The Time Bubble

by Jason Ayres

  As he passed through heading in the direction of the town, he felt vaguely uneasy even though he knew he should be safe approaching from this direction. He had no desire to travel into the Bubble again. There was no way he could explain a whole day’s absence and besides, what would Kaylee think if he disappeared for a day now?

  She would think he was avoiding her, she’d doubt his commitment. Now that they had found each other, he had no intention of doing anything to spoil things.

  Although none of them had a class until 11am, he’d arranged to meet Josh in school early so they could talk about the Time Bubble and what had happened the previous day.

  When he entered the Year 12 common room, Josh was already waiting for him. Charlie noticed that he looked rather tired and dishevelled as he lounged back on one of the orange fabric sofas that had seen better days. Fortunately they were the only people in the room so were able to talk freely.

  “What’s up?” asked Charlie, noting that not only was Josh not looking particularly dapper, he didn’t look too happy either.

  “Well – firstly, I still can’t believe you didn’t come to meet me”, said Josh.

  “Actually I did – at 2pm. You weren’t there”, replied Charlie. “Those two police officers were, though. They were sniffing around right by the Time Bubble. I think they suspect something”.

  “You could still have come back in the evening”, said Josh, letting out a loud yawn.

  “No, I couldn’t. I explained all that in my message last night. I was hardly going to pass up a date with Kaylee on the off chance that you might or might not reappear. Besides, you’re big enough to look after yourself, aren’t you? It’s not as if you were going to get mugged or anything”.

  Josh yawned again. “I guess so”.

  “Am I keeping you up?” quipped Charlie.

  “As a matter of fact, you are. I got no sleep at all last night. This thing is messing with my body clock. It thinks it’s time to go to bed now. This is what being jet-lagged must be like. Technically, my body thinks it’s in New Zealand or somewhere now”.

  “Have some coffee. You need to stay awake if we are going to figure out what the hell we are going to do about this thing”.

  If Charlie was hoping Josh might have all the answers, he was going to be disappointed.

  Josh got up from the sofa and headed over to one of the two vending machines standing against the wall. He put a pound coin in, pressed a couple of buttons, and heard the reassuring whirr of the machine dispensing his coffee.

  He then turned back to Charlie and said, “What can we do? We can’t go through it again. It’s a day minimum now. We should just stay away from the tunnel”.

  “But what about everyone else?” asked Charlie. “What happens when someone disappears for days at a time – or weeks even? How can we explain that? This thing is dangerous. We need to tell someone about it. Maybe we can try and get the tunnel closed down or something”.

  “Realistically, how can we, Charlie?” replied Josh. “This isn’t like a film where we go and tell some professor about it who comes up with some crazy plan to save the day. In the real world, if you go around telling people you can time travel you are going to at best be labelled a weirdo, and at worst be carted off by the men in white coats”.

  “What’s your solution then?” asked Charlie.

  “We do nothing”, said Josh. “It’s not our responsibility and not our problem”.

  “So when someone goes missing for days on end and their families are worried sick, we just sit back and say nothing about it, is that what you’re saying?” Charlie was feeling more than a little annoyed at Josh’s attitude to the whole thing. “How can we morally do that when we know the person is safe and sound and will reappear in however many days? How can we just let their families think they might be dead when we know they aren’t?”

  Josh was becoming exasperated at Charlie’s persistence. “Look – picture this scenario. Some guy goes missing for eight days. His family are understandably distraught. Then we roll up on the doorstep and tell them not to worry, it’s alright, he’s just trapped in a Time Bubble and he’ll be back next Friday. How do you think you would react if you were in their position?”

  Charlie mulled it over. Josh was right. But then he had a thought. “There is one person we could talk to about this who might understand”.

  “Who’s that then?” asked Josh.

  “Mr Grant. He loves anything to do with time travel. We’ve talked about it enough times and we know he’s a massive Doctor Who fan. He goes to conventions and all sorts”.

  “He would probably just think it was a wind-up”, replied Josh.

  “Maybe he would, but it’s worth a try. What harm can it do? If he does think it’s a wind-up he’ll just take the piss out of us, but at least we will have told someone. And even if he doesn’t believe us, we could ask his opinion on what he would do if it were true. We could make out it’s for a story we were thinking of writing”.

  The more Charlie thought about it, the more convinced he was that this was the best thing to do.

  “OK” agreed Josh. “We’ll try and talk to him after English, it’ll be lunchtime then. I don’t think for a moment that he’ll believe us, though”.

  “We can only try”, said Charlie.

  The door to the common room opened and Dan walked in, making a beeline for the other vending machine, barging past Charlie and Josh in his haste to get some food.

  “What happened to you last night?” he asked Charlie. “I thought we were going on a double date. I’d really love to give that Lauren one”.

  “I don’t think the feeling’s mutual, mate”, said Charlie.

  “Oh yeah, like you’re an expert on women, aren’t you? Like the other night”. He put on a false voice, mimicking Charlie. “Oh Kaylee I love you, please go out with me”.

  “Dan, just drop it”, said Josh, angrily. He flashed him a warning look. Josh could be pretty tough when he wanted to be. He was on the school rugby team, and not the sort of person you wanted to get into a scrap with.

  Dan backed down. Although he was a bully with words, when he sensed a confrontation in which someone might actually hit him, he normally avoided it. There were easier targets for him to pick on. Changing the subject he said, “Hey guys, look at this”, gesturing towards the vending machine.

  The vending machine was one of the carousel types. The user needed to press a button to rotate it until the required product was in the window facing the front. It was then a simple case of putting the money in and pulling across the window to take out the product.

  “Look at what?” asked Josh, sarcastically adding, “not enough food in there for you?”

  “I’ve got a bit of a scam going with these sandwiches” said Dan, ignoring Josh’s dig. “It’s quite clever really. You see how the windows on the top four rows marked A to D are smaller than the ones on the bottom four rows marked E to H. Well, what you do is use button A to line up the chocolate bar exactly in the window at the top like this. I’ve tricked the machine into thinking I am going to open the window to row A. But the beauty of it is I’m not after the chocolate bar at all. Watch this”.

  He put the money in and then went to the window on the bottom row where the sandwiches were. It had stopped halfway between two sections. He opened the door as far as it could go, reached into one section and then the other and triumphantly produced two sandwiches, one cheese and pickle, and one egg. “Hey presto!” he announced.

  “Only you could think of something like that”, remarked Charlie, secretly impressed. “Though it is rather fraudulent”, he added. “Not to mention extremely greedy”.

  “It’s the machine’s fault, not mine. Whoever designed it should have tested it properly. I’m just taking advantage of their incompetence. Anyway I’m hungry. I didn’t have time for any breakfast this morning”.

  He put some more money in and purchased a packet of crisps.

  “Just the one bag of crisp
s, then?” asked Josh.

  “Yeah – it only works on the sandwich shelf”, replied Dan. “Never mind, this lot should keep me going till lunchtime”. And he walked off over to the window, clutching his ill-gotten gains. Charlie pressed the A button on the machine and watched the carousel whirring around.

  “You know, this thing is a bit like the Time Bubble, when you think about it”, he remarked.

  “How so?” asked Josh.

  “Well – it takes time for this thing to rotate. So at the moment there is a bar of chocolate in this window. But if I rotate it around the chocolate moves out of the way and is replaced by a bag of crisps. It takes about two seconds in normal time”.

  “Go on”, said Josh.

  “Well, the Time Bubble doesn’t work the same way. You can jump to the next point on the wheel instantly without having to wait for the thing to rotate”.

  “I sort of see what you are saying but it’s not the best analogy I’ve ever heard”, replied Josh.

  “Perhaps not but I’m just trying to make some sense of this whole weird situation”, said Charlie.

  “Maybe Mr Grant will have some more ideas later when we speak to him”, said Josh. “If he believes us, of course”.

  They sat back down and Charlie told him all about the previous evening’s events in detail. He thought Josh might be upset when he told him about Lauren going off with Aaron, but he didn’t seem particularly bothered, remarking that there were “plenty more fish in the sea”.

  Maybe he was bothered deep down but it wasn’t in Josh’s nature to show it.

  =============================

  Kaylee was sitting in the lounge of her modest three-bedroom semi enjoying a cup of tea and some Marmite on toast. Her mother was out shopping, her father was at work, and her younger sister was at school. This meant she could enjoy some trashy daytime TV before she had to leave for her 11am English class.

  She was watching a hugely overweight woman on a morning TV talk show telling the audience about her gland problem when she was disturbed by a light tapping on the window. She looked up to see Lauren, still dressed in the clothes she had been wearing the previous evening, peering through the window, an impish grin on her face.

  “Any chance of a cup of tea?” she shouted through the window.

  Kaylee, still dressed in pyjama bottoms and a baggy old T-shirt, jumped up and went to the front door to let Lauren in.

  “What have you been up to, you dirty stop-out?” asked Kaylee.

  Lauren’s reply was breezily casual. “Oh you know, it got late, so I crashed over at Aaron’s place. He’s got a car so I got him to drop me off here. I thought it might be more convincing if we went back to my place from yours. Then you can confirm with my mum that I stayed here last night if she asks”.

  “So”, began Kaylee. “Did you…?”

  “Oh yes”, interrupted Lauren. “I certainly did. Three times in fact: twice last night and once this morning”.

  “What’s it like?” asked Kaylee.

  “It’s the best. I love it. You know, you should try it sometime”.

  Kaylee looked at Lauren. Although she looked tired she couldn’t deny there was a certain glow about her. “It’s easy for you, though. It just seems to come naturally. Besides, I don’t want to do it with some random bloke I’ve just met in a cinema. I’ve always said I’ll wait for the right one”.

  “Speaking of which, how did last night go?” Lauren had been so wrapped up thinking about her own debauched behaviour she had quite forgotten to ask about her date with Charlie.

  Kaylee gave her a detailed account of the evening. When she’d finished, Lauren offered her opinion: “You know I’ve got a good feeling about you two. You talk about waiting for the right one. It sounds to me like you’ve found him”.

  She was echoing what Kaylee had already been thinking. In hindsight she’d always had strong feelings for Charlie but until that kiss the previous evening she had been in denial. He was the one. There was no doubt about it. To the casual onlooker it might just look like some teenage crush, but there had been something magical about that first kiss.

  She had kissed one or two other boys before but had never felt the way Charlie had made her feel last night. In her heart she knew that she loved him. Maybe she always had.

  “I think you’re right, Lauren. In fact, I think I love him”, she said.

  “Then you’re very lucky”, replied Lauren. “I’ve never felt that way about anyone”.

  “But you’ve had lots of boyfriends”, replied Kaylee.

  “I didn’t love them, though. I just fancied the pants off them. I guess it’s just the way we’re made. You and I are different. If you love Charlie and you want him, then go for it. You’re nearly seventeen, there’s nothing to stop you”.

  “You’re right”, said Kaylee, her mind made up. “I’ll tell him – today”.

  “That’s my girl”, replied Lauren. “Now what about that cup of tea?”

  Chapter Ten – 24th October 2018 (11.00am)

  When Charlie walked into the English lesson it was the first time he’d seen Kaylee since he’d kissed her goodnight the previous evening. As 11am had approached he had begun to feel more than a little nervous.

  Elements of self-doubt had begun creeping into his mind. Was it too good to be true? Had it all been for real? In the cold light of day would she still feel the same?

  He tried not to let it show as he and Josh entered the room. He cast a quick glance over to the table by the window where Kaylee and Lauren always sat. Rays of golden autumn sunshine were lighting up the blonde curls cascading around her neck. To Charlie she looked more beautiful than ever.

  She caught his eye briefly but then looked away again, her own insecurity getting the better of her.

  Peter watched them file in, feeling somewhat subdued. He was definitely not his usual jovial self, but then who would be in his situation? His hospital appointment was booked for the following Wednesday which meant getting through a whole week agonising over the possibility of the Grim Reaper’s axe falling. To make matter worse, there was a horrible eggy smell in the room.

  Dan was lounging back on his chair, shirt hanging out, the knot of his tie about two inches below where it should have been, munching on his second sandwich. This was not unusual by any means. Normally Peter ignored it, but today he found it incredibly irritating. Here he was, having led a pretty clean-living life, struck down by the cruellest of diseases while this teenage fat slob was just lounging around showing no respect for his body whatsoever.

  He looked more closely and realised that Dan was eating an egg sandwich. So that was where the smell was coming from. Well, he wasn’t having it, not today.

  “Daniel Fisher!” he shouted which took the whole class by surprise. They were used to his normal easygoing nature. “What do you think you are doing?”

  “I’m having my breakfast, sir” was Dan’s reply. This caused a ripple of laughter from the rest of the class. Peter couldn’t be sure if they were laughing with Dan or at him, but regardless he persisted.

  “You should have had it before you came in. Now put it away, do your tie up properly and tuck your shirt in. You’re a disgrace”.

  There was more laughter. Peter felt like he’d got the class on his side now. From what he had observed over the course of the term, Dan wasn’t particularly popular. The others were enjoying seeing him taken down a peg or two.

  “You can’t talk to me like that”, replied Dan. “You can’t stop me eating. If my blood sugar levels drop it could be very dangerous. You’re infringing my human rights”.

  “Fine”, snapped Peter. If Daniel was implying he had diabetes it was the first he had heard of it. It was more likely he was trying it on, but Peter decided to call his bluff.

  This was a perfect opportunity to get the lad out of his sight. “Get out and take your smelly sandwich and yourself to the canteen. And don’t ever bring food into this classroom again”.

  “I di
dn’t want to be here anyway”, retorted Dan. He picked up his things, shoved them into his bag, flung it over his shoulder and stormed out of the room.

  After that the lesson proceeded without incident, though it was far from being the most illuminating class he had ever had. Peter’s deflated feeling showed in his lack of enthusiasm, and in the end he just got them to read a couple of chapters of Brave New World while he pretended to be working on some marking.

  In reality he was just clicking his pen on and off over and over again. As he was doing it he was gazing out of the window at the English countryside beyond, glumly wondering how much time he had left to enjoy it.

  One of the worst things about the possibility of dying was that he’d never get to see the future. He’d seen huge changes during his lifetime. He lived in an incredible technological era now, compared to his childhood.

  He remembered back in the 1970s when he first saw a digital watch and a pocket calculator. Such things seemed amazingly futuristic to his youthful eyes back then. When he got his ZX Spectrum for Christmas back in 1983, he thought that it was the pinnacle of modern technology and could never be bettered.

  And here he was, more than thirty years later, surrounded by gadgets, games and technology which made those heady 1980s Spectrum days seem like the Stone Age.

  What would things be like in another three or four decades? It was unimaginable. And the way things were going it looked like he wasn’t going to be around to find out.

  Gloomily he looked out at the sunshine and the golden autumn-tinged trees and wondered if he’d even see another summer.

  It was nearly 12.30 when Josh nudged Charlie’s arm and said, “Do you think we still ought to speak to him? He doesn’t seem to be in a very good mood”.

  “No – you’re right, he doesn’t. That was so funny before, though”, he said. He was still chuckling about Dan’s unceremonious eviction.

  “I still think we should talk to him”, said Josh. “If he tells us to get lost we’re no worse off than we were before, are we?”

  “OK”, said Charlie. “It’s nearly 12.30”.