Story Contest 2016 #2 - Outstanding Stories » Past or Future?

“Past or Future?” is one of the outstanding stories of the second biannual Short Story Contest 2016 written by Vedaant Parashar, India.

Past or Future?

Once, a great idea was born in my mind. Building a time machine.

Without wasting time, I began making my invention, with the help of my brother’s computer and science books. After some days, I was so excited that my invention was about to getto the finishing stage. I did not tell anyone about my invention because I knew nobody would use it judiciously.

When it was done, I foundthat it was really a ‘Time Machine’. I sat in it and scribbled my fingers over the buttons without knowing anything. Suddenly, I heard a voice ‘Target Engaged’. I was hit by a soft shock of lighting.

When I opened my eyes,I recognized that I had gone into the past! I realized that I was in my class teacher’s house. I thought that there had to be question papers for my upcoming exams in her house. I decided to take the question papers from my teacher’s house. I found those question papers in her room.

Therefore,I took the papers immediately and came back home by scribbling again on buttons. I practiced those question papers only and wrote my exams. It was not a shocking news to me that I topped my exams in the class, as I already knew the questions.It was such a glorious momentbut something was tickling me from inside.

Then I gathered courage to speakthe truth in front of my parents. So, I shared my whole episode of going back to the past with the help of my invention and how I picked those question papers from my class teacher’s house. My parents appreciated me for making such a great invention but at the same time, they also told me, “There is no shortcut to success in life.” They guided me to work hard to achieve aims. Then I too realized my mistake and swore not to repeat this in the future.