A white light blinds my eyes as I peer out through a small window of the capsule I am in, which is separating me from everything else in the science lab. I can hear the muffled voices of scientists, and see the bottom of their white lab coats rushing around me. My breath echoes through the capsule shakily as I mentally prepare myself to be the first human to ever travel through time. 

The scientists keep reassuring me that nothing bad would happen, but here I am, still hoping that somehow this experiment would be postponed, or they could find another person to do this instead of me. I did partially volunteer for this job, but mainly because my curiosity outweighed my cautiousness, and I knew that the scientists were working hard to make sure nothing harms me. The head scientist redirects my thoughts as he says over a speaker,

“Okay, Anna Johnson, we are almost ready to begin. It is May 16, 2041, at exactly 3:45 we will send you one year forward through time, and it will be May 16, 2042. Remember, do not exit your capsule, and we will bring you back after three minutes.”

My hands are shaking as I put my hand over my heart and feel it jumping around like a restless dog. This was it, I was about to do something that could change my life forever, along with the entire world.

“In exactly one minute we will send you one year forward through time” The scientist says.

My head is pounding, and suddenly my whole body starts to shake uncontrollably.

“Thirty seconds...ten seconds...in three, two, one”

“WAI-”

But my scream is cut short as, all of a sudden, my stomach does a flip, and then everything around me goes black. Then, just as fast as it had started, I appeared along a sidewalk with people bustling around me. It seems like a normal sunny day, I almost hoped that the experiment had gone wrong or it was given up and I was sent back to my normal life. Except for the fact that I was still floating along in my capsule, and the nearest newspaper that I could read from inside the capsule said the date was, May 16, 2042, exactly one year in the future.

It had actually worked, what surely would have been unimaginable years ago, was now reality. No one seems to notice me as I float there in shock, watching parents cross the street holding their child's hand. I saw two people playing pass with a ball, and an elderly man reading a book. How long had it been, one minute, two minutes, only thirty seconds? Had it already been three minutes but something went wrong? No, I couldn’t stress myself out by thinking this way, nothing was going to happen, and after a couple more minutes or seconds I would be back in my time zone, and back to my normal life. Soon, the familiar feeling in my stomach returned, and again, darkness took over everything as the three minutes passed and I traveled back to my original time stamp. 

As I opened my eyes, the familiar bright light of the science lab where I was just minutes before came into view, but, I noticed with a jolt, that the entire room was empty. 

“No, no, what happened?” I say to myself under my breath. 

I rush outside of the room, through the vacant hallways of the building, normally filled with people, checking the rooms around me as I go. Until I reached the exit at the far end of the hall. I dash through the door, outside, and the warm sun hits my skin as a light breeze ruffles through my long hair. Then, realization dawns upon me as I peer all over the usually crowded streets, and the shops, normally bustling with people. 

Everyone was gone.

“HELLO, IS ANYONE THERE” I screamed, but I knew it was no use, because deep down I knew the truth, even after all the precautions that the scientists had taken, something had gone wrong after all.

I frantically pull out my phone and try calling everyone on my contact list. Nobody picks up. My chest feels like it's collapsing as I thud to the ground on my knees. I feel tears beginning to sting at my eyes, as horrible thoughts and questions start to appear in my mind about what could have possibly happened. Did everyone really disappear? Was my family okay? Did this have anything to do with me traveling through time? The feeling of guilt clouded my mind, and I knew only one thing for sure, I was going to fix this, no matter what it would take. 

Troubled feelings darted through my head as I stood up and started walking right back into the building I was just in. Guilt, for being the only person left, and probably the cause of this situation. Hatred, towards the scientists that, even after all the reassuring, made a mistake after all. Resentment towards the whole world that left me all by myself to fix this problem, and remorse for all of my family and friends that I may never see again.

I throw open the door to the time travel room, observing the various levers and switches around it. I had an idea, a crazy idea, considering I had no idea how to work anything in the lab. 

I slowly walked around the room, reading notes on the tools in the lab, until I got to a panel with glass separating me from many buttons and switches which would have required a code to open. The panel was labeled, TIME TRAVEL, DO NOT TOUCH. As soon as I see the sign I break the glass, which sets off loud, blaring alarms. Considering that I was the only person there, they didn’t matter very much. After setting the time travel time and date to 3:35, May 16, 2041, ten minutes before I was first sent through time, as well as setting the return time to 3:50, that day, I finally found a green button that looked the same as the one the scientists pressed to send me through time. I carefully pushed the heavy capsule over to where the green button was, and practiced quickly pushing the button and slamming the door of the capsule shut in my mind.

“Ok, Anna, you can do this.” I whisper to myself under my breath. Carefully, I stepped inside the capsule and, taking a quick sharp breath, swiftly pushed the green button, right before closing the door. And then I slip into darkness once again.

Appearing right outside the door to the lab, I stepped outside of my capsule, sure that nobody would be able to see me. I slipped through the door into the crowded lab until I was right next to me, from the past, who was nervously stepping into the unfamiliar time travel capsule, having no idea what awaited me in the future. No one seemed to notice as I grabbed a bundle of red, green, and yellow wires attached to the time capsule.

“...Anna Johnson...send you through time...exactly three minutes...” I waited until the head scientist was finally done with his speech, until, again, he started counting down.

“Thirty seconds...ten seconds...in three, two, one”

“WAI-” 

Right before I heard my cut off scream, and before the scientists pressed the green button, I yanked the wires in my hand with all of my strength, and the lights in the capsule went off. Everyone stared in silence, wondering what was happening, but I wasn't done yet. I ran around the room, pulling out wires, and parts of machines, anything I could get my hands on that took the scientists years to make, until everything was almost completely destroyed, and irreplaceable. I didn't have time to look at everyones face, or wait for a reaction, because, again, darkness filled the scene around me as my time was up, and I was ready to be sent back.

This time, I reappeared outside of the lab, with no capsule surrounding me. Without having time to observe my surroundings, I rushed inside the science lab. Scientists stood in a crowd, surveying the damaged room. I look at everyone, my mouth hanging open, and my eyes wide, as all of my worries and problems melted away.

“It worked, it actually worked!” I yell, unable to contain myself, and filled with gratitude.

“Anna? Weren't you just over there?” A scientist says as she gestures to what used to be the capsule, but now looked like an empty, metal, oversized trash can. Exasperated and tired, I quickly explained how the time travel was a success, but in the process it wiped out everyone but me, because it was an unnatural and inhuman thing to do. All of the scientists looked confused and surprised, but the head scientist looked at me with concern.

“You better get home and rest.” He said, “Thank you for having the courage to save humanity.” 

Relieved, I walked out of the room and building towards my home, to see everyone I've missed, then I realized, I couldn't find my phone, I thought it must have dropped out of my pocket in the science lab, so I made my way back, right before I opened the door to the lab, I heard the voice of the head scientist.

“She ruined everything!” He yelled angrily. 

I looked through the small window of the closed door to see that the mask of worryness on his face, just minutes before, was gone, and he now held an outraged and bitter expression .

“My years of hard work, reduced to scraps of metal and machinery! Who cares if it's bad for humanity, it could have changed the course of history!”

I couldn't believe my ears, the scientist seemed so sincere and apologetic when I told him my story.

¨You can fix it right?” He said to someone by his shoulder.

“Yes, but it will take a while,” They said.

“I don´t care, fix it!”

And then, he looked me directly in the eye, his eyebrows furrowed as he growled in a voice that resembles an angry bear, 

“But first, let's take care of our little friend.”