Past Tense Novels & Stories

Yes. She was here. Now. Back in the present. Alice finally looked up, her voice cracked and soft. “I… I was just in Tipas.” Odette frowned. “Yeah, you’ve been here all night.” Alice stood slowly, eyes still scanning the yard as if pieces of the past would break through at any moment. “No. I mean, Tipas, in 1953.” That got their attention. Johnson’s brows shot up. “What?” “I time-traveled again,” Alice said, louder now. “Just for a few minutes, I think. Maybe more.”

he asked and I frowned at him. “Huh?” I don’t know what is he even talking about. “It’s nearly dinner time and here you thinking about having breakfast.” When he uttered those words I glanced around to see that it is near to dark. “I just forgot the time and it happens.” I mumbled shrugging and started walking towards my tent holding the article carefully feeling my legs gone too stiff. And he just followed me silently without saying anything else. Why is he irritated just because I forgot the time? I shook my head and entered the tent only to stop in my tracks.

Hendrix sighed heavily and replied, "Mr. Scott, I'm afraid I can't provide the negatives right now. I'll try to re-shoot the series and send them to you as soon as possible." "Alright. Take your time," Jefferson replied. "The visa process will take at least half a month anyway." "Okay." Sabrina caught the key word. "Visa? You're going abroad?"

he again sweetly replied "what past? it happened five fucking minutes ago?" I'm surprised by his answer like you don't call five minutes ago a past, five years ago is a past, five months ago is what you call a past. A certain period of time that is no longer in existence, but he just said what? "Yeah it happened five minutes ago; that's past, right? you used ago" he said with finger quoting "Are you saying five minutes is past to you?" I pause and wait for his answer " it's present you dumbass, it happened in the present, like NOW" I raised my eyebrow,

Past tense. I noticed the past tense. I stood there and I thought about the distance between those two sentences and what it meant and what came next and the specific weight of a life that was finally, irrevocably, moving in only one direction. My phone buzzed on the counter. It was Ray. “How are you?” I picked it up. I looked at it for a long moment. Then I typed back, “He knows. Not everything. But enough. Can you talk?” I put the phone down and waited. Then my phone rang in under a minute.

The asking of the actual question when the adults around her are circling it. Damien looks at his younger daughter. "It means the history stops being present," he says. "It happened. It's in the record. It doesn't go away. But it stops requiring active management." He holds her gaze. "It becomes the past tense version of itself." "Past tense," Elise says. "Past tense," he confirms. "What does that feel like?" she says. Damien is quiet for a moment. "I don't know yet," he says honestly. "It just arrived Wednesday. I've been in the present tense of it for so long that the pa

I said in a soft voice. He nodded “Yes. I know what i said. Theresa was the love of my life. But she ‘was’ liv. It is in the past tense. I wanted to have a future with you, I begged you to stay but you threw all that away goe Conrad. Who is dead. You decided to stay in the past while giving up the future we could have had” he said with a clenched jaw his eyes filled with pain. He turned and walked towards the door. I watched him leave with a fallen shoulder. It was evident that he was not enjoying this. That he did not want this.

As she was about to open up to her sister, her parents who were about to enter, paused and thought to listen to her confession behind the door. "My boyfriend!" Jean said. "Wait! What? You have a boyfriend?" June asked. "Had!" Jean said, trying to make her sister understand that her tie with her boyfriend was broken. Thus using the past tense 'had.' "I had a boyfriend. But he is no longer my boyfriend after I caught him in bed with another lady," Jean said. "That son of a nobody was playing me all along. He would make ridiculous demands not knowing he was giving my monthly allowance that I give to him to another lady," Jean revealed.

You see, I was waiting for a letter from Max, and I hoped that he was playing a little nicer now that I gave him a taste of how mean he was to me. Maybe now he will understand that some people just don't like being rude too. Everything works out in the end my mum use to say. I don't think I can get use to the past tense thing of 'Used to' and if I do...when will it be? Next week? Month? Year? I try to focus on the things that are happening at the here and now like my friends for example.

I would hate for something to happen to you. A pause. *The way something happened to Vivienne.* Darius stopped the playback. The car was quiet for a moment. "The way something happened," Darius said. "Not the way something might happen. Not the way something has happened. The way something happened." He paused. "Present perfect. Specific. A completed event." "He knows she is dead," I said. "He knows exactly how she is dead," Darius said. "That is not the language of a grieving father hoping for his daughter's return. That is the language of a man describing something he has complete information about."