Uribe Ariza Daniela, Reverse Happiness

REVERSE HAPPINESS

Written by Daniela Uribe Ariza

It was a bright sunny Saturday in New York City, and Laia was free to do wherever she wanted. She decided she was going to get ready, have breakfast, and go to the museum. There was this museum where she wanted to go that had a new exhibition since last week, it was an exposition about rare inventions that people had created. She got ready, she was wearing her favorite pants and a blue shirt, she brushed her black hair and then combed it in a ponytail, she looked at the mirror, and stared at her round face, her skin was bright and soft. She applied some mascara to her almond-shaped eyes. She went to take breakfast and then after brushing her teeth she took the keys and went out of the apartment. As she was walking in the street she could hear the birds singing, the museum was close to her home so she was able to get there in 15 minutes.

The entrance of the exhibition was free because it was Saturday and was still early. After 2:00 pm the entrance would cost. She first went to visit the second floor where there were a lot of very interesting machines, then she went to the first floor, slowly observing all the machines until she found one that especially caught her attention and made her stay longer observing it. It was very small compared to the others and had a lot of details, there was a label on top of it that said that it was a time machine which was interesting. —Because; you would imagine a time machine to be something big that you could get inside.—

She got too close to the machine and suddenly the little machine apparently turned on and the lights went off and it immediately came back on; she felt as If she had just witnessed a flash of lightning in front of her because there was a green light in it, but she didn’t pay much attention to it.

That day after visiting the museum, she went for lunch at her favorite restaurant that served pasta, and then she

went home to rest and watch a sci-fi movie. That night she had dinner with her mother, and she told her about her day at the museum and the interesting Little machine, they both laughed and she went to bed early. The next day when she woke up she was not in her room. She thought she was still asleep because she was in a very big room all white with nothing in there, just her laying on the floor. She tried to tell herself to wake up but apparently, she was already awake. She stood up, she went out of the room and found out that she was in a building, she saw a guy, that was dressed all in white and had an apron on top of his shirt, and she asked what was the room where she got out from and the guy said it was the new room for breakfast but that was not ready yet for hosting, “you can find breakfast for now going straight that corridor”, she noticed a different accent that she was already used to, and she responded “hosting, what do you mean, where am I”, the man said, “you are in Marriott Hotel in London”.

She was scared and couldn’t believe what was happening, so she said; “how is it possible that I was at home last night and now I’m in London”, then she remembered about the time machine in the museum and then she asked herself “is it really possible”, “am I just dreaming.” She took the elevator and got to the lobby, she asked the woman at the reception If she had seen her coming in last night or if there was a record of her in the hotel, apparently, she didn’t check-in, in the hotel and there was no clue how she got there. She paid for some breakfast in the hotel and then asked where she could find a library.

One hour later after eating and traveling in the metro, she was able to reach the nearest library. She went in and started looking for books about traveling in time, she found one and started reading it, there, it said that many people have tried along history to make time traveling machines but that none of them were proved to work; although there were certain

discoveries of people who came and made predictions and then suddenly disappeared, this was not yet understood or proved to be true. She couldn’t find in the book representation of a machine like the one she saw in the museum. She sat down and think, as she didn’t know what to do or who could believe her, she was still processing everything that had happened to her that morning.

Then another girl came and ask “do you mind if I sit here”, Laia said that it was fine, the girl sat down with her computer. After some minutes Laia decided to say Hello and introduced herself, following she asked; “do you believe in time traveling”, the girl answered right away “well I think it sounds kind of fantasy but I know many people are very deep into the idea of trying to travel in time” Then Laia said that she just had an unbelievable experience that she couldn’t even believe herself. She told her about the museum and how she woke up in London that morning.

The girl was astonished but in her eyes, you could see that she wasn’t sure if to believe or not, they stayed a long time talking and the girl offered Laia to stay at her house that night since she told her that she had no money and no idea how to go back. The girl’s name was Willow. The next day Willow lend some money to Laia so she could travel home and check if everything was normal and check out if maybe she had just flown to London overnight. First, she contacted, the US Embassy in London and she said that she was an American citizen and that she needed a provisional Passport because her Passport had been lost, the Embassy was so nice with Laia, after checking her personal information, they provided a Passport for her to travel back to New York, the same day, and she left the Embassy to the airport right way, she bought her ticket.

When she got to New York and went home she found that

there was another family living at her house and that these people didn’t know anything about her parents. In the middle of her confusions, she tried to go back to the museum to see if anyone could give her any answer, but the person in charge told her that; all the machines have been brought to the national museum of England 20 years ago, she was confounded and didn’t know what to do to get her life back, so she decided to use the money she had left to fly back to London, after explaining everything that had happened, Willow agreed to let Laia stay at her place until she found the way to get her life back in New York.

Time raced by, and Laia was still trying to find the time machine that she used in New York, meanwhile, she also started to work in a nail-salon, which had always been her dream since she was younger, she was really good at it and also she needed to work to find enough money to help her research, and amid the time she spent with Willow, they both got very close, and Willow loved it when Laia fixed her nails at night while Willow is telling her about the books she had read. One day like any other day, Laia found a place where supposedly they used to keep the machines, Laia and Willow decided to go there and check it out and on their way, Laia noticed something very interesting on the road, it was another time machine similar to the one Laia had seen on the museum, they got closer to observe and couldn’t see anybody around that could be the owner of the thing. they both got out of the car and Laia held the artifact in her hands, it was very cold and she noticed that this one didn’t have any buttons. They returned home and Laia kept the machine in her room.

A few days later, Willow and Laia sat down at the table to talk, Willow asked Laia if she had figured out how the machine worked, Laia said no but that she would keep investigating.

They kept talking for some time until they got sleepy and went to bed.

Two months later, Willow was worried about her friend Laia as she had been worried and sad because she couldn’t fix the little machine for her to have her life back. Willow decided to organize a little surprise welcome party for Laia, she invited some of their friends from work and neighbors, When Laia came from work, she noticed multiple cars parking outside but the light was switched off from Willow’s house, as she entered the house, and switched on the light, everyone shouted; “Welcome to London Laia, We love you” she got scared a little bit and then she felt enchanted and immensely happy and loved, she couldn’t believe that Willow had done such thing for her.

Everybody was happy and enjoying the party. It was an unforgettable night for Laia, they danced until their feet hurt. That night, Laia stepped outside to get some air, as she had been dancing, shouting, she was running out of breath, she needed to get some fresh air. She looked at the sky and noticed some beautiful stars and all the memories from the past months went through Laia’s mind, remembering everything that had happened, how she woke up in London, how the people in charge of the museum told her that the machine was transferred in England for the past 20 years, and all the search she had been doing for the past couple months, trying to find the little machine, but later all these sorrowful memories were turned into a smile when she remembered the welcome party that Willow had organized for her, which made her feel welcomed in the country.

It had been a really nice evening and now she felt like she was comfortable and it seemed as if she would have accepted to live in this reality forever. But there was still one thing that had her worried and that made her still want to go back, the

fact that her mother would be terrified because she suddenly disappeared and was nowhere to be found. She wanted to know that her mother was alright.

The party ended and the two girls had a small talk, Laia was enormously grateful for her friendship and everything she did for her, she couldn’t stop thanking her for understanding her situation, for being there at all times and always encouraging her to pursue her dreams and help her when she was having trouble with anything and Willow simply said; “Don’t mention it..that’s what friends are there for,” Willow later asked Laia how she was feeling then and Laia responded that the last few months had been tough for her but that it was a great learning experience and that she was more cheerful that night. Both girls were happy and went to sleep that night with the thought that the next day would be a wonderful day full of new emotions and new life experiences to live.

The following day, Birds were singing and there was a little light coming from the window which meant it was already daylight and time to get up, when Laia got up she found that the machine at the “night table” was on and had a green light on it, she stood up very fast from her bed with the thought that maybe she had returned home, she looked out the window and found that the outside didn’t look like the same road and the same houses and trees that were outside willows house, it looked like outside of her mother’s house, she got out of the room and proved that it was indeed her mother’s house and that she had returned home.

She stepped out of the room anxiously, and ran to her mother’s room to check if she was okay and found her getting out of bed, she had just woke up, she said “hello sweetie how did you sleep last night” and Laia said “I slept okay but mother are you okay, I’m sorry that I was missing for a while, but if you allow me, I can explain”, then mother said” what do you

mean missing, I saw you last night and we ate dinner together, I also hugged you before you went to sleep”, then Laia was astonished because she had been in London for half a year but to her Mom, it was like, It had never happened. Her mother asked her” what happened sweetie why do you seem so surprised”, then Laia started to explain everything with all the details. When she finished she added that she wanted to go back because she didn’t say goodbye to her friend and didn’t want things to end up like that.

Her mother sighed and told her; “Hahaha, Honey, breathe slowly! It was just a dream, yesterday, you told me about a machine, you saw at the museum when we were having dinner” her mother grabbed the little machine in her hands, and she explained to her daughter; “Honey, this is just a 100W Sterilizer Machine, you wanted for your birthday, and the little green light just indicates the temperature, and since its automatic, it readjusts as the temperature changes”

Laia was so surprised about everything, and she finally realized that everything that happened was just a dream, she thanked her mother so much for the surprise gift that she had always wanted, to start her own nail salon.

A few months later, Laia was able to open her first salon with the help of her mother, and as she was happy about her new achievement, One day like any other day, a client walked in her nail salon, holding 4 books in her left hand and she asked her to fix her nails, when she laid her eyes on her, this person looked very familiar, and Laia asked her where she was coming from since she had a foreign accent, the client responded I’m Willow, and I come from London and she added, “I broke my nails in the library, while I was looking for these books, It may sound crazy, but do you believe in time traveling?” Laia was shocked when she heard that, as she felt that she was living her dream, but she smiled happily and

proceeded the conversation by saying, “Willow is good to see you again, do you remember me?, I’m Laia your friend, we met in the library do you remember?”

Then Willow answered, “how do you know my name?” “ I know things about the future”, Laia answered smilingly. Then Laia added, “I’m glad you’re here so I can fix your nails”. They continued the conversation, Willow and Laia were getting along just so well and after getting her nails done, they exchanged their phone numbers and they kept in touch ever since. Until one day, Laia invited Willow to her house, and Willow gladly accepted the invitation.

It was a sunny day when Willow arrived at Laia’s house. Laia’s mother opened the door, she looked at her very kindly and said, “Hello, how may I help you?” Then Willow said, “Let me introduce myself, I’m Willow, a friend of Laia, is she home?” Then her mother responded, “yes she is home, please come in, we were expecting you.” They sat down at the table to have a chat.

The conversation was going well and then Willow remembered and asked Laia if she could please tell her about the future since she had told her that she knew things about the future, then Laia started to explain her dream, she explained everything that happened in her dream, how she ended up in London and she also mentioned where Willow stays in London, and so much more; then Willow interrupted her hurriedly and ask, “wait, that is exactly where I live in London and I do go very often to that library, How could you possibly know that information?.” Then Laia answered that she lived every moment and that for her, It didn’t feel like a dream. Then Laia’s mother, all surprised asked her daughter, “So this is the girl you told me about right sweetheart?” then Laia said, yes mother she is Willow from London.