Day One. (A short story about a long time.)

I’d rather not write. “Begin with one true sentence” they say. I’d rather not write. Which I suppose is all the more reason to write.

Just when I think my mind has been over filled with thoughts and it’s the right time to write, somehow, some way another room opens up in my mind. These images in my mind stay in my mind. Pictures, filed away, by date, by time, by place. All under umbrella of “Day One. It’s always day one. It’s always the same twenty-four. Time, for me, somehow, has consistently moved backwards, ever so slowly. Except for the two days he changes the time. He changes the time. He changes the time. He says he can’t change the time, but he changes the time… Twenty-four becomes twenty=three becomes twenty-five. Some things make me think it can be done. Change.

It’s hard to know what’s real and what’s not. Even harder today than it’s ever been. Today. Today… Today,  no words seem true. Actions appear as simple,  repetitive lies in motion that are packaged and sold to us as truths. Perspectives, mean to be ever changing, seem to never be changing. Stuck in a constant loop. Even when I seem to leave the loop, someone, something from loops past, days, never passed, follows me out, drags me back. Striving for a day two, I become fatigued by the end of my day ones. At the height of my weakness, the gravity of my past drags me back down. Once again, into the night I go.

I sleep to rest my body. My mind rarely rests. Constantly thinking of how I can improve. How I can escape my loop.  I wake almost every hour to check my surroundings. Shallow in my sleep, shallow in my thoughts. Am I closer to day two? How far am I from day one? Is it time to wake again?  Where is the light? I check the room for my darkness and for sure it’s here, standing in the corners, watching over me. I lay here, surrounded by it, somewhere between day one and day two, yet every day I rise to find it’s still day one.

One day, I think I’ll make it to day two. To day two. Today two. To day two. Day two. Today, is day two.

(A single tear runs down his right cheek).

-The Time Traveler