I gaped at the massive room. There were machines everywhere that I've never seen before! Some were unbelievably huge, and some were incredibly small. There was a toolshelf in the far corner of the room, and in the middle of the room, there was a display case with the exact watch the kids were wearing.
"This is my lab," said Professor Friday. "I make all sorts of gizmos and gadgets in here. Machines, tools, weapons... But what I'm the most proud of in here," Professor Friday unlocked the display case with a key he pulled out of his lab coat, "is this." He picked up the watch and dangled it in the air.
"A boring old watch? News flash! They've already been invented." I said sarcastically as I crossed my arms.
"No. You don't understand. This is a Time Watch. It's a time traveling device that allows you to go to the past or the future!"
"Am I the only one that thinks he's crazy?" I asked as I turned around to the group of kids.
They all said something different, all agreeing that I was the only one.
I turned around to the loon in front of me. "So why did you take me? Can't you just do the stuff you want me to do yourself?"
"No, I can't. If I use a watch that didn't choose me, it will explode! I put that feature in so that if the watch fell into the wrong hands, they would not be able to use it to fulfil their horrible plans. Pretty cool, right?" He said with a proud smirk.
"I'm sorry, did you say the watch chooses?" I asked.
"You heard correctly. The watch chose you, Amelia." Professor Friday held the watch in my face, and my eyes widened as I saw my name. Amelia Richardson.
"I--" I stuttered, too scared and confused to move.
"Come on, Amelia. The watch is yours." Said Connor from behind me.
Professor Friday gently took my hand. "You have nothing to fear." He said. Then he started to put the watch on my wrist. All I did was stare at him, looking at the blue face of the watch.
When he finished, he stepped back, and I looked closer at the watch. The face of the watch lit up like a screen, and my name disappeared.
"Hello, Amelia Richardson. I've been waiting for you." Said a voice from the watch.
"IT CAN TALK?!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah. All our watches can do that." Said Madie.
Before I could say anything else, the watch continued. "My name is Lorita. I'm very happy to meet you."
"Now," said Professor Friday, "how the Time Watch works is you press a date," he pointed at the date 1999. "Then Lorita asks you a time, and you choose the time. Then she will ask you a place, and you choose the place. Then boom! You time traveled!"
I only stared at the watch. Why would a watch have a name? Did it name itself? Well, whatever it is, I won't call it Lorita.
"Lorita..." Said Evelyn thoughtfully. "That's a pretty name! My watch's name is Jericho!"
"Mine's Alex." Said Charitie.
"This is Becky, but she likes to be called Beck." Said Madie.
"This is Jason." Said Essence.
"That's Samantha." Said Connor, pointing at his watch.
"You see Amelia," said Professor Friday, "the watches name themselves, and they each have a different personality. But, I like to call it watchonality. Ha! See what I did there?"
The kids moaned as they heard his horrible pun, possibly for the thirtieth time today. I looked up at Professor Friday, who was holding a small, black box. The box had a spherical crevice, which would fit the watch's face perfectly. "This is the charger. Lorita will tell you when she needs to charge, and she charges in about five seconds. If she's about to die, she will charge in twenty. She has a battery life that can last five days at most. Be careful with her, okay?"
I nodded regretfully as he gave me the charger. "Can I go now, or am I supposed to stay here forever?" I asked seriously.
"Of course you can leave! I'm not kidnapping you! All I need to do now is to tell you where you are so you can come back." Said Professor Friday with a kind smile.
"Come back?" I asked with a wince.
"Yeah! You are assigned missions when you are needed in a time period to help important people. I have a screen that tells me where you need to go, so I can give you a heads up, and I can check your progress. So, you obviously have to come back. How else will you know? Well... besides your watch..."
I gulped.
"Anyway, we are at 1435 Northhorse Avenue, got that?"
"What if I forget?" I challenged.
"Lorita will remind you." He said.
I sighed. "I'm leaving," I said. And I don't plan to come back! I said in my brain.
"Bye, Amelia!" Evelyn and Madie said with pure joy.
"See ya tomorrow!" Charitie said, waving goodbye.
When I left the lab, I ran. I went all around the strange house until I found the front door, then bolted out. My house isn't far from here, I thought. I'll tell my parents what happened and call the cops so this freak of a man can go to jail.
Lorita's face lit up, and a small map was shown on her screen. There was a moving red dot, and a destination. My home, I thought as I ran. How can Lorita already know where I live? That's so weird... And creepy...
But I ignored my thoughts and continued running.
YOU ARE READING
The Time Watchers (TW#1)
Science Fiction"The watch chose you, Amelia." Amelia is just a high schooler going about her life, until she is told by a professor that she is one of the select few Time Watchers. Their job? Lead famous people to their destiny and make sure they don't stray from...
