“Malfunction time,” thought he.
Remembers that clock, tick, tock, tick—maddening and convoluted.
Buttons, switches, gears. Crammed altogether.
“Reverse,” says one.
Depresses it.
Click and—

—and click.
It depresses.
One says, “Reverse.”
Altogether crammed. Gears, switches, buttons.
Convoluted and maddening—tick, tock, tick, clock that remembers.
He thought, “Time malfunction.”

Tim Boiteau lives in Michigan. He is a Writers of the Future winner and author of the forthcoming horror novel Iltday.