The Time Bender

Shikha’s cab left her at the drop point. She was at 10 minutes walking distance from her apartment. She checked her watch, it was showing 10:05 pm. “I am late,” she told herself. She started to walk towards her apartment after a hectic day at the office. She could see Mrs. Das coming towards her, before crossing she greeted her with a big smile on her face.

After walking 5 minutes, she took a left turn. Suddenly, an old woman in her late 70's approached her and handed her a small bag with a zip at its top and said, “Take this, you will need this.” Shikha asked in a harsh tone, “who are you? What’s inside this?”

“I don’t have much time. You will need the thing in this bag soon. It is very important for you to take this now. But remember there is one rule, you cannot tell anyone about it” After saying this woman hastened into the darkness, without hearing her reply.

Shikha was left puzzled. Curiously, she opened the zip of the bag; there was a small antique locket watch inside it. On the top of it, something was written. She tried to read it “Tuum est fluxus temporis”. She noticed the watch doesn’t have normal calibrations of 1 to 12 instead she could read words like hora, minutum, and annus and only one hand.

Out of curiosity, she rotated the crown of the clock, nothing happened. Unknowingly she pressed it. ‘CLICK’. She felt a goose bump, her vision became blurry everything started fading. She felt like being unconscious. She lost control over herself, and everything around. Within seconds she felt normal, but amazingly she was standing where cab left her 5 minutes ago and was feeling completely normal. She checked her watch; it was showing, 10:05 pm. Again, Mrs. Das was coming towards her before crossing she greeted her with a big smile on her face. Exactly like the last time. Her eyes almost froze; she was still holding that antique watch in her right hand. After walking 5 minutes she was again at the same place where she met the old woman. This time there was no one, but she was holding the watch. Shikha was left puzzled. She kept it in her purse and rushed towards her apartment.

Shikha took out the key from her purse and unlocked the door. She could see her husband, Jay. He was sitting on the bean bag ready to leave for his office, as he works night shift. Jay was not in a good mood. He smiled in a sarcastic manner and said, “Welcome home, my queen.”

“Sorry, I am late again. You should have left for the office you must be getting late” Shikha said in an apologetic tone.

“This is the only time; I can talk to you if and only if you come home on time. You promised me that you will come back on time and we can at least spend 1 hour together in a day.” he was loud.

Shikha moved towards Jay and hugged him; she could hear his fast heartbeats, feel his breath and understand his frustration. Empathy is the only thing she could offer at the moment. Jay hugged her tighter. They remained silent for few moments holding each other in between their arms. With his eyes closed and his wife between his arms, Jay felt like holding his whole universe.

He said, “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Shikha replied.

Jay moved a bit and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“I am taking a leave today; I want to spend it with you.”

“Jay, I guess you have an important meeting today” Shikha smirked.

“Then tomorrow we both are taking a leave and we are going on a dinner date.”

“Sure. You should leave now, you are already late”

Jay planted a peck on her lips this time and left for the day.

As soon as jay left for the day Shikha started to wonder about the watch and the old woman she met on the way back. She opened the bag and tried decoding the words written on it. Without thinking much, she started her laptop and searched “Tuum est fluxus temporis” it was written on the flap. It was Latin, and Google translator translated it, “The flow of your time”. Then she started searching the words written on the calibrations. Hora means hour, minutum means Minute and annus means year. Shikha got all the required pieces. She concluded “I met the old woman, I rotated the hand and pressed the crown and I was 5 minutes back in the time. But this time I didn’t meet the old woman, but still the watch was in my hand.”

She remained silent for a few minutes. Being always a non-believer of supernatural things, it was hard to accept it. “This clock can manipulate time.” One question was still boggling her mind, “Why she told me that I will need it soon?” She kept the watch back her purse and went to sleep, with lots of things on her mind.

Next morning, Shikha woke up with an uneasy feeling. She was worried about the antique watch. Within an hour Jay came back from his office. He was quite tired after working whole night in the night shift. So, soon he went to bed.

With a cup of tea in her hand, Shikha sat next to Jay where he was asleep. She looked at him with a smile and felt a satisfaction. She felt true love. She was lost in the thoughts of her college days. He proposed her at college canteen gate, in front the of the whole college. The day Jay jumped the girl’s hostel wall to meet her. Their first kiss was on a running motorbike. Together, they created tons of memories. She still remembers how crazy they were for each other. It took a hard time for them to convince their families for their marriage. After 6 years of relationship finally, they got married. After getting into their jobs, getting time for each other started getting difficult. Shikha is a hard worker, always gave her preference to her job than her relationship. Jay is a smart worker always managed his office and personal easily.

After getting the new job she hardly had any time for him. In the past three months, Jay started being more and more upset about not able to spend time with Shikha. Shikha was wearing her favorite red color one piece with a high heel. Jay just entered the room; he was wearing a crisp white shirt with a pair of denim, boots and his favorite watch. The well-groomed bread looked perfect on his 6 feet stature.

“You look gorgeous," Jay said it in the perfect way.

"Thanks." Shikha blushed.

"We can postpone or cancel the plan and have fun," Jay said it with a naughty smile.

"Or, maybe we can have some fun after our date."

​Both shared a laugh.

“Where are we going tonight?” asked Shikha.

“You ask too many questions, just follow my lead.”

“Sure.”

Jay parked the car. They started walking toward the Le Bernardin, a celebrated French seafood restaurant.

“Jay, are we going to Le Bernardin?”

“Yes, the place I always wanted to go with you.”

“I hope you know this is the most expensive restaurant in the city.”

“Do you remember one day during our college time when we were passing by this place I promised you that one day we will have a date here. Today is that day.”

Moments like this can melt anyone's heart. Shikha felts a Tsunami of emotions in her heart. She was amazed by Jay’s memory, how he remembers small details of past. She always felt that Jay loved her more than she loves him.

“Jay, you are the best thing happened to me”

“And you are the most beautiful thing happened to me”

“You are too romantic.”

“I’m all yours, that's all I know.”

“Yes, you are my forever.”

Shikha was holding Jay’s one hand firmly and they were walking side by side. Just when they were about to enter the restaurant Jay saw an old guy selling red roses across the street. Jay looked into Shikha’s eyes and said, “I know you like red roses. You just wait here”

Jay started to cross the road alone. Just when he was in the middle of the road, an over speeding car came from the left towards Jay.

Shikha Screamed, “JAYYY !!”

Before Jay has heard Shikha, the over speeding car hit him.

Jay was lying on the other side of the road, drenched in his own blood. His white shirt was turning red. Shikha ran towards him. Jay was not moving. Shikha’s eyes were full of tears. She sat on the footpath, took Jay in his lap. She put her handkerchief on his forehead and pressed it to stop bleeding. This little help was of no use as he was bleeding from many places.

Shikha started shouting for help, “HELP… SOMEBODY HELP.”

Within seconds huge crowd was surrounding them. A man came out of the crowd and said, “Car number was 7136. I have called the police, an ambulance will here within few minutes.”

“Please help.” Shikha pleaded.

“Don’t panic. First, check his pulse.” suggested the man.

Shikha placed her ears on Jay’s chest. There was nothing, absolute soundless. No pulse, no sound. This was a difficult moment for Shikha. She checked again and again. Hope, the only thing Shikha had at that moment. She kept trying to hear his pulse. She could not hear anything. Jay’s heart was not working.

“Can you hear his pulse?” an old woman from the crowd asked.

“No.,” said Shikha and looked at the woman. She was the same woman who gave her the antique watch. With her eyes full of tears and blurry vision, she could see her smiling mysteriously.

Without thinking much, Shikha opened her purse. Took out the antique watch, opened the flap, rotated the crown a bit and pressed it. Just like the last time, everything started to blur. An uneasy feeling took over her. Before she could understand much she was in front of the old woman. All she could see was the old woman, brightness, but no boundaries and walls.

“Please let me go back in time like yesterday. Just a few minutes back. I would anything you say, let me go back in time.” pleaded Shikha

“I didn’t bring you here, dear. You came here. I think you want to go back and save your husband.”

“Yes, I want to save him.”

“So, let me warn you. You are playing with the most dangerous thing, time. Changing past might have adverse effects in near future.”

“I am ready to face anything. Tell me, how I can go back in time.”

“You don’t know how to use time bender.”

“Time bender?”

“This watch, in your hand is called time bender. We call it time bender in your language. Oh dear, you have no idea how powerful this thing is.”

“I have to save my husband, I might be getting late. Where am I? What time is it?”

“Don’t worry you are not getting late to save him. You are not at any place or in any time frame now.”

“Are you time?”

“Time is not a person whom you can meet. Right now, it is beyond your understanding.”

“Please tell me how to use time bender.”

“You have it in your hand, you just need to think. This is how you came here, thinking about me.”

“This is how it worked first time also.”

“You are a smart woman, Shikha.”

Shikha started thinking about the time when she was walking towards the restaurant with Jay. She touched the crown of the watch, the hand moved automatically and then she pressed it. With a sound of a click, everything around her started to fade. It felt like she is dissolving with the surrounding. Soon she could not see anything.

She got control of her body again. She was holding Jay’s hand and walking toward the restaurant.

“Shikha, you are the most beautiful thing happened to me”

“You are too romantic.”

“I’m all your, that's all I know.”

“Yes, you are my forever.”

Shikha was holding Jay’s one hand firmly and they were walking side by side. She kept her words same like last time. Just when they were about to enter the restaurant Jay saw an old guy selling red roses across the street. Jay looked into Shikha’s eyes and said, “I know you like red roses. You just wait here.” But this time, Shikha didn’t let his hand go. She gripped it firmly. “Not today, Jay. Can we just have dinner?”

“I want to give it to my lovely wife.”

“No roses from now. Remember it. I don’t like them anymore.”

Jay said, “Okay, fine.”

Shikha’s heart rate was its max. Both of them entered the restaurant. Within a couple of minutes, they got their table. Shikha was silent in an unusual manner. She went through the trauma of losing her husband a few minutes back. The waiter greeted them and placed the menu on the table. As soon as he left Jay asked, “What happened, you look tense?”

She didn’t reply. Jay could easily notice tears in her eyes.

“Is everything fine?”

“Jay, I love you. I cannot afford to lose you” She started crying.

“Shikha, what's wrong? Please, don’t cry. Tell me what happened” Jay took her hand in his to comfort her.

“Sorry, I can’t tell you anything.”

“We were supposed to be having a good time. Instead, you are crying and not telling me the reason. Something is definitely wrong.”

“You died. A few minutes back your dead body was in my lap.”

“Are you in your senses?”

Shikha placed the watch on the table.

“You might not believe me. This is time bender. It can manipulate time. You can go back in time and relive the same time again. The first time you went to get some roses for me. While you were crossing the road an over speeding car hit you. The car number was 7136. Then with the help of time bender, I went back in time and didn’t allow you to get roses.” Shikha narrated the whole story to Jay.

“I don’t understand. How does this thing work?”

“You just need to think about the time you want to go to. Then touch the crown of the watch.”

“You are behaving weirdly.” Jay placed the watch in his pocket.

“Jay, can we go back home? I’m not feeling good.”

“Yes, we should.”

Jay called the waiter and told him that they are leaving as his wife is not well. Soon, they were standing outside the restaurant. After walking few minutes they needed to cross a road.

“Do we really need to cross it?” Shikha asked hesitatingly.

“Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to me.”

Shikha double checked the road. She was holding Jay’s hand. Slowly they started to cross the road. Shikha kept checking for vehicles coming from the left.

Suddenly, an over speeding car came from the right side. Shikha and Jay were in the middle of the road. Shikha’s reflex acted quickly. She pushed Jay with all the strength she got. Car hits Shikha and missed Jay by just a few inches. The car was out of sight within few seconds. This time Shikha was drenched in blood. Jay ran towards her. She was not breathing. A small crowd was around him, within few seconds.

“The car number was 7136. I have called the police.” A man said from the crowd.

“7136!!!” Jay exclaimed.

Jay smirked and took the watch out from his pocket.