When Time Runs Out

Chapter Four {Complete}

Chapter Four

I finally looked up at him and his eyes met with mine. His brown eyes grew larger, and he turned and sprinted away from me. Being the idiot I was, I ran after him. I needed to know what was going on. He looked strangely ahead of this time. I finally reached him and grabbed the sleeve of his black sweater, even though it was about ninety degrees out. He stared at me, and that's when I noticed a faint little shimmer around his neck. He noticed that I noticed him, and he glanced around my neck. Apparently I had the same shimmer, as he reached out and grasped my necklace, and saw the watch. He let my chain go and reached toward his own necklace, and pulled out his own watch from beneath his shirt. Our necklaces were almost identical, only he had a different quote. "How did it get so late so soon?" by Dr. Seuss. He parted his lips as if to speak, then shut them, deciding not to.

"I'm Nia Fields..." I could only barely squeak out. I was so shocked, was he like me?

"I'm Dominic Newbond..." He whispered.

"Come with me." He grabbed my wrist so tightly I thought that he was trying to cut off my blood circulation. Dominic soon ran into a dark, thin alley, unlike the one my great-grandparents were in.

"Who are you? What are you?" Dominic almost yelled at me.

"I...I... what? I'm... a... hu-"

"No. If you were completely human then you would have that necklace. You wouldn't be able to be here right this moment. Your body would have decomposed the second you went into the tunnel. Who are you?"

"I already told you, i'm Nia. What the heck is the tunnel?"

"OHHH! You're a newbie!" I could tell that he was trying not to laugh his head off.

"Well, the tunnel is like a time vortex. It's the dimension between your present, and right now, or any other pinpoint in time."

Ohhh kay.

"Okay..."

"I'm going to ask you this one more time, now that i've explained this to you. Who are you?"

I apparently wasn't a complete human, I was something else now.

"My name's Nia. I'm a time traveller."

"Oh, well, in that case..." Dominic puffed out his chest and blew up his cheeks, "I AM A TIME TRAVELLER!"

This somehow got a laugh out of me, which was strange because a boy had never made me laugh before. Oh well, I didn't think too much out of it.

"So, Dominic the time traveler, where, uh, when do you come from? Sorry. Not used to this time speak."

"It's okay, Nia. I've been doing this for nine years." He's been a time traveler since he was six. Impressive.

"I come from the year 2054. My parents died nine years ago, a day after I took my first launch into the tunnel."

"Did it line up with their dates?" I needed to know.

"Uh, no. It didn't. When's your date?" I attempted to slide my wrist away from him, but I failed. He snatched the hem of my black sweater, and yanked the sleeve up. I couldn't bear to see the reaction on his face, so I just looked away.

"N...Nia..."

"Uh, what?"

"Your date is gone."

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah, are you sure you ever got one?

"Positive. I was supposed to die yesterday and-" He rudely interrupted me by yelling right into my ear.

"I KNOW IT! YOUR DATE FADES A DAY AFTER YOUR PASSING!"

Oh my god.

"Oh my god."

"Wait, so if you were supposed to die yesterday, why didn't you?"

"Well, somebody yelled at me, telling me to move out of the way."

"Move out of the way of what?"

"A car. I jumped out of the way, but it still- AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Oh my god, I almost just peed myself! What the heck?!"

"The car ran over my right leg. It was supposed to be broken!"

"Well, is it?"

"No, it doesn't even hurt!"

"I've never seen this before, I just don't understand wh-"

This time, it was my turn to interrupt.

"OH MY GOSH I HAVE TO GO BYE"

I opened my watch, adjusted each knob, and smashed it shut.

"Wait, NO!" Dominic yelled at me, just as I was fading away.

I just managed to say "Goodbye" as I melted away into time.

+++

I popped into present day, where my parents were standing, right where they were before. I looked at my real watch. I spent 20 minutes in 1946, but it was only two seconds for my parents. Time is a funny thing.

"Hey guys!"

"NIAAA!" They both yelled simultaneously, laughing right after my name escaped their mouth.

"Did you have fun in 1946?" My mom asked.

"Yeah, I did! But I have a question. Why is my date gone?"

"Your date is gone?"

"Yeah."

"Well, because your alive, I don't mean to upset you honey, but you were supposed to die. And since your not, the date still faded because it did it's job. All these dates, every single one of them, is based on a hunch. Since your hunch failed, I still disappeared. You don't get another one back. Your free of this "gift".

"Wait... every date isn't an exact fact?"

"No."

"Then why does everybody else's date accurate?

"Well, there's a one in a trillion chance that your date isn't correct. You just happened to land on an one."

"So why am I a time traveler then?"

"When you outlast a date, the ink fades, right? You've proven that. So me and your mother have been doing some tests on the ink. It keeps you weak. When the ink fades, you brain constantly releases a chemical that is called Epinephrine, which is like an adrenaline burst. It keeps you strong and alert, that's how you stay alive in the tunnel."

<<< Author's Note;

I am terribly sorry that I haven't updated in my said time! I've been busy with my trip! I will be gone for about a week and a half. I will write, but i'm not sure if I will have wi-fi or not! I am sad to leave you guys, but i'll be back soon! Thank you all so much for your reads and patience!

love and sunshine,

always and forever yours,

emily >>>