So I came back. For a long time, I was asleep on the machine. Slowly, the sky turned blue, and the sun became golden again. I could finally breathe easily. The hands on my dials spun backwards as I travelled into the past. Soon, I recognised the familiar buildings of our own time. The passing of days and nights slowed down, and the walls of my laboratory appeared around me.
I saw one very strange thing. My servant, Mrs Watchett, moved quickly across the room. But because I was travelling backwards in time, she was walking backwards!
When the machine finally stopped, I looked around. My tools were exactly where I had left them. I got off the machine, sat down on a chair, and shook violently with exhaustion. After a few minutes, I calmed down. Everything looked so normal that I thought the whole adventure was just a bad dream.
But I knew it was real! When I started my journey, the Time Machine was in one corner of the room. Now, it was on the opposite side. This was the exact distance between my garden and the White Sphinx, where the Morlocks had moved it.
I got up and walked slowly down the hall. I was limping because my foot hurt, and my clothes were covered in dirt. I saw today's newspaper on a table and noticed it was almost eight o'clock in the evening. I heard your voices and the happy sound of dinner plates. I waited for a moment because I felt sick and weak. But then I smelled the hot food. I opened the door and walked in. You know the rest. I washed, I ate my dinner, and now I have told you my story.