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751 Words
"What did they show you," Asked Khadija.
"They showed me a glimpse into the future. The future that had been brought into existence by the killing of Hitler in 1911 by me. They turned another few pages of the book and the female put her palm against a blank page which was getting darker by the minute like it was burning from inside and then suddenly I saw it I saw the future I brought into existence"
"How was it," Asked Haris.
"It was hell" Replied his grandpa."The world war that I had everted had given birth to another one, This new one was far greater than the one Hitler inflicted upon earth. By 1965 the whole world was gone, by gone I mean in two pieces. It was broken in the middle and it was red, burning with fire. Fire everywhere. It seemed like a very good imitation of hell. That's all I saw and I will never forget it.
"How did it happen, What you did wa........" Hussain Started.
"It was not about what I did, it was about what I had undone."
"World War two" Answered Ruhma.
"World War two" Her grandad Nodded gravely. "You see, it is in the nature of every ripple to cause another ripple and then another and then another, it doesn't stop, this process. Every ripple that stone caused in the river of time caused more ripples which caused even more ripples until the whole river, the peaceful river, became a raging hurricane, destroying everything that ever existed."
"So you made a deal" Prompted Hussain.
"I made a deal" Replied his grandad. "I told them that I, myself, would undo all this damage. So I got back on the journey. I told them how and where I would go to fix my mistake."
"Where did you go" Asked Zaid.
"I know" Replied Noor, Smiling. "Can I tell?"
"Sure," His grandad said, smiling.
"You went to meet yourself while your previous self was on his way back from Makkah"
"Exactly."
"But didn't it cause problem, for you. what was your first expression when you saw yourself in front of you" Asked Noor.
"I don't know, I wasn't him at the moment but at first he just ignored me, my other self, when I saw him dying of thirst in the desert, he still had his camel with him so I knew he hadn't eaten or drunk anything for days. At first, he thought that he was imagining things, He was imagining himself in much better health, belly full of food and water but when I shook him by his shoulders he came to his senses, however much he had left. I told him that his intentions were fruitless, that all the effort he was making would only ruin the whole world. Break it into two pieces."
"What did he do then?" Asked Amina
"He made a decision. I know that because the moment he made a decision I ceased to exist and my consciousness traveled from my body, from the person who had been sent back to Makkah desert to stop himself, to the person who was already there, his determination failing, thinking about slaughtering his camel by using sharp rock and drink the fluid from its stomach and eat its raw meat."
His grandkids just looked at his, confused.
"How?" Asked Zain.
"The moment I made a decision.."
"By you, you mean the one who had just left Makkah and was traveling the desert, Thirsty and hungry"
"Yes, that's the one. The moment he made the decision, to abandon his goal and go back home, everything that happened after just didn't exist anymore. It didn't happen. So like a game my consciousness, or my soul, traveled back to it's most recent saved file"
"Just like in Call of Duty, whenever my soldier dies I just go back to the most recently saved game and start again" Haris Chimed in
"What a 'Call Of Duty'? Asked Zaidi's grandad, interested.
Zaid and Haris looked at each other and Zaid replied:
"Nothing, What happened then"
"Then the moment I realized what had happened, I knew that I had restored the time. The stone that had caused the ripples in the river of time was not there anymore, the river flowed on smoothly. The end"
"What, Is this it?" Ruhma Asked clearly wanting to hear more
Her grandfather stood up, looked down at his Grand-childrens and smiled.
"For now" He replied and left to see his wife.
- Writer
