You Just Can't Win

A girl goes back in time to change the past of the United States, but you just can't win, humans always mess up anyways.

The pen I tapped on my desk rhythmically made a soft tapping noise, and no one was bothered by it. The tapping was a habit of mine and sometimes habits don’t have to end, this was one of those habits. I tapped that pen as I stared up at the teacher who was giving us a lecture on the not-so-great past happenings in the US and something about politics.

I honestly didn’t care about what he was talking about; the topic didn’t pique my interest. I’d much rather get a lecture on how to create good art, but even in art class such a lecture didn’t exist. And so, because of my boredom, I was barely paying attention, until I heard the teacher mention something very interesting.

“And so, one day, a man decided to go back in time and change the past of the United States in an attempt to undo what had been done, even if it resulted in the loss of his life. He had done a lot of research, and had even brought proof and plenty of documents to show the past people of the United States what he was talking about, and after all his efforts, he still failed. The current past we have now is the one that man created, somewhat. Since he changed the past we have no idea what our past used to be, and the only reason we know this man did this is because he made sure his deed was passed along through every history textbook so we would all know.”

I was astounded. Why had she never learned about this before and why wasn’t the teacher making a big deal out of this!? I heard murmurs of surprise from my intrigued peers, and in less than a minute I couldn’t help myself and I raised my hand high, quickly and suddenly. The teacher opened his eyes wide for a moment before calmly calling on me.

“Yes Emmy?”

“How did he go back in time and why hasn’t anyone else tried it out?” I asked. The teacher nodded his head.

“Well, it is very common information, but no one has the guts to do it. After seeing what all the efforts of one man had led to in order to change the past ended up as, everyone realized that making things all perfect and happy just wasn’t possible.” Explained my teacher.

“Then how do you go back in time?” I repeated. The teacher cocked an eyebrow, as if not understanding why she cared.

“You stab something into your wrist and think of the time you want to go back to and then say, ‘rewind.’” The teacher told her.

At that moment, I took the pen I had been holding and stabbed it directly into my wrist without any hesitation despite the pain I knew I would be inflicting upon myself. I then quickly grabbed hold of my history book and thought of the time I wanted to go to. When George Washington was President…

“E-Emmy! What are you doing!?” Screamed the history teacher as blood escaped out of the open wound, flowing past my pen and onto my bare arm. My peers were freaking out and craning their necks to see what was going on. I looked up at my teacher with a mysterious glint in my eyes before saying the magic word.

“Rewind.” And everything went dark.

 

•••

 

The world was spinning around me very quietly and very smoothly. Though everything was dark, every once in a while I would see wisps of dark gray, letting me know that I could still see. I felt like I was a feather floating in a gentle breeze. There was this weird fluttering in my chest, as if I were being flipped through like a book, and then the colors of the world of the past slowly began to fade in like a mist was being cleared. My feet touched carpet and here I stood, right before the first President himself, George Washington.

The older man gazed at me, speechless and utterly confused. He was sitting at a large wooden desk, feather pen in hand, a piece of paper held beneath the other hand and with his straight and refined sitting posture. The clothes he wore were similar to the clothes she had seen the first President wear in pictures. For a moment, I was in a daze as well, completed amazed by the scenery around me. The details in the wooden walls, the simple windows that didn’t do a good job of keeping the heat in, the warm hearth to the right side of the room. And the best part of all was the tranquility and quietness of the room as a whole. It felt like no one would disturb them here. Emmy gazed at the President, realizing he was starting to come out of his daze.

He looked me up and down, seeing my odd clothes, the clothing of the future. I wore a pair of jeans and a light-blue long-sleeved shirt with a simple dark blue design. My sneakers were Pumas and my white socks were hidden by the cuffs of my genes. Despite the warm fire in the hearth, it was very cold. There was no such thing as heating which was why I was wearing considerably light clothes for the season. I faintly realized the place where I stabbed my pen into my wrist was unmarked and perfectly normal looking.

“Who are you? How did you get here…?” The President asked with an old accent. He was bewildered, quite clearly.

“I’m Emmaline, Emmy for short. I am from the future and I have come to tell you what you need to do to prevent that future from happening again, even at the cost of my life.” I explained, knowing he wouldn’t agree with me.

“The future…? What are you talking about…? What are you wearing? What is a young woman doing here?” The questions continued to rush from his mouth as he slowly put his feather pen to rest in the ink jar to his left.

“Yes, the future, I am from the year 2013. By 2013, a lot of terrible things will have happened, and I’m here to prevent them from happening. Since I am from the future, these are the kind of clothes we wear. In the future, it doesn’t matter if I am a woman or if I am a man.” I answered his questions, one right after the other, in order. But I knew if I didn’t start getting to the point, he was going to call someone in to arrest me. George Washington may have been a great President, but in his times something like a woman talking in this manner to even a man in general was preposterous and unheard of.

“You’re crazy…” He said, but I could tell he was starting to believe what I was saying already. Such clothes like the ones I was wearing didn’t exist in his time. I held up the history book in my hands.

“This is a history book, you’re in here. I’ll show you this later, but for now, just listen to me. Forget the fact that I’m a woman, because my gender does not matter. Do not call anyone in, I have no weapons.”

The President was clearly stunned, but before he could take action, I began speaking of the future and the things he needed to do.

“Right now, you and the rest of America think that whites are the best and that all of the other races are inferior. That is terribly wrong. It does not matter what race you are, because the races are just a figment of your imagination. We are all part of one race, the human race. We all look different, even whites look different from other whites, so the color of your skin does not matter. Some races tend to act the same, but that has nothing to do with your actual race and has everything to do with how you are raised. If you tell people what to do because of the color of their skin, and claim you are better than them, they will only rebel and lives will be lost. Treat everyone equally and do not think highly of yourself because of the color of your skin, you are just one person.” I began, and the President, bewildered by my knowledge of such things, remained silent.

“Because of the stupidity of such thinking, you will have many wars. The people you conquer will hate you because of this. The United States will even go so far as to have a civil war; the south will split away from the north all because the south will want to keep its slaves while the north will want to abolish slavery. Such a stupid war should never even start. Get rid of slavery as soon as you can. The lives of slaves are terrible and no human being should have to live like that. It is inhuman and wrong in every way. I having just explained to you about why you shouldn’t judge others because of the color of their skin, you shouldn’t have any questions concerning this topic. Even if slaves help you gain prosperity, I assure you that soon after the civil war in my past, we prospered very well without them.” I went on.

“As for the rights of women, they may seem stupid and defenseless to you right now, but give them an education and they turn out as smart as any man. I think all the proof you’ll need for that is standing right in front of you. I am a woman, and I know how to read, write, speak, and I know two other languages, all at the age of fifteen. Gender is nothing, men and women are still both human, we both have the same capacity to learn.” I explained.

“In the future, the government will go to hell. People will stop caring about who becomes President and vote based on untrue advertisements. And the type of candidates they get to vote for will only be the rich; a normal man without money will never become President. The government will become more controlling, all because you cannot trust humans. Humans, for some reason, naturally want more power. If they gain a high position, they only want more power. You have to keep the government in check, but when the people become lazy, the government is no longer in check and they slowly gain more power. The rise of power in the government will only lead to the downfall of the United States. I suggest, to prevent this, that you make sure the people do not get lazy. If they become lazy, change something that will immediately affect their lives in a bad way. When they start to revolt you revert back to how things were, and I suggest you make the initial change something that you can revert back to normal quickly, and tell them it was a warning that if they don’t take advantage of their freedom, the government will. Abolish political parties and let people think for themselves when they’re voting, because when a lot of people come together they start thinking stupid things. Take away the ability for Presidential candidates to extravagantly advertise so they can keep their lies to themselves.” I said before walking closer to the quiet President, leaning in close so I could speak directly into his ear as I pointed and looked out one of the windows.

“You can take to the stars and touch the moon. It’s possible with the use of technology. There isn’t anything interesting on the moon, but consider it your goal to get there first before you try landing on planets.” I said in a serious tone.

“Before I explain to you anything else, let me write something down.” I took the feather pen and a nearby piece of blank parchment and wrote slowly on it, for I wasn’t used to the old-fashioned pen. It read:

Emmaline O’Neil went back in time and changed the past, your current past is the product of her interference because she decided that her past wasn’t good enough.

Then I put the pen back in the ink jar and looked back at the silent President.

“This is too much to handle…” He told her.

“Calm down, I’m not even half-way through with what I have to tell you.” And as I began to explain how the United States should deal with other countries, my existence was erased.

As my body slowly faded away, I was surprised. I saw the look of bewilderment on George Washington’s face as I, the girl from the future, slowly began to disappear. I didn’t know what to make of the situation at first, but then I smiled knowingly. So this is why my past was so terrible, the guy’s existence was erased before he could explain everything. And now I have given the people in the future a message that might give them the idea to try what I just did…Oh well, it’s too late.

Those were my last thoughts as my existence finally faded, the words I had spoken to the first President having already changed the future and my past.

Author's Note

Please do not be offended by anything I say here. I honestly do not know that much about politics, or the time of George Washington. I did zero research on any of this, the point of this story is not to share my views but to tell you a tale of this fifteen year old girl.
I also know that the way this girl explains things is very unorganized and skips a lot of information. The things she explains probably wouldn't convince George Washington about much of anything. But she's just a fifteen year old girl, so she can't explain things too well.