Time ✔️

Chapter Twenty Seven

Word Count: 1562

~Rosie

"For once, you're the enigmatic one."

I ignore Time's remark as he walks through the door. I've been pacing back and forth, raking my hands back through my head, cursing myself over and over. I just killed someone. It may have been an accident, but it still happened. I reacted out of fear, that Time would find out the mistake I made, and I would have to fess up. Looks like now, I have no other choice.

"It was an accident," I reiterate my thoughts. Realising I had raised my voice at him, I lower it, running my hand down my face. Trying to calm down, I look around, watching Time pull a pair of gloves off his hands. "What did you do with the body?"

"Don't worry about that," Time say dismissively. If my stomach wasn't swirling uneasily, I would have pushed him further. "I'm not the one meant to be explaining myself."

Time being so unfazed is unnerving.

His relationship with death is different to mine. When you have lived as long as has, that would be a given. His ability to dispose of a body in such a cold, unflinching manner isn't normal, regardless of his life experience. Nevertheless, I would much rather he do that for me then have me panic and leave the body where it was for the authorities to find it.

"You're going to be really mad," I say slowly. My plan was for Thought to go through with his promise and for me to continue on without having to tell Time any of what occurred on that day. His reaction is not something I'm looking forward to.

He shrugs his shoulders. "Try me."

"You caught me," I say quickly, praying his reaction isn't explosive and heated. Time furrows his brow, looking at me as if I've grown a second head.

"I did?"

"Not you as in you now. I mean previous Time. The one of this era," I tell him uneasily. He stares at me, taking a moment to decipher what I'm saying before his expression morphs into one of utter mortification, then anger.

It's strange to see him angry. It's a dark, brooding shadow that drifts across his face. The way that muscle in his chair clenches, to the way the line between his eyebrows develops...It's exactly what I was hoping to avoid. Would he hurt me? Would he lash out and take his anger out on me? It's a fleeting thought that crosses my mind, but I quickly shun it.

"I really hope this is a joke," he tells me, his tone lowering to the point his voice is almost unrecognizable. It sends shivers all the way down my spine.

"See, that's the thing...He found me in the room when I was taken off guard by the suddenly change in atmosphere," I tell him, recalling the mistake that could have cost me my life. It does make me wonder though; would that Time have killed me? He seemed threatened by me, or maybe just curious. Either way, he's unpredictable.

I bite the edge of my lip. "Please don't be mad."

"I'm just trying to wrap my head around this," he claims. Now it's his turn for him to rake his hands through his hair. I watch each ebony strand fall away from his fingers, a visual representation of the stress he is under.

"Don't worry, we didn't touch. But he knew I was different. Thought, when he was punishing him, looked into my eyes and realised he couldn't read my thoughts," I tell him. Time winces. This is only getting worse with each word that is coming out of my mouth. This is exactly what we should have avoided, but as usual, I managed to mess it up.

"And you escaped me? Him..." Time asks skeptically. By his expression and tone, I can tell he is uncertain of how I could escape someone as powerful as him.