Caught In Time

Chapter 6: The Plan

They were staring at the lens which was now flashing a red dot. The camera didn't look like how it looked two days ago. Now it was modernized, a few years ahead of the two of them.

James studied the edges which were now slimmed out. It looked like something from twenty years into the future. This didn't even seem real. He peered through the small frame which was now on top of the camera itself. There was a button that read, "push here" and James looked at Nole with suspicion. 

"How do we know this won't set off a chain of events that'll alter the future?"

Nole flashed a smile and cracked his knuckles together,  "We don't."

They were sitting in Nole's bedroom now, the flatscreen paused on a video game, the fighters in the screen stuck in motion now. Their controllers lay dormant beside them. Now they were focused on the camera.

"How do you think this thing changed appearances? It doesn't make any sense."

Nole's expression got serious. "That I'm not sure, but the only thing I can conclude is that..." he trailed off. James could tell he didn't want to say something he would regret later.

"I don't know either. Maybe whoever it belongs to doesn't want us knowing that it's theirs?"

Nole shrugged, "Yeah, maybe."

Suddenly, there was a voice coming from the bottom of the camera.  The light that was red stopped blinking and there was a loud click. They both looked at each other, completely perplexed now. They listened.

The voice was robotic, definitely not human by any standards.

"if you want to travel back to two-thousand and one, blink three times. If you want to travel to seventeen-forty one, snap twice." It proceeded to list dates from past present and future. The voice was listing dates James didn't even know existed. Before the Roman Empire, before the dinosaurs. He wondered if this was even before time itself.

They were too stunned to speak and sat frozen for a few seconds before Nole finally let out a huge breath he had been holding in for what seemed like minutes.

"That is so cool! Dude, we can go anywhere in time! Whenever we want, wherever we want." He paused. "I could see my great-grandfather. You could see your aunt."

James shook his head. Something about this seemed off. Nole just so happens to find this camera in the woods a few months ago? Laying around? Impossible.

Now the camera is talking to them and telling them that they can go back in time? Impossible.

It was too suspicious and James didn't trust it.

"I don't think we should be playing around with that thing. I don't think you should've picked it up. It's not meant for us, Nole. We have to put it back."

Nole's face suddenly got cold and his eyes changed. James had never seen him like this before. It was scaring him. He wasn't the same Nole he was a few minutes ago.

"No, James. We can't. It is meant for us and we have to use it. We can't put it back. Not now, not when we are so close to Mr. T." His voice changed, James noticed that. It got deeper and more possessive almost as if he were changing into a different person entirely.

James shot his head directly in Nole's sight. Mr. T? Who the heck was Mr. T?

James got tense and he could tell Nole wasn't the same person. What was wrong with him?

And just like that, as quickly as Nole changed, he was suddenly woken up again. He looked stunned and was unable to speak for a few seconds.

"James---wh--what happened?"