Time Travel Issue 1

Time Travel Stories Magazine

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

Accidently In the Future

by Anonymous Holly Park jogged through the streets of New York City, she gets lost every single time she goes out. It was midnight, freezing, and of course raining. “Just my luck…” Usually when Holly gets lost she can ask anyone around her. But now, nobody was here to help. Holly softly wept. “Could my day get ANY worse?” She yelled at the world. In a flash, the sky lit up.

Soon after a huge boom of thunder was all to be heard. She ran into an alley way to stay dry.

When the storm died down a bit, she looked at the other side. Her apartment complex was right there! She happily jogged to the other side of the alley. She saw a strange electric current, but didn’t think anything of it and ran to her apartment which looked oddly different, and older. She didn’t care tough; she walked straight to her room and fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow on the couch. When Holly woke up something felt different. Everything looked the same, same carpet, same wall color, same curtains. “That’s odd...” She walked around her apartment, everything still looked the same. She looked out of her window, and her heart sunk into her chest. Everything was different.

She ran outside. All of the plants and trees were gone, the buildings looked very modern, and the people were riding on little hover-­‐crafts. What is going on? Holly started running.

Not to any place specifically, but she wanted to find answers. "WHAT YEAR IS IT, ANYONE?" Everyone just starred at her oddly and went on with their lives. She spent all day looking around and at all the people; she needed to find answers, quick. She ran to where the old Louis Vuitton store was, except it wasn't Louis Vuitton. It was a store for robotic animals.

She called out, "can anybody help me, and I just want some answers! What year is it, and how did I get here?" All she got was strange looks and giggles. Finally, a man came up to her.

"Excuse me, who are you?"

"My name is Holly, I think I’m from a different time period, please help me."

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine "Well Holly, my name is Daniel, I am a scientist, and inventor, and I think I know how you got here,” she was so scared she couldn't even understand him. All she heard was alley, lightning, and metal. "So," Daniel said, "would you like to go home?"

Daniel brought Holly to the alley way. "Does this look familiar?"

“Yes,” she replied “This is the alley where I stayed while the-­‐-­‐.”

“Good, then I know how to take you back,” he interrupted. She starred at him, feeling nothing but joyfulness, happiness, and gratitude. Daniel brought her to his laboratory. He led her to an object bigger than an elephant that was under a sheet. Daniel revealed what was under the sheet. It was a time machine that he invented about three years earlier. “Are you sure this is legit?” Holly asked.

“It works, if that’s what you’re asking. I am from your time, actually a little ahead of your time. I invented this, wanting to see the past and future. It took years of hard work, but it got me here, so it can take you home. Now, would you like to go in?” Holly hesitated, but stepped in.

“I can’t thank you enough, Daniel. You helped me and I can never repay you for that.”

“Its fine,” He interrupted, “Tell my brother, Taylor that I’m doing fine.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know any Taylor’s.”

“You will.” Daniel pressed 2011, and Holly vanished into thin air.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

The Bike Ride of a Lifetime

by Anonymous “Clean your room!” Caitlyn’s mom yelled up the stairs.

“No! I don’t have any time since I actually have a life… unlike you!” Caitlyn retorted.

“Caitlyn Anne McVey, get down here this instant!” Extremely frustrated, Caitlyn slammed her bedroom door and pounded down the stairs. When she got down, her mom demanded that she hand over her cell phone until she cleaned her room from top to bottom. Caitlyn thrust the phone at her mom and stomped back up the stairs. As she entered the doorway of her room, endless piles of clothes and other items overwhelmed her. In no mood to clean, she yelled to her mom that she was going to go for a bike ride and slammed the front door behind her. “Don’t go too far, you don’t have your phone!” her mom yelled but Caitlyn had already left.

She grabbed her ancient, rusty bike and headed out, unsure of where she was going. After what seemed like a never-­‐ending ride of dirt roads and vast country, she ended up in the middle of a town. It surely wasn’t her town. She figured it must be one of the neighboring towns. It was small. There was a post office, a dumpy restaurant and a tiny grocery store. In the distance, she saw a hill and she decided she would bike just a little farther. As she pedaled up the hill, she heard a loud pop underneath her. Hopping off her bike, she looked down and sure enough, she had a flat tire. Her hand immediately went to her pocket to retrieve her phone but the empty pocket reminded her of the fight she had with her mom a few hours ago. “No!” she shouted to the deserted area around her, “How am I ever going to get home!?” Sighing, she collapsed to the ground and began thinking of how she could possibly get home. Then, she looked over the top of the large grassy hill and saw a small flash of blue. Curious and with nothing else to do, she decide to go down and see what it was.

Leaving her useless bike, she slowly walked down the steep hill. When she finally got to the bottom, she saw the navy blue color that had been visible even from the top of the hill. Much Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine to her luck, it was a phone booth. Thank goodness, she thought. Now Mom can pick up me and my bike! Caitlyn walked into the booth and found that it was very old. Dust covered the walls and an old-­‐fashioned telephone was hung on the back wall. She brushed off the keypad with her sleeve and dialed her home phone number.

As soon as she was done dialing, she knew something was wrong. Instead of the ringing she expected, a sharp beeping tone hit her ear. All of the sudden, the phone booth started to turn in circles and it started shaking rapidly. This is nothing like the rides at an amusement park, Caitlyn thought to herself. Then, sounds started to come from the old-­‐fashioned phone. They sounded like music, but she couldn’t make out any of the songs because they were changing too quickly. Then, as quickly as it had started, everything was still. She took a huge breath that was a combination of exhaustion, relief and uncertainty and she opened the door of the booth.

She had no idea what to expect outside of the telephone booth, but it definitely wasn’t what she was looking at. The sky was a brilliant, bright blue with no clouds to be seen and the grass was a vibrant green. The flowers looked so perfect they surely could not be real. As Caitlyn looked into the restaurant across the street, she could see robots serving the diners.

“How am I ever going to get out of here?” Caitlyn yelled to nobody in particular.

Then, all of the sudden she heard a loud, roaring noise and she felt something fly right above her head. She tried to duck or move out of the way but right then, the boy driving the sleek flying vehicle cut the engine and hopped off. “What were you trying to do? Get yourself killed?” he said to her.

“N..n...no,” she stammered, “This is all a mistake. I was just about to leave to go back home.”

Caitlyn turned around and just as she reached her hand out for the door handle of the telephone booth, she realized it was no longer there. “I don’t know where my telephone booth went. It was just here!” she yelled as she began to panic.

“Miss, telephones haven’t been used since the year 2200,” he replied.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine There was a moment of silence before Caitlyn asked “What year is it?”

“Today’s date is June 24th 2973” he replied with slight hesitation, worried about what her reaction might be.

“How did I get here? I am NEVER going to get back! I’m going to be trapped here forever!” she yelled as she collapsed. Surprisingly, when she hit the ground it was soft. “Why is the road soft?” she muttered.

“It’s an invention that came out a couple hundred years ago,” the boy explained “The road is typically hard, but when somebody falls on it, it becomes soft. It has prevented many injuries. In fact, hospitals rarely have to see patients anymore.”

Speechless, Caitlyn just stared into space as tears welled up in her eyes. “Come on” the boy said “I’ll help you up and bring you back to my house. We’ll feed you some dinner and help you get cleaned up.” As she took his hand and stood up on the road that was now hard again, he said “I’m Jake, by the way.”

“I’m Caitlyn,” she said as a smile took over her face. Up close, she could now see his warm smile and his cute brown eyes. He then helped her onto his rocket and they took off for his house. In what seemed like a few seconds, they arrived. “I feel really rude just traipsing into your house. I don’t know if this is a good idea.” Caitlyn said as they both hopped off the rocket.

“Don’t worry at all!” Jake reassured her “It’s no problem.” Caitlyn decided this reassurance was enough and they walked up to the house.

The moment she stepped inside, Caitlyn could tell that this was one of the nicest houses in the neighborhood. Crystal chandeliers hung from the tall ceiling and ornate paintings covered the walls. As she admired the beautiful house, Caitlyn felt something brush against her foot. When she looked down, she saw it was a miniature robot. “Don’t mind the robots.

They’re just cleaning the house,” Jake explained.

Just then, Jake’s mom waltzed into the room. “Hello Jake! It looks like you’ve brought company!” Caitlyn smiled and introduced herself, surprised at the instant kindness his mom Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine showed her. “I’m Debra!” she announced. After hearing Caitlyn’s story of how she had arrived to the town, which she learned was named Bollocksberg, Debra exclaimed “I am so glad Jake found you! If he didn’t, who knows what you would have done?” Their family’s closeness and kindness gave Caitlyn a warm, welcoming feeling that made almost made her forget that her family was nothing like them.

There was a short pause and then Debra led Caitlyn to her room so she could clean up. It was apparent that Caitlyn had had a rough day by the dirt on her clothes, messy hair, smeared makeup and the scrape on her knee -­‐-­‐ which she figured was from all of the shaking and movement in the telephone booth. When she got to the room, instead of the t-­‐ shirt and hairbrush she was expecting, Debra handed her a device of some sort. It resembled a cell phone but there was no keypad; only what looked to be a power button and a touch screen. “We’ll find you something great to wear,” Debra announced. She scanned Caitlyn’s body and then began scrolling through clothing items using the touch screen. Finally finding something that satisfied her, Debra scanned Caitlyn once again and suddenly Caitlyn’s muddy t-­‐shirt and shorts turned into an adorable sundress. “Now for the hair!” Debra said as she began to scroll through different hairstyles. “What do you think: curly or straight?” she asked. Caitlyn reached up to touch her messy hair and decided on curly. Once again, Debra scanned Caitlyn and the frizzy pile of hair that had been lying on her head turned into soft, beautiful curls. Finally, Debra chose a makeup look from the scanner and put it on Caitlyn. “Are you ready for some dinner?” Debra asked.

“Yes!” Caitlyn said with a smile. She couldn’t wait to meet the rest of the family.

Caitlyn and Debra greeted everyone as they walked into the dining room. Jake’s dad was tall with a scruffy beard and a thoughtful look on his face. Jake’s two younger sisters had beautiful long braids and were giggling about something. Then there was Jake and two empty seats for Caitlyn and Debra. They sat down and Jake’s dad, Leo, placed empty plates in front of everyone. Jake’s family immediately started scrolling through food options on the plates and Caitlyn quickly caught on. She picked out a juicy hamburger and fries and the moment she selected it, her empty plate turned into a full one. Soon, everyone else’s plates were full and they all began to eat.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine After everyone was almost finished with their meals, Debra finally brought up that fact that they had to find a way to get Caitlyn home. This made Caitlyn thankful but at the same time, slightly disappointed. She really liked Jake and the rest of his family. “Is there some kind of time machine we could use?” Caitlyn asked.

Jake shook his head and said “Time machines will only take you to the past for a short amount of time. They don’t allow you to stay there. People have tried it before to be with grandparents, relatives or friends and it doesn’t work. At one point or another, the time machine forces them to go back to the current time.”

A silence filled the table until Leo said “Caitlyn, the only way you could possibly get back is the telephone booth. Do you have any idea where it is?”

“Not a clue,” Caitlyn replied as she let out a deep sigh.

“Well then, Caitlyn will stay with us indefinitely” Debra chimed in. A smile crossed Caitlyn’s face but it soon faded when she realized that she may never see her family again. She knew they could be a pain at times, but she truly loved them.

After another minute of silence went by, the oldest of Jake’s younger sisters jumped out of her chair and exclaimed that Caitlyn could share a room with her. They decided that they were both tired and the sister, Chelsie, led Caitlyn up to her room while the miniature robots cleaned off the table.

When they got upstairs, the girls quickly got ready and Caitlyn scanned herself into comfy pajamas. After they were all ready, Chelsie scanned through beds on one of her devices until she found what looked to be a comfy one and chose it for Caitlyn. The walls of the room immediately expanded and Caitlyn’s bed was placed by Chelsie’s. They both got into their beds and right before she turned off the light, Chelsie put on what looked like some kind of helmet. Curious, Caitlyn asked what it was. Cheslie explained, “It’s how the children of our society learn everything. Instead of going to school like people did in the early 2000’s, we simply wear these helmets at night and the information is scanned into our brains.”

Shocked, Caitlyn didn’t reply and Chelsie turned off the light just by pointing her finger at the switch. Caitlyn had a long night of worrying and thinking ahead of her.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

The next morning, Caitlyn and Chelsie woke up early. For Chelsie, it was because she didn’t need much sleep. With all the technological inventions, people didn’t have to do much anymore. For Caitlyn, it was because she just couldn’t sleep. Thoughts of her life; her family, friends and town circled through her head. Just two days ago, her biggest worry was not wanting to clean her room and now she didn’t know if she would ever be in that room again.

After choosing a breakfast from her plate and scanning on an outfit, Caitlyn was ready for the day. Jake’s family decided that since they didn’t know how long she would be staying, they would show her around town and let her explore all the inventions and technologies of the year 2973. Their first stop was an amusement park. When they got there, instead of the rides Caitlyn was expecting she saw rows of chairs with headsets attached to the top. At this point, unusual things didn’t really surprise her but she still inquired what the chairs were and why there were no rides there. Jake explained that just by sitting in one of the chairs and placing your head in the headset, people could select any ride they wanted and it would really feel like they were riding it with graphics, sound and movement. He said that the chairs were much less expensive than the maintenance of actual rides but it was just as exciting. Each family member took their own chair and an hour later, they were off to lunch.

She had expected the amusement park to cheer her up, but instead it just made her miss her hometown’s amusement park.

For lunch, they went to a small Mexican restaurant that was just outside of town. From the outside, it looked like any other restaurant Caitlyn had ever seen and she was relieved that there was finally something normal. Once they entered the restaurant though, she found it was anything but normal. No real people worked in the restaurant, only robots. The robot servers hardly even did anything. They merely gave the diners empty plates and took their payment at the end of the meal. The rest of the meal was served by the plates that allowed people to choose their food and the drinking glasses that automatically refilled drinks when they got low. Again, Caitlyn’s hope of finally doing something normal was crushed.

Their final stop was the spa. Caitlyn was most looking forward to this one because it was her favorite thing to do in 2011 and she hoped it would relieve some of her stress -­‐-­‐ even if just Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine for an hour. When they got there, Caitlyn was disappointed yet again. They selected nail designs and hairstyles from scanners and massages were given them by automatic massage chairs. In these past 24 hours, Caitlyn went from almost being glad that she was trapped in 2973 with Jake and his family to being willing to do anything to get home. When they got home, Jake invited Caitlyn to watch a movie, whatever that word meant anymore, with him and his sisters but she refused. Instead, she went to her bedroom and went to bed.

The next day, Caitlyn sulked downstairs and ate her breakfast much less enthusiastically then she did the morning before. In an effort to cheer her up, the family decided to go for a walk. They walked all around the town as Leo proudly showed everything it had to offer in an attempt to show Caitlyn that she would have a great time living in it. However, she remained sad and wishful of returning to her home. Then, just as they were about to turn around to go home, Chelsie spotted a glimmer of something blue. She ran over to it and dragged everyone else with her. When they got to it, just as she had thought, it was Caitlyn’s telephone booth. Overwhelmed with thankfulness and over joy, Caitlyn collapsed to the soft road, tears in her eyes. “Thank you!” she yelped as she pulled Chelsie into a hug. Just as she reached out for the door handle of the booth, she paused, remembering that this would mean leaving Jake and his family. She got up and ran over to them, hugging each of them.

“I’ll miss you all so much!” she exclaimed as she said goodbye to Debra, Leo, Chelsie and Claire. Finally, she reached Jake. She pulled him into a hug and whispered, “Thank you so much. I don’t know what I would have done without you. I’ve only known you for a few days, but you have no idea how much I’m going to miss you and your whole family.” She pulled away and saw the tears falling down everyone’s cheeks.

“It’s okay. We can visit you anytime with our time machine,” Jake said with his warm smile.

Caitlyn grinned and waved to them as she stepped into the booth.

Just as she had a few days before, Caitlyn picked up the phone and dialed her home phone number. Beeping filled her ears and she was jostled from side to side as the booth shook.

Suddenly, everything was still. Caitlyn sat on the hard floor of the booth for a moment, praying that she hadn’t been transported to 3567 or 1735 or some other planet. Then, she took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine A huge smile filled her face the moment she got out. She was at the bottom of the hill that she had first found the telephone booth and the bike was sitting at the top of the hill. She ran up the hill at lightning speed, even though it was really steep, and hopped on her bike. Even with a flat tire, Caitlyn biked back to her house in record time and after parking her bike, she ran into her house. Immediately, she hugged her mom, her dad and even her annoying little brother. Her whole family was incredibly relieved and they just sat there for a moment, embracing each other. Then, her mom asked where she had gone. About to tell her family the story, Caitlyn stopped and instead replied “I just had to cool down. I stayed at Aunt Diane’s for the night.” She grinned and her family embraced in a group hug. Then, her dad suggested that they go to the amusement park. Everyone agreed with enthusiasm and they had a blast riding the real roller coasters. Caitlyn surely wouldn’t miss the year 2973, but she was glad that she had gone there. Everything they had made her appreciate her own life so much more and Jake’s family would be a forever reminder of how to love her own family just as much as they loved her.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

The Surgery

by Tori L.

“Lyn, Lyn, Lyn. Can you hear me? If you can, blink.”I didn’t know who was talking, or where I was. I did know that I had to get out though. But for some reason I couldn’t, I couldn’t do anything. All I could do was blink, so that’s what I did.“ Good. Remember, everyone does this, and you wanted to do this. So now, I will tell you a few things that you can do now.

Ready? Blink for yes and keep your eyes closed for no.”Blinked.“Great. Since you’ve had the surgery, you will stay at the age of eighteen. Your skin can't be penatrated.” He must of seen the confused face I had. He then explained what he ment by this. “Meaning, if you get cut a shear cover will block blood from seeping threw. Then your skin will heal in a mere few seconds. You will have no scars or stitches. Also your learning abilities have been increased by fifty percent. This means you will be able to look at a paper with answers and questions and be able to memorize them all. There’s more, but you will have to go threw…”Whoever was talking, kept on talking, but I soon tuned them out. I didn’t feel like listening to what I will be like, I wanted to know about what I was like. I had totally forgotten what I was like before the operation. All I knew was that I was Lyn, and that I was eighteen. I remember they said that this might happen, but I’m not really sure. I finally gave up on trying to remember, then tuned back in to whatever he was saying.“ Of course, because you won’t have to breathe this means you will be able to go to Mars. This also means you will be in the first group to go. Tomorrow you will be able to move because you will be fully recovered, and then we start training. I will see you tomorrow when you wake up for training. Good luck.”What did he mean by training? What exactly was I training for? Who was in this group? I had a lot more questions, but soon it felt like someone was turning me off. Maybe because that was what was happening. But to tell you the truth I really didn’t know. I guess I was, because in a few seconds it all went black.When I finally was awake I realized I could move. But before I could open my eyes I heard, a door slam close, with the following of Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine clicking of heels down an empty hallway. I sat on the side of the bed with my legs swinging back and forth as I looked around the room for the first time. It was white with a few flowers that where yellow, purple, red, and blue. The smell was a mix of flowers and disinfectant, with a breeze flowing through an open window. Across from the bed was a chair with a neat pile of clothes on it. I walked over and unfolded the once perfect pile.

There were sport shorts and a t-­‐shirt that had a print on it that said, “Stay alive!” Under the chair was a pair of tennis shoes with a folded piece of paper that had instructions on where to go. “Out the door, then turn right. Next take another right at the corner. Stay straight and then take the elevator to floor -­‐10. Thank you and have a nice day.” Soon later after I had my recap of what had happened in the one day, I got dressed and headed out, following every instruction it said on the sheet. Just as the elevator doors where starting to close some guy said, “Could you hold the elevator, please?”Whoever it was, was wearing the exact same clothes as I was. Which did not make anything more comfortable to share an elevator with.

As soon as he had stepped in, the doors closed. It was only a few moments till he said something. “Are you going to floor -­‐10?”Surprised, I replied “Yeah, have you ever been to a negative floor before?”“No you?”“No.”He seemed to have to think about something to talk about. then he seemed hesitant to ask but then did.“Did you have the surgery?”“Yep, I’m really confused though, about this whole Mars thing. I don’t think I ever agreed to that!”“Yeah! So I’m guess you’re in my group to go to Mars.”And as is if right on cue, the elevator tugged us to the left. Making me hit my arm hard on the side of the elevator, even though it didn’t hurt, which was most likely another fix in me. But he seemed surprised I that didn’t cradle my arm with pain. He soon realized that it was the same way for him as he would feel nothing when the elevator jerked towards him. Then a quiet relaxed ding came from the elevator and at the top it said -­‐10. The doors opened slowly, just as they had closed. Where we had stepped into was a dimly lit hallway, leading to big metal doors. On the left side of the door was a scanner for a thumb print of some kind. The doors opened, and a man said “Welcome, Lyn and James.” This man shows us into the room behind the big metal doors. When we stepped in I saw how huge this room was. There were only eight other people there, sitting in a straight line, with two empty chairs in the middle.“You will now start your training.” said the man who had let us in.When everyone started training, no one was that excited. This was because it was school work. It was Easy things like math, Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine english, science, and history. They set us all at different table and asked us to fill out the packet which was four inches tall. Even though we all got it done in only a few seconds. The scientists didn’t look that impressed. Next was a physical test, we had to do 10 laps and do things that would have been hard, except they weren’t. After a few more tests they said, “You can follow the nurses to your apartments.” Once when we got to our apartments, I was amazed. It looked like it came from a movie. It had a white couch with two white chairs across from it a black coffee table in the middle of them. To the left was a small kitchen.to the right there was a door, I stepped through and I saw my room. A twin bed was to the right with a little night stand then a desk at the left side next to the door. A wardrobe rested at the foot of the bed. The walls where teal with a gray shaggy rug. Then there was a large window. When I looked out the window a forest. ‘Wow-­‐it’s beautiful!” I said. The trees where a perfect green with birds flying everywhere. Squirrels were scurrying around collecting nuts.After the nurse left I lay on my bed and decided what to do. I finally decided to go for a walk. After I had found an exit I walked along the forest, and I finally found a trail.

I followed the trail for about an hour. Soon I found out that I wasn’t alone. James, the elevator was sitting there on a rock with someone else. She looked nice and very pretty and I had felt like I had seen her before. I stood there for a while trying to figure out how to come about, but it ended up I didn’t have to. Because then James acknowledged me by saying “Hey Lyn. Come and join us, there’s a rock by Al. Oh yeah, by the way this is Al.” James then blushed of his rush to get everything into one sentence. As I proceeded to come by them. When I had reached the rocks I kicked off my tennis shoes that I had not taken off since this morning. And slid next to Al. the water looked clear, blue, fresh, and cool. So I eased my feet in and sighed a little at how refreshing it was. There was a kind of awkward silence, and soon I knew why. I saw pictures running through my head. Pictures of a high school then it came to me that this was my life before. I saw me and Al in the back field of the school. And James jogging up behind us in a track t-­‐shirt. Even more pictures of us came to my mind that I had no explanation for. Then we were at a place called Jim & Caries. We all were sitting in a boath talking and laughing. When out of the blue these strange men come in like they are from the CSI like. A man who looked like he was in charge points to our booth and the others nod. They all come marching at us and James was the first to be knocked out then Al, and then-­‐me and after that it all went black. I spring my feet out of the Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine stream and fall backwards off the rock. Landing on my back with my head hitting a rock, and it happens again. Blackness.“Lyn, Lyn, Lyn! On my goodness I told you we should have told her about the stream.” It was like déjà vu, and let me tell you it is way more scarier then you think. But I couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t I breathe? I sucked in a big breathe of air. So I slowly sat up and Al was on my left and James to the right. I grab them both around there shoulders and hug them so tight I think I made them stop breathing. It’s funny I never realized that they were there all along.James was the first to speak again by asking,“How much did you remember?”“Hold your horses James let her breathe! How bout we tell her how much we remember and then she tells us? Ok?” Said Al.“Sure why not. So Al remembers when we were little tikes and I remember middle school.”“James I wanted to tell her one of them.”James remark was a cruel fake laugh.“Hahahahahaha!”“Oh you are so going to...”“Hold it you guys. I saw us when we were in high school. And there’s a part I should really tell you all about.”“Tell away amigo.” James, James, James, silly little James.After I had told them my little vision in my head they freaked out to. Which made me want to freak out but I didn’t, brownie points to me. We all had the same questions. What were we supposed to do?“We could runaway to never eat at Jim & Caries because you will be kidnapped land.” James replied.“That could work!” I yelped out before anyone could blink.“Um, sorry to pop your bubble but I’m pretty sure that there is no places in the world called never eat at blahblahblahblahblahblah land. Ok, Lyn?”“No not that part, the runaway part.”“Oh when though?” Al responded.“What’s today’s date?”“Hold it let me check…. May 3, 2251.”“How in the world did you do that Al?”“Why can’t you guys do that?” Al asked confused.“No!” Screamed James, very upset.“Oh, well you just close your eyes and repeat in your mind what you’re looking up and puff you open your eyes and it’s there in 3d in front of you.”“Oh wow cool. Ok, May 3, 2251. That means it’s a?” Still not sure on the day exactly.“Wednesday.” Al replied.“Awesome so we should leave soon so how bout Friday night? Also its starting to get dark so whose room so we can continue this convocation? Is everybody ok with my place?”“Sure.” Al and James said together. And for the first time in a new life together we laughed together, frozen at the age of eighteen.When we finally were out of the woods, we decided to try something new. We wanted to test our strength.” I call going first!” yelled James.“Um sorry, my room, me first.” I walked next to a tree near my window, and prepared for takeoff. When I realized how high I was up I thought I might fall down again, but my Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine instincts took control and I landed gracefully on a branch across from my window. I walked across the branch and then stepped through the window. Soon followed by Al and James we all sat on the couches and chairs. “So where are we going to escape to?” James whispered.“Why are you whispering?” Al asked in a quiet voice too.“I don’t know.” James said in a whisper again. We started to laugh again .then a random thought popped into my mind and that thought turned into an idea. “Why don’t we use a time machine?” they started to laugh again till they saw that I wasn’t laughing.“Lyn you can’t be serious? That is crazy-­‐ that might work!”“What James, you and Lyn are going crazy if you think that I’m going to ever step on a time machine we could ruin the world if you made a wrong choice!”“That’s why we would go in a time that we know we would already be dead.”“Since it the only way then… fine.”“Great you do the security, James find a time that makes sense. And I will deal with everything else.”The one day and a half went by really fast but we had everything down. They thought the list was to long but you never know. I said to bring all the money you can find, a few clothes, and even more money. See, it’s not that long of a list. They were going to come any minute now I kept saying it to myself even though it was thirty minutes before they had to come. James came first, and then Al and we were ready to go.We hopped down the tree and ran into the forest. And back till Al said stop. Then we turned left and stayed straight. It was that way till we saw a tall building that was wide too. We threw a branch in before we went through. You would think after all these years of robbery they would get a better security system. We snuck through the time garage side door that had one guard, which was asleep. Easy as pie. Once we were through, we saw it, it looked like one of those old car things with the wheels. We hopped in and pressed the engine button, it was silent enough for us to start it, and the problem was how to get out. But apparently we didn’t realize the time machine wasn’t that silent, and it woke the guard. He burst through and said “Freeze.” And that’s when James whispered “3452. Do the year 3452.” As he said it the last time, the car seemed to zoom forward but we never hit the wall, instead we saw the world and was going round and round and round around the world then it started to slow down, then all of the sudden it jerked and stopped. We were in 3452.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

2350

by Anonymous The floorboards creaked as Andy walked through his house at night. He turned on his flashlight, shining the spotlight all around him. Despite the amazing inventions, massive mounds of paper, and chicken scratch handwriting that fills the dry erase boards, Andy wasn’t one bit surprised as he entered his father’s laboratory. There were so many toys for him to play with, but little did Andy know that his father’s creations were much more powerful than he knew… And he was about to discover just that.

Andy, a nine-­‐year-­‐old boy, is the son of Mark and Louise Holt. As the only child of two scientists, he was always infatuated with machinery and how things worked. But four years ago, his mother Louise was killed in a freak lab accident while trying to combine new chemicals. Luckily, his father Mark survived with few injuries, but life was never the same without Andy’s mother. She was the one who encouraged his scientific side, while Mr. Holt was continuously worried about Andy’s scientific curiosity and the consequences of it. The two never really spent any “father-­‐son bonding time”, but they knew that they loved each other and would always look out for one another. Although Andy was always aware of Mr. Holt’s protective attitude, it never stopped him from exploring the world around him.

It was a hot, pitch-­‐black night on August 28, 2010. Andy had snuck into his father’s lab, but all of a sudden, he jerked forward and barely caught himself on the hard tile floors. As he looked back toward the source of his fall, he saw a long, thin cord running all across the room. His line of sight followed the cord’s path, which led to a strange, cylindrical machine.

It emitted a faint blue glow, and Andy’s curiosity sparked. He stepped into the whirring machine and naturally started hitting multiple buttons in the typical naïve fashion of an awestruck young boy. Within a few seconds, all of Andy’s surroundings began to disappear.

He felt like his body was floating away from his mind ⎯ then everything turned black. ~~

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine His eyes opened and the sun’s rays attacked his pupils as he tried to adjust to the insanely bright light. As he struggled to set himself upright, he was blown away at what he saw. Andy was no longer in his house. He was in the middle of some barren, desert-­‐like land with large adobe houses all around him. Twelve pairs of curious eyes stared inquisitively at him like he was some sort of alien. They were all dressed in silver suits, gleaming in the sunlight like disco balls.

“Hello? Where am I?” Andy shouted, a hint of fear in his voice.

“You’re on Earth, son. Well, what’s left of Earth anyway,” replied a voice that was kind, definitely female, and almost motherly. She reminded him of his late mother.

“What do you mean? Earth has always been fine as long as I’ve lived.”

“Were you born yesterday? It’s been like this for almost 200 years!” a young man retorted; maybe around 17 years old, with a sharp, sour tone in his voice.

“I was born on January 14, 2001 thank you very much. I was definitely not born yesterday, sir,” said Andy defensively.

“2001? Are you some kind of alien? This is the year 2350!” said the same rude voice.

“Uh. Huh? No. Impossible! I was just in the year 2010! I had just stumbled upon this giant machine and then whoosh and I was here!” cried Andy, scared and confused. “Oh no…

There’s no way… That must’ve been a time machine!”

“Must be, sonny, because there is no way that a young boy of your age would’ve naturally been born almost 350 years ago,” replied the lady with the motherly voice. “Here, what’s your name?”

“Andy. Uh, Andy Holt.”

“And I am Raina, one of the older Alpheans.”

“The what?”

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “Alpheans. We are human, but we are the last 12 humans on the Earth in the year 2350.

Everyone else has died off, either from war, natural causes, or the latest global warming disaster. Do you know what global warming is, Andy?”

“Yes, of course I do. My parents ⎯ I mean, my father is a scientist and he always tells me about the latest problems.”

“Good. Well, global warming has taken over the world now. Do you see this dry, cracked land?” She moved her arm in a large, sweeping gesture across the land. “This is what the Earth looks like now: little water, due to the amount of water that the past generations wasted, and barely any animals because the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere had skyrocketed long ago. And then there’s us. We are the remaining ones. We are the Alpheans.”

“Well it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one in this crazy, future doodad land. But I’m exhausted. Do you have a place I can rest?” asked Andy.

“Of course. Scion, take Andy here to the main house and prepare a room for him. Do not fret, Andy. We will take care of you here.” Just to Andy’s luck, Scion was the rude young man.

“Thanks, Raina.”

“Absolutely. Make sure to rest, for we will be going up against the Raythors, and we are currently without a fit leader. The next few days will be rough, so you best replenish yourself now.” ~~

A brilliant blue flash startled Mark, Andy’s father, as his sleep was interrupted. A

loud hum was ringing through his ears, and he knew it could only be coming from one place ⎯ the time machine. Mark tossed the sheets off and ran towards his laboratory in his pajamas. He arrived at his lab, but Mark knew he was too late to reach Andy. But as his eyes were scanning his inventions for any sort of way to get his son back, he saw that there were green numbers lit on the time machine. A certain number was displayed on the screen, and Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine all of a sudden, he knew. Mark knew how to get Andy back. He had to travel to the year 2350. ~~

The sun was up, and Andy was ready to start the day. He was so worried about his father, and he just hoped that they’d be together again someday. It was already so hard losing his mother, but being without his father, even though they weren’t always so close with each other, would be too awful to bear. That meant that he would be all alone in the world. No family, no one to call home to, nothing.

“Snap out of it, Andy. You can do this. Soon enough, everything will be just fine and you’ll be back home with Dad. Just keep going, and things will sort themselves out,” Andy said to himself, just like a little pep talk.

Raina walked into the room just then, her long, black (but graying) hair tied into a neat ballerina bun. “Today is the day, Andy, the day that we have planned to go against the Raythors.”

“What are the Raythors? Are they the good guys or the bad guys?” asked Andy.

“The Raythors are fierce, barbaric creatures that are a mix between a rhinoceros and a leopard. The Raythors are deadly and hungry. The humans started battling with them in the late 2200s, and ever since, there has been a battle every 5 years, and on the same date every time. That’s how we know exactly what day we will be going to war with them, and that day is today.”

“Oh geez! What are we going to do? What am I going to do? How do we beat them?” Andy asked worriedly, almost screaming at Raina.

“Well, we have chosen a leader for our group.”

“Who? I hope he really knows what he’s doing, otherwise this could be a disaster!”

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “The leader we have chosen… is you, Andy,” answered Raina. Andy’s jaw dropped and he looked shocked, frightened, and as if he were going to faint.

“No! I can’t do that! I’m only nine years old, and I’m not even from this time! How am I supposed to lead the last 12 people on Earth to a battle that could easily kill all of them?” questioned Andy.

“Don’t worry about us, we are so well-­‐trained and ready for this battle. This is what we are here for. We need you to lead because that way you won’t be in danger. You will lead us onto the battlefield, and then we will charge the Raythors. You should be just fine.” Should was the key word for Andy there. How could they expect him to do this? He was just a kid, and a headstrong one at that. If he made one wrong move or got in someone’s way, he could kill the last of the human race. That would mean that Earth would no longer have humans in the future, and that was a lot of pressure to put on the shoulders of a nine-­‐year-­‐old boy.

“I don’t know about this, Miss Raina. I really don’t think I’m fit for the job.”

“You will be just perfect. Just don’t get close to the Raythors or even the Alpheans during the fight. Everyone becomes hostile and vicious,” she said calmly, as if this battle was nothing.

“Here, put this on. It will help protect you.” Raina handed Andy a silver suit, just like the one that she herself was wearing. “And good luck, Andy. We all will need it.”

As she left the room, Andy grabbed his suit and sat down on his bed. While staring at his new battle outfit, tears began to stream down his cheeks. He just wanted to be back home, cozy in his house with his father, drinking hot chocolate by the fireplace. Now look what he’d gotten himself into. He was 340 years in the future and about to lead a group into battle.

After taking many deep breaths, he felt a little bit better. His mother always said that crying every once in a while is good for the soul. But he still wasn’t ready for what was to come. No one ever could be. ~~

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

Mr. Holt got dressed and stepped into the time machine. He had packed a flashlight,

energy drinks, protein bars, and anything else he could find. Once he was in, he pressed the button that read 2350 and was off into the future. Just like Andy, he saw his surroundings disappear right before his eyes, and he felt like he was floating in mid-­‐air. Then, thud. He landed facedown in the sand right in front of the Alphean village. He was shocked beyond belief! This was his first time traveling in the time machine because it had never been tested before. Well, it had been tested, but by Andy and on accident. Just as confused as his son, he stood up, wandered around, and called for Andy. Within ten seconds, the 12 Alpheans had gathered in a circle around him, looking at Mr. Holt with the same curiosity that they had with Andy.

“Who are you, sir?” asked Raina.

“My name is Mark Holt. I am from the year 2010 and I am a scientist. I created a time

machine, and I was completely unaware that my son had time traveled!” replied Mr. Holt.

“And what is the name of your son?”

“Andy Holt. He’s nine years old and about… yay high,” Mr. Holt stated, putting his hand up to his ribcage to show Andy’s height.

“Ah, yes. Andy. He is here, in the main house just behind me.”

“Oh, thank goodness!” he exclaimed. Relief washed over him as he was reassured that Andy was here and alive.

“But you don’t have much time to talk, for we are heading out to battle just this minute,” Raina declared. By her look and her authoritative tone, Mr. Holt was sure that this woman was the head honcho around here.

“War?! But when will I see my son?” Just then, Andy ran out of the main house with a giant grin on his face.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “DAD!” he yelled, running as fast as the wind and screaming at the top of his lungs. As he ran straight into his dad’s arms, both of them were delighted. Finally, father and son were reunited. And at Raina’s command, they all marched across the barren land, now ready for whatever the future had in store for them.

Just one question now: How will they get back home, and will they even survive?

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

Alternate Universe

by Ellen A.

My name is CoCo. I live on Mars. I would rather live on the moon, but my parents

found a cheap crater and, “couldn't pass up the offer”. My life is boring, nothing ever happens. I blame it on my parents. They’re so old school, they don’t buy any of the cool house robots. They never let me go to the moon for a weekend party. They won’t even let me get a holagramer. Sometimes I wish I could just leave, and I think I will.

I left last night, I am staying at a hotel on the moon. I’m so glad that I got my flyers

license two weeks ago. Mayor Galdon made that new law that lets fifteen-­‐year-­‐olds get their license, and I had just turned fifteen. The hotel lets anyone with a license stay.

The room I’m staying in is very nice, and when I was looking in the mirror, I gave my

self a high-­‐five -­‐-­‐ for getting away with the whole thing. But instead, my hand slipped right through the glass. I pulled my whole body through and it took me to an alternate universe.

This place looks just like home, I wonder what is so alternate about it. Except for the

fact that every thing is backwards. I think I’ll go outside and look around. Well it looks just like normal. I wonder what would happen if I called my parents from inside the alternate universe, would they be here to?

Well I called them and asked them to come pick me up. Here they come now, I hope

they’re not mad. They got out of the car and immediately started hugging me and they said they were so worried. My parents never worry, they just get mad. What is going on here?

So they took me home -­‐-­‐ but not to our home on Mars -­‐-­‐ it was a home on the moon.

When I asked them about it, they just laughed and said “ Oh, you wanted to live here so bad that we decided to buy it.” Man it is awesome here. I even have my own flying car.

I stayed out late tonight with friends I didn’t even know I have, and my parents didn’t

even yell at me. I like this world. I am popular, I have my own car, I am rich! I think I’m going to stay here a while.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

The Day the Future was the Present

by Emma P. “Wake up, you can’t be late for your first day of preschool,” Katie Bishop said sweetly to her one year old son, Fammin. She handed him breakfast, grabbed the learninator-­‐controller and pressed play. The teacher was projected on the screen in the middle of his room, and the other ten students in windows off to the side of the screen, circling her.

“I would like to start off by going around in a circle and having everyone say their first name. Parents, if they don’t know how, just say it for them, and we will work on that with them this year.” The teacher, Ms. Kajilas, announced to the class.

In front of her she had two pancakes, five pieces of French toast, a bag of fries, an omelet, and a gallon of coffee. Next to her bed, on the side table was a quart of maple syrup and a jar of powdered sugar to sprinkle and pour over it.

Four hours later-­‐once class was over-­‐Katie picked Baby Fammine out of bed and took him out to eat at Babies&Co. This was a place where they served the most-­‐and the best-­‐food for all babies and moms. She always took him there although it was very expensive. She always had the best to offer for Fammine. After two hours, they were finally done and left.

Day by day, baby Fammine grew into a young adult. He was now, age fourteen. He was on the football team, hung out with friends every weekend, was class president, and was loving life. Every other night Katie would take him and two of his friends out to dinner. Life couldn’t have been better for Fammine.

Soon enough, the day came when Katie knew it was time. She knew that she had to try. As she was taking a walk, she passed a sign on the road that read TRAVEL BACK IN TIME. The minute Katie saw this sign she barged right in.

“I need help!” Katie shouted as she walked in.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “Well great! That’s what we’re here for,” replied a tall, handsome man standing in the center of the room. The room was all glass except for black doors. Door after door going down the hall. It was bigger than Katie could even lay eyes on.

“I’m sorry; I was just outside and saw your sign. Do you guys happen to help people travel back to the present, or passed, or whatever you want to call it?” Katie anxiously asked.

The man smiled. “Why yes we do! That’s exactly what we do! Let me bring you into my office and I’ll talk with you about what the situation is.”

Katie gasped in relief. “Alright, thank so, so much!” Katie followed him to his office.

“Take a seat,” the man said. “My name is Donny; now just describe to me the situation you’re in.”

Katie’s voice was shaky. “Okay, well back about fifteen years ago, my boyfriend and I found out that you could take trips to the future through some company-­‐I can’t remember the name of it though. Anyways, so we took it, we came here, spent about a year here, and I ended up having a baby. Right when he found out, he found a way to go back to the present.

See that was our problem the whole time. The company took us to the future but never gave us a way to get back. He found a way though, haha, of course. So I was stuck here with a baby. I named it Fammine because I knew we may be here for a while and I wanted him to fit in. He thinks he lives in the future. What I need, is for you to transfer Fammine and I back to the present. Do you think you could do that?”

Donny took a breath and replied. “Wow, that’s quite a story and today’s your lucky day! We couldn’t be happier to help. You’ll need to explain everything to your son. That’ll be the hard part. Meet me here, two’o clock, exactly a month from now, to give you some time, and we’ll do the business you’ve been waiting to do. Whata ya say?”

Donny stood there smiling while Katie thought for a minute.

Katie finally looked up and exclaimed, “It’s a deal!” Donny helped her out of her seat and walked her to the doors.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “Goodbye now!” Donny said.

Katie rushed out the doors. “Bye!”

When Katie got home, Fammine was sitting at the kitchen table eating.

“We need to talk.” Katie said nervously.

“Okay…” Donny said questioning what she had to say. Katie and Donny were close, but almost never had heart to heart conversations. It seemed a little suspicious to him.

Katie explained everything, from living in the present, to his father, till now. “..So a month from now, at two’o clock, we’re going to ‘TRAVEL BACK IN TIME’ and going to the present. It’ll be great, you can have a real, normal life, and you may even get to meet your father!” Katie said trying to make it all sound good to Fammine. Fammine sat and stared at her for a while and then started crying.

“HOW COULD YOU? HOW COULD YOU JUST LET ME LIVE HERE, THINKING EVERYTHINGS NORMAL, WHEN COME DAY I’M GONNA HAVE TO TIME TRAVEL TO A DIFFERENT LIFE? HOW COULD YOU!” Donny exclaimed with tears pouring down his face. Katie knew it would be a bad reaction, just didn’t know it would be this bad. She had her mind made up though, the present was her home, and no one-­‐not even Fammine-­‐ could make her change her mind about that.

Katie spoke softly. “I’m sorry.” Then sat and watched a little as Fammine cried.

As the month went by, Fammine and Katie grew apart. Hardly ever talked, Katie

would offer to take Fammine out to eat, but he always turned the offer down. They just had the occasional, ‘Hi, was class today? Fine.’ And that was about it.

When the day came, Katie went upstairs to Fammine’s room in the morning.

“This is it. Time to say goodbye to everyone.” Fammine sat in silence and didn’t say a word.

By one thirty, Fammine was downstairs and ready, just finishing whipping the tears off his face. Katie hugged him and, side by side, they walked out the door. When they got there, Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine Donny greeted them and took them through one of the black doors. Inside was a huge thing.

It looked exactly like the one Katie had come in. Fammine looked, up and down, just staring at it in amazement.

“Go ahead.” Donny said pointing his arm towards the time warp.

Katie noticed Fammine shaking, so she held on to him and whispered, in his ear, “everything will be okay, as long as you stay by my side and trust in me. I promise.”

As soon as they got inside it, all you could see were buttons. Neither of them could make out what any of it was. As soon as they got in they could hear a voice counting.

“ONE, TWO, AND THREEEEE!” Everything went black, for a second, and then as soon as they knew it, Katie and Donny were standing in a big field. One Katie and her boyfriend used to come to every day.

Katie rented an apartment and enrolled Fammine in a school.

“So at schools here, you’re going to have to get up out if bed, put on clothes and actually go to a building with teachers and students.” Katie let Fammine know. Fammine wasn’t thrilled but accepted it. A few weeks later Katie noticed her and Fammine were gaining weight and becoming fat. That’s when she remembered that in the present, if you eat too much food you’ll get fat, unlike the future. She told Fammine, which he isn’t happy about either. Now he had to watch what he ate too! He wasn’t thrilled.

It was Fammine’s first day of school.

“Ughhh, how can people get out of bed and go somewhere every day so early in the morning?” Fammine whined.

“I know, it’s a hard life here in reality.” Katie said chuckling.

Seven hours later, Fammine got home and started crying.

Katie comforted him.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine Fammine just leaned over and whispered, “You promised.”

After a month went by, Katie was pretty sure Fammine had become depressed and hated her-­‐his own mother.

That’s when Fammine was sixteen, and declared, “I’d like to live in the future. You can stay here I know you love it here. However, the thing is, my reality is the future. That’s where I belong. I mean, come on mom I was born there. I can’t stay here. I’m sorry mom. I love you-­‐ forever and always.”

Katie agreed and knew he was right. It would be hard to live without his mom, but it would be too hard for him to live in a time zone, in which he wasn’t used to.

After a little crying and thinking it over, Katie took him to where, her and her boyfriend went to the future in, and whispered “Goodbye Fammine. I raised you well. I’ll miss and love you forever. Have a good life.”

Fammine smiled and whispered, “I love you.” Stepped into the time zone and went off to where his home was-­‐the future.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

Finding Happiness

by Lauren H. I ran down the crowded street, ducking into a dark abandoned alleyway. Sirens blared behind me. Police officers yelled to each other as they tried to hold back the large crowd of angry protesters. Behind me, the grocery store was ablaze, trapped in bright orange flames.

People were running around in utter confusion. And in the midst of all the chaos, I had escaped.

In my hands and pockets there was an assortment of food: a bag of pretzels, an apple, a chocolate bar, a can of tomato soup. These were the only things I had managed to grab after I had smelled the smoke wafting out of the store and had seen the bright orange flames beginning to engulf it. Angry New Yorkers were burning buildings a lot these days. They liked to share their feelings about the food shortage, and they did that by burning empty grocery stores. I guess that the protesters had believed that this grocery store was empty. I had desperately clung to a shard of hope that there was some food left in the store. I had run in the back door, unseen, to see if there was a chance, no matter how small that chance might be, that there was some food left. My gamble had paid off. I had frantically cleared away the last of the precious food from the shelves. I knew that if I didn’t run out of the store quickly, I would be trapped in the store and burned to a crisp, or worse: caught stealing food.

Before the oil ran out, New York was a busy and bustling city, full of life. Everyone knew that we weren’t going to have oil forever, but while we still had it we thought we were invincible.

It was only last year when I first heard that oil had started to run out. It started when Saudi Arabia declared that they had no more oil. Soon Kuwait, Iraq, and the rest of the Middle East were declaring that their oil wells were dried up, too. Our President tried to calm everybody, tried to stop Americans from panicking. He reassured us that we still had plenty Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine of oil left in our nation’s oil reserves. However, when the reserves were opened, it turned out that this wasn’t really the case. At first we were told that we had enough oil to last several months, but soon the government was telling us that it would last only weeks.

Eventually, all of the oil was used up. Panic was spreading across America like wildfire.

What are we supposed to do without oil, Americans were asking, when our entire country is dependent on it? Prices of everything from shoes to food were doubling, and then tripling. I remember the day when I realized that the little money I had saved from my job could buy me no more than two apples. I couldn’t pay the rent in my apartment any more. I was kicked out of my apartment and forced to live on the streets of New York, resorting to a life of stealing to get what I needed to survive.

I slumped against the brick wall behind the dumpster in the alley, hoping that the police wouldn’t see me. If I was caught, I would be killed. Stealing food was a felony now since food was so scarce. I took a deep breath and yawned, trying not to fall asleep. It’s all right, Ana, I told myself sleepily. You have food. You’re not going to die from starvation. At least, not right now. Starving to death was a reality I was constantly worrying about. My arms and legs were thinner than ever, and my ribs were clearly visible. Suddenly, I saw two police officers walking past the entrance to the alleyway. I pulled the hood on my black sweatshirt up and over my head, and pressed myself closer to the wall, rubbing my eyes to fight off sleep. I couldn’t risk being seen.

Sniff, sniff…I felt something warm near my face. I suddenly snapped out of my slumber and opened my eyes. Oh great, I thought. I was face to face with a large, black stray dog. The dog looked pretty hungry. Well, there was no way I was going to let it have any of my precious food. I jumped to my feet and started sprinting down the alley, looking over my shoulder every so often to make sure I wasn’t being followed, either by dog or person.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine After what seemed like forever, I stopped sprinting. My feet ached. I was completely drained of energy. My eyes could not focus on anything. I felt warm and dizzy; my legs were trembling from weakness. The food was still in my baggy sweatshirt. I collapsed against the wall behind me, not caring how dirty it was, and passed out from sheer exhaustion.

By the time I woke up, my stomach was growling. Hunger was gnawing at my insides, crowding out any other thought. I decided, against my better judgment, that I needed to eat.

Conserving the little food I had was a challenge. I took out the chocolate bar and told myself to take small bites to savor it. However, I was so hungry I scarfed it down in three big mouthfuls. My stomach stopped growling after that, but my little stash of food was growing smaller. I needed to conserve it for when I really, desperately needed it.

I stood up and stretched out my legs. I leaned my back against the rough wall behind me. My baggy cargo pants and my large black sweatshirt were weighed down with the food. It was hard to relax with all the food bulging in my pockets. Wait a minute, I thought. Something isn’t right. I took all the food out of my sweatshirt pockets and realized with a groan what was wrong. The can of tomato soup was missing. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the sweatshirt pocket that the soup had been in had a huge, gaping hole in it! Why didn’t I check my pockets for holes? I’m so stupid! Arghhh! I was so angry that I picked up a rock that was beside me and hurled it at the wall across from me. The only food I had now was the bag of pretzels and the shiny red apple. After a while, I was so weak and tired that I finally fell asleep.

I woke up from my dream when the first light of the morning hit my eyes. I had dreamed about my life in the past, when I still had my family. My dream had been a rush of memories: My parents going to the movies with me, my parents walking in Central Park with me, my Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine mom and dad hugging me on my 18th birthday, the last time I had seen them. They were scientists who had hoped to find oil in Antarctica after the oil had threatened to run out in the rest of the world. After they had gone to Antarctica, I had been quite sad and lonely.

They were the only family I had ever had. I had never had any brothers or sisters. After they had left, I moved into my apartment in New York and got a job as a pet-­‐sitter. When people went on vacation, I took care of their pets for them. However, my life as I had known it had ended when the oil ran out completely. Months had passed with no letters, phone calls, or e-­‐ mails from my parents. I could only assume that they were stranded in Antarctica. I stood in the alley, wishing that my old life would somehow come back.

I suddenly felt the urge to be moving, walking, anything other than just sitting in a dirty alley. I walked out of the alley and onto a street, just wandering around. Out of instinct, I looked right and left at the crosswalk to check for cars, but of course there weren’t any. Cars were no longer used, since they no longer had gas to run on. I walked around the city some more, not really sure what I was looking for. Maybe I was looking for people in a city where there were few people left. The air was clear and crisp. I took a deep breath, marveling at the fact that I could do that without breathing in toxic car exhaust fumes. My feet were now carrying me forward, directing my body. My brain seemed to be on pause; it had no control over me.

I was now in Central Park, sitting on a wooden park bench. My head was down, my hands were in my pockets, protecting the food; my feet were gently swinging back and forth, back and forth, like a pendulum. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a paper blowing towards me in the breeze. It fluttered across the grass and came to a stop near my feet. Normally, I wouldn’t have looked twice at a paper on the ground. Probably just another piece of litter, I thought. However, something on the paper caught my eye. I picked it up, and began to read: ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A WAY TO ESCAPE TO ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE? DO YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING EXCITING THAT NO ONE ELSE HAS EVER DONE BEFORE? Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine PLEASE CALL 555-­‐1049 OR COME TO OUR OFFICE AT 315 AVENUE A IF YOU ARE INTERESTED. Well, I was certainly interested. I wondered what they meant by escape to another time… surely they weren’t talking about time travel? I pushed that idea out of my head. It was utterly ridiculous. This whole advertisement was probably a scam, anyway. But still, I desperately wanted to get away from New York.

I’ll admit it. My curiosity got the best of me. A few minutes after I read the flyer, I was heading towards Avenue A. I had a vague idea where the address was. I was pretty sure that it was in a not-­‐so-­‐nice neighborhood in Manhattan. I started walking towards my destination, stopping every few minutes to eat some pretzels or rest.

After four hours of walking, two short rests, and one bag of pretzels, I arrived at my destination. My hand was wrapped tightly around the red apple in my pocket. I looked at the building in front of me. It was a small, nondescript brownstone. Basically, it looked like every other building in New York. However, I noticed something odd about this particular building right away: it had no windows. I stood up straight, took a deep breath, not knowing what to expect once I passed through the door. Slowly and deliberately, I placed one foot in front of another and proceeded to walk forward, towards the mysterious brick building.

My hand reached for the door knob on the building. That’s strange, I thought. There was no door knob. I looked around for a doorbell, but didn’t see one. Instead, there was a big, old-­‐ fashioned brass knocker on the front of the door. I lifted it up and knocked three times.

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. The loud noise startled me at first. I stood on the cement steps, waiting. My apple was still clenched tightly in my hand. One second passed, then two, three, and four. After waiting for almost a minute, the door opened a crack. All I could see on the other side was a bright green eye, staring at me.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “What do you want?” a harsh voice greeted me. I assumed that the voice belonged to the eye.

“I, um, I was just -­‐-­‐ I mean, I saw this -­‐-­‐ this ad on a flyer and it had this address on it so I came here to see if it was real,” I said, stammering nervously.

“Do you have the flyer with you?” the man’s voice said.

“Yes, here it is.” I handed the flyer to him. The door opened slightly more to allow his arm to reach out and take the paper from me. Then the door slammed shut. I stood on the steps, listening intently to a whispered conversation that was going on between two people behind the door. I could only catch a few words: “How did she find…but that is…no…finally, after all…should we...of course.” They seemed to have reached an agreement.

Suddenly, the door opened again, though much wider this time. A short, bald, hunchbacked man stood in the door way. He was dressed in all black, from his black turtleneck to his pants. He looked to be around 40 or 50 years old. He had vivid green eyes. Behind him, there stood a very tall woman with jet black hair, gray eyes, and skin so pale it looked like she had never stepped outside. She had a white lab coat on.

“Hurry up, come in,” the short man barked.

I hesitated. I wasn’t sure that I trusted these strange people. I didn’t even know who they were. They might kidnap me, for all I knew.

“It’s all right,” the woman said to me. “You’ve come to the right place.”

I glanced behind me, and followed them inside, the apple still clutched in my fingers.

The inside of the building was dark and very confining. I immediately felt a strong wave of claustrophobia wash over me. The light didn’t come from windows, because there weren’t any. Instead, it came from bunches of candles sitting haphazardly on tables or stacks of books. The man and woman led me in and out of several different rooms until we reached an office. There was a large wooden desk with a large, wooden chair behind it and a smaller Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine chair in front of it. The man left the room while the woman sat down in the chair behind the desk. The lady gestured for me to sit down in the remaining chair, which I did.

“Now, first things first. Let me introduce myself. I am Dr. Elizabeth Carson. My assistant is Wolfgang. May I ask who you are?”

Her voice was gentle and kind, not mean and cold like I had expected.

“I’m Ana Larson,” I said, looking up at her from across the desk. “I came here to find out about the ad I saw. I want to leave New York. I don’t have a family, home, or job anymore. In short, I don’t have a life anymore. I need to leave.”

“You came to the right place,” she said again.

“However,” she continued, “if you choose to leave after I explain, you must not tell anybody anything about what happened here. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.

“All right then. I will tell you about Zantol.”

She leaned forward, placing her folded hands on her desk.

“I’ll get right to the point. Last year, after years of trial and research, I finally developed a drug that allowed people to travel back in time: Zantol. It was kept quiet, mostly because there were only 15 capsules. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to share it with the public. However, I guess it was kept a little too quiet. I wasn’t making any money off of Zantol. So Wolfgang and I made some flyers and spread them around Manhattan. You, Ana, are the first person to come here and inquire about Zantol. If you have proper payment, how would you feel about being the first person to travel back in time?”

Travel back in time?! My mind was racing. Could I believe her? I bet her stupid drug doesn’t even work. I shouldn’t have come here. Plus, I don’t have any money.

But before I could stop myself, words were coming out of my mouth.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “How much does it cost? Can I have some?”

Dr. Carson smiled. “I will charge you only what you have with you.”

I looked down at my hands. The only thing I had with me was the apple…

Should I give it up? Should I take the risk? Should I give this woman a chance? I debated with myself. The apple is my only food…Should I hand it over?

My fingers slowly unclenched, revealing the shiny red apple. I reached across the desk and set the apple in front of Dr. Carson. Once again, she smiled.

“Now tell me, what year do you want to go back to? You won’t actually be physically traveling back in time, but instead, your soul will be traveling back in time.”

I considered this for a minute.

“Can I go back to 1922?” I asked. In my history class at school, the early 1920s had fascinated me. Everyone was happy and prosperous during the 20s. That’s why they were nicknamed the “Roaring Twenties”.

“Sure.” Dr. Carson grinned.

I watched Dr. Carson as she opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a small, black safe.

She turned away from me as she opened it. She set a small bag filled with about 15 small, white tablets on the desk.

“We change the dosage you take based on how many years you want to go back into the past,” Dr. Carson explained to me. As she talked, she set out three pills on the desk and handed them to me.

“Are you ready?” Dr. Carson looked at me.

“Yes.” I suddenly felt very certain about my choice. I took the first two pills and swallowed.

Suddenly, a question came to me.

“Dr. Carson, how will I get back to the present?”

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine She leaned forward, looking mildly contemplative.

“You should come across an object, a unique object that represents a choice you have made.

The object will let you come back if you hold it in your hands. Now, take the last pill.”

Not feeling reassured, I took the third pill and swallowed it anyway. The last thing I remembered was falling to the ground and seeing darkness, an endless void of darkness…

Dr. Elizabeth Carson ran out of her office.

“Wolfgang! Wolfgang! Where are you?!” she shouted as she dashed around the apartment.

“I’m right here. What happened?” Wolfgang appeared in the doorway.

“The girl took the pills. She’s unconscious! How will we ever really know if her soul is in the past?”

“I suppose we will find out when she wakes up,” said Wolfgang.

“Wolfgang, I had to lie to her to get her to take them. I told her no one else had ever taken them before. You know that the other one, the boy who took Zantol three months ago, is still in a coma, upstairs. He was our first test subject. The girl was our second test subject, our second hope, possibly our last hope. I fear that we might never get someone to be a test subject for Zantol ever again!”

“We may never know for certain if Zantol really works then.”

Dr. Carson looked disgusted.

“I spent four years developing Zantol! Four years! What’s the point of creating something marvelous when you don’t even know if it works?”

I opened my eyes. I had the oddest sensation. I recognized that I was in Central Park, except it wasn’t the Central Park I knew. There were people wearing old-­‐fashioned clothes, and the Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine sidewalks weren’t paved. The lamps weren’t electric. It wasn’t the Central Park of 2012…

I’m in the past! This astonishing revelation made me laugh out loud giddily. I’m really in the past! For the first time since my parents left, I actually felt happy. Maybe I had found the happiness that I had unknowingly been searching for.

I looked around me. An elderly woman was sitting right next to me on the park bench. She had a black scarf around her head, and she had scuffed brown boots on her feet. I turned to her and said hello. She kept on staring straight ahead at some pigeons. I wondered if she was deaf. It’s possible, I thought. She looks quite old, after all. A man in a suit and a fedora walked past us. I waved at him and said hi. He, too, did not seem to notice me. I got up and walked right in front of him. He didn’t even look at me. They can’t see me, I realized with a twinge of disappointment. The people in the past can’t see or hear me. I’m almost like a ghost to them.

I turned around, and looked at the old lady again. She had something in her hands, something she was clenching tightly. I walked over to her and peered at her wrinkled hands.

She opened them ever so slightly. There, sitting in her hands, was a shiny, red apple.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

Meet Your Husband

by Selena W/

Bam! Bang!

“Hey lady could you get off of me?” a man said.

To myself I kept thinking ho I know him? How did I get here? Where am I? “Sorry.” I said.

“I’m Sarah.”

“Well hello Sarah, I’m Jack.” He paused as though I was supposed to say something.

“You know this is usually when you get off of my feet.”

“Oh sorry!”

I kept looking at him trying to figure out if I knew him or not. The only thing I could remember was going to lay down in my bed to go to sleep, then ending up here on this guys feet.

“You seem to be sorry a lot” he said this as though it was a statement, but it sounded like a question.

“Yeah I know, sor-­‐-­‐ I mean umm, yeah you know-­‐-­‐.”

“So um, bye!”

He began to walk away, when all of sudden I got the urge to yell out for him.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “Hey! Jack! I’m kind of new here and was wondering if you would show me around?”

He turned around very awkwardly, with this look on his face like, did this girl I just met ask me to show her around?

“Sure! I would love to! Meet me here tomorrow. Okay?”

“Yeah, sure, will do!” I shouted back to him.

I probably should have asked him, if he knew of any good places to stay, because as of right now, I have no where to sleep.

I found a place to sleep. It wasn’t far from where i fell, or landed, or whatever I did to get here. It was actually across the street at the park. It wasn’t a five star hotel, but it was a place to sleep so I wasn’t complaining. Even though I would have prefered the spinny wheel rather than the slide, but still, I am not complaining.

I woke up early in the morning, and walked across the street to wait for Jack. Every time someone walked by I would turn my head to check and see if it was Jack. And it never was.

Finally about 12O’Clock he showed up.

“Hey Sarah!” he yelled for me.

“Oh hey Jack!”

“So you ready for you tour of Bieberville?”

“WAIT A MINUTE! Did you just say ‘Bieberville’ as in Justin Bieber?”

“Yes ma’am I did, why? You love him too?”

“NO! I absolutley HATE him with a passion!”

As I said those words, he looked at me with deisbelief in his eyes.

“Then why are you here?” he questioned.

Not having any clue how i got here, I obviously didn’t know why I was there.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “Well it looked like-­‐-­‐a nice place-­‐-­‐” “Well you go that right!”

After seeing all there was to see, we walked back to the park. I felt like there was something that needed to be said, but i couldn’t think of what it was. So i have to say I was happy when he started talking.

“So, I have to tell you something.” he was kind of shaking so I was scared to find out.

“Okay, what it is?”

I think he could tell that I was nervous.

“Okay well sit down.”

So I sat down.

“Well I having been hiding something from you-­‐-­‐I know why you are here-­‐-­‐and I also know that today has been very weird for you because, you feel like you know me, but you do not know where from. Am I right?”

“Actually, yes.”

“Do you want to know why, I know all this stuff?”

“It would mean a lot to know why.”

“Well when you landed on my feet you came through a portal-­‐-­‐this is the future-­‐-­‐ and I am going to be your husband, and in the future, you will move her, and all of this will happen again.”

I didn’t have time to process all of this information, before a black hole, came and I fell through it, and right as i fell through I was back in bed.

I didn’t know if I was supposed to say anything to my parents or friends about time travel. So I went to sleep and thought long and hard about all that had happend.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

The Time Difference

by Vivian H. I stand on my driveway, beads of sweat forming on my forehead; I concentrate on making this basket. I shoot and miss, the ball bouncing off the rim. Slowly it rolls itself back to me.

Sighing, I signal it to spring into my hand. Again, I shoot, this time it sinks into the basket. A hologram screen appears in front of me telling me congrats and tips on how to improve my shots. Then it switches to a scoreboard informing me of my stats.

One Hour Later

Aiden’s joined me to shoot hoops. I consider Aiden my best friend. My old best

friend—Chris—moved away a couple months ago and Aiden just moved into Chris’s old house. I shoot and miss. Aiden picks up the rebound and the timer, floating above our heads; automatically resets itself back to 25 seconds. But, instead of setting up a shot, he holds the ball in both hands and starts talking. “Hey, do you remember the history project Mr. Fieldsman assigned today?” The penalty horn goes off, but Aiden ignores it and waits for my reply.

“Sure, a five minute video about some tragedy in history right? And we would get extra credit if it’s in 3-­‐D and you can interact with the people?”

Aiden nods, happy I remember “Yeah, do you want to work together on it?”

“Why not?” I reply. Aiden’s pretty smart and the kid’s a wiz with computers so this should be easy with him helping me.

He fidgets, trying to decide if he should tell me what he’s thinking. “Ok, come up to my room, I have an idea that would guarantee us an A” Five Minutes Later

I lay on Aiden’s bed tossing the basketball toward the ceiling and catching it low near

my chest. The music blasts through the wall speakers, causing the walls to vibrate to the Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine beat. Aiden paces around his room. I sigh, getting annoyed of his fidgety-­‐ness. “What’s wrong man? Can you just tell me instead of walking around like that? It’s making me nervous.”

He sighs, “I might have found a way to go back in time, to record everything that happened, and change how everything turns out. I might have found a way to time travel.”

He glances at me nervously waiting for my reaction to this news. Time travel, really? Is that even possible? Scientists said they’ll have a working model out by 2125, but it’s not even 2100 yet. Sure, Aiden was a genius with computers, but there is no way he could invent a machine that scientists—with dozens of PhD’s—can’t even create yet.

I sit up on the bed and stare at him. “Are you kidding me?” I ask, “You’re telling me you can build a time machine?”

“Well, not a time machine, you don’t need some fancy machine to travel in time,”

Aiden scuffs, as if this was common knowledge, “That’s why scientists can’t figure it out.

They keep thinking about time as something that moves. But it doesn’t. Time is never actually moving.” His voice is growing louder with excitement as he talks, “Time moving is just the way that our human brains justify the sun going down and the weather changing.

That’s how we make sense of what’s happening around us. But really, if we didn’t expect to grow old, we wouldn’t. Our entire existence just depends on how your brain thinks about it.”

I stare at him in confusion, “You’re telling me we’re living in the past, present, and

future?”

“Not exactly, it’s more like your brain just needs to adapt to the fact that you’re not living only in one place at one time.”

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine The Next Day

I get on the bus and plop down next to Aiden. “Ok, so I think I get the idea, but how

are we going to use it to help us?”

He turns and faces me “I want to give it a test run first, somewhere close and not super dangerous—so no natural disasters.”

I smile, “I got the perfect place in mind. New York City, September 11th, 2001-­‐-­‐otherwise known as 9/11.”

Afterschool That Day

After dinner, while I was doing homework—I get a message from Aiden telling me to,

“Come over because we might be able to try the program today.” I run downstairs, tell mom I’m going over to Aiden’s to work on a project—which is not a lie—and sprint to Aiden’s house.

“You got it to work?” I ask, unable to keep my excitement in.

“Yeah, I think so,” his excitement mirroring mine.

We race up to his room—I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. He yells down stairs, telling his mom not to bother us while we’re working and spins around to face me.

“Are you sure you want to do this? There are so many things that could go wrong. We could end up dead,” Aiden states reminding me of all the things that could happen.

Trying to crack a joke, I say, “I need this A in social studies and if this will get me that, let’s do it.”

“In that case, let’s try this,” Aiden replied, “I’ve already put the code in—like I explained the other night—and now all we have to do is put on these earphones.”

I try to smile at him before we place the earphones on and travel over 90 years into the past.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine Aiden presses a button on his computer and a man’s voice speaks into my ear. Softly, it repeats letters and words in random combinations. I feel myself falling asleep in the chair.

Opening my eyes just a crack, a bright light flashes into my head. My brain’s throbbing inside my skull. I try to remember how I got into this old fashion hotel room. Who still uses pillows when there was the poyfill? Suddenly, it all comes back to me—the headphones, Aiden’s room, and our plan to witness one of the greatest terrorist attacks on the country.

I glance around the room, relieved to find Aiden lying on the bed next to mine also

trying to remember what he was doing here. “What time is it?” he asks groggily.

I peek at my watch and realize in less than 5 minutes the planes are striking the world trade center. Walking towards the hotel window I notice we’re only a couple blocks away from the trade center. Calling Aiden over to the window, we stand silently for a few minutes waiting for the planes to crash. Finally I see it, just two small specks in the distance, growing into something bigger until they touch the buildings. I feel the rumble when the building collapsed-­‐-­‐shaking the ground I stood on. Next to me, I feel Aiden take a sharp breathe as he tried to wrap his mind around what he just saw. In my gut, I feel guilty for not doing anything. I could have saved thousands of lives and billions of dollars, but instead I just watched from a distance.

Aiden breaks the silence, “I cannot believe that my code actually worked and we just witnessed one of the greatest terrorist attacks on the U.S.” He pauses. “We should head back home.”

“Yeah,” I whisper, “Time to go home.” Silently we get back into our beds. Aiden gives me the earphones and tells me to put them on. The man’s voice slowly starts droning through the headphones again, but even with his soothing voice I couldn’t fall back asleep I lay there on the bed unable to erase what I just say from my brains. After a couple hours, I finally feel my eyelids get heavy as sleep washed over me.

I wake up back in Aiden’s room. Glancing at the clock, I realize that time here hasn’t moved at all, it was as if I never spent that 10 minutes of my life, weird. Aiden’s lifeless body slumps on the chair next to mine. Starting to panic I think, “What’s wrong? Can he not return, back Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine to our time?” I slap his face trying to wake him up; he flinches, slowly regaining consciousness.

Aiden looks around and starts going off about all the discoveries he found based on our trip.

Quickly excusing myself I head home.

The Next Morning I keep seeing the crash again and again in my mind. It was as if you could hear the city cry out in pain. I want to go back and change what happened. Make it so 9/11 never happened.

So many people’s lives could be spared. And now it’s my job to figure out how.

Using my mind caller I call Aiden. When he answers, he didn’t even let me say hi or talk instead all he says is—“I know, I didn’t like what we saw either, but I don’t think it’s possible for us to go back and change it.”

“Why not!” I demand, “There aren’t rules about what we can do!”

“But there are so many things that need to be figured out before we can even think about trying to change it all. How do we get on the planes? And even if we get on there’s so many different ways the terrorists could have crashed them. Finding out can take years. And what if we fail? Would we die on the plane with the people or would we somehow end up back in our time? Huh? Do you really want to go through all that work just to save some people’s lives that are probably dead already? And even if they aren’t dead they have to be at least over 90 years old.”

“They’re still people,” I whisper, “it’s worth a try, if we could save all those lives.”

I could feel Aiden plop down on his bed as he told me “I know man, I know, I wish there was something we could do too.”

“We can do something!” I exclaimed, “Please, can we just try?”

“I don’t know—I’ll think about it—but if we do try, just remember, you’re putting your life on the line for now dead people’s lives. “Then he was gone, leaving me to think about his words.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine Three Months Later Aiden and I have spent the past months preparing for our trip. We’ve done our research, made our plan, and thought of just about every possible ending there could be. Still there are so many what if’s out there, I doubt if we’re going to come back alive. But it’s too late to change my mind now. Not after this was all my idea. We planned to do it tonight—after dinner—just like last time. But this time we’re going in prepared. Both of us are going to carry a backpack with some essentials in it. Each of us will carry our own returning device.

We’ve connected our minds to the same wavelength so we can communicate in our head.

We’ve also prepared emergency food and money for any circumstances we might be stuck in. Now it’s time to head over to Aiden’s house.

Five Minutes Later

Aiden meets me by the door. Seeing my face, he says “We still have time to turn back

if you want to.”

“I know we can turn back,” I answered, “but this is something I have to do” “Ok, in that case everything’s ready in my room, I set the code to take us onto the planes 10 minutes before the crash. From there, you know our plan and what we need to do. If everything goes well, we should be able to save thousands of lives, prevent the worst terrorist attack on the country and be back before bedtime, no pressure.” He smiles at me, trying to look like he’s got it all under control and isn’t scared out of his mind.

We head up the stairs and walk into Aiden’s room.

I pick up a backpack that we packed last night, placed on the headphones and pressed play.

Slowly, I feel myself falling asleep until Aiden suddenly jolts me awake in my mind. “Come on man, wake up, we have to get to work. “We have only 8 minutes left.” I blink, where am I? I look around in my surrounding. Then it all comes back to me 9/11, the plane crash and our plan to stop it. Quickly I get up.

My first task is to find the terrorist, who was somewhere on the plane. I walk around

checking our stranger faces.” Gotcha, he’s sitting section 2 row 35 seat 16” I think to Aiden.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “Got it,” he replies. His voice is so clear, as if he was standing right next to me, instead on the other plane trying to stop that attack. Next I work on the second part of my mission.

Walking towards the cockpit, I know that if I get caught now, it would be all over. I say a quick prayer in my head that nothing will happen and continue walking. Finally, I make it, peering through the window, I can see that the co-­‐pilot was dozing off and the pilot’s reading a magazine. They should be easy to take out—I think—as I reach into my bag and— suddenly a flight attendant appears next to me.

“Excuse me sir, she says with fake smile on her face, “What are you doing in this area of the plane? It’s off-­‐limits to passengers.”

I mumble sorry, make up a story about how I was looking for the bathroom and quickly walk away. Walking back towards my seat—I glance at my watch—only 5 minutes until we’re going to crash. I hope that Aiden’s having better luck than I am. Looking around I quickly make it back to the cockpit and this time without hesitating, step inside and spray my can of Nitrate Kilograte. The pilot and co-­‐pilot instantly fall asleep. This should keep them asleep for the next hour and when they wake up they won’t remember a single thing. I hurry to the pilot’s seat and turn the plane off of auto-­‐pilot. The plane continues flying almost 10,000 feet from the ground. No signs of it dipping down and crashing. It couldn’t be this easy, could it? I look at the time and realize that it was. 9/11 was suppose to happen a minute ago and yet I’m still here sitting in the plane that was suppose to hit the world trade center. Then I get a thought in my brain. It’s Aiden, “My mission was successful how about yours?”

“Mission accomplished,” I think back. Slipping out into the hallway I hear footsteps closing in on me. Slowly I grab the first thing I can find—a fire extinguisher—and bring it crashing down on a flight attendant’s head. “Oops sorry, but I thought you were someone else”, I whisper as I step over her and return to my seats. I place my headphones on and head back home.

Back in Aiden’s Room

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine I groan as I stretch my back. Memories of what I just did rush back into my mind. Glancing at Aiden I realize he’s also trying to comprehend what we just did and its magnitude on history. “How do we find out if what we did worked?” I asked eager to know if we changed history or not.

“Let’s check online,” Aiden stated. Together we both crowded around the computer screen to see what it says for 9/11. “Not possible,” Aiden murmurs scanning the page, He turns and looks at me. “We prevented September 11th, 2001, but the terrorists just tried again the next year on September 11th, 2002 setting off a nuclear bomb that ruined the world. As we speak right now we’re sitting on planet Mars.

“What! No, you’re kidding me.” I run over to the window and peak outside. I couldn’t see anything just red soil for endless miles.

“You’re not going to believe what this says,” Aiden says, “ Everyone on the planet died except for a small group of teenagers that were selected to try and create a better human species on Mars.” Aiden turns and stares at me, “We’re part of the last 20 human beings alive.”

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

NoSpace

by Anonymous It’s lonely, freezing, and dark in here. That was the most stupid mistake I have ever made.

Before I make another decision like this one, I need to actually think first. My name is Steve and this is my first time I prison. It’s 1940 and I can already tell by recent advancement that prison is going to be tough. By the looks of it, I can already tell this is going to be a long and dreadful month. I’m tired of standing and decide to sit down on the cold, hard, cement floor to hear a loud noise. The loud pound of footsteps is getting closer by the second and is coming toward me. A tall and rather muscular man that I don’t know appears in the dim light. He fiddles around with his key ring for awhile and when he finally finds the key, he sticks it into the lock and pulls the door open.

“Let’s go. This is your second chance,” he sputtered in a low, monotone, voice.

I followed behind him, quietly hoping I was being let out but what I saw now, definitely said something otherwise. I couldn’t help but notice this big machine sitting in front of me in the middle of the room. It has blinking lights all around the sides, a small keypad and computer screen in the front, and a shape that almost looks like a door.

The machine starts to speak, “Hello and welcome to the Do-­‐Over Machine. This is your chance to change what you did and make it right. Select all of the following – the date, time and location to go back to and we will be on our way.”

The machine kept speaking but I was ignoring it, checking out other features of this strange room. I could only pick up a few words the machine was saying,

“First…person…to…try…don’t…mess…up.”

The rest was all a blur as I was intensely concentrated, trying to figure out things in this secret metallic room. The machine intrigued me because they had just come out with the first computer and now they have managed this? It just didn’t add up. I typed in Sunday, March 15th, 1940 at 11:05pm at The Bank of America then pushed the enter key. I opened the door and went into the machine followed by the man who helped me.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine I sat waiting for awhile being very impatient. The man explained that I was the first person who was able to test this machine so I had to be careful and not mess anything up. But I zoned out most of what he said, much like I did when the machine was talking earlier.

Finally, after what has seemed like a century we arrived outside the Bank of America just after I had committed the crime and the money appeared in my pocket. I knew what I had to do. I picked the locks and got into the bank just like I had before. I broke off all security and got behind the front desk. I put the money back where I had taken it from. Some of the drawers won’t open and now I’m mad. I start to bang on the keyboard and I finally pry the space bar off of the keyboard. Quickly, I stick the space bar into my pocket and keep working. I finally returned all the money and took a huge sigh of relief. I jumped back out of the bank and returned to the machine.

The man inside was waiting for my return. He asked me how it went and I told him I did exactly what I needed to do. Since I tested this theory and came out successful, the man gave me a cash reward for proving that this would work and not hurting anything. The money didn’t fit into my pocket for some reason though so I pulled out the space bar and shoved my money in. I started to fiddle around and play with the space bar and the man got suspicious and asked what it was. I said I had ripped it off the computer at the bank on accident and decided to take it with me. His face turned bright red and he looked very angry at me. I was very confused about why he looked so mad.

“WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING!” he screamed.

“What – what did I do?” I replied a bit scared for his response.

“By taking that space bar off the computer you could have changed everything. When we return to our time there’s a possibility that none of the computer’s will have space bars and people will talk without spaces too! Nobody will understand what people are saying!” he yelled angrily.

We returned to the room and since I was out of jail I walked out of the machine and looked outside. The keyboard no longer had a space key. I ran out of the room and I heard the man shouting and chasing after me. I felt like my feet were going to fall off when I finally reached Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine my apartment and slammed the door. I turned the TV on and sat on the couch to relax. The shows were very weird and I turned on the weather to hear people talking like this, “Theweatherforecastfortomorrowishighof89degrees.”

It was slurred all together. My nightmare was coming true as I stared in shock at the TV; I heard a knock at the door. I walked over to answer it and I was scared to see who it was. As it turns out, it was just the pizza man.

When he answered, he said, “Steve,thisisyourpizzaandyourtotalis$20.50.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and took out some of my reward money to pay the pizza guy. A few minutes after he left I heard another knock. I walked over, a little irritated, and opened the door. Tall, and imposing, wearing all black stood the man. I remember him from the prison in the time machine. He made a single, sudden motion. That motion was the last one I ever saw.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

Saving The End Of The World!

by Mona B. Boom! Bang!! CRASH!!!

“Quiet down!” said Lucifer. “Everyone is going to wake up!” The two large, clumsy, mutated as half human and half demon like creatures, were lugging an old, dusty time machine across a tiny, compressed room. The long forgotten time machine laid on the floor covered with a filthy, long sheet draped over it.

“Take of the sheet!” said Maiya impatiently. She was a very annoyed, teenage creature.

Whoosh…ATCHOO! Lucifer’s sneeze echoed around the room. “Don’t make so much noise, you oaf!” Maiya whispered furiously.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Lucifer apologized, whispering, mad at himself. “Look on the bright side though-­‐,” said Lucifer, trying to brighten the mood, “Our plan to visit the future and see if we meet humans and be allies with them and make best friends with them and…”

“I know, I know, it might actually work,” finished Maiya, getting a little irritated by her fellow companion’s enthusiasm. But even she couldn’t hide her excitement of their impossible desire being physically achievable. “Good, now let’s take the time machine to the car.” THUMP! “And be careful!”

They both hauled the time machine outside to be greeted by absolute darkness. “Where’s the key?” Lucifer cried out, panicking. “We’re going to get caught-­‐ we’re going to die, HELP HELP!”

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “Shut your mouth!” answered Maiya, in a very frustrated voice. “If you could stop and think and not yell your head off, we could find the keys!” Scrambling around, Lucifer grunted back.

“I found it,” Lucifer exclaimed loudly, excited at an accomplishment. Maiya shakes her head as if very displeased.

“I wonder why I ever agreed to come here with you,” she replied solemnly. “I just cannot wait to hear what Azlem will say,” Maiya muttered.

“Huh, what did you say?” said an obviously exhausted Lucifer. Both friends had woken up at midnight and had driven to the town hall to ‘steal’ the time machine. The car roared as it came to life. Turning off the light they both headed for their secret hideout. Driving through the night, they noticed not a light could be seen throughout the tiny town. Suddenly, the car makes a piercing scream in the silent night.

“What’s happening?” yelled Lucifer, scared to death. The car swerved of the road and flies into a ditch. They hear a loud bang in the back of the car. At first, they both seemed to have forgotten the machine, and then the panic started.

“Get out of the car!” Maiya ordered anxiously. “Oh no-­‐ is the time machine okay?” “Our lives work could be at stake here!” She continued scared.

“Calm down-­‐ its fine,” a strangely familiar voice replied angrily. The tall hooded figure walks to the car slowly. “I cannot believe you guys did this!” he says agitated. “I leave you two alone for one day and look at what happens!”

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “What are you doing here, Azlem?” asked Lucifer quietly. He had been walking up to his friend since he heard his voice.

“What am I doing here?” questioned Azlem bewildered. “Are you crazy? And where is that retched Maiya?”

“I’m right here Azlem,” Maiya replied calmly. “May I ask what you are doing here two days earlier than you were to return?” she asked a little too loudly.

“Ah, that you cannot know since you have gone away with your little foolishness you call being clever,” said Azlem quickly. The leader of their species, also their long and cherished friend had gone away on a serious business trip to another species planet. His return was supposed to be in two days. The three friends had grown up together as best friends. Their dream was to grow up to visit real humans and make an ally with them. As their friend Azlem being leader, after his dad died, the idea had become possible. “Also, please explain why you have stolen the most precious machine in our universe!” Azlem asked a little hurt.

“We were trying to give you a surprise!” stuttered Lucifer. He was very nervous what his ‘boss’ and best friend would do to them.

“Mmm, a surprise you say?” Azlem said sarcastically. He hugged both of his friends and heard them sigh in relief. “So, have you guys planned out what we are going to do?”

“Yes!” replied both Maiya and Lucifer at the same time. “We were planning to do the trip in two days, but I guess we can do it now!” Maiya exclaimed excitedly. “Yeah, that sounds perfect and no can see under here, so why not do it right now!” Lucifer added.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

“That is a perfect idea,” replied Azlem. “Help me carry out the time machine from the car.”

The three of them heave the time machine out and climb inside of it. They had stumbled upon an once-­‐in-­‐a-­‐lifetime opportunity. They hit a few buttons and the time machine surged to life. It rumbled a little, and then flashed in their faces.

The next second they were in a different area. There was destruction everywhere. They realized they were in a war between themselves and creatures like humans. It was a disaster! There were gun shots and death cries. They hurried back to the time machine.

“What happened?” Azlem exclaimed awed. “I cannot believe we are in war with humans!”

Suddenly an idea spurted from him. “Let’s go back in the past and make an alliance with them!” They all cheered. Another push of a button and a bang sent them off to the past.

They were there! Cars whizzed by in the air. They were all filled with weird like creatures.

Then they realized they were real humans!

“Hello, what brings such interesting creatures to Earth?” asked a friendly human to the group of three terrified teenagers. They had looks of amazement. The humans spoke their language, but they were so different!

“Umm, what’s the date?” asked Azlem in a scared and awed voice. He was the only one that remembered to make sure they were in the right time.

“It’s the past, silly creature!” exclaimed the human in surprise. The three looked around in amazement. There were many humans and things called cars and houses! Who knew there were so many things that could be in a city! They asked the kind human who their leader Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine was. Surprisingly, he was! Maiya and Lucifer asked some questions and looked around in astonishment. There lived over a thousand humans in such a tiny place!

They talked and gathered a new level of respect as the leader signed a treaty of friendship of the two different but similar nations. The three were overjoyed! They hugged each other and squealed in delight. They couldn’t believe what was happening.

All of a sudden, there were red lights flashing everywhere. All the humans were panicking.

Yells and shouts could be heard nearby.

“What’s happening!” shouted all three of them. The crowd was so loud the leader had to yell to tell them to take cover. “Hurry, hurry!” shouted Lucifer, again, as he pushed Maiya to the ground. They ran to the nearest house and took cover.

In a flash, all the lights stopped and it was dead silent. Suddenly, the leader’s voice could be heard on the speaker.

“Do not panic, I repeat, do not panic,” he started, “As all of you know by the red lights, the end of the world is coming and we need to follow all instructions as to said!” The group of three was near the leader so they asked what the end of the world is. The leader whizzed around in amazement. The look on his face implied he thought they were crazy. He explained very vaguely and finished announcing. Then, with a wary face that made him look like he was seventy, he asked, “Would you creatures please help us?” “Don’t tell anyone but we actually don’t know what our ‘emergency instructions’ are!” he added in a small, scared voice. The three looked at each other in confusion.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “Of course!” they all replied, they still weren’t quite sure what they were getting into. The key, the leader explained, was to find a date and unlock the door to stop the end of the world. They all were very excited, a little confused, and happy to help. They thought very hard of the riddle set upon them on a piece of parchment:

You will find the key to this riddle,

Ask them the date,

With the help of a bit of twinkle,

And it will be faith,

The creatures hide in this land,

Find the lock,

Where dreams are a demand

In a big, old block

From the problems set before them, they thought very, very hard. Then, Lucifer jumped up excitedly. “Maybe they mean us, I mean, we are creatures who dream with demand!” They looked at each other in surprise. He might not be the brightest one but he sure could solve a riddle!

“Tell us more!” they all cheered. Soon, he uncovered the whole riddle, part by part. The ‘date’ was when the creatures left their land to visit the future. And the old block was the time machine. The lock was the date it was made! Everyone cheered and partied. After all the excitement had died down, they finally learned what had happened. Another group had helped the humans and they were fighting in the future because the creatures of the future refused to help the humans! But now everything was perfect! From there, the bond of friendship was cherished throughout both nations.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

Selfish

by Ariana B. “Go to bed Allison!” my mother screamed.

“Ok mom.” I said.

I walked up the stairs to my room, crashed into my bed and fell asleep instantly. I began dreaming, but my dream was not pleasant. It was just the opposite. I saw something frightening. I saw my best friend Tiffany driving home with her mom, and then the car smashed and tumbled off the side of the road. The car crashed into an old oak tree and the tree crumbled into millions of pieces. Her mom and she were both killed instantly. When the scene had been cleared I saw that the road was stained red from their blood. I woke up screaming the next morning. Reality was closing in on me little by little. My parents told me that my best friend had died in a car accident the previous night.

The following week was Tiffany and her mother’s funeral. That day was by far the worst day ever. Hours went by while family and friends talked that Tiffany had been taken away too soon. Everyone in the room was hurt in some way. There was so much sorrow, to the point that you could feel it. When her casket was lowered into the ground, I could not hold myself together any longer. I screamed and burst into tears. I had now officially lost her. She was no longer with me.

After the funeral I did not want to go to school. It would be too different. Her not being there would be the worst feeling ever. My mother forced me to go after three days. I knew I had to go eventually so I agreed, but as soon as I walked into the building kids started making fun of me. Johnny whispered to me in homeroom, “Hey, you know that there is a time machine in the basement. You could go back in time to save your friend’s life.”

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine That got me thinking. What if there really was a time machine in the basement? I decided to go to the basement to see if there really was a time machine down there. I told myself, I’ll going on Friday, and then planned it all out. I would go down after the commotion settled down in the halls. On Friday, before I left for school I yelled, “Mom, I’m going to stay afterschool and play basketball with a couple of friends.” She agreed to let me go.

Friday, the school day went on for ever. Every one of my teachers thought it was

lecture on for the whole class period. The day eventually ended. The hallways bustled with kids all heading home. I slowly packed up from 7th hour and crawled to my locker to pack up my bag, but I left it sitting in my locker. The stair well to the basement was so creepy, the floor boards groaning with every step I took. When I actually reached the floor, I saw a mouse scramble across my feet. I panicked at first but kept making my way toward the time machine.

I jammed my foot into a huge, boulder like structure. It was the time machine. I had found it; I found the machine! But there was a box next to it with a letter on top of it. I picked up the letter and began reading it. After I read the letter I found out that this box was not an ordinary box. The box contained it all—food, water, clothes, shoes, light, everything I needed. The letter also warned me to be careful. It said to watch out for the time police. If you ran into one you would be killed immediately. I pictured these men to be tall, huge, and muscular. The most important thing was that they did not know fear, only power. I knew I would have to be careful with these men.

I stumbled in the dark over to the time machine. Its outer shell looked exactly like a

NASA space shuttle. I accidently bumped into a small blue button on the machine and a door popped out of the frame. I pulled it open all the way and I hopped into the machine. I saw a Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine giant blue screen with a keyboard next to it. I punched the date into the machine; I knew it by heart, April 16th, 2456. I had waited 7 months for this day. I knew I could not turn back.

The machine groaned to life as the engine started beeping then-­‐-­‐whoosh; I heard the machine bolt back. I stared at the screen. It just went back into time week by week. I got nervous; was this really going to work? Will I make it back alive? I sat down to try to stay relaxed. When I finally felt the machine touch down on the ground I swung the door out. I pondered if I should stay or go. I chose to go and shot out of the machine.

The town did not look the same. It was brown. There was no plant life to give color, no wildlife either. The weirdest thing was that there were no human interactions, as when life happened the first time around. I had to come up with a plan fast, before the accident unfolded once again. I knew that a little boy had lost his rubber bouncy ball in the street. So maybe he ran out in front of the car? That seemed somewhat realistic. Now I have to stop the toy from entering the street. The letter reinforced that I couldn’t be seen by anyone from the past or the future may be altered.

I had plenty of time. I decided to go to the old abandoned park on the north side of town. I walked into the park, but it was a mess. The grass was dead, the trees had crashed down, and there was litter all over the place. But there still was the little stream with rocks surrounding it. I waked over and sat down on a rock, grabbed a stick and started drawing shapes in the sand. I decided to sketch out my plan. I was going to hide in a ditch on the side of the road. Then, as soon as the toy entered the road, I would run into the road and get it out of the way. I knew my plan would work. I had no other choice.

It was 6 pm; the crash had happened at 7pm. I had just enough time to run to the crash station and wait. I bolted through the town. I was slowed down, since I had to run through the allies to keep from being seen. But I kept running, until I reached the location. I sat and waited. Soon the time would come. It was 6:30; I glanced over to the right. My eyes had Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine caught something. It took me a second to realize what it was. It was the time police, the letter had warned me about. This was not part of my plan.

“Hey. Hey you!” they screamed. I ran. I knew I would be in trouble if they caught me. But I had to save my friend’s life. What else was I supposed to do; run or get caught? I froze -­‐-­‐ the police caught up. These guys were huge and full of muscle. I was terrified. They asked me what I was doing. I told them I was on my way to my friend’s house. They let me go so I was free to continue on with my plan. I had 5 minutes to get back.

The plan began to unfold as the little boy came out to play. Then it happened! The toy flew into the road. I had to act fast. The car’s headlights were shining very bright, but I bolted into the road and grabbed the toy. On my way back to the side of the road I tripped and tumbled off into the ditch. The car was getting closer and closer, but there was nothing else coming so I knew it would end out well. The car stormed past with no crash. I had done it! I saved Tiffany’s life. As soon as I got back to my time I would have her back.

Getting home was the easiest part. I pressed the time machine call button and

instantly the machine appeared. I pressed my time into the machine. Like before, it groaned back to life and exploded off, back to the future. I was so excited to get back, but when I was back in my time the world was different; sirens were going off, people were running around and screaming, the temperature was rising and fire was everywhere. It took me a second to realize what was happening. The world was ending. Everyone was going to die, including me. But how did this happen?

My neighbor, Mr. Louis, came running past me. I stopped him and asked,

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “When did this start happening?” He told me, “About 30 minutes ago.” He then started running again. I asked myself what happened 30 minutes ago? Then it came to me. Thirty minutes ago I stopped the crash. I started this world apocalypse! I ran to get to my family. At least I could die with them. I felt awful. I was so selfish to not deal with my pain, which ended up killing off the whole planet. It was truly my fault. The world ended that night. We all went to heaven. From that day on I could spend as much time with Tiffany as I wanted.

We were together again.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

A TIme Machine and a Plan

by Anonymous Zenok Lykicha looked around the office that belonged to the president. His heart was pounding and his head was spinning. Does the president of the United States really need him to do this? The president broke the silence, “We really need you to make a decision or we will have to ask someone else, and there really is no one better than you for this.” Zenok couldn’t concentrate no matter how hard he tried. He understood why the president had come to him. With his countless years of working with the FBI, Zenok was one of the most responsible and toughest people around. When he finally did talk, it felt like his mouth was moving of its own accord, “Alright, we’ll do it.”

Zenok hopped on his scooter and started to float down the sidewalk, but he stopped

and pulled out his cell phone. He needed to do this now. He shouted into the speaker, “Worbla and Nufflin,” and the other line started to ring. Nufflin and Worbla were his partners and best friends. They were the only people he could do this with.

“Hi, Zenok,” answered Worbla.

“What’s up?” said Nufflin.

“Hey guys. I need you two to get to my house as soon as possible. I have an urgent

message from the president.”

“What does he need us for?” asked Worbla

“Just come over now!”

“Okay, we’ll be there,” said Nufflin. Then they hung up their phones.

Nufflin and Worbla approached the lark oak doors of Zenok’s expensive home only

moments late (with the help of mind controlled transporting, of course). They opened the door without knocking and started to walk into the sunlit hall when Zenok popped out of the kitchen, startling them both. “Who wants soup?” he said, cheerfully.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

“Not until you—“ Worbla finished Nufflin’s sentence, “—tell us what’s going on.”

Zenok motioned them to sit down on the couch and once they were comfortable, he

began, “ The president has asked us to do something very important. We don’t exactly know what the outcome’s going to be, we just hope it’s good.” After he said that, there was an awkward silence. Then, Worbla said, “Well, are you going to tell us what it is?”

“Oh, right. You remember what happened in 2016, right?”

“I remember learning about it,” said Nufflin, “What exactly happened again?”

“Some idiot scientists named John Winters and Bob Lyon thought it would be worth

their time and money to try to recreate dinosaurs. Well, they managed to do it and the dinosaurs spread out to every continent. They wiped out all but like 10,000 humans spread around the world. We had to basically repopulate ourselves, which set back the growth in technology. And now, in 6692, the president believes we are deprived of the technology we could have if dinosaurs were never recreated.”

“Let me guess,” said Nufflin, “the president wants us to travel back in time to 2016

and stop the dinosaurs from being recreated?”

“ Yeah… You don’t sound so nervous about though.”

“Well, I’m all for it!” said Worbla, “It sounds like a fun adventure to me!” She was the

more adventurous one out of the three of them.

“He wants us to do it on June 7th,” interrupted Zenok.

“June 7th! That’s in only two weeks!” Nufflin said, clearly shocked, “He expects us to

be ready by then?”

“Yes,” said Zenok, “so are we going to do it?”

“Heck Yes!” said Worbla, who was completely set on her decision.

“Yeah, I guess we should,” agreed Nufflin, “We must be really good if the president

trusts us with this>” Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

As Zenok lay in his bed that night, he prayed that they hadn’t made the wrong

decision.

June 7th came too fast for any of them. They had gone through the plan so many

times that they could recite it out of memory. The president told them that they were to not come back until they had convinced the scientists not to recreate dinosaurs. They had zipped up the last of their suitcases and checked to make they had their money when it was time to go.

The time traveling machine was basically like a huge metal elevator with a lot of

colorful buttons. Zenok, Worbla, and Nufflin nervously walked into the time traveler, followed by a huge man with a bushy mustache. “This is Manfred,” said the president, “he will take you to 2016 and bring you home. He will be staying in the same hotel as you but won’t be with you on your mission.” They had nothing to say so they started to close the doors. “Good luck,” said the president, “I trust that you three won’t let me down, that’s why I chose you.”

“Believe me, we won’t let you down,” said Zenok.

When the doors closed, their mission had begun.

Manfred pressed a series of confusing buttons and entered the year 2016 in the

keypad. “Are you ready?” he asked.

“Go for it!” said Worbla, enthusiastically.

He pressed a green button labeled GO and the time machine whizzed off

The ride was bumpy and it threw the four people all around. The lights kept

flickering on and off and all you could hear was a high pitched buzzing noise. After the few uneventful minutes, the buzzing noise and rumbling slowed. “Here we are,” said Manfred, “who wants to go first?”

The doors opened and Worbla peered outside. They were in a room painted dark red

with dark wood furniture. There was a woman sitting behind a desk, talking on a phone Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine with a cord. “This is the hotel lobby,” said Manfred, “You talk to the lady over there and she’ll give you your room number and key.”

Since Zenok, Worbla and Nufflin were new to this, Manfred led them to the desk and

talked to the lady. They didn’t hear what they were saying because they were in a conversation of their own. “So how are we supposed to find these scientists?” whispered Nufflin.

“Well, the president said that they were working in Nelson’s Laboratory for Scientific

Development,” said Worbla, “I suppose we’ll just go there and ask if there’s any guy that’s trying to recreate dinosaurs.”

“But wouldn’t that sound a little suspicious?” chuckled Zenok. They never had time to

finish their conversation because Manfred had gotten their keys and had started walking toward moving stairs.

“Whoa!” said Worbla, “What are these?”

“They’re called escalators,” explained Manfred, “Just hop on one and it’ll take you up

a level.”

Zenok, Worbla, and Nufflin curiously watched Manfred step one a started moving up.

The followed what he had done, tough a little bit hesitantly. They got up to their rooms a couple minutes later. Zenok, Worbla, and Nufflin shared a room with three twin beds while Manfred got a room to himself. The three of them had gotten ready for bed, and before they had a chance to discuss what they had been through so far, all three of them fell asleep.

Worbla was the first to wake up the next morning. She had already showered and

was dressed before the other two got up.

“Morning!” sang Worbla, cheerfully.

Zenok and Nufflin grumbled sleepily back.

“Hurry up and get ready! We have a big day ahead of us!”

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

After Zenok and Nufflin had gotten ready and had their fill of toast and bacon, they

headed out to their rented car—which to their surprise, didn’t fly—to start their journey.

They had taken a left on Sycamore Street when Nufflin was the first one to spot the

factory. It was boxy and gray, with the words Nelson’s Laboratory for Scientific Development in big bold letters on the front. “This place gives me the creeps,” exclaimed Zenok.

“Yeah, same here,” said Worbla.

“But we said we’d do it, so there’s no backing out now,” Nufflin muttered back to

them.

Zenok turned into the big parking lot and parked in an empty space. They took one

last scared look at each other before slowing opening the doors and climbing out. They silently walked up to the double glass doors and walked in. The laboratory had a cold tile floor and many doors with strange labels on them. They saw a man with thick glasses on sitting at a desk and they walked up to him. “Hi,” said Zenok, “This is very hard for us to explain so if you could just tell us where we could find John Winters and Bob Lyon, that’d be great.”

The man behind the counter talked in a high pitches voice, nervously. “Well, I don’t

know if I can do that for you, sir. We can’t let just anyone wander around our building. If you would have made an appointment so we knew a little about you then we could consider—“

“Look, this is a real emergency, we just need to talk to them. It won’t take long.”

“I’m sorry sir, I can’t let you. Now if you could please exit to your right and thank you

for visiting. Have a nice day.”

“Ronald Schmidt to Animal Testing. Ronald Schmidt to Animal Testing,” bellowed the

speaker above their heads.

“Well, I have to go,” Ronald Schmidt said, “Thank you for visiting. Have a nice day.”

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

“I guess we could try making an appointment and come back later,” suggested

Nufflin, after Ronald trotted off.

“We don’t have time, we have to get this done as quick as we can,” Zenok said as he

moved back behind the counter and started shuffling around the papers.

“What are you doing?” asked Worbla.

“Looking for a map or something that tells us about the rooms. Aha! Here’s a map.”

His eyes scanned the map. He finally said, “This one must be it, Ancient Creatures

Study. It’s on the third floor, room 329.”

“Let’s go then!” said Worbla, excitedly.

No one seemed to care who they were or what they were doing as they walked

through the building. They were walking into and elevator when they overheard two men talking.

“You do realize, Bob, that we’ll go down in history for this!” said the tall, skinny one.

“I know, “ said the shorter, friendlier looking one, “we’ll be known all around the

world!”

“Excuse me,” interrupted Zenok, “do you two happen to be John Winters and Bob

Lyon?”

“Why yes we are,” said the tall skinny one, “I’m John and this is Bob. What can I do for

you?’

“We’ve actually got a lot to tell you. Is there a place we could go in private to talk?”

“Yes,” said John, “my office would work.”

They all climbed into the elevator and John pressed the floor three button. When

they reached the floor, John led them to his office. It was a pretty normal office, with a desk and a few filing cabinets and there were papers everywhere. John Winters told them to take Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine a seat and they sat down on blue leather chairs, while Bob stayed standing, leaning against a table.

“I’m sorry,” said Zenok “we never properly introduced ourselves. My name is Zenok

Lykicha, and this is Worbla and Nufflin.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Bob, as both scientists shook their hands.

“We already know that you will think we’re crazy when we tell you this, and there is

no easy way to tell you. We just ask that you please believe us and you have to keep this a secret, we’re trusting you,” Zenok said.

“You can trust us,” said John, “right, Bob?”

“Yes, of course. It sounds like you’re pretty serious about it.”

“Well, it is a very serious matter. You see, we’re not exactly from this time. We’re

from the year 6692, and we traveled back in time just to talk to you two.”

Zenok paused to let this information sink in.

“We know that you are either thinking about or working on recreating dinosaurs.”

“Y—yes,” stammered John, nervously, “what happens if we do?”

Zenok explained what happened after dinosaurs had successfully been recreated.

John and Bob’s eyes widened with horror after every sentence he said.

“So,” concluded Zenok, “you understand why you really shouldn’t recreate dinosaurs.

The future of our nation depends on it! We don’t know how long this earth is going to last, and there’s things we will never discover, but you recreating these dinosaurs will just add up more things to discover during our limited time.”

“This is really hard to believe,” said John, “ but we do know that time travel can

happen, we just don’t know that you’re telling the truth. For all we know, you could be trying to steal our fame by recreating dinosaurs yourselves.”

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

“Please, Mr. Winters,” said Worbla, “you have to believe us, do not recreate

dinosaurs!”

“Oh come on John, they seem like pretty honest people, I think we can trust them,”

said Bob.

“Alright,” John replied, “ we won’t do it.”

They left the building feeling relieved and excited.

“That was a lot easier than I thought it would be,” Nufflin said.

“Yeah, I agree. They were pretty understanding guys,” agreed Worbla

“There’s only one thing left to do, go back to the hotel and return to 6692,” said

Zenok.

When they got back to the hotel they ran up to Manfred’s room and knocked on the

door. They told him all about what happened and Manfred looked impressed. After that, they went to their room to pack up their stuff and go back home.

Manfred pressed a red button on his phone and the time travel machine popped up

in front of them.

“Ready to go see what the future’s like?” Manfred said.

They all stepped into the time machine and Manfred pressed the buttons. He entered

the year 6692 and pressed to green go button. The buzzing noise and rumbling started again and when it finally stopped, they were more nervous than they had been this whole trip.

The doors opened and they prepared to see a new and improved town, but all they

could see was a forest with trees they had never seen before and big, colorful flowers.

“We must have landed in a forest,” said Worbla, “we should try and find a way out.”

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

They searched and they searched and they searched, but it seemed like the forest

was never ending.

Neither Zenok, Worbla, Nufflin, nor Manfred had known what they’d done. Their

action of traveling back in time and changing history had created more damage then was before. They were left in the forest do die, as the last four people who had ever walked the earth.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine

Smokey Mountains -­‐-­‐ A trip to remember

by Andrew G. “Henry, get down here, its time for dinner!” Mom called. I quickly put away the magazine, and ran into the bathroom to wash my hands. As I washing my hands, I looked in the mirror and saw the same old me. Same blonde hair. Same icy, blue eyes. Same everything.

When I got in my seat, my mom asked, “So how was your day?” “Good, I guess.” I replied.

“Where is your Father?” She pleaded. Then dad ran out of the study and sat down. My mom turned on the radio, “It’s a great day for America! Eisenhower just won the election of 1953!” The radio said. My dad cheered and said “It’s about time another republican is running America.

After we ate meatloaf and Lima beans for about 10 minutes, my dad stood up. “What’s up?” I asked. He said “I have some exciting news; we are going on a trip!” “Oh my goodness, how on earth can we afford this?” My mother asked. “Well, yesterday, I got a raise in my paycheck, and I was thinking about what to do with all this extra cash. So I thought that we all could go for a little vacation.” My father announced. “Where are we going?” My mother shouted. “To the Smokey Mountains” Dad said. My mom was very happy and then she got up, danced around, and started humming. “When are we going?” I asked. “In two weeks.” My father replied.

I just zipped up my suitcase when my mother shouted, “Are you done packing yet?” “Yes Ma!” I replied. Today is the day we are going into the mountains. After we loaded up the green, 1950 Ford, my mother exclaimed “Gee whizz, just imagine it, a regular family from Baltimore, going into the Smokey Mountains, this is going to be so much fun Henry!”

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine It’s been 5 hours since we’ve been on the road. My mom is still shaking with excitement. My dad is driving, quietly, as he is trying to ignore my mom as she babbles on about how much fun were going to have, and where to go. The scenery is breathtaking as we glide up the sides of the gigantic mountains.

When we finally reach our campground, the sun is about to disappear behind the horizon of the beautiful mountains encircling our campground. “We should start unloading the car.”

My father sighed. After an agonizing hour of setting up and unpacking our bags, we’ve finally finished. We retired to our sleeping bags thankful that we can go to bed.

The next morning I woke up around 9:00am. My mom and my dad are both awake, sipping coffee around the warm, campfire. “Good morning sweetie” My mother calls. “Today we are all going exploring.” Father proclaims. I’ve been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks now. I quickly scarf down some eggs, bacon, and orange juice, and then I ran to the tent to put some hiking clothes on.

After we walked about a mile, we stop to rest on some tree stumps. I walked away from the clearing until I couldn’t see my family, to go to the bathroom. After I was done going to the bathroom, I started to walk back to where my family was sitting at—but there was only one problem. I couldn’t find where they were sitting.

I yelled and called for them until my throat hurt. They had to be around here somewhere! I ran through the woods frantically trying to find them, just then I saw a big branch sticking out, it came up so fast that I couldn’t stop. Bam! It hit me in the head, and then everything went dark.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine I woke up in cold sweats. When I looked around, I immediately noticed something different about where I was. The forest was not as thick, and there were fewer trees. I could also see a big highway going right through the mountains. There are so many cars on the highway, and they look so different from the cars that we have now. There were many odd looking homes perched up high in the mountains overlooking the loud highway. “What, where am I?!” I shouted. Oh, it’s no use, no one can hear me. I was still deeply troubled that I was lost; I had a huge knot in my throat. I knew I probably wouldn’t see them ever again, and I was in a strange, frightening place. I started to cry. After about 10 minutes of crying, and self hatred for straying from my mother and father, I finally stood up. After walking all the way to the highway, I stood there, waiting.

After 3 minutes of waiting by the side of the road, a shiny, blue, odd looking automobile pulled up and stopped right in front of me. The person inside rolled down the tinted windows. “Can I help you?” The man asked. “Um... am I in America?” I pleaded nervously.

“No, you’re in Antarctica! Of course you’re in America, Dummy!” He shouted sarcastically.

“What year is it?” I asked again. “2011! Don’t you know anything, kid?” He laughed. 2011! It was just 1953 a couple hours ago what the heck?! My mouth dropped open; I couldn’t do or say anything else. I was totally freaked out! “What’s the problem, kid?” He questioned. When I finally gathered up myself, I said, “I think I'm lost.” “Well, hop in. My name’s Jeff.” The man said. I opened the door, and got in. Jeff was tall, looked about 35 years old, had longish dark brown hair slicked back, and he was wearing weird clothing. I looked at him funny because of what he was wearing; he did the same to me. “Where are you going?” He asked. “To the nearest town please.” I answered.

“What’s your name, kid?” He questioned. I replied, “Its Henry, and stop calling me kid, I’m 14. I’m from Baltimore. So where are we going anyway?” “To Gatlinburg, Tennessee. That's the nearest town. I’m 33, and I’m from Wisconsin, by the way. Where are your parents?” He said. “I’m lost, I can’t find my parents.” I said sadly. “Here, you can use my cell phone to call your parents.”A what? Did he just say cell phone, what is that? “Um... Okay.” I replied. Out of Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine his jeans pocket, he took out this small, metal, hand-­‐held device, which he called, a “cell phone.” It had a screen, and lights.

It was the oddest little thing ever. He had me push the little buttons with numbers on it, I punched in the numbers to our telephone at home. Then he had me hold it up to my ear and listen, it sounded like a regular phone, but there was no cord, it didn’t plug into the wall, it was super tiny, and it had a weird way of dialing on it. No one answered at my house.

When I was just about getting tired Jeff said, “Welcome to Gatlinburg, Tennessee!” It was a huge city, with very tall buildings, but not as tall as the Empire State building. All the buildings looked weird, they had lots of windows, and barely any were made out of brick.

Everything here looked way different than my Baltimore. Jeff and I then went into a store.

There were lots of weird gadgets and devices with screens, lights, and buttons, and some of them even moved too. As I was looking around the store, I saw the most outrageous poster!

It was a poster that showed a Negro man in a suite and above it, said, President Barack Obama. A Negro for president, they must be joking! After that point, days just began drifting away.

A week later, Jeff said that he had to go, so he gave me $50.00, and drove off without me. I felt lonely again, so I wandered out of the city. I spent a whole day just wandering out of the city and into the wilderness, well, what’s left of the wilderness actually. Soon, it became very dark, but luckily father taught me how to build a fire before we went camping. So at least I had a fire to keep me warm. I put the $50.00 in my pocket; I hadn’t found a use for it yet. I fell asleep that night thinking of what me, my mother, and my father, would have been doing right now, if I hadn’t have got lost.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011

Time Travel Stories Magazine “Wake up sleepy head!” My mother called. I couldn’t really hear her at first, but then I heard her correctly and I bolted awake quicker than I could think. I woke up covered in cold sweat.

“What, what, where am I?” I asked tiredly. “It’s okay honey, you hit your head on a branch, and you were knocked out cold for 2 days, but you’re alright now.” I was so relieved that it was just a dream! I smiled, and then I began to tear up, because I was so happy to be back.

We decided to come back early from our camping trip. We left camp later that day. I was happy to be going back home, to sleep in my own, warm, bed. The scenery was beautiful as we cascaded down the mountains. It took us 2 days to get back to our home in Baltimore.

When we finally got back home, I was too tired to unpack, so I just went to bed.

The next morning was very relaxing, but I sad that I won’t get to wake up to that beautiful scenery anymore. “Henry, go unpack your clothes!” My mother called. As I was unpacking my clothes, I found the pair of pants that I was wearing the day I got hit in the head by the tree branch. When I was reaching in the pockets of the pants to pull out clumps of dirt and leaves, I felt something paper-­‐like. I pulled it out and I almost had a heart attack. The $50 was still in my pocket, and the date on the money was 2011.

Mrs. Schick’s Classes, May 2011