"And while history may progress on, events are destined to repeat themselves by those who don't learn from the past. One can't expect a new result without changing their approach," said Professor Yates in his lesson. "I'd like to end today's lecture on that note. So have a good day everyone."

I looked up at the clock. 3:17 p.m. We still had three minutes until class ended, which I was excited as could be for. Professor Yates was pretty good at teaching history and I enjoyed it, but I was going to see Lucia after class.

Her and I had met here at Trayley University in Lius, California in August at the beginning of the school year. And from there, well, we started dating after a few weeks. She was just about the most amazing person I'd ever met. I'd never seen someone with compassion like hers. The first time we met was - well actually that doesn't matter right now.

Now it was April, a nice Spring where it was moderately warm but the sun wasn't bright enough to burn, where the breeze seemed to come at the perfect moments, and where I had someone I loved with me. Where we were happy together, and where we were going on a date that night.

As I sat there daydreaming about all this, my friend and roommate Tyus, leaned over to me.

"Will," he whispered, which caught me off guard. I realized that some people had left class by now, but I had been there thinking about Lucia. I turned to my right to Tyus. He looked eager to tell me something, like a kid about to reveal who their crush was. It was rare to see him that excited even if he was usually pretty passionate. "Look, to be honest I've been contemplating if I should even tell you this, but I felt like I should," he was still whispering as he said it, then got even more quiet. "We've been building a time machine, and we're going to finish it today."

"What?!" I asked a bit loudly, catching some people's eyes for a second. The class had around 30 people at max, so it was a bit too loud for comfort.

"We're trying to keep it under wraps. We gotta stay quiet about it," he whispered.

"Sorry," I replied, but what he had said made me more curious. "So, what exactly do you mean?" I asked softly.

"Me and that physics group I joined have been working on it," he said with a proud smile. "I didn't make the main design, but it can send a person's memories three hours back to their past body. Or at least it will be able to, plausibly."

"But how does it-"

"This headset scans and saves the person's memories, which are sent through a tube with quarks changing speeds, then the memories get to the past and go to the body they came from." he instantly said. "That's the jist of it. But it's potential is what got me jumping like that one guy at the diner."

"Uh, yeah", I replied, still trying to comprehend this. Lucia, Tyus, and I were all freshmen (first-years) in college, and yet Tyus had been helping people work on this? He was great at his major, condensed matter and materials physics, but it still seemed insane if people were actually making this. Was he serious, and if he was would it work?

"Anyway, we're finishing it this evening in room 17. Darius, the head of the project, really wants to keep it secret though. The government doesn't know either." Tyus seemed to understand my surprise and awkwardness, so he said, "Yeah, sorry to lay that all on you, but I wanted my best friend to know. Maybe I wanted to brag too if I'm being honest. But just please don't tell anyone, will you?"

"I won't." Tyus was smart, but then sometimes he'd do things like telling me a classified secret in public. "But good luck on the...project," I replied awkwardly.

"Thank you," Tyus said as he started getting up to leave, sounding relieved. It was 3:20 p.m. on the clock at that point. "Oh yeah, you and Lucia are going to, uh what it's called? George's Steakhouse, right?"

"Denzel's Steakhouse," I corrected him with a chuckle as we walked out of the classroom and into the second floor hallway, getting my mind off of the time machine. "But Lucia seems happy about it."

"She always is with you," Tyus responded.

For some reason his saying that surprised me a bit, but I gave an awkward smile at him and said, "Thanks."

"Yeah, and I mean it," Tyus said nicely. Him, Lucia, and I had made vows to always be there for each other if we needed to. In that moment I got the same feeling as I did when we made them. "Anyway, I'm heading to the cafeteria with some people from the team. You going to the courtyard?

"Yep, me and Lucia are meeting up for a bit there."

"See ya then, enjoy that and the date," said Tyus as he waved goodbye. I waved too, and started walking down the flight of stairs. When I got to the bottom, I started speed walking, then dashing to the front door out of joy! My right leg nicked part of the door and got a scratch, but I was okay with that.

Outside, the courtyard was a large rectangular one, with a large rectangular pond encompassing the middle of it. I was facing one of the shorter sides of the pond, when I saw Lucia walking toward it, our usual meetup spot.

"Hi!" I exclaimed. She saw me and then we started running toward each other. We hugged and twirled around.

"How was history, Will?" she asked cheerfully after that.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Pretty good," I said, getting reminded of the time machine. I didn't need to focus on that though, I thought to myself. "How was English?" I asked Lucia.

"Great! We're writing essays about why our majors are important and-" she said. "Oh, is your leg okay? You should probably put a bandage on it." She saw my cut.

"Oh yeah, it's fine," I replied.

"It looks a bit big," Lucia said with concern. "You don't have to act like you'll tough through an infection." She reached into the little bag she was carrying. "I have a bandage if you want. You don't have to use one though, I just want you to be well," she told me, her tone still nice and genuine.

"I guess I could use it," I said. She handed the bandage to me. "Thanks." Lucia was always thinking about others, that's why I loved her.

"Happy to help," she said. "The steakhouse reservation is for 6:15, right?"

"Yeah, would 5:45 be a good time to meet here first?"

"Sure, sorry that I have to leave in a bit though. The group planned to work on our medical project for a couple hours, so we'll be done working by then."

"It's good," I told her. Lucia had told me about that at lunch anyway. Her major was medical science, and I could tell how much she wanted to become a doctor. That project was part of the path to it. My major was chemistry, so we didn't have major lectures together, but that didn't stop us from hanging out A LOT.

Then suddenly I noticed a cat running frantically, with a woman trying to get it.

"Effa!" she called. "It's okay, I'm still here for you!" Then the cat ran closer to the pond near where we were, not realizing it in time to stop, and fell in the water.

Instantly, as if by instinct, Lucia ran into the pond, a few feet (about 1 meter) deep in water. The cat was frantically trying to paw and swim, and started staring at her while doing that. Lucia strode through the pond quickly, determination and a bit of fear across her face. She got to the scared cat, and picked it up, which made it more calm. She placed it on the ground above the water, about 20 feet (6 meters) from me at that point.

I was practically in shock, just standing still there. I was surprised at her and the cat. It happened so fast and I was processing it. Everyone in the court yard was looking at her. Then I felt a bit guilty. If she could help, then why couldn't I? So I ran over, and reached my arm out to her.

"Thanks," Lucia said with a struggle as she grabbed my arm. I pulled her up as she climbed back onto the ground and tried to catch her breath. The cat was sitting there, shaking to dry off, but seeming a bit more relaxed. The woman dashed over to the cat.

"Oh, Effa!" she exclaimed with joy and relief, picking Effa up and hugging her. "Oh, I'm so glad you're safe." Effa's owner gave a warm smile at Lucia. "Thank you, truly. What's your name?"

"Lucia," she said, still soaked in water and a bit out of breath, but she looked happy.

"I'll remember that name," the woman replied. "I'm Mary."

I was still awkwardly standing there, but I started clapping for Lucia. Then Mary started to, then someone else in the courtyard did, and then everyone in the courtyard was giving a round of applause to Lucia. She looked a bit embarrassed about it, and looked at me blushing, but I thought she deserved the praise.

"I'll find a way to repay you Lucia," said Mary.

"Oh no, you don't have to-"

"I want to, you deserve it," Mary responded. "Until we meet again, Lucia. You have my gratitude, and Effa's too."

Mary walked away, and most of the people watching went back to what they were doing.

"So 5:45?" Lucia asked me casually as if nothing unusual had just happened.

"Um, are you still in the mood for it?" I asked, surprised.

"Of course. I mean I have to dry off and work on that project, but I'm still looking forward to that. You good with still going there?"

"Uh, yeah," I said more happily. This incident didn't stop Lucia from what she wanted to do.

"Then it's a plan. I'm gonna go change and meet up for the project. See you later." Lucia waved.

"Goodbye," I said as she started to walk away. She made a thin path of water dripping from her. "And Lucia," I said, "You're a hero, I hope you know that." She didn't say anything to that, but gave a humble smile.

As she left, I reflected on her saving Effa. I was baffled at first, but it wasn't unlike Lucia to want to help someone.

I had a couple hours to kill though, and I had to pick up a suit for Denzel's. It wasn't a very expensive one, but I wanted to look nice so I got fitted for one. The shop for it was on Mard Avenue, and I decided to walk there with it only being a block away from the campus.

The street was wide but not very busy, with some shops along the sides of it. As I got there, I saw a woman outside an old-looking one.

"Come one, come all to the Winning Wonder Fortune Telling!" she exclaimed with her arms out, but it seemed to make more people look away from the store. She seemed confident but a little desperate. I had never believed in that stuff though, so I continued to the clothing store, which was a few shops closer than the fortune-telling one.

I picked up my suit there, holding it in a bag. On the way out I looked over at Winning Wonder Fortune Telling, the woman no longer in front of it, and I realized that she probably needed more business. I had time to kill too, so I decided: Why not? It might be fun to go there even if I didn't think it was legit.

I walked in, and the woman looked so happy to have a customer. She walked over to me, saying, "HELLO, welcome to Winning Wonder Fortune Telling! Would you like a palm reading, crystal ball reading, or some other magical method? We have all sorts of clairvoyance here!"

I was caught off guard a bit by her mannerisms, but I was glad that she was enthusiastic about it.

"Um, I guess I'll have a-" I started to say, but her eyes turned into a straight stare, and she stepped closer to me. Her tone much deeper and almost aggressive sounding she said:

Will Korda, your lover is destined to meet her end 6 hours past the turn of this afternoon. Our fate has that fact so. For as long as this prophecy comes alive, she will die.

I stumbled back in shock, falling onto the ground and dropping my bag. I was looking directly up at the clock, which was at 4:15. There was this weird aura coming from her when she said it. But the fortune teller's eyes had turned back to normal as soon as she stopped talking.

"Oh, are you okay?" she asked, her voice back to normal too. "Did I black out? What happened?"

I jumped back onto my feet.

"NO, and how do you know my name!? What was that death threat about!?" My voice was cracking as if the wind had nearly been knocked out of me. But Lucia couldn't die that day, she just couldn't.

"What do you mean?" There was concern in her voice. "Did I say something? I can't recall what just happened."

"You said that...you said that-," I couldn't bring myself to say it. Was she an innocent woman who just unknowingly made a prophecy? Maybe she was dangerous though. "UH, never mind, bye," I said, picking up my bag and running out of the store.

"Wait, did I say something bad?" she yelled as I ran away, but I didn't stop. As I ran I thought about it. First Tyus said he was working on a time machine to complete tonight, which I had nearly forgotten about, then Lucia saves a cat from drowning, and then that, all in an hour.

But nothing like that had happened before. That prophecy wouldn't come true, right?

Right?