The Time Capsule

 

"We found a time capsule dated 1975, but the items inside were from 2025", Matthew stated, “at least that’s what their text says”

“That sounds like bullshit” Connor responded. Matthew and Connor were the most irregular of friends; Matthew was short, bright, with thick brown hair, and sort of handsome in a Clark Kent fashion. Connor was taller, muscular, ginger and with a dark sense of humour. They bonded over their shared love of all things fantasy, books, films, television, and video games. The two of them were alone in the school corridor, an irregular moment of solace in an otherwise busy Wednesday. Having just moved up to Year 12, they were embracing the free time that study periods allowed them.

“Where did they say it was again?” Connor asked.

“Behind the sports hall”, Matthew responded.

“Ah, you see, it’s got to be bullshit” Connor reaffirmed “That’s going to be someone dicking around. I reckon Patrick Tabian in Year 13 put that there”

“It’s always you and Patrick Tabian, isn’t it?”

“I mean he’s a twat, but he’s kind of funny”

“I see”. As they talked, they headed out of the school to meet their friends at Saltwich High, Ava and Elspeth. Ava had a round face with big brown eyes, whilst Elspeth was tall, quiet and had a thin face. Wherever they went, Ava did the majority of the talking, and Elspeth stood behind her. The two girls were tucked neatly behind the school sports hall, and it was lucky that at this time, they all had a free period at the same time.

As they covered the small concrete yard, it came into view: a decent-sized metal box, the same size as a small suitcase, covered in muddy entrails, and more noticeably, rust. Lots of it.

“This is it”, Ava stated. Elspeth nodded along.

“Yeah, I got that”, Connor responded, looking down at the box.

“I mean”, Matthew stated, crouching down to look at the rusted box properly “It certainly looks like it’s from 1975”.

“Looks like it’s from 1375”, Connor responded.

“They wouldn’t have had small iron boxes then”, Matthew stated without looking up at his friend.

“Look inside”, Ava said. Matthew flicked open the rusted iron box to reveal a few surprising items: a brand-new iPhone 16 Pro, A photograph of Donald Trump and Elon Musk at the former's Presidential inauguration, A DVD of Captain America: Brave New World and the album Short N Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter. Matthew looked all these things over, picking up the DVD and CD and moving them in his hands.

“Well,” he stated after a few moments of contemplation “, None of these items are more than twelve months old”

“Yeah”, Connor agreed, still standing back “, I guess so. It’s so obviously a prank. I bet it was poking out of the ground?”

“No,” Elspeth stated, “It was in the ground”

“I see,” Matthew responded, “How did you find it?”

“Well, I’d stolen the metal detector my parents bought for my little sister”, Ava admitted shyly.

“And you were playing with it?” Connor asked.

“Yes”

“Well, anything rather than doing that history essay, I guess”, Connor nodded.

“It is weird”, Matthew interrupted “Who is likely to know more?”

“Mr Churchill, maybe?” Ava asked.

“Oh god”, Connor responded, rolling his eyes visibly at this mere notion.

“He’ll be able to help”, Ava insisted.

“What, because he’s called Mr Churchill and he’s a history teacher?”

“Well, he knows his stuff, doesn’t he?” Matthew asked.

“I suppose” Connor mumbled “He’s still a shit teacher though”.



***



Mr Churchill stood in his dust-covered history room. Down one side of his classroom was a huge timeline of important dates, and down the other side of the room was a collection of historical items, all collecting dust. Despite his name, Mr Churchill was only in his forties, a tall, slim man with greasy jet-black hair, thick glasses and a tweed jacket. He would stand dramatically with his hands on his hips when something perplexed him.

And the rusty metal box containing items from the last few months certainly perplexed him.

“So”, he stated, holding his right hand out in a point," you say that this…box was found in the ground, outside of the sports hall?”

“Yes”, Ava confirmed.

“It could be some kind of prank?” the tweet-set teacher suggested.

“Exactly”, Connor cut in, and Matthew shot him a glare.

“We did find it two feet underground”, Ava stated, “with a metal detector”

“Hmmm”, Mr Churchill hmmmed.

“This selection of items is most intriguing”, Mr Churchill inquired “How can I know that this isn’t just some enormous prank?”

“Why would we do that, you?” Connor asked.

“Because I’m your teacher and you have a free period?” Mr Churchill responded.

“Yeah, but we have better things to do than that”, Connor stated.

“Exactly, like write your history essay for tomorrow’s deadline,” Mr Churchill reminded him

“Hmph”, Connor responded.

“Don’t worry, Connor, I’m sure you’ve finished it. Anyway, maybe it’s best that you show me where you found this” said, making eye contact with each one of them.



A few moments later, they were standing around the back of the sports hall where they had first found the box.

“You’ll need to tidy this away”, Mr Churchill stated, nodding at the pile of unearthed ground next to the hall.

“It was here”, Ava pointed out.

“I see”, Mr Churchill stated, crouching down to look at it. Suddenly, he whipped out a small metal device from the inside of his jacket. It was thick and long and pink.

“What is THAT, sir?” Connor asked.

“I stole it from Mr Sleepwell’s office in the science department” Mr Churchill stated, “He claimed that it monitored residual energy from anomalous dimension events”

“What does that mean?” Matthew asked.

“Well, I’m not a hundred percent sure, but it sounds similar to something David Tennant once said in Doctor Who”, he replied, and then turned and began to move the device over the hole in the ground. Suddenly, it started beeping, louder and louder the closer that Mr Churchill held it to the hole. Then he snapped the device away and stood up straight.”

“Well”, he stated, looking at them all “, I don’t mean to be overdramatic, but you four might have just found a wormhole in space and time”.

“Those aren’t real”, Connor responded quickly.

“Well, as far as we know”, Mr Churchill quipped “Or it could just be a prank”

Matthew looked at them all and took a deep breath. “I prefer the wormhole theory”, he stated eventually.



THE END