THE WRONG CHOICE
1353 Words
The voice inside the Meridian Gate disappeared, leaving the chamber in complete silence. Aarav stood frozen in front of the machine, staring at the glowing circle. He could still hear the words repeating in his mind.
I'm the version of you who made the wrong choice.
He turned toward the older man who looked like his father. “You knew about this?”
The man didn't answer.
Aarav's voice became louder. “You knew there was another version of me inside that machine?”
“I knew there were many versions of you,” the man replied. “But I didn't know which one would speak to you.”
Mira stepped closer to Aarav. “That's why we have to leave. Now.”
Aarav looked at her. “Leave? We don't even know what we're running from.”
“We know enough.”
“No, we don't.” Aarav pointed toward the machine. “You keep telling me things without explaining anything. First there are two timelines, then three, now there's an original timeline. Everyone seems to know what's happening except me.”
Mira looked down.
“You're right.”
For the first time since they had met, she seemed uncertain.
“The truth is,” she said quietly, “I don't know everything either.”
Aarav stared at her.
Mira continued, “I've been trying to understand the Gate for years. Every time I think I've figured it out, something changes. A memory disappears. A person becomes different. Sometimes I remember events that nobody else remembers.”
Kabir frowned. “So how do you know what to do?”
“I don't.”
The answer surprised all of them.
Mira looked at the machine. “I've only been following messages left by people who came before me.”
Aarav's eyes narrowed. “Messages from who?”
“From other versions of us.”
A cold silence filled the room.
The countdown continued.
6:13 p.m.
Two minutes remained.
Suddenly, the lights above them turned red. A loud alarm began echoing through the chamber. The Meridian Gate started spinning faster, and the glowing circle in its center became brighter.
The man who looked like Aarav's father rushed toward the control panel.
“We're out of time.”
Aarav followed him. “What are you doing?”
“Closing the Gate.”
“You said you needed me.”
“I do.”
“Then why are you shutting it down?”
The man looked at him.
“Because if the Gate fully opens, we won't get another chance.”
He entered a sequence of numbers into the control panel.
The machine responded with a loud mechanical click.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Mira looked at the screen.
“Someone changed the access code.”
The man turned toward her.
“How?”
Mira shook her head. “I don't know.”
Kabir suddenly pointed toward the other side of the chamber.
“Guys.”
Everyone turned.
A second door had appeared in the wall.
It hadn't been there before.
A small screen beside it displayed a single sentence:
THE ORIGINAL TIMELINE IS WAITING.
Aarav walked toward it.
Mira grabbed his arm.
“Don't.”
“Why?”
“Because that's exactly what it wants you to do.”
“What wants me to?”
She didn't answer.
Aarav looked at the door.
There was something strange about it.
It looked old, almost ancient compared to the technology surrounding it. Scratches covered its surface, and someone had carved a symbol into the metal.
A circle divided into three sections.
Aarav recognized it.
It was the same symbol that had appeared on the black watch.
He took the watch from his pocket.
The screen suddenly lit up.
11:47
Then the time changed.
6:14
Aarav stared at it.
One minute remained.
The man shouted, “Step away from the door!”
Aarav turned.
“Why?”
“Because that door isn't an entrance.”
“Then what is it?”
The man's face had gone pale.
“It's an exit.”
The chamber shook violently.
The Meridian Gate flashed.
For one second, Aarav saw hundreds of different places through it. In one, he was standing in a classroom. In another, he was running through a burning city. In another, he was sitting beside his father. In another, he was completely alone.
Then he saw something that frightened him more than anything else.
A version of himself was standing inside a dark room.
He looked directly at Aarav.
Then he raised his hand and wrote something on the glass.
DON'T TRUST MIRA.
The image disappeared.
Aarav turned toward Mira.
She had seen it too.
“You saw that,” he said.
Mira nodded.
“What does it mean?”
“I don't know.”
“Are you lying?”
“No.”
Aarav took a step toward her.
“How can I know?”
“You can't.”
The honesty in her voice stopped him.
Mira looked at the Gate.
“But there's something you need to understand. Not every version of you is trying to save you.”
The clock changed.
6:15.
Everything stopped.
The alarm.
The machine.
The lights.
Even the sound of their breathing seemed to disappear.
Then the Meridian Gate opened.
A wave of bright light filled the chamber.
Aarav felt himself being pulled forward.
Kabir grabbed his hand.
Mira grabbed Kabir.
The three of them struggled to hold on.
The man who looked like Aarav's father reached for the control panel, but the machine was already beyond his control.
The room began changing around them.
The walls disappeared.
The floor vanished.
Aarav saw the station above them.
Then his house.
Then another city.
Then another.
Hundreds of realities flashed past in seconds.
He saw people living lives that were almost identical to his own.
In one timeline, his father was still alive.
In another, Kabir had never met him.
In another, Aarav had never been born.
And then he saw a timeline where everything looked exactly the same.
His house.
His school.
His friends.
His family.
But there was one difference.
Aarav was missing.
A voice whispered through the light.
“That's the timeline you came from.”
Aarav turned.
Mira was standing beside him.
“What do you mean?”
“You don't belong in this reality anymore.”
Before Aarav could respond, the light disappeared.
He fell onto a cold floor.
Kabir landed beside him.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Aarav slowly opened his eyes.
They were no longer inside the underground chamber.
They were standing in Central Station.
But something was wrong.
The station was completely empty.
No passengers.
No trains.
No announcements.
Every clock on the wall showed the same time.
11:47 p.m.
Kabir slowly stood up.
“Where are we?”
Aarav looked around.
“I don't know.”
Mira appeared beside them.
Her face was pale.
Then a train entered the station.
It moved silently along the tracks and stopped directly in front of them.
The doors opened.
Inside the train, every seat was empty except one.
A black watch rested on the seat.
Aarav stared at it.
His phone suddenly vibrated.
One new message appeared from an unknown number.
WELCOME HOME, AARAV.
A second message arrived.
YOU HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE.
Aarav looked at Mira.
She seemed terrified.
“What?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“I thought this place was destroyed.”
The train doors began closing.
Then someone inside the train whispered his name.
“Aarav…”
He stepped toward the door.
Kabir grabbed his shoulder.
“Don't.”
Aarav stopped.
The voice came again.
This time, he recognized it.
It was his father's voice.
“Son, if you can hear me…”
The train began moving.
“…don't let them find the fifth timeline.”
Aarav watched the train disappear into the darkness.
Then he looked at the black watch.
Its screen changed one final time.
TIMELINE 05 — FOUND
Aarav's heart sank.
There were supposed to be only three.
And now there was a fifth.
To be continued…
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