I didn’t think it would happen, not really. I kind of hoped that this whole good vs evil epic battle in the future was just Kaz and Pheobe exaggerating, but now I know that SHARP’s enemy, STRAP, really does exists.
I happened today at school. A new boy came to look around the school and somehow it became my job to show him around. I didn’t mind – I’ve done it before. It’s easy really – you meet the kid at reception and then just take him or her to the playground with you. They’re normally really quiet and shy, but this boy was different. His name was Anniz and had come without his parents.
I came to meet him at reception. He was looking up, explaining that his parents were doctors and had been called back to the hospital urgently. Just the thought of hospitals made me go all cold and shivery, after what happened.
He seemed much more confident than other new kids. He had his hands shoved deep into his pockets and stood on tip toes taking to Mrs Hodgson on reception.
When she saw me she said, “Oh, hello Daniel,” I hate being called Daniel, “this is Anniz.”
I held my hand out to shake his; a wave seemed silly now that I was nearly 14. And that’s when I noticed it. He shook my hand and as I looked down I swear I spotted two extra fingers wrapped over the back of my hand. He withdrew his hand quickly. I froze for a moment, thought I must be imagining things, and then went back the way I came in.
“Follow me,” I said, as friendly as possible, you have to tell them to follow you or they’ll just stand at reception and watch you leave. But he was already by my side.
Once we were out of the building, Anniz spoke.
“You can ask me about it if you want,” he said.
“What?”
“My hands,” he said. Until then I thought I had been imagining things, but this cemented it.
“Errr…” was all I could manage.
Anniz waved his hands in my face. “I though you noticed earlier,” he said, “can we sit down?” he asked, pointing to a bench.
I was dying to ask him if he knew Kaz and if he was from SHARP, but something held my tongue. He seemed different, not just his hands, but a feeling he gave off. We sat down and I looked in the opposite direction, at Mark and Steve trying to keep the football in the air for as long as possible. We watched them for a while and then after a long silence that I felt unwilling to break, he finally said, “I’m from the future.”
I was about to say, “I know,” but he carried on speaking:
“I know it seems crazy,” he said, “and I don’t expect you to believe me..”
Why didn’t he know I knew about the future people?
“But let me prove it to you,” he said. He took out a device that looked like a really thin iPhone and pressed randomly on the screen, and then the world fell silent. The shouts from the playground stopped, birds above us stopped in mid-flight, a basketball that had been bouncing towards us hovered awkwardly in the air.
I couldn’t help but be impressed.
And then the world crashed back into action, it was deafening
“Sorry,” he said, “I only have enough energy to do that for a few seconds.”
He put one hand on the bench between us, turned palm upwards. He had numbers tattooed across his palm. He quickly moved his hand, rubbed it on his leg and then showed me it again. The number had gone.
My mum would kill me if I got a tattoo.
“What number did you se on the palm of my hand?” Anniz asked.
“10812,” I said.
“Perfect!” he said, “you are exactly the right kind of person to be a time traveller. You have been chosen by the organization I work for.”
“But…”
“No buts,” he spoke over me, “I don’t have much time. It took longer than expected to find you and I’ve wasted a lot of energy on freezing time.” I could tell he was trying to hide some kind of resentment. Towards me maybe?
He took out his iPhone-type device and showed me the screen. It lit up with 3D text:
<Danny Higgins – Ideal candidate for STRAP 10812>
My heart dropped in my chest. STRAP, these were the people SHARP had warned me about.
“Look, Danny,” Anniz said – he looked desperate, “I don’t have much time, but please take this.”
He shoved a clunky old 90s mobile phone into my hand.
“It’s been reprogrammed. I know it’s a lot to take in, but you must believe me. If you want to time travel, and you will – it’s amazing, please press the numbers 10812 in this phone and press the black button.”
This was all sounding very familiar.
I knew SHARP had warned me about these people and that I shouldn’t trust them, but I was curious. And what if SHARP were the ones who were lying – how would I know?
“Why should I trust you?” I asked.
“I’m just a boy who’s doing a job,” he replied, “and so far it’s gone well, although it took me a long time to find you and if you refuse, then I’ll be back to the base line, so please, please will you say yes?”
He was pleading with me, it seemed to mean a great deal to him.
“Only 10 seconds left until I dematerialize,” he said, “say you’ll go back in time for us?”
He was starting to fade around the edges, he didn’t look human anymore, like he was dissolving in front of me, but he was still reaching out to me, begging.
“Errr…” I said, but before I could decide, he vanished.
Time Travel is Possible! 