The prompt is: You are a time traveler; every time you blink, you move a random amount of time forward or backward in time.

---

With every closing of my eyes whether on purpose or not I see a new place, a new culture, in a different time than the last. How this power, curse, or even possibly a gift came to be is unknown to me. Not that I don’t remember when I learned of this power but rather, I have very little capability to remember who or what gave me this ability. All I remember is this dream of a shadowy figure that I cannot comprehend as an entity ripping out my eyes and replacing them. After that, I could travel through time just by blinking. However, I have no idea where I’ll end up next. 

 

Rather than starting in the beginning and retelling my phase of sheer terror and madness, I’ll tell you about some of my favorite moments first. After blinking myself out of falling to my death on what I assumed was mount Everest I opened my eyes to see a wrecked part of a city. All around me were people dressed in various articles of dirty clothing and looked as if they barely bathed. Some of them gave me strange looks but I was used to that by now.

 

“Excuse me, where am I, and what is the date?” I asked, hoping that they spoke my language. One of the men walked up to me with a prideful swagger before doing an almost mocking bow before me.

 

“Welcome, traveler! This is the end of the world. We may be the only survivors left and I don’t know the date but I can tell you that this is the year 264.” The man said in a strangely triumphant way. The others around him all looked at each other before one older-looking woman yelled at the man.

 

“Don’t lie to the crackhead, Jon. Can’t you tell he’s confused? You’re in Jersey, sweetie and it’s 1973.” The old woman yelled in a callous tone that seemed to be sympathetic to me.

 

“I can’t help it. It’s always fun to see how much you can make the space cadets believe.” The man who was apparently named Jon said with a compliant but annoyed tone. Of all the places I had it go. Why the hell did it have to be Jersey? Anyways, I allowed my eyes to blink which sent me somewhere new.

 

As soon as my eyes were hit with the blinding light of the sun I blinked again by accident and ended up in a run-down shack. There was dust everywhere that I kicked up when I walked towards the door. Just as I reached the door a bit of dust got in my eye causing me to blink rapidly. How many places I caught glimpses of were more than I could identify as I tried to get the dust out of my eye. Eventually, I got the dust out of my eye and found myself on a boat. The sound of waves crashing against the side of the giant sailboat mixed with the tune of a sea shanty. 

 

Beside me stood a poorly shaven, dirty man that held an unopened bottle of something. He only stood and stared in disbelief at my appearance. I assumed that he saw me appear in front of him and was having trouble processing it so to snap him out of the trance I took the bottle from him. It did nothing to change his gaze as he still stood in disbelief but now there was a tinge of confusion on his warty brow.

 

With a nod, I opened the bottle and drank a bit of the contents to find that it was either rum or brandy. Neither of which would have quelled my thirst so I placed the now opened bottle in his hand and blinked to the next place. This time I was in some kind of diner. Strangely, there were ordering kiosks rather than people taking your order. The rest of the diner was similar to a Denny’s with red booths and a strange pancake smell but it was a lot cleaner. Rather than ordering food since I had no money I watched as a number appeared above the kitchen window and a person came up a few minutes later to take the plate.

 

After seeing another person do this I waited until a number appeared and no one came up to the window. Seeing it as my chance I walked up and grabbed the plate of food and the drink next to it before blinking and appearing somewhere else. This time I was on top of a mountain that was quite relaxing for a meal. This was probably the only way I have been able to continue to live. Time is irrelevant to me but I still age and need food, medicine, and water. Due to this little problem, I have to take food when it is available or when I’m hungry. Sometimes when I’m really hungry I will blink over and over again to find a nearby source of food and water. 

 

Sleep has never been an issue though. Where I go when I close my eyes is unknown to me but it feels like I am floating in a void. As if there is someplace between all of time and space that I will never see but can always visit. As I am eating something seemed to move in the distant mountainside. After finishing my food I squint my eyes to see an army with several elephants being ridden among them. This sight sent me back into being wide-eyed but this time in disbelief. On impulse, I ended up blinking which sent me to what looked like an ancient construction site in the middle of a large field. Rather than sticking around, I blinked again. This time I was in a city park in what looked like Chicago or New York. Trash and birds littered the barely kept park but I didn’t complain and finished the meal in a few bites.

 

“Where the hell did you come from?” I heard being asked what sounded like an old woman behind me ask. Turning around I saw the old woman in question. She was dressed in warm clothes despite it being quite warm outside. In her wrinkly hand was a cane that she was using to stabilize herself on the cement sidewalk.

 

“Are you asking me?” I asked after looking around to see if there was anyone else around.

 

“Who else would I be talking to, dumbass?” The old woman replied with a raspy but sassy tone.

 

“Sorry… You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” I said as I forced my eyes to stay open.

 

“You appeared right in front of me and nearly gave me a heart attack. I’ll believe you.”

 

Her tone was incredibly rude as she sounded like she thought I was stupid. However, I didn’t care. Rather than explaining myself to her, I gave in to the urge to blink. As my eyelids closed the old woman reached out and grabbed my hand. Standing in front of me was the same old woman but behind her was a burning city with air raid sirens blaring in the distance and the occasional sound of gunfire. The old woman was speechless, looking around at everything like a puppy in a new place. 

 

“What did you do to me? Is this hell? Are you the devil? Were the Mormons right all along?” She asked in a quaking panic but it sounded like she was scolding me rather than being scared.

 

“When I blink, I go somewhere else in the world at a different point in time. I assume that as I was leaving you were somehow taken with me. That’s never happened before.” I explained in a way that sounded more like I was talking to myself which I had become accustomed to do.

 

“Can you take me back? Actually, drop me off somewhere nice.” The old woman demanded like I was some kind of chauffeur. 

 

“I can’t do that. It’s random. I’ll drop you off wherever is closest to your time period. Now, close your eyes and tell me what year we were just in..” I said before holding her hand. She huffed rudely before closing her eyes which caused an annoyed expression to appear on my face.

 

“1991.” The old woman said with an annoyed but incredibly proud and unhappy tone.

 

Closing my eyelids and opening them back up revealed that we had transported to a field of yellow, red, and white tulips. I blinked again, and again, and again. Each time I checked to see if we were near anyone with who I could speak. After what was probably a few minutes of blinking over and over again I found a populated area in time. Sadly, when I called out to someone they spoke a language I didn’t understand so I blinked to the next place and continued the search. Eventually finding a person who could tell me the date. We were at least three hundred years off.

 

With every second the old woman was getting more and more annoyed. She kept her eyes closed through most of it as I asked but after a while, she began to look around at every spot we visited. Even for a brief moment, she would see a new place in a new time. The vast beauty and horror that came with a lot of these places barely affected her. After what was probably an hour in my time she had me stop for reasons I didn’t understand at first. 

 

We were in a government building of sorts. Though it wasn’t until I looked where the old woman had been looking that I realized where we were. On the wall was a large swastika tapestry with several desks in the room that held a mix of documents in German. On the opposite wall were several large windows that showed a view of Berlin. 

 

“Could we stay here for a few minutes?” The old woman asked. I was going to tell her no but she had a look of determination for something so I nodded. 

 

“Good. Now help me find that Nazi fucker.” The old woman said as she hobbled towards the end of the room with her cane.

 

As we walked down the hallway I kept my eyes open and even held them at one point to keep them from closing. Before we made it to the end of the room the doors opened and walking in with several secretaries asking questions behind him was Hitler. He didn’t even notice us until he walked toward us and we didn’t salute or move out of the way. He said something in German to me which I could only assume was some kind of threat since the secretaries behind him were averting their gaze out of fear. The old woman on the other hand took advantage of me being called out to get behind him.

 

“This is for my Papa!” The old woman stated angrily as she raised her cane and beat Hitler over the head with it. The initial impact caused him to yell out in pain before I uppercut him in the chin. 

 

The secretaries yelled for help in German as the old woman continued to strike the dictator with her cane and all the strength she could muster. Hitler reached into his side holster for his pistol but I began kicking him as hard as I could which knocked the gun away. After beating the absolute shit out of him over the course of thirty seconds the doors opened again and several armed men burst into the room. Rather than taking our chances with them I grabbed the old lady and blinked which sent us to some island town. 

 

“Thank you for that.” The old woman said with a laugh so hearty that she began coughing.

 

“You’re welcome. Though we still need to get you back to your time.” I said before walking over to one of the locals. They didn’t speak my language but they spoke enough Spanish that I was able to ask what year it was. It was a few years later than when I accidentally took her but she could easily get back home from where we were.

 

“Alright, granny. We are in the Dominican Republic sometime in 1994. You should be able to contact your family from here and go back home. Though they probably thought you went missing and you’ll have to figure out how to explain it to them.” I said to the old woman. She gave me an annoyed expression followed by a disheartened look.

 

“First, don’t call me granny. Second, That was fun so I’d be happy to go again.”

 

“Got it. Though it would be too dangerous to let you go with me anymore. I’m afraid that I’ll accidentally leave in some random time period.” I stated.

 

“I understand. You stay safe, ya hear.” She said with a somewhat caring tone.

 

Blinking once again I was taken somewhere new. Alone as I was before. However, the calming feeling that came with not having to worry about another person being lost in time settled me. For the time being, I just closed my eyes and slept.