Time Enough

by Antoinette Rydyr and Steve Carter

The time for grieving was over. It had been two years since Sarah died, and life had become harder, not easier. After toiling day and night, it was time to test the machine. Time to go back to before the accident to change time.

Switches flick, lights flicker. Space bends, time rends.

Moving backwards, becoming younger, slightly, slightly.

Grieving memories fading, gradually, gradually.

A voice drifts into Charles' laboratory, breaking his reverie.

"Charles. Are you ever going to come out of there? You've been obsessing over that infernal machine for years now!"

"Dammit, woman, I'm on the brink of a breakthrough. This infernal machine, as you call it, will break down the boundary between time and space allowing us to travel into the past and future."

"Oh, Charles. Why would you want to travel into the past? We've already been there. And as for the future, we're on our way there. There is no need for your contraption."

Charles draws a breath between gritted teeth, and clenches his fists. "Your logic astounds me," he snaps, "I don't know how I could have married such a simpleton."

"How dare you insult me like that!" Sarah turns on her heel and exits the cluttered room, slamming the door behind her.

Minutes later, a screech of tyres and a loud thud.

Charles rushes from his laboratory to the street outside his cottage, only to find his wife broken and bloody amongst the twisted metal of the car.

Choking, Charles crumples to the ground nearby.

"I'm sorry, Sarah. I'm so sorry," he croaks, "It's all my fault."

Time passes in slow agony. Grief grips Charles like a determined vice.

But the time for grief was over. It had been two years since Sarah died and life had become harder, not easier. After toiling day and night, it was time to test the machine.

Time to go back to before the accident to change time.