The Man Out Of Time - Flash Fiction
Updated: 10 hours ago
A surreal flash fiction story about waking up somewhere that does not explain itself. In “The Man Out Of Time,” Greg Luti follows a disoriented man through a world of gray corridors and glowing yellow lakes — only to realize he is being quietly observed.
An individual finds himself in an area unfamiliar to himself and many others, I can imagine. To one side is a corridor similar to something you would see in Willy Wonka, with its gray appearance and deceptive doors. To the other side is a glowing yellow lake that has platforms that are no larger than a picture frame floating above it. The individual stood between walking down the corridor or searching the lake.
Most unusual is that the area had no feel to it, not of hope or horror. The place is there to confuse you, and any other person there, for none of what I described made much sense. The corridors don’t lead to anywhere. You cannot swim in the lake. And the platforms are just there. This place had no title, for a title implies meaning and purpose, to which this place had none.
“Where am I?” The individual spoke aloud.
A stranger, an older gentleman, who the individual did not notice, sat behind him, leaning back in his chair.
“You have gone out of time, as they say. There is a joke about time there, but I am just not in the mood to say it.”
The individual standing there ignored the last remark and continued to inquire about his situation. “But…. This place… Nothing here makes any sense. How can this be the key to time? Where are the numbers?”
“If you take away the numbers from time, what do you have?” The figure asked him.
The man didn’t know what to say, and continued to look around.
Where was he exactly? He did not know this place from anything he had seen in life. It was not heaven, nor hell. Perhaps he was having a dream.
“I am not dead, right?”
“No. You are certainly alive. You found out how to time-travel. Now the fun part is getting back.”
“So when I time-traveled…”
“It brought you here… yeah.”
“But how did I not travel to where I was trying to go?”
“The universe has a default system where if anyone tries to time travel, like yourself, they get sent here. You didn’t think the universe was just going to let you time travel as you please, did you?”
The man looked once again at where he was, and didn’t know what the stranger was even saying. How can such a place of nonsense be where he goes when he discovered time travel? The thought baffled him.
The stranger muttered more to the traveler. “You seem like a nice guy. I will do you a favor and tell you which one of those squares gets you back to your time. How about that?”
“How do you know the right way?”
“Fella, I have been here longer than most of been alive, so I know what happens to people when they pick the wrong way.”
“Uh… okay.”
“See that lake right there, go to the second row of platforms. And get to the end of the second set. The second to last one is the one that gets you back.”
“All I have to do is jump on it?”
“Yup.”
“What about the corridor down there?”
“Oh, that is nothing. Ignore that entirely. Last guy who went down there didn’t come back.”
“Right… So walk towards the glowing lake, make my way to the second set of platforms and then get to the second-to-last platform.”
“Yup. If you choose any other platform, you won’t get back to your time.”
“Looks like I am forced to trust you here.”
“Looks it.”
The man started to walk towards the glowing lake. “Say, how come you don’t leave? What’s stopping you from going back to your time?”
“Son, there is nobody who is gonna miss me where I came from.”
“It may be hard for you to imagine, but I am sure that someone misses you where you are from. Even if no one ever expressed it, I bet there were a few who thought about you after you were gone.”
The stranger stayed silent, as the time traveler walked towards the lake.
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