The Time Twister by Logan Muhleisen

“Logan,” said Melanie. 

“Yeah?” I said. I was playing outside with my cousin.

“Look what I found at school today!”

“It’s... a watch?” 

“Not just any watch.” 

“Uh-huh. Okay,” I said. 

“I’m serious!” she said. 

“Okay. I believe you.” 

“No you don’t.” 

“You’re right. I don’t,” I said. 

“Ugh. If you don’t believe me, then I just have to show you.” 

“Show me wh—” I never got to finish that sentence because I was suddenly thrown straight in the air out of nowhere. Not gonna lie, I screamed like a girl. Then I floated back down to earth as light as a feather.

“W-w-wha?” was all I could manage. 

Melanie laughed. 

“I pressed the button on top of the watch earlier and it shot blue lightning or something at me, and now I can move stuff with my mind! How cool is that?” 

“Um. Can you back it up just a tinch? You pressed the button, it shot blue lightning at you, and now you have magic powers!?!?!? Gimme that thing!!” I lunged for the watch, missed, and got a face full of dirt.

“Here you go,” she said and dropped it on my head. For something so small, it sure hurt a lot.

“Awesome! Alright, let's do this!” I said. I pressed the button. And waited. And waited.

“Come on! Why isn’t it working!?” I yelled.

“YEET!” Melanie screamed. 

“What?” I asked. 

“Your voice. When you yelled, it was, like, a hundred times louder than normal.” 

“Huh. Weird. Wait. That’s my superpower? Why couldn’t it have been something cooler, like, I don’t know, superspeed or something? Wait. Melanie, have you tried anything other than moving stuff with your mind?” I asked.

 “No, why?” 

“Because if you have more than one power, maybe I do too.” 

“Maybe,” she said, “Or maybe not.” 

“Alright, let’s test this out. And go swimming!” We were in the pool at Melanie’s house, and Melanie was on the diving board about to see if she could fly. 

“Three, two, one, go!” I yelled. 

She leapt off the diving board, and for a second I thought she was going to do it, but then she fell and hit the water.

“Owww.” she groaned. 

“Are you okay?” I asked, trying not to laugh. 

“Just wait until you have to belly flop straight into the water. My face hurts now.” she said.

I got on the diving board. “Three, two, one, go!” I leapt off, and started falling immediately. I closed my eyes, bracing for impact, but it never came. I opened my eyes. I was floating an inch above the water.

“WOO-HOO!! I can fly!” I then immediately smacked into the water. “Ow.” Instant karma!

***

Through all of our tests, we found out that I could make portals, fly, and scream like a banshee. We found out that Melanie could read minds, and breathe underwater. (There was much spluttering, choking, and coughing when I tried.) After we were done with all of the tests, we sat out in front of the house. 

“Melanie, you know we can’t tell anyone about our powers, right?” 

“Yeah.” 

All of a sudden a portal appeared in front of us. 

“Logan, stop showing off.” Melanie said. 

“I didn’t make that portal.” I said. 

“Well then, who did?” 

“I did.” 

We both jumped a foot in the air. 

“What the-” I said. 

“YEET!” Melanie screamed for the second time that day. The guy was half robot or something. He had a red eye that appeared to be focusing on us like a camera. He also had a robot leg, and a robot arm. 

“I am from the future. My name is Drasxinwalq, and I have a mission for you. A vortex will appear above the city and wipe it off the map. Then it will grow, and grow, and grow, until it is big enough to destroy the whole world. You must stop it.” 

“Okay, that sounds bad. But how are we supposed to stop it?” I asked. 

“That watch is also a time machine. You need to go into the vortex with the time machine, and turn it back 24 hours EXACTLY. You cannot turn it back more or less than 24 hours. Then you must let go of the watch, and come back out without dying. I do not know how you will do that. All I know is that there is no time inside a vortex. Therefore, going back in time inside of one will confringinate the gaxinatum, which will velsinate the rasxindominum.” 

“Um. Can you give us the dummy version of that please? All I heard was conrackinate the jazzy numb, which will vaccinate the rex indominus.” I asked.

He sighed, “Seriously?” 

“Yep.”

“Basically, going back in time inside a vortex will destroy it because there is no time in a vortex. Got it?”

“Yep.” 

***

The next day was nonstop panic for me. Since I was the only one who could fly, I had to go into the vortex. Eventually, it was one minute until the vortex appeared. Thirty seconds left. Fifteen to go. Ten seconds. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. BOOM!!

It was a funnel of swirling black clouds.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh [BLEEEEEEEEEP!]. I have to fly into that [BLEEP!]!?!?!?” 

“Wait. Where’s that bleeping coming from?” 

“Me.” 

“Alright, let’s get this over with.” I said.

I flew into the vortex. It was pitch black. I turned the knob, and then started to fly out, throwing the watch behind me as I did. All of a sudden I could see again. “Why am I in a gaming chair?” I asked.

“Congratulations. You beat the game.”

“Game?” 

“Apparently it was all a videogame,” Melanie said.

“What? Oh. I have a VR headset on top of my head.”