The Omniscrolls

  I was seven years old when I discovered I was different; I discovered that I could freeze time. My mom told me that much like her, I was a witch, and that time manipulation was a special ability of mine. Mom asked me to keep my abilities a secret—even from my closest friends. However, with the events that unfolded in my time, it became more and more apparent to me that I would have to break my code. It was the year 2043. The world was on the brink of catastrophe, with war about to knock on the doors of every country. Mom had passed away by then, and I was living alone. Mom transferred her powers to me when she passed, saying that a time would come when the world would face another war—and that I was the only one who could stop it. My mind went back to the day she died, and the cryptic message that she left this world with. “Tressa, you must stop the war from happening, but beware: there will be someone who’d try to stop you.” “Someone who’d try to stop me? Are they another witch,...

I had just moved into my new house a week ago. I was on my morning run when I felt as if someone was following me. I looked back, but there was no one. As I continued my run, I had an eerie feeling that someone was still following me. However, there was no one around, aside from two other joggers who were much further away. I finished my run and, as I reached my house, I noticed a set of muddy footprints that ended at my doorstep. I walked in and found no footprints inside. I couldn’t understand what was happening. Not wanting to waste time, I got ready for work. At the mirror, I was startled to see a strange woman standing behind me. I turned around at once, but no one was there. I turned back to the mirror, wondering whether I was going crazy. The woman was gone. I wondered whether I was pushing myself too hard at work. I called in sick and got in bed, but I couldn’t fall asleep. What if I wasn’t seeing things? What if the woman in the mirror was the one responsible for the muddy foo...

  The world faced yet another great war. With all the weapons of mass destruction launched, it brought forth a long, nuclear winter. Only after nearly a decade was the sun properly visible. “Mom, can we play outside?” a little boy asked. “No, Tim, not yet. We’ve been told to stay indoors.” “That’s right. We’ll let you know when it’s safe,” said my sister, Andrea, walking into the room. Andrea was among the few scientists in our town who were making sure everyone was safe. However, she was also involved in another project: one that was meant to allow time travel in order to prevent the war from spiralling into a nuclear disaster. Some considered it impossible, but a few of her colleagues joined the endeavor. Three months passed by and the time machine was complete. Andrea tested it by sending a drone through it. It was a success. What we saw was the world before the war. Andrea and her colleague Phillip were ready to travel through it, but I insisted that I join as well, given my mi...

My twin brother and I were on a school camping trip. We were wandering a little further away from the campsite when we noticed a human foot in the bushes. We slowly walked to the side to get a better view when we saw a creature standing over it. It had the physique of a human, but looked more like a wild animal as it was covered with leaves, twigs, and dirt. The creature heard us and looked our way; we stepped back and froze as its eyes met ours, but to our surprise, the creature ran away. We ran back to the campsite and told our teacher what had happened. He didn’t believe us at first, but decided to call the police anyway. The police arrived an hour later and questioned us. We were escorted to the station and asked to give a description of the creature. We knew they didn’t believe that it was truly a monster. However, one question kept creeping into my mind: why didn’t the creature attack us? I couldn’t sleep that night. I woke up to a nightmare of the creature hunting my brother and...

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  I was so busy the entire day that when I got home, I went straight to bed. The next morning, I found five missed calls from the night before. They were from my sister, Samantha. I called her back, but there was no answer. I tried several times, but it kept going to her voicemail. I called Samantha’s office and spoke to her boss, Jeffrey Solomon. He said that she didn’t turn up for work. It wasn’t like her to miss work, so I drove over to her house right away. I had a strange feeling course through my body when I parked the car and walked up to her door. I hoped she was alright. When I tapped on her door, there was no answer. Samantha had given me a spare key to her house, so I used it to get in. Nothing seemed out of place. I looked around, but she wasn’t there. I called out to her, but there was no answer. But when I walked into her bedroom, my heart sank and my knees grew weak. Samantha was lying unconscious on the floor, and a bottle of pills was next to her. I rushed to her s...