"Rewind"

Chapter 2: The Clock Ticks

       Falling from the sky and landing on the cold cement floor, he screamed in pain. "This isn't how I imagined it to be. Falling twice."
Aron scanned around for his phone. Once he did, he saw his phone shattered, the pieces scattered everywhere.
"No kidding when he said he'll buy me a new one."
He took a plastic from the ground. "Dirty, but convenient." And placed all of it in the bag. He stood up as he peeked around the corner to see a bunch of people passing by. He noticed something strange- especially with their style of clothes and odd hairdo. Aron turned around another corner. "Okay... "
"Are you gonna move or are you going to continue acting like a tree stump staring at people?"
"Ah!" He turned around to see an old garbage man gesturing the garbage behind Aron. Which he was stepping on. "Sorry."
He swept away the trash as he hanged a garbage bag on his shoulder. "Weird outfit, kid. Is it costume day? And why wear ear muffs at a hot day like this?"
"You mean headphones?-"
"Eh, I've seen weirder things." He left.
Aron kept a steady pace as he felt the weird feeling of people staring at him. He quickly but naturally went in a phone shop, placing the phone on the counter. The guy stared at it in amazement. "Can you fix this? It's an-"
"Sorry kid, can't fix remotes. Or a tiny T.V."
"What? No, it's a-" Cole stopped as his eyes stared blankly at the calendar. "1992... "
"Yes, kid I know it's 1992." "The year the first touch screened phone was released."
"Still right here." The man said as Aron smiled awkwardly at the owner of the shop as he slipped the debris of the gadget back in the bag.
"Right. Some toys aren't really fixable, yep! I see that now, bye!"
He scrammed out of the shop, running without a single idea of where he's going. His insides screamed in agony and confusion. He looked behind him. "Why would he bring me here? A year when- wait. If I'm correct... " He took a random person and shook him repeatedly. " Is it "really" the year 1992?"
"Um... Yes?"
"So it is!"
"Can you let go of me?"
He threw him away. "Thanks dude! 1992, the first release of a touch screened phone. Also part of a time when phones started becoming a craze and stuff, but of course it took a while and years till' it, well, became a trend . That's it, Is it?" He paused as he looked everywhere.
"So that's what's weird! No one has their noses buried in their phones!" He smiled. "Cause their phones were boring."
Out of nowhere his plastic bag got taken by a street cat, Aron followed it tremendously.
"Hey!" The cat jumped over a fence and went inside the house through a pet door. Aron stopped at the doorsteps, not knowing if he should come in uninvited. Then he decided to quietly get in: By climbing the ladder and slipping through the window. Which were oddly convenient.
He fell on a certain room as he rubbed the back of his head. It was dark. He blindly scanned for an object on a desk near him, his back against the wall. Sounds erupted on the door. He placed the object in front of him as the door busted open. A kid opened the light with the cat by his side. The plastic bag hanging on it's mouth.
"Thief! That somehow steals toothbrushes, yep, very odd but I'll call the police anyways."
"Me? A thief?! Your cat stole a valuable possession of mine!"
"You mean this? A bunch... Of broken glass, parts?" He took the bag and pulled out a piece from inside.
"No! I mean, yes. But that's not what it is."
"Ginger?" The cat meowed as her master sighed. "You really need to stop doing this."
He gave the bag, before taking it back. "Also can you use the front door next time, because coming in through my window is really misleading."
"Yeah, sure. Maybe next time if you don't leave a ladder and your window opened." "Fair point."
He paused as he placed his hand on the plastic bag, he couldn't help but hear a ticking sound. He leaned into the guy's
eyes. A clock on the left. Echo's of an unfamiliar voice rang through his ears, whispering in his headphones: "Retz must be found, look for the clock symbol on his left eye. Find him-"
And with a fading voice. "Help him."
Aron said with ringing ears. "Retz... ?" "Uhm, yes... ?" He then questioned him. "How do you know my name?"
"Oh! Uhm... " He looked around to make up any excuse and saw his driving license and pointed it out.
"Your driver's license!- I, uh, saw it there."
"Okay... ?"
He realized he was too close. Backing away, Aron took the bag and stared at his left eye once again. The clock disappeared. The kid, now known as Retz, asked awkwardly.
"Do I, um, have something in my face or... ?"
"Your, uh, eyes are really pretty."
"Thanks... ? They're naturally green, hah." Retz chuckled.
Aron gut flustered. "That's not what I meant! I mean they are, but they -you, can help me get home!"
"Home? I don't-" "Retz, the boy with a clock on his left eye! You're the one who can help me when I help you. Well at least I think that's how it is."
"And you are someone I should help because... ?"
"I'm from the future and I need to go back to my timeline, finish the task -which is probably you- and go back and get a new phone!"
Retz stared at the guy with now sparkling eyes. He laughed as Aron's overwhelmed feeling quickly drifted away.
"And you expect me to believe that?"
"Well, yes, but I know it sounds crazy and really unbelievable, but you have to trust me! I have proof and-"
"Hey,"
"What? I was in the middle of explaining-"
Retz took the plastic and handed him a shovel. "Dig your way home."
Aron stared at it, dumbfounded. "What?"