The Time Bubble Read online

  The Time Bubble

  By Jason Ayres

  Text Copyright © 2014 Jason Ayres

  All Rights Reserved

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover art by

  SelfPubBookCovers.com/Daniela

  For Claire

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One – 22nd October 2018 (9.30am)

  Chapter Two – 22nd October 2018 (2.00pm)

  Chapter Three – 22nd October 2018 (5.00pm)

  Chapter Four – 22nd October 2018 (7.00pm)

  Chapter Five – 23rd October 2018 (8.00am)

  Chapter Six – 23rd October 2018 (2.00pm)

  Chapter Seven – 23rd October 2018 (5.00pm)

  Chapter Eight – 23rd October 2018 (6.30pm)

  Chapter Nine – 24th October 2018 (9.30am)

  Chapter Ten – 24th October 2018 (11.00am)

  Chapter Eleven – 24th October 2018 (4.00pm)

  Chapter Twelve – 25th October 2018 (10.30pm)

  Chapter Thirteen – 25th October 2018 (10.00am)

  Chapter Fourteen – 25th October 2018 (2.00pm)

  Chapter Fifteen – 25th October 2018 (8.00pm)

  Chapter Sixteen – 26th October 2018

  Chapter Seventeen – 27th October 2018

  Chapter Eighteen – 30th October 2018

  Chapter Nineteen – 1st November 2018

  Chapter Twenty – 20th March 2020

  Chapter Twenty-One – 30th March 2041

  Epilogue – The far future

  Prologue

  Nobody knew how long the Time Bubble had been there. Nor did they know how it had come to be there in the first place.

  Had it not been for the construction of the HS2 high-speed rail link it may well have lain undiscovered for centuries, buried beneath several feet of grass and mud.

  The residents fought tooth and nail to prevent the monstrosity of HS2 being built across the outskirts of their sleepy market town. But it was all to no avail.

  Successive governments were determined to push the project through, and in the autumn of 2018 the contractors moved in. They ripped up the leafy landscape and began to lay down the new railway line.

  No expense was spared to ease the pain of the local residents. A multimillion-pound new road system, an out-of-town retail park, and a new estate of 5,000 eco homes were all created to help “put the town on the map”, as the planners described it.

  Those on the bright and shiny new housing estate had easy access to the town beneath the new railway line via a new pedestrian tunnel, brightly lit by fluorescent yellow tubes. A road tunnel to accompany it would soon be completed.

  It was all very safe, clean and modern. The residents had little fear of being mugged in the tunnel. There was little crime in the affluent town, and for added peace of mind there was CCTV at either end.

  But then they had no inkling whatsoever of the ancient secret that the newly constructed tunnel had uncovered.

  Chapter One – 22nd October 2018 (9.30am)

  When seventeen-year-old Charlie Adams set out for school on Monday morning it was just another day as far as he was concerned.

  It was almost halfway through the autumn term, and he was less than two months into his A Levels. After the stress of GCSEs the previous summer, things now seemed remarkably relaxed. This particular morning he was struggling to motivate himself to get off to school.

  It had been a rather heavy weekend. On Saturday night his best friend Joshua had held a house party whilst his parents were away.

  Josh’s father owned a successful local building business, and had done well enough to enable the family to buy a four-bedroomed town house on the new estate. It was tailor-made for a teenage party.

  There had been a lot of music, a lot of smoking and a huge amount of drink secured from the local supermarket courtesy of Josh’s older brother.

  Charlie had spent the whole night talking to his childhood sweetheart Kaylee, trying to pluck up the courage to kiss her and failing miserably. It didn’t help matters that Josh had disappeared into his bedroom sometime in the small hours with Kaylee’s best friend, Lauren, not re-emerging until well after breakfast time with a smug look on his face.

  Charlie couldn’t remember all the details thanks to a large influx of strong cider, but he had the vaguely uneasy feeling he had done something embarrassing. He decided to lay low on Sunday and keep off the social media sites just in case.

  The party had still been going on well after daybreak on Sunday morning and it was nearly lunchtime by the time Charlie made it back home. So unsurprisingly he wasn’t quite at his best now at 9.30am on Monday morning.

  He headed into the bathroom, brushed his floppy black hair back away from his face, and washed. He looked into the mirror and his green eyes stared back at him. He was relieved to see that they were not looking too bloodshot. He really had caned that cider and had vague memories of some sort of drinking game involving shots, but it was all rather hazy.

  He thought about having a shave, but the awkward truth was that he still didn’t need to more than about once a week. He was a bit of a late developer on that front. Josh, on the other hand, was always boasting to him about how he’d been shaving every day since he was fourteen. Whether that was true or not was difficult to say – Josh did have a tendency to boast about things.

  He was shaken out of his half-awake state by his mother’s voice shouting from the foot of the stairs. “Shouldn’t you be at school by now?” came the time-honoured question. “No, let me guess, it’s a free period”.

  He wandered out to the top of the stairs to reply. “We don’t call them that anymore, mum, it’s a study period”, he replied, rather lamely. He didn’t have the stomach for an argument. In fact all he could think about at that precise moment was Marmite on toast.

  “Not much studying going on, by the looks of it! I guess you’ll be wanting this?” His mother held up the Marmite jar.

  “Thanks, mum. Any chance of a cup of tea? I’ll be down in a minute”.

  “You’ll have to make it yourself. I’ve got to get going. I’m due in at ten. I won’t be home until late tonight. We’ve got a stocktake at the shop. I’ve made you some sandwiches for school, but can you sort yourself out some tea?”

  “I think I can manage”, he replied. As long as there was a pizza in the freezer he’d manage.

  With his mother gone, Charlie switched on the kettle, put two slices of bread into the toaster and opened up the Marmite pot.

  A glance at the kitchen window confirmed that it was looking pretty gloomy outside, but he didn’t mind that. After Saturday night’s party the cloud and drizzle were a lot easier on the eyes than bright sunshine.

  The toast popped up and he sat down at the circular pine table in the centre of the kitchen. He hadn’t realised how hungry he was until he started on the two slices of toast. It clearly wasn’t going to be enough, so another two slices went in.

  That, along with the tea, did the trick. He was beginning to feel vaguely human again and started to think he might even make it in to school before midday.

  To all intents and purposes it was just another normal Monday morning. He could not have begun to imagine the strange events that would begin to unfold later in the day.

  =============================

  By the time Charlie eventually made it in to school he’d missed not only his study period, but also his first class. It was almost lunchtime so he headed straight for the canteen.

  By the time he got there and opened th
e large double swing-doors, Josh and his other mates were already there. As soon as they saw him, the ribbing started.

  “Here he is, look – Casanova!” came Josh’s opening line, triggering much sniggering from the others. “Mate, did you make a fool of yourself on Saturday night, or what?”

  “Um, I can’t remember exactly. Perhaps you’d better fill me in?” replied Charlie, an unpleasant feeling of dread beginning to spread over him.

  “Can’t remember – that’s convenient! If I were you I wouldn’t want to remember either. I’m talking about you and Kaylee. Don’t you remember what you said?”

  “I’m not sure I want to. But I’m sure you’re going to tell me”.

  Charlie sat down, opened his bag, and then his lunchbox which contained a sandwich and a bag of crisps.

  Josh could scarcely conceal the glee in his voice as he related the story. “You got really drunk and ended up sitting on the stairs pouring your heart out to Kaylee. You said you loved her and wanted to marry her”.

  “It’s true!” chipped in Daniel, a rather obese-looking lad from the other side of the table. “We all heard you”.

  “Shut up, Dan, and concentrate on eating your chips”, retorted a seriously riled Charlie. “Was it really that bad?”

  “I’m afraid it was, mate”, continued Josh. He could see Charlie was looking a bit upset and decided to soften his approach a little. They were best mates after all. “The thing is, I do think she likes you, but you’re putting her off by being way too keen - almost stalker-ish in fact!”

  “How do you mean?”

  “I mean things like commenting and liking her every Facebook status, following her around school like a lovesick puppy, and the fact that you’ve got a heart drawn on the back of your English folder with a C and a K engraved into it. Just little things like that! You’re trying too hard, mate”.

  “Well, what do you suggest then? What would you try?”

  “I don’t have to try, mate, they always come to me”, replied Josh, his bravado returning. “Didn’t you notice me and Lauren disappear for an hour during the party? She was an absolute animal, I can tell you”.

  It was true and Charlie knew it. Josh was the archetypal blond and blue-eyed boy, and he had the girls falling at his feet whilst Charlie was painfully aware of his own lack of experience.

  It seemed so unjust to him. Josh was so casual about it all and didn’t seem to express any feelings for the various girlfriends he’d had. Charlie, on the other hand, felt he had so much to offer – love, romance and loyalty. But he seemed to be getting nowhere fast.

  “Well I think I had better keep a low profile for a few days”, Charlie responded. “I’ll hide out in the library a bit – none of the lads ever go in there”.

  “Yes – but Kaylee does. That’s why you’re going there”, interjected Daniel in-between a couple of mouthfuls of sausage.

  “Dan – haven’t you got any vending machines to be raiding or something? You’ve not exactly got women falling at your feet, have you?”

  “He’s not bothered about any of that, are you Dan?” said Josh. “He loves his food too much”.

  “Speaking of which, do you want that bag of crisps, Charlie?” asked Dan, noticing from the untouched bag that Charlie had eaten his sandwich and left the crisps.

  “Here – have it. I’ve lost my appetite. I’ll see you in English”. Charlie got up and headed for the door. He heard some laughter behind him and was sure he heard the word “loser” – almost certainly from Daniel, but he ignored it.

  Soon he was outside in the fresh autumn breeze away from the stifling atmosphere of the canteen.

  Chapter Two – 22nd October 2018 (2.00pm)

  Charlie was not the only one having a bad day. 48-year-old English teacher Peter Grant was preparing for his 2pm class of Year 12 students.

  He was already exhausted and fed up with the day. His Year 10 students had run him ragged that morning, and a ridiculous lunchtime argument in the staffroom over who was responsible for the washing-up of the coffee cups hadn’t helped.

  All of this he would have dealt with in his stride a few years ago but he’d had more than his fair share of bad days since then. Ruefully he reflected on the fact that he wasn’t so much having a bad day as a bad year.

  In fact if he was brutally honest it was turning out to be a bad decade, and there didn’t seem to be much prospect of things improving with only a year or so of it still to go.

  Discovering he had leukaemia three years ago had come as a bolt out of the blue. He’d always taken care of himself, exercised, eaten healthily and never smoked. Like most people, he had just assumed that it was the sort of thing that happened to other people.

  Thankfully it had been caught early enough for it to be treated, and he had been in remission for a couple of years now but there was no guarantee that it might not reoccur at some point in the future.

  It was preying on his mind more than usual today as he’d had a call from the surgery asking him to come in for an appointment as soon as possible. Bearing in mind how difficult it was usually to get any sort of appointment at the surgery, this was more than a little worrying.

  He’d just gotten over the illness when he had to deal with the shocking revelation that his wife had been having an affair with his best friend for the past five years. He didn’t even have the chance to forgive her.

  Once the truth was out she announced she was leaving and packed her suitcase the same day. There were no children to keep them together. For one reason or another they had never got round to it.

  Now at 48 and single he had resigned himself to the fact that he would probably never become a dad. He tried not to think about it too much because if he did it began to eat away at his soul in the same way that the cancer had eaten away at his body.

  Peter was not an unattractive man. He no longer had the thick mane of hair of his younger years and was beginning to pad out a little around the middle but he felt he had a few good years in him yet.

  If he ever did get a date with anyone, he knew he would have to play down some of his less attractive hobbies. He was a huge sci-fi fan, and during his divorce proceedings it came to light that his wife’s affair had begun whilst he was away at one of his conventions.

  His dream scenario would be to meet a woman who shared such interests but he knew it was unlikely. He didn’t know what the ratio was, but he guessed that for every female sci-fi geek there must be at least ten men.

  It was very gloomy outside and had now started to rain. His attention was drawn to it as it began to batter on the window. It did little to help his mood.

  Students began filing into the room in dribs and drabs. It was already three minutes past two. Most of them were late, as usual.

  “Hey sir, what did you think of the new doctor?” piped up Daniel as he waddled in, half-eaten chocolate bar in hand. The kids were well aware of Peter’s sci-fi obsession, and on Saturday night it had been the first episode of the show he’d watched religiously since he was a small boy.

  He’d never hidden behind the sofa, to use an oft-quoted cliché, but then that would have been quite tricky as the sofa in his childhood home had its back to the wall. He did remember being scared, though. His first memory was of giant lizard-like monsters baring their teeth at him from his television set when he was three years old.

  “The jury’s still out on that one – I think I preferred the last one. It’s difficult to see how they are going to follow him” was his response.

  “I watched it on the internet last night. I couldn’t see it on Saturday night as I was at a party”, said Daniel.

  Peter wasn’t particularly interested in hearing about Daniel’s weekend. The boy was a pain in the neck at the best of times so he decided to change the subject and enquired, “Do you know where the others are? It’s almost five past now. Don’t you kids have any concept of time?”

  Not knowing what was going to transpire over the next few days, the irony of how prop
hetic that comment would turn out to be was lost on him.

  The class should have had sixteen students in it, but there were less than half of them present.

  “I’m not sure if Charlie’s coming – he’s sulking because Kaylee won’t go out with him”, said Daniel, reverting to type. He loved nothing better than grassing on people and stirring things up in general.

  “Give it a rest, Dan. You don’t know anything about it”. The response came from the shorter of the two girls sitting at the front of the class at a desk next to the rain-lashed window.

  Lauren Watson and Kaylee Thomas had been best friends since reception class. As was usually the case, it had been Lauren who had spoken. She was a pretty feisty creature who didn’t suffer fools gladly and would always leap to her best friend’s defence.

  The two girls couldn’t have looked more different. Lauren was the shorter of the two, no more than five feet with short black hair cut into a bob, a button nose, and a face and mouth that curved into a very cheeky grin. Although diminutive in stature, she more than made up for it in spirit, and few people wanted to get on the wrong side of her.

  Kaylee, on the other hand, was taller, but much quieter. Her long, blonde hair cascaded down in gorgeous wavy spirals to her shoulders, complementing a slim but strong frame. Piercingly clear blue eyes gazed out from her soft and perfect complexion.

  She truly was a beautiful young woman and, although she knew it, she didn’t play upon it as some do. It wasn’t hard to see why Charlie was so smitten by her.

  “Speak of the devil”, said Daniel as Charlie wandered unenthusiastically into the room.

  Kaylee kept her head down, but Lauren made sure she gave Charlie a dirty look as he invariably glanced across to the window where he knew Kaylee would be sitting.

  “Good of you to join us”, said Peter, and winced almost as soon as he had said it. He knew he made the same lame comment every time a student was late for class, but it had become such a force of habit that he said it without thinking. He really ought to think of something more original.