Stealing, Stolen, and to Steal

Zip. Fwoosh. Boom. All sounds that rushed past my head. I ran as fast as I could. Avoiding any bullets that shot in my direction. “Come on guys, fellas, men, we can talk about this!” I screamed back towards them.

Zip zip. “Huh guess not,” I said.

I kept running for as long as I could. Usually, I’m better at this, but I under anticipated this job. Who knew early Americans would be so protective of the Declaration of Independence. I had the document rolled into my hand. I was careful to not loosen my grip on the papers. I knew it was important for me not to lose them. If I did who knows what could happen to time. “Come here you scoundrel,” screamed one of the colonists.

I kept running until I reached the edge of the mountain. I stopped and turned around. “Oh shit, this could be the end of the line,” I said.

Hold on. Wait, pause the story. Sorry, let me give you some background information. I’m Jupiter Ambrose and I’m a time traveler. I know that sounds cool but it’s not by choice. Since I was born I’ve had this problem. It doesn’t have a name since I’m the only one but I call it trans-temporalosis, or time-traveling disease. Basically, my body doesn’t stay in one time and is always teleporting me across time. One day I’ll be running down the streets of 1910′s New York next day I’m in the middle of the Mongolian warpath.

It’s a scary thing. I never know how long I’ll be in a certain year. The longest time was four years in my birth timeline. That was so long ago. I believe I am twenty-seven, it can be hard to remember sometimes. I tried keeping track early on but seeing as I was a kid it was hard. Now you’re probably wondering why I am in 1776 America with the Declaration of Independence. That is a simple story.

I am a thief, a burglar, a robber, an all-around bad guy. But can you blame me? With always moving around and not having a birth certificate half the time it’s hard to make honest money. Like who in 1944 will believe I was born in 2101? Not many trust me I tried. Usually almost get killed. Like right now technically. Zip zip.

I stood there frozen. I had no escape and nowhere to go. Just back to a cliff with an old piece of paper, well it will be old. I’ll be honest I had no plan this time around. Usually, I make an elaborate heist but seeing as all they have is muskets and they are old I figured it would be easy. Quick tip, don’t underestimate old guys.

“Don’t you dare move. Stand there and we’ll take that back from you,” one of the men said.

The three of them had caught up with me with their guns pointed straight at me. I believe one of the men was Thomas Jefferson but to be honest I couldn’t tell. Don’t judge me I never got a proper education. Everything I know I learned from me. One of the amazing things about growing up alone with no home.

“Look guys let’s keep this civil. I just wanted to be the first person to look at this is all,” I told them.

One of the men had lowered their gun and started walking towards me. The other two kept their guns pointed and prepared. “We can be civil once we have our document. Till then you will not move from our sights,” what I assumed was Jefferson said.

Finally, the guy came up and grabbed the papers. He took them and walked back to his other men. “Ok ok now you have them so I’ll be on my way to..fight some red coats?” I said.

“No, you’re coming with us. We don’t know what or who you are,” Maybe Jefferson said with his gun aimed.

Think fast just think. Think fast. “I’ll go with you but first I do apologize for this. I really do,” I said as I moved to them.

“Hold your apolog-” Maybe Jefferson said but I cut him off by pushing his gun into his chest.

The other two unprepared moved their guns onto me ready to fire. So I quickly ducked and kicked one of them on the knee. Then to the other, I pulled both legs out from under him. Luckily none of them had fired a stray bullet so I ran off as quickly as I could. When growing up on the time streets you learn a few tricks along the way.

I ran as fast as I could. I didn’t plan on keeping the Declaration of Independence for long so I don’t mind leaving it behind. The buses, trees, and all-around forest made it sketchy but I got my way around it. Anyways as I run let me tell you a little more about me.

Well like I said I’m a twenty-seven-year-old time traveler. I am constantly moving so to make money I steal, but since I’m always moving I am never caught. I was born in the year 2101 and haven’t been back to that time since I was four years old. I’ve been to and seen major events. I’ve been in a few wars and even once almost started a revolution but the colonists weren’t at their breaking point yet.

I’ve made a few friends but most I never saw again. Of them, I found their graves later on, but never did I see them at the same age twice. It’s hard to be consta- thud. “Oww my gods,” I said.

I stopped paying attention while running and tripped on a large root. I got up and cleaned off the dirt. I checked my satchel to make sure I hadn’t dropped anything. I’ve learned through many years of trial and error that anything I wanna take has to be on me. So stuff like clothes and bags stay on me, but anything in my hands stays behind in the timeline. So I make sure to keep anything really important in my satchel.

I looked around and everything I wanted was there. My knife, binoculars, light sword, and handy time finder. I invented that back when I was in 2204 with Albert. Albert was a good friend. He was intelligent and kind. He wanted to make the world a better place. I’ll always admire him for that. I’m getting sidetracked let me get back on topic.

I closed my satchel and continued my walk in the forest. America was so peaceful before. It makes me sad to see how it once was. All the trees were so peaceful. Nothing disturbing them. Just the wind and the birds. As I walked my vision began to blur. “So soon? It’s only been a week,” I said out loud.

I slowly began to stumble. I tried my best to keep myself up as I walked. I could feel my knees growing weaker. I leaned against the tree to stand up. Come on Jupiter you can do this.

I took out my knife and started craving into the tree. As quickly as I could I craved, 'N.A.'. I quickly put my knife back into my satchel. “Can’t lose that,” I said laughing to myself.

One drawback of trans-temporalosis is I never know when I'm gonna leave a time. It is never fun. Slowly my vision starts to blur. "Ah I hate this part so much," I said.

Slowly I felt more and more wobbly. The feeling kept going until I closed my eyes. I knew the next time I'd open them I'd be in another time. With other people. Who knows how this will go. Slowly I felt myself fading out. Then slowly reentering into another time.