Short Story Excerpt: The Time Balancers Saga (NTM Pt6)

Overview: https://kaylinrosealexande.wixsite.com/kaylinalexanderbooks/post/short-story-the-chronosians-pt-1

Previous: https://kaylinrosealexande.wixsite.com/kaylinalexanderbooks/post/short-story-excerpt-next-thursday-morning-ch5

Well, we're back. This was my attempt at rewriting Next Thursday Morning, where I planned it to be the first book of a series.

I didn't get very far. This was all that I wrote.

Chapter One

FRIDAY, JUNE 1ST, 2063, 9 AM

Miss Tiffany, it is time for you to wake up.

“Go away, Indigo,” I mutter, pulling the comforter over my face. “It’s summer.”

Your parents have already left for the Martian launch, Indigo’s soft, feminine, British voice is muffled by the comforter.

“Who cares about a stupid Martian launch?” I ask to no one.

Indigo thinks I’m talking to her, though. I believe your parents and their entire company would love the--

“But why do I have to get out of bed at nine?”

You have a comm from Kelli Peterson.

I sit up. “Play it, Indigo.”

Indigo beeps off, and my best friend’s voice rings through the room. “Tiff! I’m coming over at 9:30, maybe ten. My parents just left. We’re all alone! I thought we should take advantage of that. See you soon!”

“Nine-thirty!” I repeat, flying out of my bed. “Indigo, why didn’t you wake me sooner?”

You asked me not to--

“That doesn’t matter! Kelli’s going to be here in thirty minutes!”

Actually, Miss Kelli will be here in twenty-eight minutes and--

“Indigo, please do not speak.”

*****

It takes me exactly twenty-seven minutes and forty-two seconds to get ready, according to Indigo. I’m standing in front of the mirror looking at my reflection. Short blonde bob, purple turtleneck, blue-green jeans, and plain blue eyes outlined by thick, purple glasses. I smile at my reflection. It’s not perfect, but it’s still mine.

Then I start to shimmer.

I remove my glasses and rub my eyes before putting them back on. The shimmering isn’t stopping.

“Indigo, is the mirror okay?”

Your mirror is working just fine.

I squint at the shimmer. It’s starting to glow. I tilt my head and realize that it isn’t my mirror that is shimmering, but the air in front of me.

Then someone flies out of the mirror and crashes into me.

I scream and push the other person off of me. “Who the hell are you?” I demand, giving the person my first look.

I gasp.

Her blonde hair is long and tangled. Her eyes are bloodshot and unfocused. Her hands are scratched. She’s filthy. Her muscles are defined.

She should be a total stranger to me. But it’s not doubt who it is that I am looking at.

Myself.

The girl’s unfocused eyes dart across the room. Her gaze rests on me. He squints. “Tiffany, you have to listen to me now!” She grabs my shoulders “The entire world is at stake!”

“Woah, wait, what?” I ask. “Who are you?”

“I’m you,” she answers. “About a month from now.”

“A month?” I ask. “That’s impossible. Time travel hasn’t been invented.”

“Not yet, it hasn’t,” she says, “but it will be. In about two weeks.”

“Bullshit,” I say.

“It’s true.”

“Indigo, who is in the room right now?”

There are two people in the room right now. Both are reading as Tiffany Isaac.

“See?” Tiffany says. “Indigo’s scanners don’t lie.”

“How does this happen in a month?” I ask, gesturing to her attire.

“I don’t have time for questions,” says Tiffany. “Time travel isn’t that efficient yet. Or safe. I instructed my team to only send me back to this moment for a few minutes. You, Tiffany, cause this.”

“What?” I ask, not sure if I heard her right. “When? How?”

“Next Thursday morning,” says Tiffany.

“I end the world in a week?” I ask.

“No,” says Tiffany, flickering for a second. “But that’s what starts the chain reaction.”

“How?” I repeat. “What can I do to prevent it?”

“Tiffany,” Tiffany says, her voice starting to get muffled. “You have to promise me not to--” her mouth is still moving, but nothing is coming out.

“What?” I ask.

Panic takes over Tiffany’s face. She looks to be shouting at me, but I can’t hear her. A shimmering light appears behind her, and she disappears.

This was fun. This was a lot better than it was last time. Future Tiffany was not as vague this time, and I like that.

Well, tomorrow will be the actual short story I wrote for class that was vaguely based on this idea. Not really Next Thursday Morning specifically, but my ideas for The Time Balancers Saga.

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