Chapter 1
Lucas waited with great hope to escape his ordinary life. He had never been at the center of anything throughout his life, always lingering in the background. But now, this ticket and this machine could shatter his ordinariness, perhaps even rewrite time and fate. With these thoughts, he clung tightly to the ticket, the only bright light in his dull and monotonous days.
When the moment to announce the winner arrived, Lucas sat in front of the television. His palms were sweaty, and his heart was pounding as if it would leap out of his chest. The host appeared on the screen, ready to announce the winner with great excitement. This machine, the dream of everyone, not only defied the laws of physics but also altered hopes and expectations.
The host spoke with an elegant demeanor:
“The ticket numbers will be announced in order. The first number is... 3.”
Lucas took a deep breath, determined not to lose hope.
“The second number is... 7.”
He started feeling that something wasn’t right, but he still believed there might be a chance.
“And the final number is... 5!”
The voice from the television cut through Lucas’s dreams like a knife piercing his heart. He wasn’t the winner. His eyes dropped to the floor as the corner of the ticket crumpled in his hand. He had just witnessed the greatest opportunity of his life slip through his fingers.
At that moment, a thought struck him: “Perhaps change doesn’t lie in going back to the past but in starting today.” For the first time in his life, he stopped blaming himself and felt an urge to truly change something. He realized that the miracle to erase his failures wasn’t in a ticket but within himself.
He turned off the television, took a deep breath, and murmured:
“If I can’t meet my past self, perhaps I can meet that person here and now. I must start by forgiving myself.”
The next morning, as Lucas went through his morning routine, he looked at his reflection in the mirror. The ordinary man seemed to have disappeared; there was a determination in his eyes he had never seen before. Perhaps this was where everything began: changing the present without traveling to the past.
