jump back to do everything all over again believing that things would be better this time around. Not realizing that they are still the same person.

I too am tempted to do it. I too am tempted to tell her my true motives, but I know that after nearly a hundred thousand time jumps one small positive change happened for a second. I had to conceal the fate of everyone and so all I said to her was "Hope, trust me. Right now I am the only person who is capable of keeping you safe. Please, come with me."

"Is he really your future self?" She asked while looking at the past Alex.

"Apparently..." he replied to her and then turned towards me and asked "Superman or Batman?"

"Neither, both of them are O.P." I replied.

"PlayStation or Xbox?"

"The one with the Game pass, I don't remember which it was"

"Newton or Einstein?"

"Obviously Newton, had better analytical skills, besides the whole space bending theory has been scraped in my future, and the particles of gravity have been discovered."

"Einstein is one of my favorite physicist of all time" He replied.

"Which does not mean what he said in his research, with the limited set of equipment that he had, is actually absolute. Besides I have always, my entire life, admired Newton more than Einstein. Do not deny that" I said pointing a finger at him.

"Those were easy, now a tricky one. What happens tomorrow?" he continued his interrogation.

"Look I do not have time for these games. Hope come with me please" I replied in an irritated voice.

She looked at the Alex from the past and he said "He seems legit".

"Where are you taking me? And what is about to happen to me?" She asked.

"Someone from the future is coming to kill you. **And I am here because** it's my duty to prevent that from happening" I replied.

"Typical terminator stuff." Past Alex said from behind. Then he stood up and said coming closer to me "Hand over the time machine and leave, I'll protect her myself."

"What is the particle which regulates the flow of time?" I asked.

"Time force? Speed force!" he replied.

"Thought so, this isn't quicksilver we are talking about" I replied.

"The Flash" he corrected me.

"Yes, The Flash. Ok? Can I leave now?" I yelled at him.

Suddenly, Bitch, Sasha! is her name, interrupted us "Guys what is happening there?" She said pointing towards the opposite corner of the room.

I was clearly able to see that there was a small orb of dark blue light. Its size was a bit smaller than a pea, however it was still giving out enough light to illuminate the entire room. Suddenly lightning starting originating from the orb while its size started to grow. It was comparable to a cricket ball now and the lightning originating from the orb started making contact with the metallic furniture nearby.

It was nothing like the way I walk through time. With my time machine you'll only see a flash of light and poof suddenly people will be there. However, this? I had no idea if I should even try to interrupt this or let it happen? Then all of a sudden the ball grew even more in size and within an instant it burst leaving a man where it stood once. All the furniture was pushed away from that place and only he could be seen over there sitting with his right knee to the ground and his other foot right beside the knee. Although his head was bowed down I could still see the nefarious grin on his face proving to everyone that he was not up to any good.

# Chapter 7 – Bad guy

"Is he our brother from another mother?" past Alex asked me and then continued, "Because if he is not then I am pretty sure that he is bad news". I ignored his comments and kept facing the man who just came with blue lightning.

The man slowly stood up on his two feet, took a look around and then faced me and said "Alex".

"Damian." I responded to his greeting.

"I was not expecting you here" he said.

"Well, you know me, I am all about surprises."

"Since when?" Past Alex asked.

"Shut up" I replied while quickly moving my eyes towards him and then back to Damian.

"Time travel is too dangerous, and you don't know what the outcomes can be for your actions" he said trying to remind me of what I said to him in the future "You once said something like this to me, remember?".

"Like it was yesterday" Quite frankly it was yesterday for me. Don't know if it was the same for him? Maybe he took a couple of days preparing for everything and then came back in time to the exact same moment.

"It was yesterday," he replied. That solves some confusion. "So I am assuming that you are not going to be any help to me now, are you?"

"I can't let you do this Damian. I can't let you kill Hope."

"What a cliché? You almost make it seems like I am the **bad guy**."

"Killing someone just because you believe that it will make everything right does not actually make things right. It does not make you a good guy. You still have time Damian. Go back to the present. Things will get better. You don't need to do this."

"Too bad, I have made up my mind" He said this and pulled out his gun, which was held behind back in between his belt and pants, and shot at us. Luckily, I had enough time to pull Hope down and we hid behind the table that we were close to.

"Run, quick", I told her and then pulled out my gun and quickly moved out of cover to shoot him. In a moment guns were being fired and bullets were flying all over the room. It seemed as if we both came with adequate amount of ammo, but wasting it would be a pain since I cannot find bullets for my gun in this time.

I was behind a pillar hiding and waiting for the perfect exit strategy, should I rewind time and start this entire fight again, or should I just rewind even further and run with hope without having those meaningless conversations? Well, I cannot rewind further beyond the point in time when I got here. You see I just took a leap. Which means that I am supposed to be in a different timeframe beyond the point when I got here. Which also means that if I rewind time beyond that point then it simply won't go back, I'll start from here only standing in my old office. Anyways that won't do me any good either ways.

"Hope, where are you?" Damian said in the clear bad guy fashion. It seemed as if he was enjoying this. I peeked out a little and I saw him standing opposite to the desk Hope was hiding under. I had a clear shot at him, just a limb is all I have to shoot and he goes down. No harm done to anyone. Mission accomplished. But can I even do that? I aimed at my former comrade, and tried to make my hand steady, but I couldn't. I stood there looking at him, this won't be my first kill, but it would be my first time killing a friend.

Have you ever been in an emotional dilemma, where the person in front you have committed, is committing, or about to commit, a crime? And to make matters worse he is also your friend. Same was the case with me and Damian. I met him as a teenager, in about eight months or so. He was an orphan who got stuck in some drug trafficking group. I felt bad for him, and used my time machine to save him. I had just lost my parents and at that time I thought that I could be like an elder brother to him. Although things went pretty bad. I had a time machine, a fact that I hid from him and he cannot seem to understand how I knew everything, always. But I had such a close bond to the poor boy that I can never bring myself to shoot him. So I stood and watched him as he pulled the trigger and killed Hope.

# Chapter 8 – That's not how this story ends

I felt that, my watch went berserk in a moment and I realized, time has been altered at a scale hitherto undreamt of. I took a look at the scale and it was a full 30-degree red. No, it is not supposed to happen like this, I will not let Damian break time. I just know, **that's not how this story ends**. All of a sudden I realized, something needs to be done and I quickly pulled out my time machine, switched the scale to minutes from years, set the mode to rewind and reversed one minute.

Again I was hiding behind the pillar having 60 seconds on the clock before Hope is killed. Quite frankly I saw myself out of options. The only way I have right now is way too dangerous to be used. Besides I can think of something, there are a lot of people who can help me right now. I can't keep using the time machine otherwise it might just render everyone near me mad. How that happens? Well I'll explain it later, for now I had to do something. Unable to think about anything I just called out for him "Damian! Wait. I am coming out, do not shoot me."

This seemed to work since he turned around and stood there for a while. I slowly came out of cover and faced him. "What do you want?" he said.

"I was wondering, why would you come alone? Why not bring some of your men with you on this job. I mean it's just a co-incidence that you found her here. What if you needed to track her?"

"For the same reason you didn't bring anyone. Well with you it's more of a no one's on board kind of thing. But why would I ask people to live 10 years of their life all over again? No one's willing to do that"

"That's weird, can't you just go back to the future...? Unless you can't. I was wrong, you didn't steal my time machine, you stole my research. But now, you can't go back because your time machine lacks that. You created a partial copy of the one that I perfected." I said showing my time machine to him which then suddenly slipped from my hand. It was more of a setup, I intentionally let it fall since it just happened to be close to the past Alex and he was out of Damian's sight. "My bad" I said bending a little to pick it up.

"Don't," Damian stopped me still having his gun pointed towards me.

"Ok, it is fine. I realize that you won't let me touch the date."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he said.

"You'll see" I replied and saw that past Alex grabbed the time machine, and then he quickly sneaked behind Damian, with a keyboard in his hand.

With all his mighty strength he hit Damian's head making him pass out. "You guys talk too much" Alex commented on the fact that he had already made use of the time machine multiple time, it's just that from our perspective it felt as if he did it all in the first go.

"How many times did it took you?" I asked.

"5 times." He replied handing me the time machine. "Quite an interesting thing you have got here. It is, compelling. When do I start working on this? When will I finish it? How far into the past did I actually go?"

"Less questioning, more working. Tie him up. Technically he does not exist in this time, at least not at this age, so I won't risk calling the cops on him. We have to keep him somewhere he cannot bring harm to anyone. Also I need to figure out a way to keep him coming back in time once I take him to the future. Till then, kidnap him please. For now, Hope, we are leaving".

I said that and then looked at the people in the office, they quickly started tying him up with whatever they can find. I moved towards Damian and searched for his pockets to find the time machine. It was his back pocket, so I pulled it out and looked at it. His time machine, it looked similar to mine in shape and size at least, however I was unable to verify any further since after getting hit by the keyboard he fell right on his butt and broke the poor thing.

"Is that his time machine?" Hope asked.

"It looks so similar to yours". Sasha said.

"Wow, what a great observation, I seriously couldn't have done anything at all if it weren't for your help." I replied sarcastically.

Then I took Damian's gun and gave it to past Alex. "Take it. If things go sideways, I want you to use it. But use it only out of necessity"

"Sure!" he replied. "Anything else that you need?"

"Yes your Driver's license and the car keys. Also your Credit Card. I might have to take her as far away from here as possible."

"This is too much I guess. The Credit Card as well?"

"Yes please, now." I replied.

"Fine, have it" He said handing me the keys and the license and credit card.

I turned towards Hope, grabbed her hand and said turning towards the door "Let's go."

As I pulled her out, my mind was constantly thinking about what will happen here? That everyone now knows I created the time machine. That there is a man lying unconscious who is here to kill a girl they all are attached to. And above all what repercussions in time would happen. To my amusement this time, the watch showed just a 2-degree negative shift. While all this was going in my head Hope asked me from behind.

"So, where are you taking me?"

"Somewhere safe" I replied.

# Chapter 9 – I am the protagonist of this story

How would feel if you are living a peaceful life, and all of a sudden you come back from the future and turn your whole world upside down? Well it just happened to me. The Alex from future came back in time and took the girl of my dreams away from me, probably on an adventure. I shouldn't think like these, after all her life is in danger all due to this dirt bag lying right here tied up in all sorts of wires, including but not limited to the telephone wire. Who used landlines anymore apart from these jerks, who also just happens to be my employer.

Anyways, I am not really sure what I am supposed to do with my captive over here. I can throw him off the balcony and since he technically does not exist there will be no case to incriminate me. What am I thinking? He will still be considered as a human and I'll going to prison for murder. What if I lock him in a wardrobe, really thick wardrobe? Which nobody will open. And nobody will move. And nobody will go near. This is a really stupid idea. I know let's quietly lock him inside my car and then lock my car in the garage. He'll probably die of suffocation. I really am a sadist.

"What are we thinking about let's throw him off the balcony, after all this man came back in time and started firing bullets all around." Jack gave his suggestions.

"No! let's lock him inside a car and lock the car in a garage" Sasha said.

"No let's lock him up in a very thick wardrobe, through which no one can hear him." Ashley was the last one to present her views on the matter.

"Wow! Glad to know I am not the only psychopath here." I said out loud. "As for all the scenarios that you just suggested, I have already thought of, and discarded. Guess my mind works with the efficiency of five humans.

"Obviously! You are the weird one, there is no denying" Sasha said.

"You just like to be a bitch don't you" I replied.

"Aww! Someone just became a bit grumpy. Is it because you lost your girl to a handsome and better version yourself? Oh yes, you did."

"I am not hindered by these mundane thoughts. What bothers me is that why is Damian trying to destroy this world?"

"Well you can ask him."

"What am I gonna ask? Oh hi Damian. I know that you and my future self are trying to kill each other, still out of curiosity I wanted to ask you a question. Why exactly are you trying to destroy this world? It's just that I really want to know your reason for being the villain and understand the depth and complexity of your character." I replied in the most sarcastic tone possible and then concluded my statement by saying "Sounds like fun."

"You know that you can ask me and I might just answer" Damian said waking up from his minutes long coma.

"Did I not hit you hard enough? How can you be up so soon?" I said trying to check his pockets for any weapons that he might just have and we might have just missed. "Well then, manipulate me." I replied.

"For every answer that I give you you'll open up one of these knots."

"Deal" I replied.

"Are you insane? This man tried to shoot people in here and you'll let him walk?" Sean argued with me.

"Yes I will" I replied.

"No the police are on their way and they will take him and lock him up" he replied.

"You called the cops?" Ashley asked.

"Yes I did, someone has to be the intelligent person and do the right thing. A shooting happened here minutes ago"

"The typical jerk. What a cliché." I replied.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me the first time Sean. Now, why don't you get out of the way and be a good jerk somewhere else"

"Look asshole. This isn't about you..."

"Yes it is. I just came back in time to save a girl who is somehow going to save the world one day and I am responsible for her safety. **I am the protagonist of this story** whether you like it or not."

"That is funny." Damian chuckled. "Now tell me, do we have a deal? This man called the cops and I really am not a fan of prison cells."

"I have all the answers I need." I replied.

"I am sorry, weren't you just asking me to give you answers?"

"I was," I replied and then took out something from my pocket and showed to Damian. "But like I said, I am no longer in the mood to."

"You have the time machine" He gave me a surprised look. "But how? When did you..."

"Sneak it out? Well last I checked, future Alex handed it over to me. I know why he is here and what Hope will do in the future." Then I turned towards Sean and said "He told me everything."

"What did he tell you?" Sean asked.

"That's not important, what's important is that I agree with him. She needs to die" and then I moved closer to Damian and said while looking at his surprised face. "And we are going to go kill Hope."

# Chapter 10 – A Glitch in Time

"I am sorry; I still don't understand. What exactly happened?" Ashley asked in a shocking voice. "Why are you untying him and why all of a sudden, you are ready to kill Hope? I thought you loved her?"

"You love her? That's an interesting development." Damian said that in a sarcastic voice. Upon hearing this I gave him a weird look.

"I did, but things are different now. You won't understand." I replied to Ashley.

"I thought that you were all about saving the timeline, but it seems there are other reasons for this charade." Damian said again.

"Stop right now" Sean commanded me with the same keyboard in his hand, that I used to knock Damian down a few minutes ago.

"Or what? Let me guess, Sean, you are going to swing that keyboard at me with all of your mighty strength? Go ahead, swing that prop. Let's see how that works."

"You are talking about hurting, no, killing my friend. I can't allow that." Sean said.

However, by this time I was done untying Damian and I quickly got up while twisting towards Sean, "Well I say otherwise. And quite frankly I am not going to waste my time here trying to explain anything, because I am done wasting my life with normal mortal morons. I just came back from the future to do the undoable, to save the world. And that's what I am going to do. I am not going to waste another second discussing 'NEXT STEPS' with a bunch of make believe developers who don't even know the difference between a Bug and a Glitch."

Everyone started looking at me with silence, except Ashley who said "Think about what you are saying? You can't kill someone that important to you."

"You can watch me do it. I have got no problem being a sadist."

"Shut Up! You are nothing special. Agree that maybe in the future you manage to create a time machine and come back to our present. But those things are yet to be done. What gives you the right to say all these things now? What makes you so special now? As your best friend, no your only friend I ask you." For a moment we both looked at each other. In a way she was right. I would do great things in future, but I haven't done them yet. However, somewhere deep inside I found the right words to tell her.

"All my life I was trying to make myself believe that I am not different. That I am one of you guys. That I am... normal. But I am not. I am prone to becoming arrogant by accepting that I am better that a normal, average human. You feel that? The earth moving slowly on its own axis. The beating of every heart near you when they are scared? The clicking of every clock telling that another second has passed? I do. I feel all of that. You want to know why I feel that?"

"Because you are special?" She asked in a sarcastic voice.

"Because I am cursed." I replied. "Everything that a normal human mind can do in one second, I can do in the fifth of a second. All that time which is left with me, well to put it nicely, I have to wait. I am always waiting for you to catch up to me, so that I can run again, even if it is for a while only. You know what is the difference between a glitch and a bug? Ask me" I asked in a really sad voice.

"What is it?"

"Ask me properly"

"What is the difference between a glitch and a bug?"

"Bugs are the mistakes that God made while writing our code. With the right steps those can be reproduced. It's somewhat in control, since you know what and how to do something in order to reproduce a bug. Glitch on the other hand are the uncertainties that fate puts in our path in order to make us behave a bit different for any certain scenario. It's a fluke and it might never replicate at all. The permanent deficiencies that anyone has, something that will happen if you follow the right steps, is a bug. Something that is completely out of your control and happens by chance is a glitch."

"I don't understand" She replied.

"Exactly my point" I said in response to her. "All I am saying is, you can fix a bug, not a glitch. You can only take steps afterwards. Right now Hope has become **A glitch in time** , an uncertainty which we have no way of fixing permanently. I am just taking the necessary steps to do the cleaning. Again, I don't expect you guys to understand, but this is important, and I will fix it."

"Well enough talk, shall we go ahead and get started with our work?" Damian who was quite all along, asked me this.

"We shall. Besides they have a head start and we will need to track them as soon as possible." I said while moving towards Damian and patting him on his back.

# Chapter 11 – There is this feeling inside of me

Have you ever had that feeling when you know what you need to do, but you have no idea how exactly are you going to do it? Like you know that you have to kill a certain someone, but you don't know how to get to her first. What am I thinking, you guys are too normal to think such things? That last one made it look like I am the abnormal one. Well maybe I am, who knows, I am not even sure myself. As of now I and Damian are out of the building and standing right outside waiting for the UBER I booked.

"Why don't we use your time machine to go further back and kill Hope?" Damian asked.

"Grandfather Paradox" I replied.

"Ok. At least maybe we should stand a bit away from the main gate?" Damian said it to me, "I mean apart from the fact that a man in there called the cops on me, it also just so happens that they are watching us from the window."

"I know they are watching. Does it creep you out? People watching. You are not anti-social by any chance are you?" I replied.

"Does it matter? And I really think that we should not be standing out in the open."

"Look I called the cab to this location and the driver is going to come here only, now if we were to move away from this place first then I'll have to cancel the cab and the driver is close by. Do you know what that means?"

"I never used cab service before, so assuming I have no idea what that means..."

"It means I'll be charged for this ride. We will wait here only till the driver comes"

"You sure that the police won't be here before the driver"

"It is the 21st century, what do you expect? The pizza delivery is faster than the cops."

"Ok" he replied. Then after a short pause he asked me again "But you are absolutely sure that the cab will arrive first?"

"Damian, I just happened to have a time machine, which, as the name suggest, can rewind time. If it happens that I am wrong, then I have already adjusted the configuration to come back here and correct my mistake."

"It can rewind time?" he said in a shocked voice.

"Yes, it can. I am assuming that yours cannot? Since you had no idea about the complete set of features this bad boy is equipped with. Really shouldn't skip the manual." I replied. Just then the cab arrived there and both of us took a seat.

"Like I said cops aren't that much active these days." I said.

"So where are we going?" Damian asked.

"To an abandoned shoe factory nearby."

"How do you know that we will find them in the abandoned shoe factory?"

"First, he is me from the future so I kind of have an idea where he can go. Secondly, Hope once asked me to check her Gmail account since internet was somehow not working on her phone. I had her password ever since and have been occasionally looking at her location using the location service. I know where she is always."

"Isn't that an invasion of privacy?" he asked.

"Not if she has shared it with me, forever, willingly and unintentionally. Right now my concern is that how exactly the rules of time travel work. Does the future Alex know about everything that I am doing? Or does it work according to the multiverse theory? In one condition he will know that I am coming there and in the other scenario, well their location won't change."

"I am completely confused. Who knows what?"

"Look they are inside the shoe factory and I'll be going in as bait since there is a possibility that he knows everything that is happening right now. You come up with a strategy to take him out of the equation with Hope. Don't tell me anything about your strategy, no matter what."

"It won't be a problem since I know this shoe factory. I have been there." Damian said after looking at my screen. "And besides if worse comes to worst then I at least have my time machine." Damian said.

"Check again. He took yours with himself." I replied.

"What are you saying, it is right here showing me his bracelet, with a small blue gem in the center."

"This compact thing, is your time machine?" I was a bit surprised since it seemed a bit advanced from the existing template in my hand. Even if it just makes backward jumps in time, there was no way of entering the said time in the machine.

"Yes this small thing is my time machine. Unfortunately, all it does is go back in time 10 years."

"Does that mean all you can do is make a 10-year jump backwards?"

"Yes, hence I came to this time and not when she was a kid. I thought yours worked the same way, guess I was wrong."

I just sat there, looking at him, thinking what the future might be like? I know that something really bad happened and that somehow I, him and Hope are at the center of it. But, **there is this feeling inside of me** which tells me that I need to find out more about everything. Like something is still being hid from me, and it made me really uncomfortable.

# Chapter 12 – Let's proceed according to the plan

Remember the part where I asked Damian to come up with a strategy since there was a possibility that Future Alex might remember everything that I am doing right now. Well it seems like Damian took it to heart and has completely immersed himself in his thoughts, so much that he didn't even realized that we have arrived at our destination.

"That will be..." our driver was telling the amount when I just interrupted him.

"Paid, online. Thank You for your service." I said while shaking Damian a bit to tell him that he needs to get out of the car.

"Are you guys method actors?" the driver asked me while I was getting out.

"What makes you think that?"

"All that shit about time travel. You have to be either a moron or a method actor. And you don't really seem to be a moron."

"You got me." I said.

"Just don't let it get to your head." He said while driving away.

"Will take care of that." I said waving to him. Then I turned around and started walking while repeating to myself "Will take care of that."

"You ready?" Damian said looking at me like we were about to go into a warzone.

"To be the bait. Obviously, no pressure. **Let's proceed according to the plan**." I replied.

Then I walked in through the main gate slowly so that I shouldn't get jumped on. "Hello! I know you are in here. I just wanted to talk." I said.

Future Alex came out from behind a machine which was big enough just to hide him which meant that Hope was somewhere else in the building.

"Hope's location service is on?" He asked.

"Yeah, and I remember that this used to be our favorite spot to visit so I thought that you guys might be here. Besides I had questions so I came here just to verify and also kind of check on you guys, that you are safe." I played along since so far I didn't have any evidence about if future Alex is having all my new memories.

"Nice of me to drop by. But I really need you to keep a watch on Damian. Speaking of which, where is he?"

"Those idiots called the cops. So we have another problem on our hands."

"Great. You had one job. Never mind I won't get angry on myself. You go back and no matter what do not tell the police anything. One problem at a time." he replied.

"I just thought that maybe me staying with you can be helpful since I would see everything that is going to happen and all those memories will be passed onto you so, it will be easier for you to handle things."

"Look I have a time machine for that, and besides that's not how time travel works. Whatever you see, think or do does not magically get transferred to my head. Otherwise I would have known that you were coming."

"Is that so? Well in that case the multiverse theory happens."

"Right so good talk, you may leave now. Bye! Bye!" He said while turning around.

"About that, I had a change of my heart, and I have decided that I no longer want to be on my side. Pun intended." I replied. Upon hearing this future Alex stood on his place for a while and then slowly turned around.

"He is here, isn't he?" He said while slowly pulling out the time machine.

"Don't bother. Something tells me that it won't work." I said. Upon hearing this he slowly looked at his hand and realized that I had switched the time machines back in the office. The one I handed him was a fake that I created in the past couple of days all thanks to his actual time machine. Now since you might get confused, so allow me to explain.

Back in the office when he gave me the time machine to save Hope, the first thing that I did was figure out how the time machine is working. It took me 1 try to do that. Then in the next 3 tries I did a hit and trial of saving Hope. I saw her die twice. The third time was a success. After the four tries I used the time machine to rewind time again and then I went back two days, took my day off for common cold and created an exact replica of the actual thing. Also I installed additional lock on the main door to keep the house safe, since I had a feeling that someone might try to break into my house due to me buying all these weird looking stuff. That last part was me being a bit paranoid, obviously. But after what he said, I cannot even save my parents tomorrow, I just wanted to be sure.

"When did you get time to make a replica?" future Alex asked me.

"On my last rewind I went back a few days."

"That's now possible, the time rewind can only take you as far, unless it does not encounter a leap position."

"You don't understand, you might hit a leap position, a point where you came out after a leap, but I never took a time leap and so that rule does not apply to me."

"Where is the actual time machine?" he asked me.

I pulled it out from my pocket and showed it to him. "I am really not willing to give this up. Like I said it is quite, compelling."

Just then I heard Hope's scream which confirmed that Damian's plan is working, whatever it was.

"Stop messing around, and give me the time machine back." Alex said in a hurry. But his eyeballs were moving very rapidly as if he was seeing someone behind me, and trying to distract me. I quickly turned around and I saw that another Alex jumped towards me knocking the time machine off of my hands. The Alex who I was talking to earlier quickly grabbed the time machine and looked towards the one who jumped at me.

"Run!" the Alex who jumped me said to the one who was talking to me.

"What just happened?" I asked the new Alex since the other one had already escaped with the time machine.

"It's called a Temporal image. Try to remember that, might come in handy someday." Alex said to me. I had understood it and will try to keep it simple. The Alex I was talking to earlier somehow got his hands on the time machine and he went back a couple of minutes in order to jump on me, which means he will be going back in time to jump on a past version of me. The Alex right now here is the one who jumped back a few minutes from the future and knocked the time machine out of my hands. He probably saw the same thing happening as well which closed a perfect time loop.

# Chapter 13 – Third trick

'Betrayed by yourself', I am pretty sure that my past self just gave a new meaning to these words. But then again I shouldn't really be shocked I was not as smart back then as I am now. Thinking about doing the right thing always. Never planning ahead in the future. I surely forgot how being that way felt like. Which brings me to our current situation, we are here in an abandoned shoe factory, he is holding the time machine and Damian is somewhere around here ready to kill Hope, and I just heard her scream. I need to come up with a plan, but first I need to take the time machine back. Is there something that I can say which will make the past Alex return my time machine? Should I show him my watch and how things will go very bad if Hope dies. No telling him this might lead to million other divergences. The more fluctuation happens in this time, the more unpredictable everything becomes.

I could probably throw something at him, but he'll just rewind time and see it coming. He will know anything that I am about to do, so I just have one option left here and that would be to create a temporal image. I am going to be truthful here, the chances of that happening are very slim. I need to exactly calculate every step from getting a time machine to going back in time and then reaching out to him in order to knocking off the time machine so that an earlier version of me standing here can get it. If anything goes wrong, then the temporal image won't happen. Just then I saw myself behind the past Alex and I knew it that I at least succeed in taking back the time machine.

"Stop messing around, and give me the time machine back." I said to the Alex standing right in front of me and then I quickly moved my eyes towards my temporal image hiding behind him. The past Alex must have noticed this as he too turned around to see what is happening, however by that time my temporal image was close enough and he made a jump on past Alex knocking the time machine out of his hands. I quickly grabbed the time machine and turned around to look at the temporal image.

"Run!" My temporal image said from behind and I was quite eager to listen to him. I ran straight out of the factory without looking back since right now saving Hope meant that I have to run as fast as possible and I need to get as far away as possible. I could hear past Alex saying something from behind but I was too busy running that I did not hear him.

Once I was far enough I looked at the time machine and then entered the time for 15 minutes ago. I choose the third floor of the shoe factory after projecting myself and then I pressed the button. Whatever happens, happens. I am not even going to look at my watch for this one.

Back in time I was on the third floor of the building and I saw that past Alex and Damian were about to enter. On the ground floor I, from minutes before was hiding behind a small machine since I knew someone was coming.

"I need to get down there" I said to myself. Then I looked at the back door of the factory which was completely visible across the main hall. "Damian will be entering from there. I should better get down before he comes in." I used the stairs to get down quietly and then went towards the machine where Hope was hiding. It was at the very corner of the factory near the back exit.

Upon reaching the machine I placed my hand on Hope's shoulder and she gave out a scream out of fear. This was probably the scream which I heard and became restless. I quickly placed my palm on her mouth to shut her and then I left her and went towards the past Alex. He was close enough for me to get to him without wasting much time. Well you know what happens next.

"Stop messing around, and give me the time machine back."

Past Alex turns around and I quickly knock the time machine from his hand which was picked by Alex from a minute ago.

"Run!" I told him which he obeyed and turned around and did not look back.

"What just happened?" past Alex asked me.

"It's called a Temporal image. Try to remember that, might come in handy someday." I replied to him.

"That means Damian is knocked out again?" Alex asked me.

"Shit!" I replied in shock since I forgot about Damian completely. Just then a bullet grazed my right arm. I turned my hand towards my right to see Damian holding a gun pointed at me.

"Seriously Damian. You had one Job" past Alex screamed to Damian.

"Don't worry. I won't miss a second time." He said coming closer to us.

"It's fine. We have me pinned down. I won't move now since going back in time would require setting up the configurations for which our friend does not have time." past Alex said looking at me. "So what's it gonna be? Hand over the time machine and leave. We don't want to kill you."

"Why are you helping him destroy the world?" I said.

"Really! I am helping him save the world, you know that." Alex replied.

Damian on the other hand lost his cool and grabbed me by my collar saying "Who is destroying the world here? Me or you? We both know what happens in the future. We have both seen it. Yet I don't understand why are you trying to save her? All the battles that we fought means nothing to you?"

"Damian! Calm down. Your suffering it about to come to an end" past Alex said while reaching out to my hand in order to grab the time machine. However, I gripped it even more firmly. "Let go of the time machine." He said.

"Right! you leave me no choice, but to use my **third trick**." I said tapping twice quickly on the screen of the time machine. Just as I did that the entire world stops around me and I am the only one who can move. "It's is called a tachyon trap. Really not a fan of this one" My inner voice said this as I taking Damian's gun and pushing his body away from me. "Well you cannot hear me now since you know, time is frozen." I said moving away from them, well again my inner voice said. "It is somewhat special since every second I spend here doing anything at all is another step I am taking towards my death. It doesn't really matter at this point I guess." As I said this I grabbed hold of Hope from where she was hiding. Upon holding her she started moving again, but that was just it. We cannot hear each other since air is not moving and due to that sound cannot travel. And I am actually holding my breath. I gave her an indication to hold her breath so that she won't suffocate. But I was reaching my limit at this point, so I took her out of the factory and again double tapped the time machine to start the flow of time.

Now Damian and past Alex will quickly start looking for me and Hope, so we sat into the car and I started driving as fast as possible.

"What did I do in the future?" Hope asked me in a very sad and scared voice.

"Not now Hope. I'll tell you everything, once we are away from here. Till then just know that whatever happens in the future, is yet to happen for you and there is always a possibility that it might not happen."

# Chapter 14 – Alex, the genius prodigy

I drove about a hundred kilometers and then stopped at a motel in order to stay for the night. Quite frankly I had no idea where I was and due to that I did not waste any time looking for a decent place. I randomly choose a place out of all the motels that I found while I was driving. I did not even think twice, even when the owner said that they had only one room available, and accepted that room. Both me and hope went in and relaxed for a bit. I sat on the bed while she took the jug of water and drank as much as she can.

By the look on her face I can see that she was terrified of what happened today. Maybe I should have used a subtler approach, but I had no idea what changes to the timeline Damian will bring by his actions. Or what changes I might bring due to my actions. Just then she slowly turned towards me with tears in her eyes. She just stood there and looked at me for a while, as if she wanted me to say something.

"You're going to be fine. I'll keep you safe." I tried to comfort her. But what she said next changed the conversation entirely.

"What did I do? In the future. What happens? You said you'll tell me." She said to me, crying. And I kept quite since I did not want to re visit those events again. I did not want to tell her why I might not be the good guy here. But she came close to me, holding my hands she sat on both her knees she begged me "Please tell me. What happens in the future?"

"You need to be strong in order to listen this" I replied. "All of it will be overwhelming to you but you'll have to hold onto yourself and swallow the bitter pill. Are you ready for it?" I asked and she nodded her head. "Come then, sit beside me" I said holding her up and she obeyed my command.

"I did something bad, didn't I?"

"Everyone believes that what is going on around them is because a superior power is holding us all together. That we have a God who is there to hold us up even in our darkest hours. A person's happiness might just result into the loss of another. And this is how balance is maintained in the universe. That was until the day I met someone who helped me take place as a God. In my time, 6 months from now, I met someone who claimed to be the future version of myself. He gave me the schematics to build a time machine and use however I see fit. And I? I just managed to screw it up in the most elite way possible. As if I was a demon sent from hell with a curse for humanity. I used to be ignorant, selfish, dumb and a moron. All that mattered to me was that I want something and I will have it. I never understood that even I cannot have everything. There are somethings that I need to sacrifice."

"What could you want and not get it? You are **Alex, the genius prodigy**. Everyone loves you even when you are at your worst." She said.

"See that, just there. It is not love. But a need. They need me to get their work done easily. I don't fit with them since I am different. Once their need is finished they'll toss me away like I was nothing. You on the other hand, you are normal and everyone you'll form a bond with will stay forever. That is the simple logic that we don't understand."

"So how does it all lead up to what I have done?"

"Look you have to understand what you did was out of pain and anger. You were angry, over me. And all I cared was to getting my own selfish desires fulfilled. I wanted you to love me. And I never thought what you might want. So I used my time machine over and over again in order to make everything perfect for you. 150 years, that's how much time I have spent going back over and over again to get you. So that in the end you'll fall in love with me. You had to live through all that, since everything was the same for everyone. But there were small changes in time just for you. And that lead to you having to suffer a major problem. Whenever I rewind time no one remembers anything but me. You all forget what happened during the time I had rewind, but in certain scenarios mere fragments of that erased timeline persist in your head. It is similar to a déjà vu. Normally it doesn't matter since the brain will discard such memories and move on. However, in your case it was so very much persistent that it became impossible for your mind to forget it. Just think about it, I am doing rewind for every single word or sentence that I say to you in order to make it perfect. You are living it over and over again. And then that one day it became so much that it drove you crazy. By this point I knew that I had to tell you or else you won't be able to process anything. So I showed you the time machine. Little did I know it was already too late. You stole it and used its power to acquire nuclear warhead and destroy half of this planet."

# Chapter 15 – We all have our demons

It was quite a bomb to drop on her, telling her that she'll destroy half of this world in the future. I can see that this news shook her a bit. She sat still for a few minutes, looking at me. I had to do something now, I had to say something or else she might even suffer a breakdown right now.

"Look I understand that it is a bit difficult for you..." I was saying when she suddenly interrupted me.

"Why didn't you save me? Why not go back in time and correct everything?"

"I tried. It took me some time to get the time machine back and when I did I tried over and over again to change the future but every time either you died or you did the inevitable. So I started thinking that this is a convergence point. That one of the two events are bound to happen. However, I was not ready to give you up, and saving you while stopping you from launching nuclear weapons became nearly impossible. So I created a way to look into the future and see various possible causality. What I saw was even worse. There seemed to be no other outcome to this madness. I was pushed so much over the edge that I decided to kill you. But then, that timeline was even worse. I took your place, and I did not just destroy half of the world. I completely obliterated it. I decided that I'll kill myself as well. Happy ending. But it did not stop there. Someone else acquired the time machine and in that case as well back to square one. Half of the world bites the dust."

"So you are saying that half of the world goes at least, no matter what you do?"

"I wanted to destroy this abomination" I said looking at the time machine. "But it might not be a good idea to destroy something that has so much dark matter and tachyons inside. A lot may go wrong."

"Can't you just see what happens if you do that?"

"I tried. But never could I see into the future where the time machine does not exist. In a way it is being the building block for all the unusual. So what happens after I destroy it remains unknown."

There was a moment of silence for a while I looked out the window while Hope looked at me. I couldn't muster the strength to see her in the eye. Then all of a sudden she said "I feel hungry. Can we order something."

I was a bit shocked since I was not sure how can she have appetite for anything right now. But then it occurred to me that she is in denial. Even though she knows the truth, it is too much for her to grasp and therefore she is rejecting it. "I'll order some food. Give me you phone."

"Do you have money?" She asked wiping her tears.

"I have my credit card."

"You know that you can be tracked by that?"

"I do. However officially we have not done any criminal offence till now and no one will buy the story of a time traveler coming back in time to save one girl. So without the help of proper authorities it'll take about a day to track the transaction." I said giving a smirk.

"A beer. I need a beer if we can get one."

"Let me ask the motel owner" I said walking outside, in order to tell him. When I returned I saw Hope sitting on the bed, with a small piece of glass in her hand ready to cut her nerves.

"You forgot to lock the door" I said knocking.

She slowly turned towards me with tears in her eyes. She dropped the glass piece and stood up looking at me. "I am sorry. Please help me. Please!" she said crying.

I held her into my arms knowing that it is all my fault that she is in so much pain right now. The motel owner gave us some beer and we started drinking. I hoped that it might relax her a bit. Funny thing is, it actually worked. She was high on just one full bottle of beer. I on the other hand need at least 3 to actually get high.

"So tell me genius, how did things go so wrong. I thought you used to say 'Come on, it's me we are talking about. How can anything go wrong?'" She said to me.

"We all have our Demons. Mine just happened to be my arrogance."

"That, you are. I mean you never even listen to me. So much for loving me. Tell me does someone behave like this with the person they love? You should listen to me more often"

"Look I don't listen to anyone who is not talking more logically than I am."

"And that sir is arrogance. I mean come on, you never make me feel special. I mean I know that you like me, since around me you at least try."

"Really? I don't try. I succeed, at whatever I am about to try."

"Whatever. You are not a genius. And I can prove it."

"I am all ears. Do the impossible."

"Fine. Ask me anything. Any logical thing. I'll know the answer to it."

"You are a tester, so a question for you. What is the difference between a bug and a glitch?"

"Bugs are... weird looking small insects who make our life miserable. Glitch, on the other hand is the weird sound that comes out when you squash the big bugs." After saying this she moves closer to me and whispers in my ear "You are not the only Genius, Genius." All I could do at this point is to give her a puzzled look, puzzled but curious I asked. "What do you have for me then?"

She took a piece of paper she found lying somewhere and wrote a line on it 'This sentence is false'.

"Tell me, what I just wrote, is it true?"

I took a look at the paper, it was the liar paradox. That is the most Genius thing she can come up with? I asked myself.

"Is it?" I said.

"I don't know. You tell me genius."

"It's not true, because it is not complete. And since it is grammatically incorrect, it has to be false, because it is inexistent."

At this point I realized she did not want an answer. She just wanted to see me use my mind and tell her about something, anything, but she did not want me to stop talking. The look of excitement on her face gave it away. After 150 years of trying and 10 years of running I finally found it. The moment when I sat at one place, enjoying myself.

"It is incomplete, just like me. Without you, I am incomplete. That is what I am afraid of most. That is what drives me crazy every time I am leading an army to fight you. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. Even after everything that has happened. It's all my fault and not yours."

She came close to me, her face was just an inches away from mine and she said "Do whatever you need to with me in the future. But save the world. Promise me you will. Promise me."

"Promise." I said while looking in her eyes. "You have my word, that I'll make everything right. In the future, and here as well. I will save you."

"Pinky promise?" she said lifting her pinky.

"Pinky promise" I replied holding her pinky finger with mine.

After this I went even closer to her and grabbed her. She was not scared or terrified anymore. She was not afraid of what is to happen. She just closed her eyes and I moved forward to give her a kiss.

# Chapter 16 – Trust me I would know

I was in a motel room, with Hope, kissing her while my hands were holding her shoulders. This is something I have always wanted, to be with her. I have loved her from the deepest corners of my heart. No matter who she is and what she has done, in the future. Somewhere I have always wanted her to come back to me. And now, right this instant she is here, I don't care what happens to the future, I don't care what Damian and the past Alex are planning. Right now it's just me and her.

I slowly moved my right hand under her top making my way to her breast while we were still kissing. She moved her hands to the back of my head and held me much more firmly than before. I was slowly caressing her breast when suddenly I felt it in my head. What am I doing? The image of my fallen comrades flashed in front of me and I pushed her a little away.

"I am sorry I cannot do this." I said while pulling my hand out.

"What happened? You all right?" she asked in a concerned voice.

"You are drunk." I replied.

"Well I certainly am not anymore." She said in a disappointed tone.

I cannot tell her the truth, that no matter how much I love her and how much I want to be with her. The truth which is that my guilt over everything will not allow me to be happy anymore. I was broken to the very core and I cannot feel love anymore. But maybe I didn't have to say anything as she looked at me and asked "That was not what was bothering you. Was it? You are hiding something else. Something that you are trying to bury inside your memories. Tell me, please."

"Go to sleep Hope. I'll be keep guard. If something happens then I'll wake you up and we'll leave."

"I don't feel like sleeping anymore." She said then she sat on the bed again, looking towards me. While I was looking out the window I could still see her faint reflection in the mirror looking at me. "People think that everyone has an easy life except for them. That all the bad things are just happening to me because others are happy out there living their lives. But like you said, we all have our demons." She said.

"Let me guess yours involve being alone for all your life as no one properly understood you? Because your mind was five times faster than an average human and hence you were accused of thinking too much, while you were just trying to understand all the possible outcomes of one particular scenario? That you were mocked for being different while it was never your fault to being with?" I replied.

"I wish those were my demons." She said and upon hearing this I gave her a puzzled look. However, she continued, "Let me tell you the story of a girl who was bullied by her seniors just because they can. Being beaten up was like everyday brunch for her. She was in a habit of being called a slut just because she dated a guy who another one of her senior liked. We weren't even in a relationship. It was just a date. And to top things off that day..." She stopped after this and started crying again.

I went closer to her and hugged her. I couldn't even say anything because her future is also completely my fault. "I tried being brave, and holding my own against her. But she was just too strong." She said while still in my arms. "She drugged me and then left me with some weird old man. To make matters even worse she planted a hidden camera in the room."

"Why didn't you tell anyone? You should have gone to the police." I replied.

"That won't stop them from making that video viral. I have already tried to get it back, I even tried to tell you about it, thinking that you might help me, but you were too busy battling your own demons. And I had no idea what you might think of me if you found out about this. I am not strong like you and I certainly lack the strength to fight my own battles. At least today I don't have the strength to face them, but what you said just now. Maybe someday I'll be strong enough to hold my own against her. The down side is that, that day I will do something even worse."

"Hey! You are not weak. And once this is all over, and my past self will come around, then you can tell him anything that you want. Your problems are my problems, and mine are mine to face alone." I said in a sarcastic voice. "Although I do allow you to know about my problems. You just have to wait a couple of decades to make me start talking." Upon hearing this she looked at me and chuckled.

"Who was she? The girl who was tormenting you. I believe that I need to give her a... beating, that's right, a beating."

"You would hit a girl?"

"Please! I am above these stupid notions, and I believe in equality, which means to me they are just bad people. And last I checked I like to make bad people pay."

After hearing this she looked at me for a while in order to understand if I was joking? Then she said, "Sasha! She is the one"

"Look anyhow we have to stop her. Blackmail does not have an end. If you don't say anything now she'll keep hurting you."

"She said that I have to give her money, enough so that it may make up for what she would have gotten by selling the video. I don't understand who would buy it. It is a crime last I checked."

"Surely you have never heard of the dark web."

"What is there?"

"Never mind. Look, you have had a tiring day. Take rest, and I'll keep a look out for anything unusual. Ok, good night" I said walking out of the door and closing it. Then I opened the door again and said "and no slicing and dicing while I am not looking. Your life is just too precious to be wasted like that. **Trust me I would know**." I said and turned back out and started staring at the night sky wondering to myself, what a bitch? I knew Sasha was the most horrible of a person that can exist. Always doing something that would help herself, but this? This is a new low for her. Even thinking about it fills me with rage and hatred. I swear if she comes in front of me again, I'll put a bullet in her and I won't regret it.

# Chapter 17 – I should have been there

That day, when I was about to propose her, about a year from now, I remember she was a bit restless, like she wanted me to say something to me, and yet at the same time wanted to keep it to herself. I could clearly read her face now and she had that expression, that she will have to share something which she does not want. And then when I told her about my feelings, it was as if she just had to go somewhere. I need to go in the future and see everything myself. So I pulled out the time and started projecting myself to that day. I am pretty sure that things would have not changed by now and I would still see the actual version of what happened that day afterwards.

I could see her sitting on the table with me in the restaurant, and I had asked the waiter to give her a fortune cookie with the message, 'The person sitting in front of you is telling you, he loves you'. She opened the cookie, and then there it was, her red cheeks due to her blushing. After that immediately it went away with a sad face.

"I have to go" she said.

"What? I am sorry, did I do something wrong? Please! Don't leave" I said. This was the last try I did. Since I had used rewind over this moment a lot of times, so I cannot see the other timelines. But this was me, at my best and she said the same thing.

"Look! It was all nice, but I have to go. I have to meet someone and get my mind straight about what I want" She said before leaving.

"Please! Stay." I said slowly. All I thought at this moment was that how useless I am that even a girl does not want to be with me. Never thought about something might be bothering her. So I followed her and what I found next blew my mind off.

She went to meet Sasha, and Sean was there as well.

"Look both of you. I need to end that horrible arrangement of ours. I am done and I will no longer be part of something as disgusting as this."

"The slut is saying something" Sasha replied. Her words filled me with utmost rage. If only I had been here right now I would have killed her instantly.

"Look our arrangement helps us a lot. It is a way for her to lead an easy life, and for me, let's just say it is a stress reliever. So I object." Sean replied.

"You don't get a say in this asshole" I said while projecting myself. Wait stress reliever? What are they doing to her?

"Seriously, I need you to give me that video back. What you are doing is illegal" Hope objected again.

"Sean, I think that the nerd actually proposed to her? Can you believe that, the slut and the nerd?" Sasha was constantly adding to my anger.

"Well he always was a fan of second hand stuff. Anyways if I have to give up this pearl then let's have one last round" Sean added again.

"What do you mean you creep? Stay away from me." Hope said taking a step back, but Sean jumped and grabbed her from her waist and then his hand went up her skirt. This was it, I felt that I could not see it anymore and I was ready to take a leap in the future, just when Sasha said another thing, "Oh! Sweet heart, I am not as big a monster as him, so I will give you back your video. Just download it from any streaming site." She said while hitting the upload button. Upon seeing this I quickly went outside the room, took the time leap, and then knocked on the door so that they would get scared and leave. Upon hearing this they quickly kicked Hope out in that condition only. Her tears just won't stop, and she started walking slowly without realizing that I was standing right behind her. Her pain did not stop here, since these guys made a web page of her, writing all sorts of bad things and then making it public. Why I never found out about it, because for the next week I was inside my basement and by then this thing was made quite.

While walking on the footpath, she kept talking to herself, "If only you were with me Alex, right now, I would have been strong. I would have taken it back, and got my life back. I am sorry, I am not like you. I am not the great and strong person that you believe I am. If only you were here, I wish. If only you would hold me in your arms and say that everything is fine. But you won't even look at me after this. You will just think of me as... I cannot face that. I cannot face your hatred. I might lose everything, but I don't want to lose you. WHY WON'T ANYONE LISTEN TO ME? GOD? WERE ARE YOU?" She screamed at the night sky. "WHERE IS YOUR RIGHTEOUS JUDGEMENT? WHY WON'T YOU DO SOMETHING? ANYTHING? WHERE... ARE... YOU? Or do you want me to fight it myself? Using whatever way I see fit? Then fine, I will destroy this world and end this madness."

It was at that moment that I remembered, I told her everything because she came to meet me a week later and was acting all weird, like she has had the worse week ever. She said she had quit her job, and that she is leaving town. I asked her to stay, because I thought that multiple rewinds had taken a toll on her mind. In a way they had, because she had to endure that pain over and over again, and since a little bit was changing just for her so her mind started to recognize other timelines, and all those times I was not there to... knock on the door. I told her about the time machine, and she stole it. Then I heard that Sasha and Sean have been murdered mysteriously without any clue about the murderer.

In a way I was responsible for everything that happened, but just not how I imagined. It was worse, I had been worse. Using the time machine like I want and not thinking about the consequences. Listening to my own selfish desires instead of her cries. She suffered because I was too much intent on being the best version of myself, that I forgot about what's important. **I should have been there** for her. I failed and the world paid the price, starting with her.

# Chapter 18 – Definition of madness

Do you know the very **definition of madness**? It is to have your opponents right in front of you, and you have the upper hand, yet somehow they escape and also steal your ace. Technically, it is not stealing if it was his to being with and he is you from the future. Still the point is, now I have no idea where future Alex is and how to track him. As of now all I can do is to lay low, in my house, with Damian introduced to my family as a friend from work. I was sitting on my desk in my room trying to figure out a way to track them when Damian said.

"Look I know it will work if I just go back in time again and..."

"And what kill her as child? Damian you do realize how very bad that sounds?"

"Wouldn't you do the same if the fate of this universe rested on your shoulders?"

"First, we are talking about half of earth not the entire universe. Secondly, even though there is no way of finding him right now, I will come up with something and we will kill Hope. So stop stressing your mind, it's mini processor's already got too much with your life functions."

"What are you saying I am incapable of thinking anything through?"

"Yes, since if you have any idea about anything then you would have had completed the time machine before coming here."

"That was the best I could do with the limited knowledge I had"

"And where did you find that knowledge?" I asked.

"In your old notes. Most of them were damaged, but I figured out enough to come here. Speaking of which, you studied the time machine, for a few days, why don't you create it yourself?"

"I did not study the time machine for a few days Damian. I studied it on the functional level, not the engineering and that too for a few seconds. I did not have the time machine for the days which I re-lived. Besides to fully study and create it might take decades without the actual equations." I said.

"What if you study my time machine?"

"It is an incomplete replica, there is so much that I can understand. However, there is one thing I can do." I said snatching his bracelet.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Just go to sleep, I'll wake you once I am done." I said to him and he crashed on my bed.

"Do you know, in the future, there are no beds, or good food..." he said looking towards the empty plates on my table, "... or the clear sky..." he said while turning towards the window. "Our chance at a good life was forcefully taken away from us"

"I really am not in a sympathetic mood right now." I said prying open the small gem in his bracelet.

"You gave me that bracelet when I was 15" he replied.

"Oh nice, when and where did I meet you?" I asked.

"In an ally. I was a junkie, high on drugs. I had thrown my life away for few kicks. For some reason you took me in. Took me to rehab, and helped me fight through it all. To me you were like a big brother with whom I can share anything. I just imagine how life would have been different if only you would have found me earlier."

"When did I find you?"

"An year from now, around this time only. The war was almost on our heads and we didn't know about it. She had started collecting nuclear warheads and was about to fire them in the span of few months. That day I came out of the rehabilitation center and smelled the fresh air. I thought that I had turned my life around and so I went out for a walk when it happened. A few kilometers away I saw it, the mushroom cloud. It was so terrifying. I had almost returned from the walk and I remember you told me that if anything bad happens then I have to go in the cellar, and that's what I did. You were there and you held me like you had nearly lost your little brother. I felt that way as well, like I lost my older brother. We were down there for almost an entire year. Food went bad and the water stopped running. At that point I knew that I had to go out and face whatever is out there. To my amusement the air was breathable and I found a puddle of fresh water right outside. The sky had turned black due to the thick cloud and the temperature had risen a bit."

By this time, I had stopped working on the time machine and I was completely invested in his story. He was telling me about my future, and I like anyone else was interested in knowing about what happened. "So what happened next?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Scientists who have survived the blast had developed some sort of machine which purified the air and water. It removed any trace of radiations from the surface. We were not affected since our cellar was made of some sort of alloy which reflects gamma radiation."

"2-inch-thick granite with a 1-inch layer of lead." I replied. "I specifically asked for that due to my stupid experiments." I chuckled.

"Yeah, that part of your life is still a secret to me. When we came out we walked for days with just water and no food. I had reached the point where I was about to give up, but you picked me up and carried me on your back for another day. It was all because of your efforts that we found a survivor's camp and, that we did not die. I slept for two days straight and then when I woke up I found out that your condition is critical. I knew that you were an atheist but I prayed to my or any God that was out there to save you. I had no idea what I would have done without you? The war was raging on and her armies were strong. They knew where we would camp and they knew how we will attack. I wanted to be a part of this action, but I was just a teenager. No one would take me seriously. And then you recovered. All of a sudden you were at full health, and you knew how to proceed against her."

# Chapter 19 – Operation spider's web

"Well I try to impress." I said.

"I looked up to you, and that's why it hurt as hell when after 8 years of constantly fighting I find out that you had the knowledge to create a time machine and you did not use it. We could have saved all those lives and you kept it from us. It was all your fault to being with and you'll help me fix it." Damian said in anger. About me, well I had lost all interest in his story.

"Now! Now! Damian, don't blame your incompetence on me. You guys failed, and it's on you. I had nothing to do with it, yet."

"You will. Speaking of which, you had stolen your time machine and yet you did not use that to kill her."

"Good question Damian, I am glad that you finally came to this conclusion. That I am somehow trying to stalling you. But last I checked I still have to live in this time and I really don't want to live as a fugitive. And seeing how great a genius you are, I decided to keep this toy away from you. I needed you to kill her and then I would have told you to run away, while I would have kept the time machine. You had a clear shot today and you missed. Is that on me? Nope, it is on you. Next time, don't miss." I said while looking him in his eye. "Speaking of which, I have upgraded your time machine."

"What upgrade?"

"See in the factory, the future Alex, he somehow managed to teleport away from us, right after he said something about the third trick. I was wondering, you felt like someone pushed you away, correct? This could mean only one thing, he pushed his way out since you were holding him. If he teleported then why would he had to push you away."

"Are you saying that he moved while forcefully pushing me?"

"Yes, he moved at super speed. But that sounds unreasonable, Super speed? So it got me thinking, is it possible that he froze time? Since that would be an essential building block of messing around in time, learn to freeze it first. And with that in mind I looked at your time machine, to see if that could be somehow done here? Luckily I found a way to do it. And now your time machine is capable of stopping time. Don't worry I have tested it, it works."

"If time stops, then will I able to see? Since light would also stop moving."

"See light exist beyond the flow of space and time. Maxwell proved that no matter from which frame of reference you observe, or at which velocity you are travelling at, you'll see the speed of light as a constant. Which means even from a frame of reference where everything has stopped, light would still travel at the same speed, and hence you can see. However, you won't be able to breath or talk. You'll have to hold your breath, like you are underwater. Also I recommend not staying like that for too long, since the fluids inside your body will have higher pressure, so prolonged exposure might just kill you. Apart from that it is absolutely safe for short durations, like 5-10 seconds. Also, out of safety, I added 10 seconds as the hard limit on the tachyon trap. After that, there is a cool down period of about 3 minutes so that your body can adjust to the sudden changes. Ignore any mild bleeding from ear, it would be due to the atmospheric pressure change, but it will be a serious sign in case of an overuse. You tap on the gem once to travel back in time. Now you'll have to double tap in order to stop time, and then double tap again to start it."

"And you are sure that this is going to work?"

"Come on Damian, it's me we are talking about. How can anything go wrong?"

"I can think of quite a few things which went wrong because of you."

"Let's not dig my future any further. So tell me, this war that you were talking about, are we still on the losing side?"

"You changed the tide of the entire war. At the very beginning you were defensive, like you were trying to understand what is happening, and how to tackle the enemy. Then you changed your strategies to stealth. Like you were searching for something. I never understood what it was you were searching for. At the very end you became more offensive with minimal losses on our side. Let's say if I had not found about the time machine, then we would have killed Hope in the future as well. I just wanted to bring back all the lives that we had lost."

"You do have a noble cause Damian. 'May the force be with you'." I said quoting Star Wars.

"What is the force?" he asked.

"You'll never be a Jedi." I replied in retaliation. "Now the last part of today's summit, how to find Alex and Hope? I sort of have an idea."

"Then I am all ears."

"Well for that I might have to let go of my dignity, but anything for the greater good. Sasha told me once that she is really on good terms with Hope, and that she'll do anything if Sasha said so. Hope would even be my girlfriend if Sasha would tell her. I never took her words seriously since she is quite the bitch, and I wanted to win Hope's heart fair and square. That was my pride talking to me. All I need to do is ask Sasha to tell Hope that the police have apprehended the two of us and right now she really needs to be here in order to save me. Rest I believe Sasha will handle with her black magic, mumbo jumbo."

"You sure this is gonna work?"

"Yes I mean I have seen it with my own eyes, all that Hope has done for Sasha. She even went as far as giving her credit card to Sasha, for Sasha's date, and I never saw her demand the money back. Plus, Sasha confirmed that she never gave her money back. Quite frankly it's due to all these selfish acts that I call her a bitch, but it might just be of use to us this time."

"Fine then, let **operation spider's web** begin."

# Chapter 20 – It's me we are talking about

I have been awake for a few hours now and there are no signs of anyone so I decided to go and take a quick nap. Hope was still awake and she was just lying there on the bed, facing the door instead of the wall.

"Trouble sleeping?" I asked her.

"I don't think I want to sleep at all." She replied. I wanted to tell her that I have seen everything that happened to her, even the parts which she did not tell, but then I thought let's not talk about that right now.

"Well I am certainly in for a nap, so I'll just crash on the couch here" I said while instantly falling to sleep. When I woke up I saw that it's been a few hours and Hope was no longer on the bed so I thought that she might be in the toilet. I just sat back up and realized that the paper on which she had written the liar's paradox was still here and something else was written on it. I picked it up and it read, "I am sorry for whatever I have done to you in the future, but I cannot live with knowing that I will go down such a path and so I believe it would be best if I returned and let Damian kill me. I love you."

"Seriously! After all my troubles she decide to go commit suicide?" I screamed. Then I went out to see the motel owner and asked him "When was the first bus back to the city?"

"3 hours ago" he replied. "Why what happened?"

"My friend might have boarded it and she is in danger. Look, how much time would it take for the bus to get back to the city?"

"Another hour or so, you should really hurry if you want to catch up to her." He replied and I nodded.

I thought about using the time machine and taking precautions in order to stop her from leaving. But something tells me that she has already made up her mind I'll be jumping back and forth like a fool. Also, in that case I will have to make multiple rewinds to stop her since she will be persistent about leaving and I feared that it might damage her mind leading to the nuclear warfare earlier than in my timeline.

So I ran to my car and drove it crazy like there was no tomorrow. I had never driven so recklessly even when we were getting away from brainwashed soldiers in my future. If only I had a way to contact Hope I would have done that. Too bad I did not even have a cell phone. So I pulled out my time machine, upon reaching the city, in order to check all the possible places, she could be. I went to her house, but she was not there. Suddenly my watch showed a negative shift, similar to the one I had experienced earlier when Damian killed Hope yesterday, so I rewind time an hour.

I was back in my car at the entrance of the city. I went straight to my house, but she was not there. The door was locked, mom must be off to the yoga classes and dad had left for work. Today is the day that they are going to be murdered. For a while I stood there, willing to change the future. Only if I can do a small change in time so that they might live. I might not even take Damian in, but then he will surely die in the nuclear blasts. After that I just saw the new security system on the door. I am quite sure that it was not there back in my time. Did past Alex do this? No time to think about all these things I started thinking where she might go? During my search I tried a couple hundred locations across the city, and outside, and used time rewind every single time, then I realized that I can go back to office and ask Ashley to call her. That way I might find out where she is. So again I rewind 30 minutes of my time and went straight to office in order to meet Ashley.

When I reached my office I saw that Ashley too, is just arriving.

"Ashley" I called out her name.

"Alex? Future Alex." She said looking at me.

"Yes" I replied going towards her.

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure. Do you know that Alex, our Alex..."

"Is working with Damian to kill Hope? Yeah that information could have come in handy yesterday."

"How was I supposed to tell you?"

"On Hope's phone. I did not turn it off. How else was I supposed to get updates on anything happening here?"

"Sounds fair enough. Speaking of which where is Hope?"

"She left. And I need you to call her and ask her where she is?"

"Sure." She said and then pulled out her phone and gave Hope a call, while I was setting the time machine. "What are you doing?" Ashley asked.

"Setting the parameters to rewind time once I get Hope's location." I replied. "Speaking of which can you put the phone on loudspeaker." I said and she did it. After a few ringing bells the call was accepted from the other side and it was not Hope's voice that I heard.

"Hello, dearie" a heavy deep voice said on the call.

"Alex?" Ashley asked.

"You saw through my made up voice? Guess I am not that good a mimic." He replied. I literally face palmed myself upon hearing this.

"Where is Hope?" she asked.

"What you want to kiss her good bye? I can get you front row seat; after all I did say that I have no problem being a sadist."

"Where are you Alex?" she asked again.

"Wow! I was not expecting you to actually be willing to witness this."

"No, I am coming there to stop you, if future Alex cannot do it, then I have to do it myself."

"You may try. We are at Sasha's house and we will wait for you before taking her somewhere quiet to kill her." And he hung up the phone after saying this.

"He really seems to be enjoying this. What is wrong with me?" I replied.

"Yeah! Why would you announce that you are going to kill her like this?"

"Because the past Alex, your Alex thinks that this is a movie and he will do anything to make himself the cool protagonist."

"Anyways you have got the location. Now what?"

"I rewind time, again."

"Awesome, be careful"

"I will be."

"That is not the line you are supposed to say"

"Pardon?"

"Come on! **It's me we are talking about**. How can anything go wrong?"

"Oh! trust me, a lot of things have already gone wrong since it's me we are talking about." I said while moving the slider of the time machine.

# Chapter 21 – Nail Gun is the perfect weapon

I was back again in my car at the entrance of the city, I somehow remembered the shortest route to Sasha's house, and turned that way. Upon reaching her house I realized that my gun was missing since morning. It was at that time that it occurred to me. Hope has gone there to do something that she'll regret all of her life. Who knows this time, the act of killing someone might just push her over the edge? I saw a hardware shop right across the street and hence I quickly purchased a nail gun from there for protection purposes.

I stood close to the door and slowly opened it. Upon reaching inside I saw that Hope was standing there holding my gun to Sasha's face, and Sasha was a bit scared. Her laptop was right beside her on the table and she had an extra set of keyboard and mouse attached to the laptop.

"Hope! Don't do it." I said walking slowly towards her. "She'll pay for her crimes, but not like this. Not by your hands."

"Alex, get your girlfriend away from me, she has gone crazy" Sasha Screamed.

"Alex, she is the reason for all my problems. Just like you, I must learn to do something about them. I must learn to fight" Hope said while still facing against me, towards Sasha.

"Yes, you should. But not like this. Trust me, you pull that trigger, you take a life, and there is nothing that you can do to redeem your soul after that. You are not a killer. Please don't be one. I beg you." I said.

"It's too late, if I don't do it then she'll give me to them. They are coming Alex and Damian. I need to kill her and be free of this cursed life."

"Err... Alex, do something" Sasha said again.

"Shut up bitch." I replied, and then I saw through the window Damian had taken cover, he was about to make a move, and there is so much I can do right now. Also, I was a bit spectacle that past Alex might find out how to make temporal image of himself and end up actually creating the grandfather-thermodynamic paradox. That one is really complicated, I'll explain later.

"I saw, what happens, to you. What these people did to you, I saw everything last night. It was unfair. And I know that there were certain aspects of this story that you wanted to hide. But don't you want to know what I saw" I said, pointing my thoughts towards Alex. I just wish he takes the bait.

"You told me that she drugged you and then recorded what that old man did to you. And then you told me that she was blackmailing you to give her money. You did not mention of what used to happened if you failed to give the money. I saw it, how she used to force you to be... a plaything for others. How Sean used to push himself onto you because of her. I know of the torture you have bear. And I, all I did was to think about myself, about how I can be the best version of me. To be so high and mighty that no one would resist me. While what I should have done was to be there for you. To give you the comfort zone where you can easily share anything with me. To support you through all the good and bad. I was selfish, and a coward, who always ran from everyone just because I believed that they would never understand me, including you. I am sorry. And I need you, to be whole again. I need you."

Upon hearing this Hope turned towards me and looked me in the eye. I can clearly see the pain in her eyes. Just then Sasha jumped on Hope and took the gun out of her hands. I aimed the nail gun towards Sasha while she aimed my gun towards me.

"What a touching moment the slut and the nerd. I am so very much moved. There is just one problem, I do not want to lose my ATM machine." Sasha said.

"Drop it Sasha, you're going to jail"

"Am I now? Too bad that I am willing to use my Veto here. Go ahead and fire that nail gun, let's see which hurts more, yours or mine." She said while sitting on her chair. "Besides I have a news for you slut, I have uploaded the recording to countless sites. You are finished..." while Sasha was saying this I pulled the trigger and shot a nail into her knee cap. She screamed in agony and dropped the gun. I slowly moved towards the laptop and saw that the video is still being uploaded, so I pressed the cancel button.

"Like I said earlier, once you take a life you lose your soul" I said while moving closer to Sasha. I knew that past Alex would not stop me for now. I must have succeeded in creating a guilty feeling inside of him, and he would have asked Damian to stop for now, so it was safe to turn my attention towards this bitch over here.

"Alex, what have you done? It hurts. What have you done?" She kept screaming.

"Your very existence is a disgrace to humanity. I will make sure that I correct this mistake. How you ask? I'll take you apart, piece by piece, bone by bone while I'll make sure that you do not pass out, or die easily. You really should have surrendered, because that would have been less painful. So you see now, why **nail gun is the perfect weapon** for me." I said while pushing another nail into her same knee cap, and she screamed with the same agony.

"Alex! stop" Hope said from behind. "Don't do this. You just made me realize that she is not worth it. Please don't lose your soul as well. I need you too, to be whole again."

I slowly stepped backwards and turned around to face Hope. What I did not realize is that past Alex had entered the room as well, with Damian, and they were standing behind Hope.

"Hope" Past Alex said, and she turned around to face him, "You should have told me" he continued while he had tears in his eyes. And then without any voice, with just the movement of his lips, he said 'I am sorry'. She seemed to have understood since she nodded with a smile.

"Don't go soft on me now" Damian said, while turning towards past Alex.

Alex turned towards Damian and said "I understand your suffering Damian, but I don't want to become all high and mighty by killing someone who is suffering herself. On that note, I won't even get in your way, but I'll request you, please don't do this."

"You do not control me" Damian said to past Alex, and then turned towards Hope, "I will kill her and end everyone's suffering". However, my attention was to the door from where I saw Sean enter with a shotgun in his hands, he aimed it at Damian and was about to pull the trigger. I leaped towards Damian to push him out of the way and screamed "Damian get down"

Sean pulled the trigger and I managed to push Damian out of the way, however now I got in the way of the blast and got hit. I fell on the ground with the world slowly fading away.

# Chapter 22 – The time stream

I opened my eyes and I was inside a blue tube like structure. It seemed as if the texture on the surface was moving at a very high speed. Waves of dark blue color were moving from one side to another one by one. It all seemed a bit confusing to me since I was unable to understand what exactly happened back there. Just when I was about to get frustrated, I heard a familiar voice.

"Even you managed to screw it up didn't you?" I turned around to see who it was and there he stood, the old Alex, who gave me the time machine in the first place.

"You, son of a bitch, this is all your fault." I said while moving toward him and grabbing him by his collar.

"Oh! I did it? Did I ask you to use the time machine over and over again to create all this ruckus? You too used it for one simple purpose. To win over her heart. Didn't you?"

"You can't blame me for that" I said while letting go of him.

"I did the same as well." He said while adjusting his coat.

"I screwed everything up more than you did" I said in a competing tone.

"I'll agree with you this time."

"So, what is this place?"

"I'll tell you that, but first answer my question. What's the last thing you remember?"

"Me getting shot in the chest by Sean, while I was trying to save Damian."

"And that means you probably died. Which means..."

"Holy fuck, I am in hell"

"Language! And besides this is not hell. This place, it is **the time stream**. The flow of time. Look outside, you'll see yourself." Old Alex told me and I followed his request. I could see myself jumping towards the shot and getting hit, over and over again, like it was a gif playing. I slowly rolled over my eyes towards old Alex and he chuckled.

"Fine then, is this it? Am I dead?" I asked in a concerned voice.

"In a way. Look our minds are a very complex organ, and hence even if you are about to die, if somehow you convince your mind that you cannot, or should not die, then chances are it will somehow pull through. So it is all up to you."

"I have questions, are you going to answer them?"

"You may ask" he said while looking outside the time stream and folding his hands behind his back.

"What happened to you when you returned? It does not seem as if time changed at all. Did the multiple timeline theory exist?"

"Look outside. Do you see anything? Any other time steam beside ours?" he replied.

"I don't see it even if I try to." I said looking out.

"That is because there is just one timeline. However, it does not work the way you think it does. Every time you make a change strong enough to start a chain reaction, you actually split this tube like structure into two parts. After that the part which is dominant takes over the recessive part. Let's say you were to kill Hope in the past. Then there would be two timelines, one where she died, and another where she didn't. Then the two timelines will start to conflict with each other, meaning that one of them has to go. Let's say that you came back to your time, like I did, before solidification, then you became the radical element which has destabilized the timeline, since you were jumping from one place to another. In this scenario your timeline will be wiped from existence. However, if you decided to stay in the other timeline, even in that case you were the radical element which caused the aberrations in the first place, and this will destabilize the new timeline, obliterating it."

"In easy terms, wherever the time traveler is, that timeline cease to exist."

"Exactly, such a fast learner I am." He replied in a playful manner.

"What about the memory device you gave me. The one having the data required to build a time machine in the first place? It survived more than 5 minutes and no harm was done to my timeline."

"Compared to me the device was a very small factor in the entire picture. Also, that device's existence gave birth to your timeline. In cosmic terms let's consider it a fluke that you found the device, which means you never did the research and nothing happened in your timeline the way it happened in mine. That's why mine was erased, but the memory unit survived."

"So why are you here if your timeline no longer exist?"

"We all come here after we die. Destruction of timeline can be considered as death."

"Why is it that I don't see anybody else here?"

"You must be considering me as your mentor somewhere deep within, that's why I am the only one here. Everyone can meet only one person in this realm. That's it. Although I have heard that on very extremely rare occasions exceptions were made, but that would be a story for some other time."

"Let's just hope that you are not lying like the last time" I replied.

"Isn't it beautiful? The pillars of creation. Our pillars of creation." Old Alex said and I looked as well.

"So we can look anywhere, from here, even the beginning and the end?"

"Hai" he said yes, in Japanese.

"Seriously?"

"Anime fan here."

"They are beautiful. And it seems larger than the one that we used to see in images from Hubble." I replied upon looking out at the beautiful clouds of light brown and blue gasses, like the fingers of God doing their work. It was without any doubt the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. Small rocks were there burning white inside of them, which will someday become stars and one of them will form our solar system.

"How does it end?" I asked.

"Like every other story. The sun goes supernova and boom; it becomes a neutron star."

"You do realize that it is not massive enough for that"

"Yes it needs to be 8 times the mass of what is has now. What if I tell you that another rogue star collapses into our sun and starts the said supernova?" And just like that the channel was changed and I can see the collision happening in front of me, followed by a supernova. As depressing as it is, I had to say that it was magnificent at the same time. The rogue star first disturbed the alignment of our planets, and then slowly both the stars started revolving near each other and then merged into one huge star.

"We all are like a star, we burn bright and then we die." Old Alex continued, "Some of us go supernova and die in an instant, some of us become a red giant and live on for years, like legends. Some, become a black hole and their entire world revolves around them. All they do is take and never give. But the one that most excites me, is a white hole." And all of a sudden I saw a bright white light coming from a small spot.

"They exist?"

"They do. And the best part is that they live in conjunction to a black hole only. You'll never find a white hole without a black hole. Humans in the future, whoever will survive will only look at these pairs."

"Does that means we survive the nuclear apocalypse?"

"I never said that. Your timeline, it was never meant to survive. But you have a chance, to lay the groundwork for a new one. One that will live on for eons to come."

"I am the red giant, I presume. The Past Alex is a black hole, Hope is the white hole and, you are a neutron star?" I asked old Alex and he just smiled.

# Chapter 23 – Can I do it?

"Tell me something, you used tachyon trap a lot didn't you?" I asked.

"In my time, a lot of bad things happened to her, but she eventually pulled through. She found someone, and married him by the time I completed the time machine. I used to visit her and see her while I froze time. I was ready to pay whatever price I had to, and I even discovered a way to breath during a tachyon trap. I never realized that tachyons bombarding will result in me being aged so early."

"Tachyons, the only particle which moves faster than light. They governe time and hence became the very benchmark for the time machine. We all experience the flow of time because we are constantly being in contact with them. But if we have to stop time, then we will have to pull all of them towards us. A horde of tachyons will start bombarding you, and you will start ageing faster. I kind of spent some time figuring out your mistake."

"A tachyon trap for once or twice in your life won't have any effect. But I over did it, just like Damian."

"Damian can do a tachyon trap?"

"Yes, the youngest Alex has upgraded his time machine."

"His time machine was destroyed when we arrived here."

"Think again, was that really his time machine? Look at his bracelet, the one that you gave him."

"I see it differently from here, the red shine at the center, it has to be a tachyon. He integrated his time machine in his bracelet?" I replied with a shock.

"He has already used the tachyon trap for very long durations repeatedly due to your rewinds, when you were trying to find Hope in the morning."

"Sean always entered with a gun and charged at them. He saved everyone multiple times."

"Yes, and now you should go back, any more of this and Damian's body will start deteriorating."

" **Can I do it?** " I asked him. My mind was now filled with doubt as every time I tried to some good with the time machine, innocent people paid the price.

"You are supposed to be the wisest of us all. He, the Alex down there, is nowhere close to you. I am nowhere close to you. The battles you have fought, the decisions that you have had to take, it makes you the only person capable of doing this right. Well you could stay it if you want to, that you have already made a lot of mistakes. You have doubts, which is making you question yourself. But just for once ask yourself, what anybody else would have done instead of asking how you could have done it better. People screw up, what matters right now is how very much less you screwed up compared to them. You are the only one who can do this, but then again it's up to you."

"Tell me how I go back"

"So quickly? Don't you want to see all the possible outcomes of what is about to happen?"

"I don't think I will need to do that."

"Fine then" he said putting his hand around my forehead and continued "Off you go"

I woke up lying on the ground and saw that Sean was standing right over me pointing the shotgun towards everyone else. No one can make a move since they were afraid that he might shoot. Damian was slowly reaching for his time machine when I suddenly realized that one of the metallic shot scratched the time machine in my shirt pocket, and tachyons started bombarding me due to that. So I quickly got up pulling my time machine out of my pocket while saying "Shit!" On the bright side, slow and controlled bombarding of tachyons had improved my healing process. I never realized that tachyons can be used for medical purposes. On the down side Sean is now pointing his shotgun at me again.

"Don't move" he said scared upon seeing me stand on my two feet. Unfortunately for him, he was too close by for me to quickly pull the gun out of his hands without letting him fire. So I quickly moved my body away from the line of fire and pulled the gun from his hands. After that I gave him a disappointed look and asked, "There is still a bullet inside, right?"

"Please don't hit me, please don't hit me, please don't hit me." He said in a terrified voice.

"Apologize" I replied.

"To who?"

"Every fucking soul in this room, except for bitch."

"I am sorry Alex for shooting you, I am sorry, our Alex, for being a jerk every time. I am sorry Damian... for... tying you up? But Alex asked me to do that."

"Fuck off" Damian replied.

"Is that good enough?" Sean asked, and I slowly aimed the gun towards him with my right hand.

"WHAT?" He screamed.

"Hope." I replied.

"I am sorry" he said crying. Tears won't stop coming out of his eyes.

"Sorry for what?" I asked while poking his gun at him.

"I am sorry for everything I had done to you. All the bad things I did for my own satisfaction. I should have respected your emotions, and I am sorry." Upon hearing this Hope moved towards Sean and slapped him.

"You piece of shit; you will go to prison." She screamed at him and then moved away with a disgusted look.

"Good job, I like it" I said and then I shot him in his right shoulder and he fell down.

"Why?" he asked.

"I did not shoot you in the heart because, I liked your apology" I said and then reloaded the shotgun to realize that there is another live round inside. "Another bullet, nice." I said while pointing the gun towards Sean's left leg.

"No! No! No! please no!" he said while crawling away.

"You are not worth it" I said lowering the gun. Then I moved towards Hope and Alex and said "Guess that settles it. Now Alex, confiscate her laptop. It is evidence which will drag these two to prison." After that I looked at my watch and to my amusement it showed a full 30-degree positive shift. It was proof that a really, really good future is waiting for these guys.

"The only thing left now is to kill her, right?" Damian said.

"The fuck? No. We are going back. There is nothing left to do here."

"Not for you, but I came here with a mission and I will fulfill it." He said aiming my gun which he had picked up while I was busy punishing Sean. In response I pulled up Sean's shotgun which I was still holding.

"Damian don't be a moron. Put the gun down and come with me, back to our time." I said looking at my watch and the needle started to fluctuate a little.

"Damian, you are one against three, there is no way you can win this." Past Alex said.

"I can stop time if you remember." He said showing the bracelet to us.

"Don't try a tachyon trap, it'll kill you." I screamed at him, but Damian was not ready to listen.

# Chapter 24 – I will always forgive you

"Listen Damian," I said, "While on my way here, I did a lot of time rewind. The bad effects of a tachyon trap do not disappear even after a rewind. Now, you have to trust me when I say that I know you used a tachyon trap every single time. Which makes it a couple hundred times already. Your body is already deteriorating. Don't make it worse."

"You are lying." Damian replied.

"Damian I think that you must listen to him, he had that power all this time and he used it just once, no matter how easy it was to just freeze time and stop you. Yesterday in the office as well he risked giving the time machine to me instead of using a tachyon trap to stop you from shooting Hope." Alex said.

"Damian your hair, they are turning white, and you skin as is becoming wrinkled." I observed that his hair was actually turning white and changes were happening to his skin as well.

"You are all liars." He said aiming the gun towards Hope. But just then Alex pulled Sasha's keyboard out of the laptop and knocked the gun out of Damian's hands, right out of the window.

"That's my keyboard." Sasha said crying while still sitting on the chair. Actually those nails were pretty long so I might have unintentionally, unknowingly nailed her leg to the chair.

"You have more important things to worry about" Alex replied.

However, by this time Damian had realized that he has to perform another tachyon trap and he double tapped the gem while I jumped towards him to stop. The next thing I saw was that Damian was choking Hope in order to kill her. But he had, by that time already become weak and old that even Hope was able to pull his arms apart. I reached out to his hands and pulled him away.

"Stop it Damian, it's over. You crossed a line which you cannot turn back from" I said with a very sad look on my face. He has become so weak that he was having trouble in speaking as well.

Very slowly he said to me "I... am sorry. I cannot... save... anyone."

He had become very old and weak, and it seemed as if his eyes had lost vision by this time. I had no idea if he can even hear me anymore, but I said anyway " **I will always forgive you** , my brother." I said while holding him by his head and he stood still using my shoulders as support. I brought his head close to mine, touched our foreheads and said "I forgive you."

After this he smiled and then crumbled into dust. I sat down on both my knees while he was falling down from my hands. Even the dust did not stay that way it further disintegrated into smaller particles.

"What is happening to him?" Alex asked.

"His atoms are decaying and they will further breakdown into smaller particles till the point they will become inexistent and eventually turn into photons, due to repeatedly breaking down."

"Ok, atoms do not break into photons." Alex said, "Do they?"

"E equals M.C square. Energy can be converted into mass and mass into energy. Tachyon bombarding is one of the method to get energy from mass." I replied.

"I thought relativity was scrapped?"

"Just certain parts of it, by me, since there is no governing body in future for the laws of physics."

"The particles of gravity?"

"Theoretical, again proposed by me."

Hope was listening to us talking and decided to jump in "Would you just shut up?" She said punching Alex in chest. Then she turned towards me and said while putting her arm on my shoulder "Are you ok?"

"No, I am not. No matter how reckless, he was still my brother. We were not bound by blood, but he still was the only brother I knew of."

"Just one question" Alex said "And it might sound a bit insensitive, but was he really worth it?"

"Alex, I'll tell you one thing. When you'll meet him, just follow your gut. Forget about these encounters and just do what you feel right. In a different time, he would have turned out to be a Magnetar, the kind of neutron star that pulls everything with its positive and negatives." I said standing up and turning towards Alex. "Now would you be kind enough to get me the two guns that we bought back in time? One must be lying out of the window and another is in our car's dashboard" I said handing him the stuff I took from him. "A chain reaction has started and I would very well like to be in the future when collision starts."

"You had your gun in the Car and yet you did not bring it?" Hope asked.

"Yes, well it is the gun Damian brought back in time, but I figured that it is best left inside the dashboard. Since you brought my gun, and I wanted to keep the firearms to the minimum as I did not want to give any tactical advantage to these guys." I said pointing towards Alex.

"And the nail gun?" Alex asked.

"For the purpose of torturing her. I had some steam to blow off, specifically on her." I replied. "Also I kind of forgot about the other gun in the dashboard. Now can you please bring it here?"

"I'll do that." He replied and then quickly went outside.

"Hope do you still have your phone?" I asked Hope.

"Yes, I do."

"Call the police and..."

"No! please no! please no!" Sean and Sasha started begging and crying to me.

"Shut up you two, you are going to prison and nothing is going to prevent it." Then I turned back to Hope and said again "Call the police and tell them to come here. Do not hesitate and do not hide anything, except for the time travel part. Just say a masked vigilante did this. My fingerprints were deformed in an experiment so it won't match with my past self's. Even if they take the fingerprints from the guns they won't find a match anywhere. They'll have to believe your story."

"I'll do that" she said and then picked up her phone. Sasha was constantly crying and begging her not to do it. Hope looked at me and I made a no gesture to tell her that must not show mercy on these people right now. They will be judged correctly.

Alex came back in with the guns and he handed them to me. I took them and then looked at him, then I pulled the cube that old Alex gave me all those years ago, out of my pocket. Somehow it's presence did not become a reason for my timeline's destruction, and yes the 5-minute thing was actually a lie. He was a total goof ball. I kept it, as it felt as if it was my life's research and not his. I handed it to Alex and said "Be careful with this. It is the schematics and equations of the time machine. You have 5-minutes to memorize this once you have opened it, after that it will cease to exist"

"You're leaving?" he asked me.

"Yes, it is my time. Good bye everyone" I said looking at them. Hope moved towards me and gave me a kiss all of a sudden. Then she looked me in the eyes and said, "Thank you, for everything. And take care."

"Wow, truth be told, I did feel a bit jealous of you right now." Alex said to me. I just shook my head in amusement and then I moved the slider on my time machine taking me back to the future.

# Chapter 25 – A glitch in time

Within instants I was back to my present and I could see the happy faces of all the people there. I believe that I must have missed some good news because I haven't seen such happiness on their faces ever since before the apocalypse begin. Just then I saw Ashley come towards me running. When the nuclear warheads exploded she was on a vacation somewhere which was not part of any of the blasts. I met her only after I became the commander of the resistance forces and she reached out to me.

"They have vacated the final stronghold" she said. "We won. We won." She said with tears of joy in her eyes. For them I had only be gone for a few minutes. Everyone came to me and had a toast in my name. I, on the other hand can think of only one thing. There is one last person I have to apologies to. So I took a SMG and an assault rifle with me and ran outside. I approached the nearest jeep and started driving. Our current outpost was close to their base of operations so it didn't take much time for me to reach there. Their armies greeted me with open gunfire, but I had the time machine in my hands what did I had to fear about. Even damaged it would still work for hours.

I just open fired at them all, removing anyone who was standing between me and the 17th floor, that's where she was, and I was making my way as I moved. Upon reaching the top floor, I saw that redhead standing, looking outside. Her hair was cut down to shoulder length and her arms had more muscle. She turned towards me all of a sudden and shot at me with a gun.

Since I had the time machine I rewind the time and dodge the bullet.

"Alex Richardson, Commander of the resistance forces. Here to arrest me, now that we have tasted defeat by your hands?" She said.

"No Hope, I am here to apologies. For being an idiot and an asshole. For not helping you out when you needed me the most. For being selfish and a narcissist. I am sorry Hope."

"This is the first time I have heard you take my name in the last 9 years." She replied.

"I know how hard things were for you. And I know how you always stood strong and tall. And you were a fighter before you even knew. I was the coward one. And for that, I am sorry Hope."

"It's too late now. It's too late."

"It's never too late, after all you are my white hole..." and then I gave a pause and she too gave me a puzzled look, "... you know since I am your Black hole?"

"That sounds a lot weird, and dirty, and cheesy" she said while walking towards me, then all of a sudden she attacked me with a knife, which I managed to dodge again, and I grabbed a hold of her hand.

"Swing at me all you want, hurt me all you can, but nothing will bring back what we have lost. It's time Hope, let go of everything, we are all going to rest now. All of us."

"You did something? Didn't you?" She said and then looked at me "You travelled in time, and you changed something?"

"I did." I said with tears of joy in my eyes, and then I asked her "Tell me, what is the difference between a glitch and a bug?"

"What?"

"Me being an asshole was a bug. There were proper steps to replicate that. And it can be traced and fixed. I fixed the bug. You being like this, is a glitch, an uncertainty, and there is no specific way to replicate this one. It cannot be tracked. But still there is **a glitch in time** and by fixing the bug, I managed to prevent the glitch altogether. Lucky shot I guess."

She turned away from me towards the glass wall of the room. We could see a wall of light and dark blue waves coming towards us, similar to what I saw in the time stream.

"What is that?"

"Timelines are colliding and the better one is setting in. Our timeline, it was never meant to survive, but I have just made sure to lay the groundwork for a better one" We held hands together while the wall passed us and I could feel it, time slowly fading away, figuratively and literally.

"You sure that things are better now?" Hope asked me.

"Yes, the only danger that other timeline has now is a grandfather-thermodynamics paradox."

"What is that?"

"When you create too many temporal images of yourself, since you have no idea what you are doing and that starts to disturb the laws of thermodynamics that 'energy can neither be created nor be destroyed', due to which you yourself forget which one is going back in time how many seconds, and hence grandfathers cannot be distinguished, grandfathers as being the second temporal image of any said temporal image, and that causes a paradox. Alex probably won't do something as stupid as that." I said and then I saw his image slowly fading in, in front of me, showing that ten years from that day, the world is a better place. And why not? It's me we are talking about; how can anything go wrong?

\---The End---

