I took the job because it paid well and I thought the time traveling was a joke. In fact, I thought the time traveling was a joke all through my first week. I thought it was a joke until I became convinced my boss, Ms. Reese, had some severe mental illness. I watched her closely, but I couldn't find anything else odd about her other than that she believed she'd discovered the secret to time travel.

I liked my job, and I wanted to keep it. I was better paid than the local Walmart would ever dream of. There were only two conditions of the job. I wouldn't tell anyone about the focus of the lab and I'd come on time to keep the place orderly. The first condition was easy enough. I didn't have anyone to tell. As for the second, the lab was either pristine when I came, or it smelled of burning plastic and looked like the equivalent.

When I'd come in that fateful day, I was listening to some indistinct music Spotify had determined I'd love. Spotify is amazing, but not always right. I reached down to skip the song when my boss rushed at me, a crazed look in her eyes.

"How are you, Ms. Reese?"

"I've done it!"

"Done what? Where do you want me to sweep up?"

She looked at me like I was stupid.

"It. The thing I've been trying to do my whole life, Rob!"

"Time travel?"

She nodded vigorously.

"Okay. You never said where I should sweep." I looked around me. I shut off that cursed song.

"How can you think of sweeping right now?"

I was too tired for it today. I was too tired for her excitement. I had exams to cram for. I had sleep to miss. And I had a job to try to do.

"Rob, how would you like to be the first person to go to the future?"

"Do I get paid for it?"

Not like I'd have anything to spend the money on. All the girls I asked on dates seemed to catch an illness right before I could buy them dinner.

"All the money you want."

"Why not?"

I could see how it'd go. She'd sit me down somewhere, the machine would shake, the lab would smell like burning plastic, and I'd go home to another awkward dinner. My sister would sniff my shirt, make a smug comment, and then the silence would be even stronger.

Ms. Reese squealed. Her lab coat flowed behind her, like a poor imitation of a superhero. She showed me where sit.

The machine didn't shake. Ms. Reese beamed at me and closed a metal door. The hairs on my arms stood up. There was a hissing sound around me, like the air was all rushing out of the small box.

My boss was going to kill me.

As I'd been doing for years, I clutched my phone to my chest. Spotify came on.

Yeah, you got that yummy-yu—

I cussed under my breath. I fumbled with my phone. It fell on the floor.

"No, no, no. Shit. No."

But Bieber kept saying "Yummy."

"You need to stay still," Ms. Reese said.

I felt my stomach churning and not just because of the hellish music.

I lunged for the phone. Something had made my sister's account open. She loved to "borrow" my phone. I felt like my chest was exploding. If I was going to die, it would not be to a song about sex.

My hands were sweaty. The phone wasn't recognizing my touch. I wiped my hands on my pants. The song finally stopped.

Air was hissing around me. I felt like the walls were closing in around me.

Ms. Reese was smiling like she'd just got a puppy. I tried to stand. My legs shook under me. I tried to bang on the glass window, but it was more of a tap. I sat down again.

The next feeling was the oddest I've ever felt in my life. Imagine your legs feeling like spaghetti. But it's your whole body and you're being boiled while also moving faster than spaghetti has a right to travel. Now imagine you stop, and you're dumped out of the pot. Into a busy street and your being there has inconvenienced everyone.

At least "Yummy" has stopped playing.

I looked around for Ms. Reese. I was sure I was dead until someone tripped over me, cussed me out and walked away. That was too realistic to be an afterlife.

I stood up.

"Hey, do you know an Agatha Reese?"

"What, do you want money? There's a shelter just down the street, you bum."

"What's the year?"

"Get away from me, you hobo!"

Not that I expected anyone to be nice to me, but I wanted someone to cut some slack. My head was spinning, and I kept staggering.

People kept yelling that I was a no-good drunkard. One woman told me I had no excuse to be living like I was with all the government services available for "people like me."

The crowd started to thin until I could stand without touching anyone. That's when I saw the city. Buildings stretched up around me. The street looked clean enough you could eat off it. (Not that I was willing to test that.) The buildings were all a clean white, mixed with blue windows. It all looked so clean. Too clean.

Sidewalks had cement slabs hanging over them, so precipitation wouldn't bother anyone who walked by. A high-speed train zipped by above pedestrians who didn't seem to care.

An old woman leaned against a wall. I walked up to her.

She startled. "I'm moving along. I've gone to the doctor for my knee."

"No, ma'am. That's not it. I just got a little... lost. It's my first time in the city." I sounded rushed, confused, addled. "I was wondering if you could give me directions to... to the..."

"You going to the library?"

The library. That'd be the perfect place to go and get my bearings.

"Yes. I just got lost in all these buildings."

"I'm going to walk past it. I can show you there."

The woman smiled weakly, a smile filled with pain.

She walked gingerly, but she wouldn't let me offer her help. "No. I'm well enough, thank you."

The library looked like all the other buildings when I came to it. It had double doors and gold lettering reading "LIBRARY" but that was the only distinguishing feature.

"Well, go on." She nudged me forward and so I walked into the building.

With each uncertain step, I cursed the scientist that had actually managed to pull it off. I was sure I was either living a near death experience or stumbling around in the future. Either way, it didn't really matter. I was still stuck here. If the time machine had worked to get me forward, I could find it to get me back.

And that's when I looked around the library. My mouth hung open. Never had I seen a place with so much light, so much movement. And never had I imagined a library with no books.