text: "It's just yesterday. What's the worst that could happen?" I shook my head with a smile as I reached cautiously towards the time machine sitting on the table. Next to me, Rex gasped and grabbed my arm. "Wait! But what if you like, mess up the space time continuum and cause the apocalypse or something?", he asked, eyes wide. I suppose I couldn't blame him for being scared. I probably would have been too, if my judgment wasn't clouded by one thing. "Please. That sort of thing only happens in movies", I scoffed. "I have a plan. It'll be fine". Though my voice was filled with bravado, even I felt a small chill creep down my spine, but I pushed it out of my mind as I ignored Rex's words and pushed one of the buttons. With an otherworldly sound that seemed almost like an angelic mixture of a jingle and a zap, the machine blinked to life, sparks flickering off the wires, and colored buttons flashing. Rex and I watched, wide-eyed. Even as Rex's nails dug into my arm painfully in fear, I punched a few buttons, and WHOOSH! There I was. Just yesterday, like I said. With the faintest of thuds, I landed in my own hallway, the day before, at noon. I'd been cursing my foolishness ever since. I was working on an important research project, and my sleep-deprived brain, exhausted from yet another night at the lab, was on coffee number ten. I hated coffee. I rarely drank the stuff. Oh, why, WHY hadn't I just accepted my limits and taken a nap instead? Oh well. You know what they say about hindsight... In my sleepy stupor, I'd managed to take a sip, and both spill it and choke on it at the same time. The immediate searing pain of hot coffee all over my boobs, immediately followed by the exponentially worse mental pain of seeing my laptop, which contained months of research and writing, that I'd just spit coffee all over, die. I thought my life was over. Then we found it. My saving grace. I'd seen the movies and read the books. I knew it was risky. I knew you couldn't let yourself see yourself. I didn't even want anything complicated. I'm not one of those dicks with a hero complex who felt the need to go meddle with history or anything. I knew if I tried to go back and kill Hitler, I'd fuck it up. But come on, nothing major was riding on my failure. Which is what I'd be if I didn't fix this. I'd already planned it through. Hearing the sound of the chair creaking from the kitchen, I knew yesterday's me was getting up to go get that fateful cup of coffee. I crept down the hall and stuck a foot out, just in time to trip myself as I walked back towards my work table, holding the cup of coffee that would have been my poor laptop's downfall. Yesterday me tumbles to the floor with a cry, and the hot coffee splatters harmlessly to the floor. As the WHOOSH begins to sweep me back to the present, and I'm pumping my fist in victory, I see a bruise has now appeared on my knee. Hah. Small price to pay! ... THUD! I land on my knees, and they immediately sink. What the fuck is wrong with my living room carpet, I found myself wondering as I awkwardly blinked. I shielded my eyes. It was awfully bright... "Rex, can you close the curtains? And did you turn the heat up while I was gone? I'm melting here..." BOOM! It was a small explosion, but I was thrown onto my back. All around me was nothing but rock and sand, with fires burning in the distance. The smell of sulfur pierced my nose. Was that... screaming in the distance?! For a moment, I was shellshocked. This couldn't be real. It didn't sink in until I saw the source of the screaming. It was Rex, and he was being chased by some sort of feathered, horrific, lizard-creature, waving what appeared to be an iPhone that was shooting fire. Rex screamed even louder as the monster closed in. His screaming was finally loud enough for me to make out the words.