Episode one: Recess

What if we could change our future to change our past? I know it may sound very confusing, but just try to concentrate on what I am saying. We know that if you change the past, our future changes too. But did you know that the opposite is possible too? It’s pretty obvious I think, because I believe that everyone has this timeline string. If you cut either side of it, consequences are unavoidable. The length of the string either becomes shorter or longer. The string itself is tied to these two pillars which mark the beginning and end of your lifespan. This string does not define time but memories. Things that happened or will happen. You could say that this string is what we call “fate” or “destiny”. However, it is known that you can change your path. However it is risky to do this. Those two pillars which are connected to each other with the string stay in the same place. If the string becomes longer, you get a slump. But if the string becomes shorter, those two unmovable pillars will stretch it. This changes the conditions of the string in all its parts. So technically, changing the past, present or future are all dangerous.

‘Ugh, can you stop now? My brain hurts now’. Emily murmurs something inaudible to me. Alexis snoring, because she fell asleep. Zander pondering about what I said, probably pretending since he has never actually watched a single science-fiction movie about time travel. ‘Ugh, I think I have a headache, I’ve slept too much for a normal person’, said Alexis while rubbing her eyes awake from a 10 minute sleep. Zander who just has to make remarks about anything Sara does: ‘Maybe it’s because you have insomnia?’ Alexis, now annoyed at Zander: ’It’s hypersomnia you dweeb. Why do you always say the opposite? You’re lucky Collin is here, otherwise I would have smashed your face into a potato salad’. ‘Yeah, like you can do that with your small chicken fingers for a duck’.

‘Ugh, just shut up already, okay?’

Uhm, I can continue with my discussion about changing the future to change the past, right? Both saying simultaneously :‘NO!’ Well, I guess that’s that, recess is over. Emily glances towards to hall behind her, hinting us that it is time for her to go back to class. ‘Shall we go then’, says Alexis. We stand up and go to class together.

After school I meet Emily at the school entrance. ‘Hey Collin! I heard you got scolded by the teacher for talking too much during class’. Surprised at how she got to know this so quickly I then asked her: ‘Who told you? Alexis isn’t the gossip type and Zander just, doesn’t care much’. Emily then replies in a mocking way: ‘That’s because you happen to be one of those people who get a lot of “loud” attention’.

I guess I already knew what the reason was why she knows. Since kindergarten I have always received “special attention” from both teachers and other kids. Teachers would always label me as that kid who was up to no good. Why? Because I was too quiet. I didn’t really talk much back then and I rarely played with the other kids. But there was a reason for that. The first day of my life at school, I saw kids crying. I saw kids pleading their parents not to leave them with these strangers using whatever words they learned which seemed eligible to say to persuade their parents to take them home. However, I was the only one that wasn’t crying. I found it very strange to see so many other kids cry, because I got left behind by my parents at stores so many times. So I got used to being without my parents and being picked up by strangers and being brought to the store entrance.

And then you have kids who never really wanted to interact with me. There was always one or two, but those interactions were brief. If kids interacted with me, it would be because I either got something that fancies them. For example, a shiny new pencil or new shoes or bag. However not even that lasted very long. As you all know, the heat dies down. There is nothing you can do about it. That’s why they call it “fashion trends”. People eventually lose interest and act like it never happened or never was. I am what you could call “a human trend”. I’m not sure if that’s a fitting word for it but that’s all I can think of now. Things which are trending come and go just like how I come and go in people their minds and lives.

So what can I do? If people have no interest in me, I can’t force them to like me. I would be a very horrible person if I went to people and kept bothering them even though they told me to stay away from them. I am not a creep. I know what it would feel like if someone kept bothering you. I’ve had that with bullies. Why they kept picking on me, I don’t know. It’s not like I had anything they wanted.

‘Collin! Djeesh, there you go again, daydreaming’. Without realizing it I went silent again in front of Emily. ‘You seem like you are in serious need of a good time. What do you say we hang out at my place and play some cards and checkers and stuff?’

‘Uh, yeah of course. I’ll be there at six’.

‘Make that thirty minutes past four, if you’re late you’ll have to buy me ice-cream the next day after school!’

Emily then turns around and walks a bit fast towards the bus which she needs to go home. I bike home since I think it’s a waste to let all those calories sit in your body. Just kidding, actually I bike home since my parents can’t afford to pick me up or pay for the bus to bring me home. I got my bike sort of as a present from a cousin far away who didn’t use it anymore after graduating from junior high school. Now I bike six kilometers in total every day. It’s easy to bike in the morning with the cool weather and the sun hasn’t fully risen. But in the afternoon I might as well stay at school till the sun goes down. It’s so hot that it feels like I’m burning. Why do human beings have to destroy the ozone layer?

I know we need to produce in order to supply, but if there are ways to do it in a more green efficient way, why don’t we do it? But that’s my personal opinion I guess.

I wonder where Alexis and Zander are. Have they already left? I don’t see Alexis her bike anywhere. And Zander always gets picked up late by his dad. Do they perhaps have detention? I doubt it.

Suddenly I hear a scream coming from the hall to the left from the main one. First I think it’s probably a girl who didn’t realize she had lipstick on her nose or something like that and finally got to see her reflection on the glass from the classroom doors. But then I hear the person again.

‘Help!’

What should I do? Should I go and help? Or should I grab my bike and make a run for it?

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