I Know What I Did Next Wednesday

• Joshua Lie, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2013

Everyone has these naïve preconceptions that time travel is going to be the greatest advance in technology and only good can come from it. What a load of codswallop. It is not great at all. I found that out on the first term of summer camp. It was my first experience with summer camp and time travel for that matter and I was out of skin when the slim line, olive green bus pulled up in front of the Primary School. I had packed my bag with all the necessities of life, plus Roger, my trusty teddy bear. A dew drop of intense sweat rolled down my neck. This one drop contained all of my anticipation, excitement, anxiety and pure fear and little to my dear, little brain I had a lot to be afraid of.
As I approached and made my struggled entrance onto the bus my spinal cord played an intense game of tug of war with the immense weight of my pack. Richard, the bus driver gave a friendly advance, maybe too friendly, to all the overzealous adolescents who had also stuffed the entire universe into their packs. I journeyed to the centre of the bus to find Percy, my only friend on the trip. We exchanged pleasantries and stories of sleepless nights brimming with trepidation. The bus trip took an entire lifetime before our destination was achieved. All the kids unpacked and raced like buffalo on Red Bull to our assigned cabins.
I didn't have time to even make my stiff, cardboard bed when I had the urge to relieve myself. My face turned a terrible blue when the possibility of not making it became very real. The toilets were located in a deserted area of the campus. My legs blasted me away to the isolated toilet. I barge in, blasted the door shut, and thumped my rump onto the cold porcelain seat. Subsequently I heaved a great sigh and pushed the flush button. My world then was warped into an unforeseen vortex of bright flashing reds and incandescent purples and radiant yellow beams of time colour. My eyes barely held open as the lights faded and the harsh reality set in. I wasn't in the toilet. I was somewhere not even thought possible.
A big banner hung in front of my eyes that. It was the date of the next Wednesday’s group meeting. All these thoughts rushed to me in a flash and then the massive absoluteness sank in. I was butt naked, in the eyes of the entire summer camp. I immediately and frantically pounded at the flush button, not entirely sure of what I hoped to achieve but again the lights began flashing and flaring and beaming through my existence. I awoke back on the toilet, sweating, traumatised, and tense as anything. All I could think was Wednesday was not going to be fun.