All Chapters of The Boy who Circled Time: Chapter 151 - Chapter 160

They were all led to another, different hallway, lined with what seemed to metal boxes, not identical to the storage carriers that Gretel had seen when prisoners were transported different jails, or when you generally wanted to protect a person by any means possible by placing them in those almost completely impenetrable boxes.She tried to summon a more cheery application of their usage in her mind, to try and stave off the lurking and growing feelings of dread that were gradually beginning to consume her.She remembered once seeing a one of those arrive, attached to the bottom of helicopter, arrive within the central courtyard of her university, bringing along a semi prestigious doctor of sorts in a little show to rally up the students' enthuasim and lift their spirits.It didn't work.Only a few students had actually recognised him and even fewer found it within themselves to properly engage with the display with any proper sort of enthusiasm that the

Inside her little prison, Gretel immediately fell onto the floor and curled up into a ball, sobbing into her arms as she tried to hide her face away from the world around her and all the greys that she was seeing.She didn't want to see anything right now.She didn't want to even exist.She desperately wished that she was dreaming and that any moment now, she would just wake up and her mother would be leaning over her, one hand holding a warm mug of tea, ready to sooth her and provide a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen to.But no.She would never see her mother again.Gretel had spent her last few moments on a commute reading about a distant war and trying on outfits, and if she had know that those were her final stretch of freedom, she would have spent the entirity of it talking to the woman who had brought her into this world and then raised her.With a sinking, guilty, feeling, she realised, then and there, that she would be

Gretel found that her prison was somehow even greyer and bleaker than what she had seen on the outside of it.The bed took up most of the space, and she saw that was for a good reason too.It looked standard issue enough for almost anyone and everyone to sleep on it comfortably, if they crossed their arms over their chest and slept as if they were never going to wake up ever again.It took up the entirity of the width of the room, and where she was curled up against the door left her only one, scant inch worth of space left between her and the end of it's metal, boxy frame.The bed itself was comprised of layers of fabric that she could see.Slowly, and on her still shaking legs, she stood up, and tried to hobble into a stand, shifting her feet about as she got closer to the bed and leaned over to lift up the sheets.There was one thinner layer on top, and for the sake of actually figuring out the temperature in the room, Gretel waved one of

Gretel laid down there on the boxy bed, staring up at the ceiling pointedly on thinking.There was nothing but an expanse of dull, lifeless grey up there, the only light source being one tiny, probably halogen, bulb that also seemed to be producing grey light.It was almost impressive.Every now and again, Gretel bent her knees, testing whether she would still be in pain, or not, when she eventually had to stand up and go wherever she was directed by the guards.The door to the side did lead to bathroom, and she was at least glad for that, but the questions of cameras and microphones still remained.But what would actually happen if she found them?If, by chance, she had managed to discover the location and range of each of the listening and spying devices, she would have been still recorded finding them, maybe, probably leading to a punishment with the situation being so open to being construed into her holding rebellious sentiments and com

A loud bang and a hiss woke Gretel up, her body startling as she was wrenched, without her consent, out of the land of dreams and darkness and back into the grey hellscape of the reality around her.Immediately, after deciding that she would've massively preferred to remain unconscious for the entirity of her duration in this place, she attempted to scramble up out of the pile of blankets that she had found herself in.Her legs tangled up in the sheets, forcing her to fall face down onto the cold and hard floor. She laid there as she reached backwards with both her hands to try and free herself from the very, very welcoming grasp and hug of her new sleeping space, while balancing on her bruised and sore knees.Hissing in audible pain, she rolled over to lie on her back, before sitting up to actually see the mess that she had found herself in.With visual confirmation of what exactly she had gotten herself into, Gretel found it easy enough to

Gretel, frozen still and consumed by a flood of dread, startled and flinched when a hand lightly tapped her shoulder.She stumbled a few steps forwards in an attempt to keep her balance, throwing her hands out to the wall to the side of her and to try and steady herself.Panting harshly, she forced herself to count the count the lengths of her breaths to calm herself down and keep her mind from fully tipping over into a panic attack. Breathe inone   two   three   four    five Breathe outone    two    three    four    five The expression of the spy from before came to the forefront, the sight of his crying, begging face materialising before her very eyes. She desperately dug the nails of her fingers into the palms of her hand, squeezing her eyes shut to banish the image.

Gretel walked forwards, brought by the guards within the crowd of others from Gryaz.The hand wrapped her own kept her from running away in terror, freezing up in fear, and just generally keeping her sanity from the stress related mania that was pressing down on her from her surroundings. The halls were absolutely silent.Too quiet.The lack of noise hurt her ears more thah the screeching of metal from when before she went to sleep and the pitch of her muffled cries and screams.The corridors were exactly as identical as the day before, but at least now, she found herself more easily tracking where she was now going.Travelling in a completely straight line, missing one, two, and then, three crossroads, in favour of still moving forwards, Gretel found herself being brought forwards into the same large hall that the execution had happened in the day before.She felt herself want to freeze up again as she went through the doors th

They were all quickly hearded up afterwards and taken down another corridor off to the side somewhere as soon as they had all apparently finished eating their meals.There had been no indication of time in the hall as well, with not a single clock in sight to possibly let Gretel know how much time had passed, how much time she had spent there eating, and how much time that she had simply sat there, waiting for all the others to finish their meals as well.She felt dizzy, as she sat up, moving her chair off to the side to let her stand, and she kept her eyes firmly glued to the floor as she walked along with all the others to their next apparent destination.A strange quietness had settled into her limbs, a loosness that was present now that had not been there before, and she found that it was slightly easier to walk now, with something in her stomach.Down another corridor, turning left once and then travelling down through one long stretch again, Gretel

"Now that the warning about your behaviour is out of the way, we can proceed further on the front of the administrative side of things, then we'll all get to the fun and exciting parts, alright."Gretel did not say a word, hating the man in front of her and his overly cheerful and sadistic demeanor. Everyone here knew that this was all a ploy and a mockery of the lives that they once lived, the once grudging and boring familiarity of the sequence he had rattled off now a terrifying and demeaning display of loss and pain.The guard knew that they had witnessed an execution before this, and knew exactly damn well what he was doing as well, putting on this flamboyant hate show."If you may all recall that when you were originally provided with this new employment opportunity, you were provided with your new identification cards. Well, to comply with the laws of this land, they are a ncessary requirement, on the part of the employer, to keep thorough records on thei

"You're going to build us a time machine.".........Silence reigned down on the room, and for a moment, Gretel wondered whether she was still asleep and was dreaming up this situation to cope. It seemed like a better explanation of what she was hearing compared to hearing her kidnappers demand that she build them an impossible sci fi creation.How would one even travel back in time?What was the true model of the universe?How would somebody go about transporting objects to the past?How would that affect their atomic structure?If a living being was sent, would said living being end up dying?How was one supposed to preserve life as they travelled to other timelines?Would they destroy the universe if such a thing had occurred?There were too many questions, too many things that could go wrong, and far too many uncertainties to even consider making one.And even if inventing a time machine