Time Hackers

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Chapter One: The Beginning

Janie sat down with her head buried in her trembling hands. Her ginger-coloured hair tossed violently in the air as the autumn wind blew strongly passed her petite body. With a heavy breathe, she look up to the amber sky and then down at her freezing feet. It had begun to rain, and from her height that she was seated; the commuters below looked like little M&M candy chocolates scurrying around with their colourful umbrellas.



However, the vibrant colours below her feet looked grey to Janie as her mind distanced off to the events that happened earlier that morning.



She had a heated argument with her twin brother, Sam in the streets. And in the moment of fury, she pushed him out of her way. Sam lost his footing and fell onto the busy road next to him. He was in the way of a speeding trunk and the events that followed were a blur in Janie's mind. She vaguely remembered the ambulance, the nurses trying to calm her down, grim faces and a straight horizontal line on the heart rate monitor. Her emotions were intense, blinded by guilt. She lost her only kin...by her own hands.



Both Janie and Sam were made orphans when their parents decided to abandon them at a local Walmart. Social workers then came to take them in. The next place they stayed in was a living nightmare where they survived days reek of bullies, mental and physical abuses. Day after day, they endured and struggled till the day they could finally be independent of the orphanage. When they finally did, they were slapped with another wall of reality - poverty. Job was hard to come by for the two eighteen year olds high school drop outs. Sam survived the pair by doing odd jobs. As the cost of living climbed, the risk of sleeping on the streets became more threatening. Overwhelmed by piles of warning letters from the banks and a landlord who signed off their rented apartment to another tenant since they could not afford the rent. The siblings' new found freedom from the orphanage was short-lived. They were desperate and had no one to turn to. Frustrations built up. The last stalk came when Janie made a loan with the local loan shark in hopes of making ends meet. Sam condemned her stupidity while she scorned at his inability to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. That argument led to this aftermath.



Now Janie is alone in a dark place, bearing the shame and guilt of a murderer. The police had dismissed her brother's case as an accident which made matter worse in her mind. The guilt was unbearable for her, amidst all the other problems she already had.



The breeze continued to blow passed her trembling body. Being on the rooftop of a fifty-storey building offered no shelter from the incoming wind.



"If only I can turn back time. If only I can change ...no... Sam...I am sorry..." Janie rocked forward over the ledge of the rooftop. She can feel the rest of her weight pulling her down towards the sea of colourful umbrellas below.



Then...suddenly, dead silence.



Janie jerked her body backwards and froze. The rain in front of her had frozen. She could see every single rain drop hang in the air like tiny crystals. The hustling umbrellas below her feet stopped. So did the wind. Janie backed away from the ledge and struggled to pull herself up. When she was up on her feet, she scanned her surroundings. Everything laid perfectly still.



Out of nowhere, a clear singing voice broke the silence. "Beautiful isn't it? It is as if time had stopped." Janie jumped and turned to see a good looking guy in black leather jacket. "I would like to offer you a deal." The singing voice sounded again.



Janie was still in a daze and then came to realise that all that was in front of her was really happening after the guy in black threw her an impatient glare. "Great. Looks like you came out of shock. Most people screamed in my face. So...", the guy came closer to Janie. "interested?" Janie took a deep breathe and composed herself, muttered, "What about the deal.. how did? no.. who are you? And am I dead?"



"Woow wow. Questions...Cool it chick. I am not some envoy from hell to claim your soul. You haven't leap from this building so how could you be dead?" The guy chuckled. "I am here to offer you a deal." the guy continued as he jumped onto the ledge of the rooftop and skilfully balanced himself like a cat prancing around its prey. "You asked if you can turn back time." a grin escaped the side of his lips. "Well. you probably can't..... But I can." He then hopped off the ledge onto the landing. "I can turn back time for you and change your future. You can get your brother back and even lived like kings and queens."



"How do you know about my brother! Who are you?!" Janie snapped.



The guy turned away, "I am only here for the deal, I will not entertain other questions. U heard the deal. So are you in or out?"



Janie stole a breathe, calmed down slightly and continued, "About the deal. what's the catch?"



The guy grinned again. "You are not to mention me to anyone and you are to pledge your service to me without questions at any time I require it."



"This service to you... does it involve anything illegal?! and what about Sam?!" Janie snapped again.



The guy laughed to himself. "Illegal? Technically, you can't rule something to be illegal since there is no governing law on this...service we are talking about. Also I would not ask you to kill yourself since that will be an instantaneous termination to the service you owe me. And Sam, You are not to mention me. Not even to him. So Deal or not?" the guy shot an intense glare at her.



Janie thought to herself. "Dubious as this whole shit sounds. He did say not even to Sam, this means he will be alive. Sam will live. Things can be reversed. I might finally have a life.... Not to mention... a future.. but"



"What if I don't keep my end of the deal?" Janie realised she has spoken her thoughts aloud when the guy rolled his eyes and turned his head away from her.



"Then your brother remains dead and you will lose anything and eventually suffer the same fate as your brother....so... deal or not?" the guy replied with an impatient tone.



Janie thought to herself. "I was going to end my life anyway. I have nothing to lose."



"Deal. I will take it."



The guy turned to her and smiled. "The deal is sealed." Then everything became dark.

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Chapter 2: Linon

"Wake up girl. I gonna go to work. You have an job interview at ten It's already nine!" Janie heard a familiar voice and opened her eyes. It was Sam's. She sat up in her bed and found her brother staring at her. "What?! You had a bad dream? You looked like you have just seen a ghost." 



Janie could hardly manage her thoughts prancing around in her mind. "Ermm.... I guess I lost track of time, what is the date today?" That's all she could managed, not too sure if it was a dream or actual reality. She decided to put it to test.



Sam looked at her and shook his head, "Did you just lost your memory? Today is 3rd March. Your interview is on 3rd March. Girl. Wake up!"



"Sam, what is the year?"



"What?!" Sam exclaimed in disbelief.



"Ya, Sam the year... please?"



"Bloody hell. Did you knock your head or something?! It is 2014!"



Janie paused in bed, and put her thoughts and memory in place. She scurried to recall the events that happened on 3rd March 2014. Fortunately, for Janie, of all the bad things that happened to her, Janie was blessed with photographic memory and a smart brain from birth. It took no time for her to remember everything up to every single detail. All are mapped out as a timeline in her brain....



"2nd March 2014, about two in the afternoon, she borrowed two thousand dollars from the loan Shark without the knowledge of her brother. Around four, the land lord came twice with warning to rent out their apartment to another tenant.



3rd March 2014, she went for a job interview at ten in the morning and was rejected on the spot. She ran into the loan sharks on the way home and got a beating from them when she couldn't pay the interest.

Her brother got laid off from his odd job in the same afternoon after his service was no longer required. Janie remembered that she passed by a lottery counter one hour after noon and saw the closing date and time of the lottery is "3rd March, 2pm". With her body sore from the beating and her mind still hang on the rejection from the job interview, she wandered off without buying any lottery. The result came out at nine that very same evening. She can still remember the numbers.



4th March 2014, the land lord signed off their apartment with another tenant at eleven in the morning and gave them two hours to pack and leave. Sam found out about the loan from the loan sharks and went crazy. And then the whole accident that happened."



Janie felt a chill running down her spine. Time was really reversed. Whatever happened was too real to be a dream.



"Jan! The interview! Get up NOW! Stop dreaming!" Sam snapped.



"Yup." Janie hopped out of bed.



"The lottery..is my only chance to turn the tables." She thought to herself while she washed up for the day. "I'm off. Sam." Janie stumbled out of their apartment and made a beeline for the lottery counter. Her only hope now was to purchase the winning numbers from her memory and hoped that the numbers matched the results that were to be disclosed later the day. She needs the winnings to get the loan sharks and landlord off their backs. 



"How much do you want to bet on?" the counter lady asked.



"Two thousand on these numbers." Janie whispered as she passed the cash to the counter lady.



"Wow, you are quite the risk taker. All the best!", the lady smiled as she passed the receipt to Janie.



Janie made an exit and start walking back to her apartment through the back alley.



"Hey Janie, how's your day?"



"Damn..." Janie groaned as soon as she heard the voice. She remembered the loan sharks and wished she was not so self-absorbed with the lottery ticket. She could have taken another route to escape this whole commotion.



“Where is the money you owe?", the tall built stranger murmured as he kicked an empty can out of his way. Two other tall built haggard looking men followed behind. 



Knowing that she would be beaten anyway, she argued," You said one week! I borrowed from you yesterday."



The stranger, also known as James laughed hysterically. “Hey Cunt, you were not born yesterday, I am sure you knew how we work around here. All I know is that you owe me money and I need it back now.”



“I don’t have it with me.”



“What?!” James shouted across the alley and made Janie jumped. “So you are not paying up, are you? We all knew what that means. Boys, teach her how she needs to behave.”



The two men from behind James, start walking towards Janie.



Janie froze and started looking around the alley for route of escape. To her dismay, the loan sharks took out the whole alley, there wasn’t any form of laying debris she could use as weapon within any radius of proximity. There were only some abandoned sack bags and empty giant baskets dumped at the side of the alley and even that was beyond her reach. Her heart sank. If a miracle was to happen, it had to be now. “I wish time would stop” Janie muttered under her breathe. She never thought she would want to see the mysterious guy so badly, but she does now.



The two men laughed. “Did you hear what she say?”



“I don’t know. Something about time? Maybe she knows that it’s her time. Let’s show this cunt how to keep a promise.”



One man grabbed Janie’s arm and pinned her to the wall. The other guy raised his hand to slap her. Janie knew not what took over her; it just felt right to shout these words as if her life depended on it.  “I say TIME STOP!” and she slammed her eyes shut to brace the impact of the slap.



It felt like some time passed, she felt nothing. Janie peeped through the lids of her eyes and then her eyes grew bigger. Everything went on pause. The men were frozen in mid-air, so was James with his cigarette half lit. Janie then broke loose from the men’s grip and stepped away from the men.  She needed to buy time, she thought for a few seconds and she start pulling the guys’ arms over each other and tried to entangle them. She looked around the alley and hurried to pull the abandoned sack bag over the two men. She then turned and threw the human size basket over James’ head. She grinned and thought that she was to be congratulated on her idea of mischief.



“Looks like you are having fun.” Janie spun around and found herself staring right into someone’s chest inches away from her nose. She hopped back in surprise, unintentionally pushing James’ frozen body onto the ground, along with the basket.



“You came!”



“Of course I came, who else could possibly create this incredible scene before you.”

Janie felt tears welling up in her eyes. She could not quite make out her emotions. She was relieved. But she could not understand how she could be relieved seeing a stranger. It was the same mysterious guy.



“Maybe you could at least tell me your name, so that I know how I should address you? After all, I owe you a lifetime of service. I can’t be calling you “the stranger” each time you gave me a task, can I?”



“Oh. You learn fast. I am always impressed at how composed you are in circumstances like this where others will spontaneously scream. But having said that, I am beginning to wonder what sort of service you can most possibly provide me with, seemingly, I saved your ass twice.”



“You haven’t given me any task.”

“Right.” The same cheeky grin wiped across his face. “Come with me.”



Janie followed.