Prompt: Ahead of Time

I can always tell when I’ve arrived too late. There’s a shift in the atmosphere that I can feel in my gut. In an ideal world, I could just leave and travel back again to an earlier time, but it isn’t that easy.

You would think that time travel would give you bucketloads of time, but it turns out it’s just the opposite. Let me assure you just how painfully aware you become of the time you’re losing. Every moment you take hyperventilating in an archway means seconds tick by, losing your nerve and wanting to run away adds a few more, and talking yourself back into this crazy profession gives a grand total of fifteen seconds.

Fifteen whole seconds.

When you steal from divine beings for a living, you really can’t afford to lose so much time. It turns out that the wrath of the gods is nothing to joke about. You see, they’re a greedy bunch, greedier than thieves like me by a long shot. They’re also real keen on keeping the enormous pile of gold and ancient artifacts in their possession. I swear when my fingers grip around the rim of some chalice, I can feel their wrath weigh down on me.

That’s why I always follow three golden rules: always arrive early, never chicken out on a job, and above all else, always trust your gut. They can mess with your mind and throw off your senses, hell they can even sick their pooches on you, but they can’t fool your instincts. If you start ignoring those, you’re as good as dead.
 

Originally posted on Typetrigger. Fiction in 300 words or less.
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