Lord of Time

"Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

Amen."

"Amen"

The couple sitting beside me stood up and made their way down the narrow aisle of the church along with a few others to place their flowers by my grandfather's casket. There aren't many people seeing him off, but he did live quite a good life passing away at the age of 88. 'Outliving all of your loved ones… I wonder if that was a blessing or a curse in disguise.'

The sounds of crying echoed through the church as I stood up and began to head towards the exit. The exit to anywhere but here. I feel sick as if my tie was strangling the life out of my body. Anywhere but here I thought. As I rushed to open the doors, to escape, a bright light stopped me in my tracks.

It was peaceful outside. Unlike the movies, it wasn't downpouring and storming outside. 'Of course, the sun wouldn't stop shining for a single individual, and even if it did, why should it stop for me? I was just another gray guy.'

My breathing settled as I sat down on a nearby bench outside the entrance. My hands clumsily removed my tie and unbuttoned the top two buttons of my dress shirt. My body finally relaxed; slowly, the sound of nature and the warm embrace of the sun wash away my queasiness.

"Arden?" a hoarse voice called out. "Child, you sure were in a hurry to get out. Do you have no time even for your own grandmother? I may be getting old, but I can still remember my only grandson!"

"Grandma…" Startled out of my trance, I stood up and faced my grandmother.

I was promptly pulled back into the harsh reality that I was trying desperately to escape. She kept the same fierce and tough personality, but her unkempt hair was almost entirely gray now. 'When did I grow so much taller?' I wondered. Her eyes were stained red and her entire frame seemed so fragile. It was as if her entire existence was pushed to the brink and I'm left wondering if this side of her the entire time was here, hidden from view.

"Oh, sit back down child; where's your respect? Do you expect me to look up the entire time while speaking to you?" she grumbled. "But you sure have grown huh? You must be busy with all your college work. Honestly child, I would've understood if you didn't want to revisit this church."

Her last statement baffled me, sure I can be distant at times but she sure is setting the bar low if she thought I wouldn't attend my own grandfather's funeral. "It's been 5 years. I've come to accept the past. Plus, I'm already 18 now; if I didn't come to see grandpa off, I'm sure my mother would've descended from heaven just to smack me one last time."

"Haha, you are an adult now aren't ya?" A familiar smile appeared on my grandma's face as she looked me up and down. "Time sure flies… ah by the way, here." She said as she fished out a black box out of her purse.

"What's this?" I asked

"A parting gift from your grandpa. It has been passed down through his side of the family and he wanted you to have it. Anyways, I won't hold you up, don't work yourself to death and try not to forget about your dear old grandma okay? I'm well past my prime but I still know how a phone works."

"Ah yes, of course, I'll definitely call you more grandma." She smiled as she re-entered the church, but as the doors closed, I could see what was left of her smile fade with it. I examined what she gave me. It was a seemingly ordinary small black box. 'Maybe it was some small jewelry?' I wondered. I placed it in my pocket without too much thought… but the feeling I got from it was anything but ordinary. I got up and walked towards my car. As I was backing out of the small parking space, I looked at the church in its entirety. 'I hope this will be the last time I see this place.'

…

*Floof* "Mmmmm," I sighed. "In the end, nothing beats the comfort of your own bed." As I rolled over I felt something pressing against my leg. 'The box, I guess I should look at what's inside.'

I sat up in my bed and rummaged through my pocket for the box. Looking at it again, it still seemed completely ordinary. No designs, no text, no nothing.

I gently slid the top cover off to reveal some sort of cloth with unrecognizable symbols. Upon removing the cloth, a gorgeous watch revealed its face to me. It looked like a traditional luxury watch in its minimalistic design. The entire watch was jet black in color with the date and roman numerals shining in white. The material didn't really seem cheap either, 'was my great grandfather loaded or something?'

Although it was designed like a piece of art, in the end, a watch is still a watch. I laid the watch on my arm and tightened it around my wrist. A perfect fit, almost too perfect. I weighed around 130 pounds, which is below average, so watches typically fitted awkwardly around my wrist. It was as if this was custom designed for my body… no, even a custom strap would leave room for human error. This felt like it was even beyond that.

Suddenly, the date on the watch began to move… the digits tick up by one, then down by three. The date section of the watch has seemingly gone into a frenzy! The numbers are rapidly moving and changing faster with every passing second. "What the hell is going on… "I muttered, "did I seriously break it on the first da-" I was abruptly cut off as the digits suddenly stopped. The watch was still warm to my touch, but whatever happened halted for the moment.

95.

"Ninety-five… alright, this thing is definitely broken. Why can the date even go above thirty-one? Isn't that just tacky designing?" *Swoosh* My vision blanked and the next thing I know, I'm laying down and the world around me is spinning. "What is going on today…" I muttered as sudden exhaustion overtook my mind and body. The darkness envelops my mind as I fall into a deep slumber.

…

The light shined through my dorm windows. I slowly opened my eyes to a familiar sight, "Oh man… I fell asleep?" I struggled to reach for my phone settled near my bed, 'why is it always just slightly out of reach?' My eyes were still half open as I checked for notifications. "Wait. 8:50 am? It's the morning now? 8:50 am…. MONDAY?" I shut my eyes tight and tried to shake away the confusion, the date didn't change. 'Monday, I went to the funeral on Saturday and I got back at around 3 pm the same day… I slept for over forty hours?' I couldn't even take the time to interpret what happened, it's 8:50 am, scratch that, 8:51 am. I have a morning class at 9:00. I had to move, NOW.

I jumped out of my bed in a hurry. Bathroom, clothes, run.

I ran through my morning routine: aggressively brushing my teeth and throwing on the nearest set of clothing. As I put on my backpack and began to open the door, I started to realize the overwhelming thirst that I felt in my mouth.

"Ah dammit…" I tossed my backpack to the side and rushed to grab a drink of water. I threw an empty cup under the water fountain and as soon as the water filled most of the cup, I turned off the faucet and began to run towards the door. As I tried to take a sip, my socks slipped on the wood floor and I fell backward. As I fell, my hands went up and the cup of water was thrown up in the air.

'I don't have the time to clean this mess up. Catch it, catch it, CATCH IT!' Then suddenly, time slowed down. My mind and body were moving at a normal speed but, I could see the cup and water droplets fall in slow motion. I caught the cup and suddenly the feeling was gone. Everything returned to normal.

"What…" I examined my hand and the cup. 'I'm awake… my eyes aren't deceiving me either.' I felt the coldness of some water droplets that landed on my left hand, but I was feeling the opposite sensation on the right. The watch was almost glowing, and my skin felt the warmth radiating from the watch. The fatigue hit me like a truck and my eyelids start to close again. The darkness began to envelop my surroundings.

"Oh, not agai-" *Thump* My head hit the floor and I was out cold.