"You Bastard!"

The look of pain and anger on his face was apparent, as he aimed the trigger at Suzies' head.

Bang.

Blood coated the ground from the gunshot wound as I stared at the stranger in horror. Wait, it wasn't a stranger. It reminded me of the promise I had made not two minutes ago.

"Suzie, if one of us invents time travel, let's come back to this moment" then shook on it, sealing the promise. I honestly never thought the promise was going to be kept but looking at this familiar stranger made me realise I was wrong.

Looking at the dead Suzie, then looking towards the stranger in horror I noticed the stab wound in his stomach, that I realised he looked like he would pass out. Considering who the familiar stranger was there must be a reason, I desperately hoped, otherwise why would he kill our best friend. How could he kill her? Suddenly, he collapsed and became unresponsive.

Calling the police wasn't an option, but neither was an ambulance. It would be too difficult to explain my relationship to the patient. Plus who knows if he has anything on him that would be unexplainable. Sighing I drag him to my car. Careful not to aggravate his injuries.

It's times like this I guess it's good that I live alone. I drag him to the lounge room and start giving him basic first aid. When I'm done I sit down to monitor his condition. "So time travel exists now huh," I thought to myself eyeing his familiar sandy blonde hair, his oval face which has been aged a few years, and wow that's the scar I got from teasing a cat when I was little, this perspective made it easier for me to find.

I hop into the shower to wash off the blood, surprised that I don't feel more upset. I mean I just watched myself shoot my best friend. Maybe it's denial, maybe it's shock. I don't know. Anyway, I get out and return to where my future self is laying to find him groaning while trying to get up. "Uhhh you probably should keep down for a bit, I'll get some painkillers" while heading to the kitchen. I get the ones with codeine that I use for my migraines, thinking the extra kick might help a stab wound. Maybe I should Google it?

Returning to the lounge room, I pass over the painkillers and a glass of water asking, "so, why kill Suzie?" He looked down at the floor as if he was unsure how to answer. "Obviously one of us invented time travel, but it's Suzie I don't understand," silence. "Okay, if you're worried about me knowing about the future, don't be because I need to know this one thing"

He let out a sigh "Okay, I killed her because she was going to fucking kill me, is that okay" Yelling, then wincing as his stab wound started hurting. "It was 2028 and I invented it. Obviously thinking we were friends, I went to see if she wanted to dual patent it, seeing as both our research lead to its creation." He shuffled around trying to get comfortable as he continued, "then that bitch imprisoned me for a year, barely fed me, all so she could claim the invention as her own." I stared at him open-mouthed, wondering if we were really thinking of the same person. "When she finally brought me out, it was to ask me to help her time travel back to today, there was no way I was going to do that. I set it to today and just sprinted towards the machine's door. It must have been sometime then somebody tried to stab me"

I looked at my future self and realised just how much he had been through. All that had happened nine years from now. I understood his anger, but Suzie in this time period was innocent. She didn't need to die, not yet.

Letting out a sigh, I decided that time travel wasn't worth it after all.

I was never going to build a time machine.