Series: Time Travellers - Part 1

Here is another writing prompt from the same subreddit that is intriguing.

"Time Travel exists and a new job exists! Your job is to take people from the past right before they die and show them their impact on the present for a day or two and then return them to their death"

https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/4f7wbe/wp_time_travel_exists_and_a_new_job_exists_your/

Hope you enjoy!

Because of this writing prompt, this has the potential to be turned to a series on this blog where each story is independent of one another but the main character is constant. I may put it up on Wattpad or something depending on it goes. I know that I started a "Mini-Series" earlier, and that sort of died but this writing prompt idea seems to be interesting. Because I want to remain something quick and easy to write, I'll try to write at the length of a flash fiction rather than something like a normal chapter, or a short story segment.

I decided to also upload this series on Wattpad if you want to read each part there. I'll still update on this blog at the same time.

https://www.wattpad.com/254747797-time-travellers-chapter-1

This is essentially a first draft, so please note there may be grammatical/spelling errors or plot errors that haven't been fully fleshed out!

~~~

Before I could even comprehend the next steps of what I was about to do, I was thrust into my first mission to make a difference on someone's life. The feeling of restlessness was constant from the day-to-day responsibilities at my "nine to five" job. I knew that I had the potential to do something more, but the weight of raising a family, supporting my wife, and paying bills were distractions from being truly happy. It's not that I was unsatisfied being with my family, but I just knew I was destined for something more rather than be normal like everyone else. I didn't think it would come so soon. The fact that someone listened to my pleas for change immediately made me take their offers without thinking of the repercussion afterwards.

In the middle of the night, I woke up feeling sweaty from a bad dream. Anna was sleeping peacefully beside me in bed, and I slowly got up hoping it didn't wake her up. Then I walked out of the bedroom to the washroom to wash my face with my face towel, and looked at my huge eye-bags in the mirror. I sighed. There's still a couple of hours before I have to get to work, so I should get back to bed. But first, my mouth's parched.

Turning off the lights of the washroom, I descended down the staircase to the kitchen to fill a glass with a water from the tap. After gulping down the drink, there was a knock coming from the front door. It seemed rather odd as we never got visitors at 2 in the morning, and we have a doorbell so no one actually knocked at our house. I ignored the first knock, but more knocks came afterwards. I didn't want to wake up the kids or Anna, so I walked at a brisk pace towards the front foyer. When I opened the door, the person standing on the porch was a man in a suit holding a suitcase. He had a large hat that shrouded his eyes in shadow.

I assumed it was those annoying salesperson judging by his attire, and said, "You got some nerve to come in the middle of the night. Sorry, we're not going to accept anything you're selling."

I began to close the door until I stopped due to his reply. "I'm not here to sell. I wanted to offer you a job opportunity."

At the first sound of a new job, that piqued my interest. "What kind of job opportunity?"

"Come with me outside now."

The man in the suit turned around to walk away. I quickly put on my shoes and a spring jacket to follow in his footsteps. "Wait up!"

The man stopped in his track. "Be quiet. We don't want to attract unwanted attention."

That sentence gave me some doubts of his job opportunity. "I'm not going any further unless you tell me what's going on. I'm not going to be doing something illegal."

"Don't worry. Technically, it's not illegal. Or at least there's no laws at the moment in this time that forbids this anyway."

"What? You're not making any sense."

"You'll know what I mean soon. It's better to show you than to explain."

I followed the man into the park at the end of the street. I didn't like to walk through the park at night as anything can pop up from any direction. After walking through an area of trees, we reached a clearing where there was a small aircraft parked there. I tried to make a joke. "Do you have the license to fly this thing?"

Thing was the best description I could say about it as it didn't look like any airplane I've seen before.

When we got closer, a light turned on from the ship that blinded me. I immediately put up a hand to try to shield away the light from my eyes. "Don't worry. It's just a motion sensor." Despite the man's words, I remained cautious.

A ramp opened downwards, and I followed him inside the ship. As soon as we entered, the ramp moved back up to close the entrance. I said the first thing that came to my mind, "What the heck? I've never seen anything like this before! It's like straight from a sci-fi film! Where are the hidden cameras?"

"There's no trick or anything. I have a job for you." The man sat at a round table with a hologram in the middle on top of the table. "Have a seat."

He waited for me to finally sit opposite of him. It was unbelievable to be able to see a hologram of Earth. I thought that I would never see this technology in my lifetime.

"This ship is your base of operations. You will go backward and forward in time for peoples' pleas for help."

My mouth hanged wide open. "T-Time travel? No way. I'm not messing with the space-time continuum, or anything to do about that. I'm out." I got up and turned around to walk away.

"But didn't you say you wanted to make a difference in the world?"

"Yes, but I could volunteer at an orphanage or have my organs donated after I die. This is on an entirely new level that is almost fiction!"

"I understand the hesitation as with the previous employees initially showed, but maybe if you can trust me, it can change your mind. You can call me... Jon, the inventor of this ship." He went ahead and took off his hat to uncover a middle-aged man with an eye-patch over his left eye. He had a ghastly scar coming from the eye-patch and went diagonal across his face. I wonder how he got that deep looking scar. I cringed at the sight of it.

"I can't do this. I have my wife and kids to come home before they notice I'm not there in the morning. Please let me leave, and good luck finding another person to take this job."

"What if I told you that your youngest son will die soon, and everything that you know about your family will be affected by it?"

"That can't be true... not my son. You're saying I can save his life?"

"That would be changing the timeline, which is not part of the job description. But we have the power to show them their effect on the people close to them in the future. It may rest their soul in peace with that closure." Jon explained, "It's not a job for the faint of heart, but you're ultimately saving them from regrets."

I sat back down in front of Jon. "After hearing that, I have to know what happens to my son."

Jon smiled, then reached into his inner pocket to pull out a piece of paper with a pen. "Please sign here to agree to the terms, services, and confidentiality of this job. I don't need to say it, but you obviously can't reveal the existence of myself or this ship to anyone you know. I'll be here to guide you to learn everything you need to know, but this job's term is currently indefinite."

After hearing all of that, I really wonder what I was getting myself into, but I have to know what will happen to my son. I have to save him. Even if there was a small chance of saving his life, I have to do anything. After signing my name at the bottom of the document, Jon took it back to put it into his inner pocket. "Hang on tight. The first trip is always rough for first timers."

I gripped the chair as hard as I could, but I wished that I had use the seat belt that were beside me attached to the sofa chairs. I watched Jon pressed some buttons, and I could feel the ship leaving the ground and eventually, my time.

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