Ripped From Time

Thomas Sanders

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Chicago, Illinois

Tom walks silently, his hands clutching the straps of his backpack. He stares ahead. Groups of others walk in both directions, carrying books, bags, cellphones. The sounds of chatter, laughter, music blaring from headphones. The hum of traffic on the road to his left is constant. The honk of cars at the convoy of yellow buses pulling out of the school.

“Hey! Tom!”  

He comes to a stop and turns his head left, and sees a kid sticking his head out of the bus window. It’s already passing him, but the kid leans out further to keep in his sight. Tom just smiles and shakes his head.

“Remember, tomorrow after school! Navy Pier! Be there!”, the kid says before waving.

Tom nods his head and waves back before continuing forward. Before too long he sees the playground up ahead. A few guys have congregated there. Sitting on the swings, leaning against the equipment. They talk boisterously, a few of them are smoking. A familiar smell enters Tom’s nose. He stops breathing through his noise to keep out the smell.

He watches them until one of them catches his eye. Quickly looking away, he turns to his right, walking down a deserted alley. His nose now wrinkles at the smell of garbage coming from an old dumpster, but he keeps walking.  

His phone vibrates in his pocket and he pulls it out. A text message from his mom.

Be on the lookout for your sister please! I won’t be home until later.

With a sigh he rolls his eyes and puts the phone away. A faint ringing begins in his ears. He shakes his head trying to get rid of it, but the ringing only starts to increase in volume. Suddenly he begins to feel light-headed and he leans against a brick wall for support. Nausea sets in. All sound goes away, the only thing he can hear is the ringing which is now deafening. Everything begins to spin and go blurry. Then everything goes dark and silent.

His eyes open, and he immediately shields them from a blinding white light from above. The dizziness remains but the ringing in his ears are fading. The beam of light fades off. The nausea and vertigo fades with it. He sits up and looks around. His surroundings are dark, but it appears to be some kind of room. As he gets up, he briefly pauses. He feels his shoulder and back and then turns around and crouches. Reaching out with his hands he pats the floor, registering the hard surface of stone.

“Where’s my bag?”, he asks.

From somewhere above a voice echoes, making him jump.

“ATTENTION NEW ARRIVAL! PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE EXIT! THE NEXT ARRIVAL WILL APPEAR IN ONE MINUTE!”

The voice begins to repeat itself as a white outline appears in the gloom in the shape of a door. Tom gets up and walks quickly toward it. The bright light returns, but he barely feels the nausea returns before the door slides open, and he steps out into a white corridor. The walls, ceiling, and floor give off a glow as if light is emanating from it. People began to exit other doors that line the hallway. Hundreds of them shuffle along following a yellow line that appears to move forward leading them along.

He begins to follow them looking back and forth. The hallway seems to go on forever. People move past, some of them mumbling looking confused. Others, quiet but fear in their eyes. Some are dressed in ordinary clothes, but many more appear dressed strange outfits and costumes.  

One woman is wearing a crinoline dress. Her hair tall and elegant. Her skin powdered white with red rouge on her cheeks. Another person, who he guessed was a man walked past in dark robes, his face hooded and hidden. A trio of women in flapper dresses blush and brush past a man with chestnut skin and long dark hair. His only clothing a loincloth.

Tom takes on a variety of men, women, and children of various ethnicities and outfits. He turns to a wizened old man in a feathered headdress. Before he can say anything the hallway ends. He steps through and gasps. He is standing at the top of amphitheater of indescribable size. It is entirely made of stone. Thousands of rows, descending, holds a great mass of humanity, and more appear from entrances surrounding them every second.  

He looks up at the night sky. It is clear with countless stars twinkling. However, there are two moons, and what appears to be a planet as close as any moon but green in color. The crowd begins to push him towards one of the rows of stone benches. He does not fight it but follows the flow and takes his place staring down to the bottom of the amphitheater. It’s almost too far down to see but he squints, just making out a raised platform with what appears to be people standing there.  

“Tom? I-is that you?”, says a voice to his immediate right. His head turns and stares into the eyes of a familiar face. His eyes widen, and for a second, he pulls away.

“Andy? What happened? You look so different?” says Tom.

“You look exactly the same. I thought you were dead. We all did.”

Tom stares at him for a moment. “What are you talking about?”

“I knew something was wrong when you didn’t show up at Navy Pier that day. No one knew where you were. You just... went missing. It’s been ten years. But how do you look the same?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” A voice behind Tom makes them both look around. A guy dressed in skater attire gives them a superior look.

“Tell me what’s today’s date?”

“What?”, asks Tom.

“Come on, just humor me.”, says the guy.

“March 6, 2020, why?”

Tom turns to Andy who just shrugs.

“That can’t be right, it’s March 4, 2010.”, says Tom.

“Last time I checked it’s June 19, 1994.” says the guy,

He laughs at the disbelief on their faces and shakes his head.

“It didn’t take me long to figure it out. For one thing there are more than a few people dressed like they’re going to a period ball. Some look like they belong in a Shakespeare play. One dude was walking around in a toga in laurel wreaths like he’s a Roman. And I could have sworn I saw people from the lost colony of Roanoke.”

“That’s crazy. But I mean-”, Patrick looks at Andy, inspecting a few gray hairs.

“That would explain why you look 27 instead of 17.”

“I guess, unless we’re all just dead. Maybe this is limbo.”, says Andy looking around.

“No, that didn’t feel like dying to me. Too trippy. And I felt like throwing up. We’ve all been ripped from time!” says the guy.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.”

Toms turns back around and his jaw drops. What it appears to be a gigantic hologram floats in the center of the amphitheater. It depicts a man well groomed, in a white outfit. There are gasps around the room and more than a few hysterical screams and shouts of alarm.

“Please, remain calm. Everything will be fine. I know there are more than a few of you who can’t process what you’re seeing but I’ll explain everything.”

Tom looks around. Many of the screams have died down and there is a low buzz as the mass of people began murmuring among themselves. Several of them are speaking unfamiliar languages.

“To put it simply, we have taken you all from different times in history. All of human history going back two hundred thousand years.”

Tom’s heart begins to beat. He’s barely aware of the gasps of surprise and confusion. He turns back to the skater guy, who gives him a satisfied smirk before turning back to the hologram.

“I know this is confusing, but it was necessary. To preserve the species, we had to take all of you, in small groups, throughout time. You are all that’s left of humanity, and you’re going to help its continuation.  

A blast of noise forces Tom to cover his ears but he can make out some of the words among the crowd.

“Where are we?”

“Who are you?”

“Take me back home!”

“My family must be worried sick!”

The hologram of the man raises his hands and every single voice cuts off. Tom looks around and sees lips moving, he can feel the vibrations of shouts, but no sound can be heard. He turns to Andy who mouths, “How did they do that?”.

“I don’t know.” Tom responds back testing out his lack of voice.

“Everything will be fine, I promise you.”, the hologram says. “It will all make sense in time. Unfortunately, you’ll never return to your lives. We’ve selected all of you for a reason. To history you’ve all gone missing and vanished without explanation, but a new history is being written. Your descendants will see you as the pioneers of a new civilization. A new life awaits you.”

As he speaks hundreds of people in black uniforms appear among the crowd. Seemingly out of thin air. Tom jumps as one of them appears in front of him, gesturing for him to move. He tries to stay close to Andy as he is jostled and moved by the crowd. He breaks out into a sweat, visibly shaking, as he is ushered downstairs to the bottom of the amphitheater. He sees the mysterious figures on the raised stand below as he descends towards them.