The Successor

A little story I came up with during writing exam.
Just thought I'd share it...

It was a sunny afternoon in Cambridge, a holiday. Students were lying supine in the sunshine, dining on fancy picnic blankets, chattering about gossip, but not Isaac.
Isaac was a hard-working student. He was fascinated about how substances react with other substances to become an entirely new thing. Every other day, he would shut himself in the laboratory and play around with chemicals.
Today, he was wondering how much sodium hydroxide is required to completely neutralise a cup of hydrochloric acid. He watched carefully as he waited for the phenophthalein to turn pink.
At the peak of his concentration, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed ripples in the sodium chloride solution. Before he could react, the ground beneath him shook violently and the lights above him flickered on and off repeatedly. Watching in shock as his apparatus was shattered to pieces and glass shards flying all over the place, he paid no attention that he was backing up slowly. It was too late when we figured it out, as he tripped over a stool and fell face-down on the birch wood floor.
Unbeknownst to him, the globe on his desk was separated from its hinges, rolling on the slanted surface towards him. Isaac looked up, and the last thing he saw, was Planet Earth hurling towards him with an acceleration of 9.81 metres per second squared.
Isaac felt himself floating on a watery surface, a cool breeze blowing on his skinny body. Out in the distance, he heard someone call out his name, as if the sound was from another dimension. Suddenly, he felt a strong hand pulling his wrist, pulling him out of the water.
Isaac immediately breathed for air and opened his eyes in shock, to meet face-to-face with the science professor, his face just as shocked.
“Woah, easy!” exclaimed the professor.
“Wh- what happened?” stammered Isaac.
The professors’ eyes swept the room, “Well, from what I’m seeing, you tripped over that stool and a globe hit you hard on the head.”
Isaac stood up slowly and looked around him - glass, intact; titration set-up, good as new; furniture, not even a scratch.
Dazed and confused, he turned to his professor, “So that earthquake...?”
“Ain’t no earthquake in England for years, dear boy,” said the professor, eyeing the experiment set-up.
Isaac frowned and went to the window - people were still chatting on picnic mats, frittering the hours away, as if nothing had happened.
The professor stepped forward and put a hand on Isaac’s forehead, “Son, have you been on mescaline or something?”
“No,” Isaac uttered. “I’m perfectly sane.”
“If you say so,” said the professor, walking towards the door. “Then I’ll be going.”
Isaac, on the brink of insanity, tried to remember what he had experienced. Earthquake, everything falling, trips over stool, globe...
“Globe,” Isaac muttered to himself. Then, he realised, the only thing remained the same as the strange happening, was the globe.
Isaac walked cautiously towards the globe and kneeled down. Picking up the sphere of blue and green, he observed carefully any anomalies on its surface. Then, he found a crack, very tiny, almost invisible to the naked eye.
The crack, he deduced, was produced during the impact with his cranium. But what amazed him, was the fact that crack was located on Britain - more specifically, on the small university town of Cambridge, exactly where he is now.
Isaac’s fear and confusion was quickly replaced by curiosity and interest, as his rational brain tried to comprehend the situation and come up with a scientific explanation - Was it the titration? Did he accidentally burnt some hallucination-inducing chemicals? Is he simply overdriven?
As he was still coming up with some possible explanations, a small sound of cracking wood rung in his sensitive ears. Looking closet at the globe, it was clear that the crack was getting bigger. Another crack tore across the English Channel and cut France in half.
In a matter of seconds, the globe was reduced to nothing but wood shreds as the sphere suddenly collapsed with a bang. Using his brilliant brain, Isaac came to a conclusion that this is paranormal activity, and is something logic can not explain.
Then, on his hand, a note appeared - Isaac swore it wasn’t there before. He picked it up - it was very old with yellow edges, yet it had a silky touch. And with elegant handwriting, written in gold, “Midnight, under the apple tree; come alone.”
At this point, Isaac turned off his mind and let all this absurdity sail downstream. His mind was trained by the scientific method, so he cannot comprehend this madness, but more importantly, he wanted answers - and the perfect opportunity was under the apple tree.
It was a starless black sky when midnight approached, the only light sources being the big white moon and the faint glow of street lamps. A hooded figure climbed silently out of a dormitory window and snuck quickly around the corner. When Isaac reached the shrivelled apple tree, he lifted his hood and looked at the clock tower - 11:56, only four minutes later, and everything will be revealed. His heart was pumping with excitement as the minutes tick by slowly.
All of a sudden, the clock tower struck, breaking the silence of the long night. Isaac looked around to see if anyone was coming, but even after the bell ring twelve times, the street was empty.
Isaac sighed in disappointment and started to walk back to his dorms. However, he found out he couldn’t move his legs. He was about to cry for help but then he saw the street lamps and buildings dissolve into pitch black.
“It’s happening,” he thought to himself as everything around him dissolved into nothingness. He felt water around him but he wasn’t wet. Isaac stood up and gasped for air, and what he saw amazed him.
Overhead an albatross hung motionless upon the air, it was flying, but it was as if it was frozen in time. Looking down a cliff, deep beneath the rolling waves were labyrinths of coral caves. The air blew towards him carrying along the songs of the wind, and Isaac felt grass brushing against his ankle. Everything was greenish and submarine.
Suddenly, Isaac heard a rumbling sound behind him - a huge apple tree, not like the scrawny one around the street, with big, ripe apples that would make anyone’s mouths water. He was reaching for an apple when he heard a weak voice coming from beside him.
“Hello, Isaac,” the voice said.
Isaac looked down to see an old man in old robes sitting on the ground. He was drawing a diagram of the solar system.
“How do you know my name?” Isaac asked.
“I have known you for a long time,” the man continued.
“Sorry, I really don’t recognise you.”
“I, am Galileo.”
“Galileo, like the Galileo Galilei?”
“That’s me.”
“Aren’t you supposed to me, um, dead?”
“I still am, but I cannot rest until I find someone worthy to carry on with my life’s work. Someone to be my successor, and that someone is none other than you, Isaac Newton.”
“Wait, me?” stammered Isaac in disbelief. “I’m just a kid, I haven’t even graduated from Cambridge and...”
“Yes, you. After my untimely death, I set out on my quest to find a successor, and one year after my death, you were born. I looked into your future and I finally found someone equal to me - no, even better than me.”
“So you saw my future?”
“Wanna watch?” Galileo asked with a smile.
“Wait, what...” Before Isaac could answer, Galileo stood up and touched him in the forehead, and Isaac’s vision went black.
Suddenly, he saw teachers teaching students about Newton’s laws of motion, he saw professors studying his works on a futuristic square machine, he saw different scientists making different breakthroughs in science based on his works. Isaac saw he was important and he would change the world.
Soon after, he was back in the realm of Galileo Galilei. “You see?” said Galileo. “Are you willing to accept this challenge?”
Newton was too shocked for words. Knowing his future made him even more uncertain about it. He thought of the setbacks and challenges he would need to overcome, but then he thought about the discoveries he would be making, and how it would benefit future generations. He came to the conclusion that it was worth it.
Isaac looked at his predecessor in the eye, “Yes, I’m ready.”
Galileo smiled and picked an apple from the tree, “Take a bite, Isaac Newton.”
Isaac grabbed the apple. “I will never disappoint you,” he said as he took a bite.
Then, everything sunk into the blinding light. Isaac felt his brain expand and felt knowledge flowing into the veins. He saw electrons flying through the air and saw the galaxy revolving around and around. He was overwhelmed with this sudden influx of power and he passed out.
“Boy, what is it with you and fainting suddenly?” a familiar voice said.
Isaac got up instantly and looked at his professor gleefully. “What happened?” he asked, knowing exactly what had happened.
“Well, from what I’m seeing here, an apple fell from that tree and hit you hard on the head,” the professor said.
Isaac looked at the apple tree - it was now full of green leaves and red juicy apples. On top of a branch stood an albatross, which flies away after looking at him.
Isaac smiled and ran towards the laboratory without saying a word, leaving a very puzzled science professor behind.
I’m sure you know how the rest of the story goes.

Thank you.