When I was six, the first time machine was created. My parents, along with billions of other people, were ecstatic. It was a wonderful new invention, absolutely perfect! It sort of looked like a really, really big computer attached to a door? Not very sightly, it did not make sense to me why my parents were so excited about this, it looked absolutely terrible! But that did not matter, it was supposed to be really interesting and my parents promised ice cream so I watched it. As my parents and I watched the first time traveler enter the machine, I remember thinking it was really funny that so many people would want to waste their time on this, I mean, watching someone enter a huge door? I did not understand how revolutionary traveling through the restraints of time was. Her name was Kali Perdita, the very first time traveler. She made a speech, something about how she would return with so much new information, and that no matter what happened, it would be revolutionary for humanity. And so we watched as Perdita entered the time machine. And we watched as she exited it only moments later. My parents later told me that this was because she would return to the time she went into the machine no matter how long it was for her. She was in her twenties when she entered the time machine, she came out fifty, years lost to time. She did not actually spend thirty years of her life traveling through time, she spent around a day or two but the time machine took away more of her time. No one knew why. In the end, my parents did not get me ice cream.

Protests began to rise, people were angry, they did not want to play with time any longer. They were right, no one should play with time. Many protests were based on the unexpected and unexplainable things that happened to Perdita. And while many thought that it was absolutely unacceptable to continue to risk years of other time travelers, others believed that it was worth it as once they were able to time travel safely, everything would be all the more wonderful.

Protests were silenced, and time travel continued. It was even more exciting for many people, they would get to see how much the time machine grew, how much better it became. So much work was put into the next time machine to assure that what happened to Perdita would happen to no one else and they did that well, there was never a repeat of what happened to Perdita. I was eight when the second time traveler stepped into that time machine. My parents were so delighted, this time machine was going to be safe, this time there would be no loss of time. But their hopes and dreams were crushed when she never came out. I would think Perdita lucky, she lost to time, she was not lost in time. Everyone was baffled, no one expected that to happen to anyone, no one could explain what happened. Most everyone thought that the time machine was safe, that it would soon be used for many more things. The third and fourth time travelers both went in and never came out as well. Two more unlucky souls lost, forever. 

My parents were devastated, they had put so much hope into time machines only for it to come out this way. I did not really know how to feel, time travel was still quite new, and almost completely untested. It was too dangerous to continue. And it seemed that the government agreed with me. At this point, the government was going to ban time travel forever. Deeming it to be much too dangerous for humanity to meddle with. This made scientists desperate, they needed a way for time travel to remain legal, and safe although as it was soon made obvious, that was much less important. So they studied, and studied some more. The government prohibited testing so they had to think of much more creative ways to continue time traveling.

One man created laws, with the idea that if they were not followed, time travel would be increasingly dangerous. They became known as Williams Laws and went something like this:

In the past, one is but a ghost, they are not seen nor heard. No matter the case, one must never reveal oneself

Anything seen in their future must never be spoken of in the past nor the present

To travel to the past is to write history, to travel to the future is a means of death

Because it was too hard for many people to understand, Williams Laws were shortened and simplified into:

In the past, you must never be seen, cause no impact

Do not talk of the their future (your past or present) in the past

Going into your future is suicide

Three simple rules that if broken would cause devastation. No one knew how Perdita was freed from the restraints of time, it was strange. Did she not break any of the rules? Was she lucky or was it something else? I thought it interesting that these laws specifically were the ones that time obeyed when time follows no true laws. My parents would always tell me that time is relevant to the person but when it came to time travel, they would always be the first to get in line and go to see some time traveling. So I too came with them and by extension of that, learned much about the science of time travel. There were many interesting things that had to happen in order to make time travel possible, but companies would refuse to tell the general public anything about what was really happening. My parents wanted to work in one of these companies but it did not work as when they tried to get in, the company, yes every single one, told them that they were not hiring at the moment. But still, my parents would refuse to give up on their dreams. Normally, this is something that everyone always tells you to do but my parents are different, they took it much too far.

The one thing that I remember from most of these little adventures that my family and I would go on was the huge protests that would always be there on the sides. Protesters would shout that we are dooming them all, that time travel is not something that should be played with. I remember my parents rushing inside, trying to avoid the conflict. My parents would hear nothing of what the protestors said, would refuse to listen when I tried to bring up all the horrible things that have happened because of time travel. And so we would continue to support time travel, continue to spend time at every little thing that happened.

The first time travel after Williams Laws was a huge success! The time traveler, whose name is neither relevant nor of any interest, came back unscathed from the past! A giant step forward with only a little step or two back. Everyone was so interested in what happened, what did he learn? What new knowledge could be acquired with the help of time travel?

And it was truly amazing just how many new things were learned from the expeditions into the past. Mysteries that were long forgotten, solved. History books were rewritten, every great event in history was fact checked with time travelers coming from the past. It became a reliable career, children at my school when asked what they wanted to be in the future would respond with a very excited “TIME TRAVELER!" 

Then, when I turned twelve, the huge time travel companies announced that they would hire anyone fourteen or older. It was strange, do you not need any other qualifications? Is there no training that needed to be done? None of that mattered to my parents nor millions of others, they began to send all their children to these companies. The very day I turned fourteen, my parents begged me to go to one of these time travel companies and try to become a time traveler. So I complied, I went to the company and I submitted an application.

I made it, I was accepted into the company. My parents threw a huge party as a celebration. I was excited, there were so many possibilities. And although I didn’t think that time travel was a great idea, I began to work, I went through a year of training and then, I was assigned my first mission! Perhaps they would send me to solve a mystery, or maybe they would send me to find something! Who knows, the possibilities are endless!

I was not sent to the past, they told me that I would be going into the future. I would be the first person to ever travel far into the future. I was unsure, was there not a law about this? But it did not matter, it was a general rule that you cannot refuse a mission. Maybe the biggest mistake of my life. I should have at least tried.

When my time came, I braced myself, breathing deeply. I knew that I may not come out of this alive, that there was a chance that I would die when I went to the future. None of it mattered, I would go into the future, and I would figure it all out. I took a breath in and stepped through the time machine. Immediately I felt a horrible feeling in my stomach. This was more than a mistake. This was more than a mistake. The travel into the future was so much worse than what they described in my training, my limbs felt as though they were tearing apart from my body, my head like breaking glass. But I made it into the future. I fell onto the ground. It was cold, so cold. But I stood up, looked around and I saw…nothing? There was absolutely nothing there. There was no future, it had not been created. The future had not been set yet, there would never be any real future. So I had no choice but to wait, and wait, and wait. In that moment, I understood what Williams Law truly meant, the future did not kill you but to stay there, with no one else around for years, that was its own sort of torture. Worse than death.

I found that in that time, I didn’t age. I didn’t need food nor sleep nor anything else. I could not die and that, by far, was the worst. I had been prepared to die, I knew it might happen but then, I would not die. I knew that I was sent around ten years into the future. I would now wait ten years. 

I looked up slowly. It’s been such a long time—such a long time. Is it real? Can I trust myself? No, not anymore. This place has taken so much from me, and now it wants me to go insane? Why? Why did I deserve this? WHAT DID I EVER DO!?

What did I ever do?

I’ve been stuck here for years—maybe years? It could have been days, but how would I ever know? Maybe it is real. Maybe it won’t be so lonely anymore.

“Hello?” I asked, my voice raspy from misuse. Was there going to be a response, or was my head playing tricks on me? The boy raised his head. He looked to be about my age, so why was he here? He looked sickly and pale. Why would anyone want to send him here? There was no response. Why would I expect there to be? After all, he was probably just a figment of my imagination.

“Who are you!?” he demanded. So maybe he was real? Maybe this wasn’t just a dream. If he got into my isolation, maybe we could both get out.

“Lira,” I informed the boy, “and you?” These pleasantries were useless—they wouldn’t help us at all. The goal was to get out, not to talk to a boy who had absolutely no manners.

“Rowan,” he responded. Oh, sure. What would I have to give for him to actually want to talk at all? I’m the one who’s been stuck inside this place for so long I can’t even remember. What gives him the right to act like a complete snob and be so absolutely rude to me? I just want to get out, and although he hasn’t been here for nearly as long as I have, I’m sure he wants to leave just as much.

“How did you get here?” This was possibly the longest conversation I’d had here. This was only going to get harder—this boy did not want to cooperate, not in the slightest.

“Look, Lira,” Rowan sneered at me, “I’ve been stuck here for almost thirty years. Only now do I have any hope to escape, and I don’t need you to distract me. I will make it out of this place, this time trap, and you—you will not distract me!” Thirty years? How had he been stuck for thirty years? I hadn’t seen him at all. Was he trapped in a different world? How was that even possible?

“What is your problem!?” I yelled at Rowan. “I’ve been stuck here for a long time too—maybe not as long as you, but a really long time—and I also want to escape, so don’t tell me what to do!” I needed to escape as much as the next person. “We have a common goal. So why don’t we just agree to get along until we escape, and then we’ll never have to talk to or even look at each other again. Deal?”

“You may still have hope for escape, but I’ve tried every possibility. There is no way to get out of here!” Rowan responded, not quite a yell, but it was definitely close.

“There is a way out of here. Just you wait—I’ll find a way out, and it’s your choice if you’re coming with me or not,” I said. It wasn’t always easy to understand what other people wanted, but ultimately, I needed to get out of here. Whether Rowan helps me or not is his choice.

“Being hopeful will not help you in this place,” he told me slowly, as if I didn’t already know that. Yes, hope wouldn’t be what got me out of here, but it would definitely help.

“I know that you don’t think I’ll ever get out alive, and I know that you don’t want to try to get out of here, but I also know that you’re just as desperate as I am and that you, if given the choice, would do anything to get out. So yes, hope won’t get us out, but it will get us out sane. I know a lot about time travel, and I’m sure you have a lot of input about escape. So maybe—just maybe—if we work together, we’ll be able to make it out of here together. But first, you need to get it together. Understood?” This may not work, but it’s always worth a try. Rowan had a strong personality—I could see that easily. I was sure it wasn’t always easy for the people around him, especially right now. “Hope is the strongest motivator, so if you use it properly, it will help you.”

“Wow, your faith in this is absolutely astounding,” Rowan commented. So I pour my heart out and that’s all I get? Really? He is so absolutely annoying. When will Rowan ever learn to trust a bit?

“So, are you in or not?”

Rowan sighed. “I’m in.” Yay! I DID IT! I have a chance to escape! A chance for freedom! And now there is real hope!

“Great, so what’s the plan?” I asked, maybe a bit too enthusiastically.

“You figure it out, and I’ll help with it after you’re done.” What did he mean? Rowan was not sitting this one out—he would help me, whether he liked it or not.

“No, no, no, no. You’re going to help me make this plan. It involves your future as well!”

“Fine,” Rowan responded.

“Is that all you have to say?” I asked him. He really had no sense.

“Yes.”

“Wow, that’s really it?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Is that the only word you know?!”

“...” This was maybe one of the most one-sided conversations ever—like talking to a rock. At this point, I don’t know if we should keep this up. Rowan, as is very clear, was not great at communication—or being nice—or being helpful—or understanding—or...well, you get the point. I thought it very interesting that the only person I could talk to didn’t even want to talk to me. Is that what would have happened to me if Rowan hadn’t appeared? Would I have become a wordless entity traveling through the constraints of time?

“Wait, have you met anyone else?” I really needed to know. This was very important for what we had to do. Maybe then we could meet more people, and we would definitely have an easier time escaping.

“Yes. Everyone who was sent to the future will eventually meet everyone else who was stuck in the future with them—maybe not at the same time, but it will definitely happen,” Rowan answered. So I could meet others—maybe people who are willing to do more than Rowan.

“So why don’t they all end up meeting?” I asked.

“Everyone was sent to the future from a different present. That means they’re all going to go back to their present at different times. So, let’s say that someone ten years in my past was sent thirty years into the future, and then ten years later, another person was sent ten years into the future. They’ll all be stuck inside the void for different amounts of time. So they will eventually meet, but as time passes, the one who came ten years later will also leave first. So the one who was sent to the future first will stay alone for longer. That’s why, although you do meet other people, they won’t stay with you for very long—because they were sent at different times into the future and for different amounts of time,” Rowan explained. This all seemed extremely complex—harder to understand than it really needed to be. Added to the list: not good at explaining things. Not at all.

“So basically, all we really have to do is find some other people and we’ll be all set?”

“Sure, if you want to think of it that way,” Rowan responded. I do want to think of it that way, Rowan.

“This is really going to work?”

“It’s our best chance.”