Chapter 8-The Day is Here

I woke up with a jolt the next morning. I instantly sat up, got out of bed, and went to go take a shower. I hurriedly packed my belongings, ate the hotel breakfast, and made my way over to WCO. Thankfully, I was allowed to bring everything I had with me to 1856. How the whole time travel thing worked was remember those house-looking things I described when I first got off the elevator? Well, they acted as a mobile home with all the necessary appliances for a basic living. Whatever time period you were assigned to, the whole house would warp through the space-time continuum, and it was placed in a hidden location where people in that time period would least likely go. The large antenna on top acted as the main device to warp the whole house through time, and it was also a communication beacon to be able to talk to WCO. Crazy, right? You get full internet access and communication capabilities at download speeds of 800 gbps, no matter when you go. It's not the fastest internet out there, but it was very sufficient enough to live comfortably. Another great perk to it is that it had a 7G cellular signal, so as long as I was within 50 miles from the "house," I could have internet access on that as well when I was out and about.

When I walked into the building, I gave the lady up front a nice smile, and I got on the elevator, meeting my "parents" there too. Seeing them together and smiling at me warmed my heart, as I had not received even the slightest bit of affection in the longest time. "Are you excited, Elijah?" Rob asked, "Oh, you have no idea," I said.

When we reached the 86th floor, Dan awaited us eagerly. "Welcome! Are you ready to begin?" he said. He then directed us to our "house," told us to be sitting down while the warp process happened, and then began to give us one final rundown. "Ok, so once you warp through time, all of those dos and don'ts apply. I hate to discuss this and scare you, but remember that exposing yourself as time travelers can face you with a serious penalty: you will face a life sentence in federal prison." Dan then showed us a map of where our house will warp to. It seemed like we would be in a dense patch of woods, about 2 miles from the town. "Any final questions?" We all answered no, and we were sent to our house. This was it. The time was finally here. Rob, Susan, and I looked around the small house before sitting down. Luckily, there were two small bedrooms and bathrooms, so I took one while the couple took the other. I set my bag down and went into the main "living room," a room where we did all of our reports. Dan's voice came over the speaker in one of the monitor screens, asking us if we were ready to launch. We all sat down and gave the ready signal. "Okay, it will take a minute for the system to calibrate. Remember, once you have successfully made it to 1856, your blood sugars will be low and your blood pressure high. Remember your training in how to deal with that. I wish you all the very best luck." His voice cut out, and a light humming sound surrounded the house. The holographic projections of the map and other data on the coffee table shut off, and other mechanisms in the house were configured to initiate the jump. Butterflies flew all throughout my stomach. All of those thoughts about things going wrong suddenly came to my mind. A countdown sequence came up on the display on the wall, starting from 10. This was it. This was it. This was it. I was about to time travel. 5…4…3…2…1… A flash of light and a loud zap suddenly happened, and what I saw around me was indescribable, but the best way I could put it is that all of reality was bending and taking different shapes. My body felt like it was being stretched and poked. To minimize the discomfort, I closed my eyes before I felt I was going to black out, and then, there was silence.