Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4-7 2019 | Page 123

The Time Traveller
Island School, Bindal, Preksha - 14
A flash of bright light cut off a perfect night’s sleep as the scenery around me changed and I tore through the fabrics of
time and space. I’m Daniel Wu, and I’m a time traveller.
I can’t control it, it happens whenever it wants to. Multiple times I have been mid-conversation or in the middle of a
meal when pure white bursts out of me and cuts me off, sending me to the French Revolution, where I had to help
take down the King, or the Stone Age, in which I needed to defeat the beast that destroyed villagers’ crops and took
their children. It takes a while to figure out why I’m there, but once I figure out my task and fulfil it, I’m able to
come home.
I got up and I felt my bed swaying as I listened to the sound of waves crashing nearby. I spied a window, so I rolled
out of the bed and walked up to it, trying to keep my balance. All I saw was a sea for miles and miles. I looked down
at the floor that was still swaying too much beneath my feet and struggled to keep down my dinner. I don’t like the
sea. The sun was setting right at that moment, and although I felt awfully sick, I had to marvel in the beauty of the
sky. It was absolutely beautiful, like in a dream. Although I hated it, the ocean’s waves completed the serene picture.
The only thing ruining the moment was my stomach lurching again that sent me running to find a bathroom.
Once I felt better, I straightened myself up and started to take a look at my surroundings. I guessed I was in the past
because there wasn’t any technology lying around. The room was large, but a bunk bed took up most of the space
so there wasn’t much room left for anything else. A big cupboard, although in the corner, was the most eye-
catching thing because it was the only thing that had any colour besides brown and white. I guessed that whoever
owned this room wasn’t the most interesting person in the world.
I decided to look through the cupboard. Everything inside was far too big for me, but I guessed that as long as I
wore clothes that were the norm, maybe people wouldn’t notice me much.
I pulled on my clothes the way I thought was correct and looked at my reflection in the window. I was wearing a
shapeless and flowy robe that covered most of my throat and then tied at the back. It was airy and comfortable, and I
wouldn’t have minded taking it home. I began to walk away before I came back to empty my pockets. I stared at the
small white cube in my hand a long time before shoving it into a pocket along with a very sharp knife and started
walking up the stairs to explore the ship I was in.
As I turned a corner in an attempt to find a staircase to the deck, a hand reached out and grabbed me from my wrist
and pulled me into a room. It was the kitchen, which was well-lit and smelled like wine and poultry. A boy looked
up at me and handed me a sponge and a bucket, and then pointed at the floor. I sighed and got down on my knees
and began to scrub before a pair of thick boots entered my vision. I look up in surprise.
“Is this your first time on board?” “Yeah,
how did you know?”
“Your robe is on backward.” He deadpanned. “What?
No, it’s not. The tie goes in the back, right?”
He gestured around the kitchen. “Do you see anyone wearing their robes the same way as you?” Oh.