The Discovery

Roy searched the district carefully for some time, then after confirming that no one was around him, he yawned and found himself a corner to sleep in.

However, while walking, something accidentally hit his foot. It wasn't a rock, no, it was a stopwatch. He looked at it for a moment, and his interest was roused.

He marched towards it and picked it up to examine it. It was pretty damaged and old, with layers of dust covering it. He pressed the button at the top of the watch, but nothing happened. He couldn't figure out what color was it in this darkness, so he just shrugged his shoulders and put it in his pocket, the most secure place for him to place his possessions, so he can examine it later the next day.

He sat down in the corner, inconspicuous to anyone that could come his way, and closed his eyes, falling asleep quickly.

But what he didn't know, the instant he fell asleep, the stopwatch started operating. Its pointers started to spin rapidly in a clockwise manner, resulting in the appearance of ripples around Roy.

The next morning, Roy opened his eyes, finding himself in the same place that he had been last night. He got up, and walked away before anyone comes.

He strolled towards the main city. But suddenly, stopped. Not of fear or suspicion; no, it was complete and utter surprise. His jaw dropped, and his eyes went wide in disbelief.

"What the hell happened …?" thought Roy.

Ahead of him was the same city, but not the same buildings. They were now more modern, more advanced. The structures of the city changed entirely in just one night.

In the air above the city, he could see flying cars, flying motorcycles… Everything was more advanced.

Grrr

He looked at his stomach, and realized how hungry he was. He felt like he hadn't eaten for decades. And to his surprise, his body was thinner than yesterday.

"What the heck is happening?" he muttered, "the city's sudden advance in technology, my body turning thinner, and my stomach gurgling like I hadn't eaten for a hundred years. Just what happened last night? Why does it seem that the world flowed forward in time?"

He was about to run towards the city when he heard laughter coming from all his sides." Going somewhere, loser?" said a voice, followed by 5 burly men, holding long metal pipes.

They encircled him, one of them that appeared to be the leader, he laughed and said, "Come on, darling. Give me all that you possess. If you act good today, I promise I will let you keep those 'clothes' you have on yourself."

When he said the word "clothes" he made signs with his fingers. After he finished talking, his companions burst into laughter.

However, Roy was calm, he had endured such situations before, this happened nearly every two days, so he was used to this type of bullying. And he knew that these people won't get away with just some words. So he stayed silent and eyed the thugs.

He is a thief, true. But that's not his way. He doesn't steal money, he only steals food. But these people want to take away everything from him, not that he had many possessions, but he couldn't accept that.

"What are you staring at, idiot? Didn't you hear me? I said bring out everything you have!" shouted the leader.

Right after the leader was done speaking, Roy opened his mouth, and uttered only two words, "Screw off!"

The robbers looked at him, stunned. Their eyes were wide with disbelief as they never imagined that the weakling in front of them would dare act ignorantly.

"What did you just say to me?" asked the leader, a dangerous expression covering his face. In all the years he had been stealing from others, no one had ever dared to treat him with disrespect.

"You heard me," replied Roy,  walking towards him, "SCREW. OFF!"

"Attack him!" screamed the leader. However, before the men could move forward, Roy closed on the leader, and pulled out a gun from his pocket. He pointed it at the group's leader and said calmly, "If you value your life, then order your men to get rid of their weapons, or else I will shoot you!"

Once again, the thugs burst into uncontrollable laughter. One of them looked at him, still laughing, and said, "He wants to kill us with a toy! Hahaha, I have never laughed that much since ages! " He stopped laughing for a moment, then continued, "Where did you get that toy, huh? Go and get a real gun then come threaten us, b*tch!"

"A toy?" said Roy, frowning. But the man didn't answer him, instead he ran towards Roy raising his metallic pipe, preparing to beat him.

Roy took this as an indication and pulled the trigger, a bullet was charged, settling right in the leader's heart, immediately killing him. At the same time, the man who has spoken earlier reached and hit Roy on his stomach sending Roy to the ground. Roy started coughing out blood as he felt the intense pain spread through his body. The bandits laid him on the ground, disarmed him, and started searching his body.

Before he went unconscious, he could make out one of them taking out the stopwatch, looking at it for a moment then throwing it away.

Then darkness took hold of him as he passed out. A day later, Roy woke up, but immediately jumped up to his feet and checked his surroundings. The bandits had left him lying there, and took everything from him, leaving behind two things: his clothes, and the stopwatch, which lay near him.

He walked and picked it up, examining it. He figured that it was golden colored, but the dust on it gave it a deep bronze color.

"Two days ago, I happened to find this watch. The day after, I woke up in the same city, but in a different time, in the future. Could it be that I traveled through time?"

After a moment of thought, he laughed at his naivety and shook his head. "What happened to me? Does time travel even exist? No it doesn't. But I still don't understand how the time flowed quickly."

In his heart, however, doubt still existed. "But if there is a possibility that time travel exists, then could it be that this watch is the reason?"

He raised it and adjusted the time backwards, then clicked at the top button. Instantly, the pointers of the clock began to rotate in an anti-clockwise manner and ripples appeared around him, and the world changed back to how he knows it.

He was once again in the narrow district, looking at the city that was of his world, not the modern one.

He looked back and forth between the watch and the city. He began to shake in excitement as he said, "So it is true! Time travel is real! I just came back from the future!"