My first thought was obviously not that I was caught in a time loop. The box I’d found was magical. That when I touched it I would become trapped on this particular Monday for 3 weeks. That I would need to find a….

Sorry, sorry, sorry! I’m going too fast again!

My first thought was, not surprisingly, that I must have brought it home. I definitely took it because Yang Laoshi always checks we take it. There was no other way to explain it. Just then Mum and Dad, followed by Yumo, walked into the lounge. After getting him up they were moving on to trying to get him to put his clothes on. First Mum was going to say something about hurrying up.

“Come on Yumo, you need to hurry now we’re going to be late for school,” she said softly.

Just like that I thought.

Yumo looked like he was just trying to sleep on the sofa now. Then Dad joined in, I could see that he was starting to sound annoyed now, as usual. He was going to say something about no screen time any second now…

“Yumo if you don’t start getting dressed then you can’t have screen time tonight!” he said a moment later.”

“Bingo!” Slipped out of my mouth before I realised it. They all turned to look at me.

“Yes Elise?” Dad said.

“Um nothing, Dad,” I replied but as I said it I began to wonder how I knew what he was going to say. Did my parents just always say the same things to Yumo and I? That had to be it. People must do the same things all the time, right? Like some kind of time loop.

By now Yumo was dressed and we were brushing out teeth, just like everyday. Yumo was asking me a question about our favourite teddy bears. “Elise do you think my doggy is faster or your Doggy” he asked me with his toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. Which is the exact same question he asked me yesterday. He always asking me the same things, over and over and over, so I didn’t really think about it.

Dad was shouting from the front door, “Yumo, Elise, can we please go now?” I put my yellow folder into my bag, I didn’t know what else do with it! We put on our shoes and took the lift down to the car. Little did I know we were off to what was perhaps the weirdest day of school ever! (Even weirder than the time the teachers didn’t talk all day! But I’ll tell you that story later.)

Chapter Two

“Elise! Time to get up!” my Dad shouted as he turned the light on. I didn’t reply but put the pillow over my head and scrunched my eyes shut. As you can guess, I’m not a morning person but my Dad is always up early. I just can’t do it! I don’t understand why anyone would choose to. Beds in the morning are soooooo comfy.

Why was getting up so hard? Everyday felt the same sometimes and everyday Dad would would say the same thing,

“Well, you should’ve gone to bed earlier then… But no, you decided to stay up reading. Blah blah blah.” It’s not just me though. My brother is worse than me, everyday he’s so slow getting up and getting dressed.

As I led in bed I could hear Dad trying to be patient about trying to get Yumo up. It wouldn’t last long. Mum had put my clothes on the bed and then gone to the kitchen to get our snacks ready for school. Finally, I got up and then started getting dressed. Dad was starting to sound annoyed because Yumo was still in bed.

As I was finishing, Mum suddenly came into my room.

“Elise, don’t forget to take your Chinese folder with your homework, it’s on the table,” she said.

I stopped, what was she talking about, “That’s yesterday Mum!” I told her.

“No, it’s today,” she said firmly and walked off to help Dad persuade Yumo to get up.

What was she talking about? My Chinese homework needed to be in on Monday, which was yesterday. I’d done it and given it to Yang Laoshi, my Chinese teacher. We didn’t need to give it in on Tuesday. I thought about saying something but decided not too. Mum had already made her mind up and I didn’t want to argue with her about it.

I walked out to the lounge and then saw it. My folder. Bright and yellow and it was sitting on the table.

Why was it there?

Chapter Three

(Work in progress.)

Elise reads this chapter - This was a one and done.

“42” I shouted out. Mr Bruna looked annoyed and then surprised. “Pardon Elise?” he said. “12 + 30 is 42. The ones don’t change and you add 3 tens,” I replied calmly. “Ummm, right, that’s good Elise, but… I didn’t ask the question yet, so how do you know the answer?” he said. I said nothing, realizing my mistake. I’d need to correct that tomorrow. Luckily, Jim had started fighting with Claire and Mr Bruna got distracted. I’d got away with it, this time!

My name is Elise. I’m 8 years old and I live in Chongqing, China with my Mum, Dad and my little brother Yumo. I like the usual stuff, reading, riding my bike and not doing my homework. So far, so normal, right? Well that all changed yesterday, I mean today. Yesterday is today. I guess tomorrow will be yesterday too…

Sorry, sorry, sorry. Ok, let me explain. As much as I can anyway. It’s still a bit weird for me to think about.

After school yesterday, the day before today, I had gone outside to read. It let’s me get away from my brother, for a bit. He’s just so noisy sometimes. I was sat on the bench under a tree reading Catman, my favorite book, when I started hearing this buzzing noise. I searched around a bit until I found the bush the noise was coming from. Under the bush was a small black box. It was the box that was buzzing.

As I stared at the buzzing box nestled under the bush, I felt a mix of excitement and nervousness. Should I have picked up the box? Probably not, but I couldn’t resist. I know Mum and Dad would have said I shouldn’t, of course. But they weren’t here! If I did it again? Would I do the same thing? It’s a good question. I don’t know! If I didn’t open it I wouldn’t have met Sam and I wouldn’t have got to go to…

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I keep getting distracted. That information will come later. I promise!

So I opened the box. I want to say there were flashing lights or fireworks or maybe an Infinity Stone or maybe some smoke but there wasn’t. Maybe there was a little electric shock, the static that you get when you touch something sometimes. Maybe there wasn’t. As I looked closely inside the box, there was a small dent in the bottom like something used to be inside it. The buzzing had stopped too. I thought it was old and might be cool for storing some of my stuff so I took it with me when I went home.

When I got home, I put the box next to my bed. After that, the rest of the evening was normal but I kept thinking about the box. As I fell asleep that night, I couldn’t help wondering if something was different.

Chapter Two