While driving to her house, she stopped at a cafe to buy her favourite coffee. Casually sipping on it she let the distance mingle with her thoughts. There was not something particular she had her mind consumed with. This and that. If and if not. One instant, it was what if she couldn't make the successful time travel. The next moment, the thought of what to gift her parents on their wedding anniversary would come to pass her mind. It was tomorrow and she hadn't bought anything for them. It wasn't that she forgot, the date was on her mind all the time. She just couldn't borrow some time from her routine.
She had to ride off the train of the thoughts when she reached her destination. Parking the car in the driveway of her house, she unfastened the seat belt and grabbed the bag from the next seat.
Stepping on the wet road, she began walking through the front yard, drinking up from the coffee. It had stopped raining. Thus, she enjoyed the little steps to the front door. Once she was inside, she put the coffee cup down by the wall, took her shoes off, held them in one hand and stealthily made her way to her room that was upstairs, being careful not to produce any noise that would summon her parents, especially her mom, out of their room, asking her about the day and stuff. She would've been a scientist for the world, to her parents, she was their twenty-one years old adorable daughter.
"You home. Should I heat up the dinner for you, baby?", and just as hushed as a light feather moving with the flow of gentle breeze, she tried to walk up the stairs to her room, and it had not been even half of the distance covered when she heard a voice behind her.
"Mom! Stop calling me baby! I'm all grown up", now that her mom had caught her red-handed coming home that late, she couldn't care less about the fact that her dad could also come out of his study after hearing her voice.
"Really?", her mom eyed her from head to toe in amaze expressions. Right that moment, Scarlett outguessed what was about to come next. So she braced herself for it.
"But look who's whining like a baby here", and the hunch was right. Her mom broke in a soft giggle as the girl gave up in a sullen pout.
"She just came home, honey. Come to daddy, princess", dropping the shoes and bag on the stairs, she ran down in the arms of her dad.
A perfect happy family.
The life Scarlett was living was a dream life of many out there.
Scarlett was raised in a supporting, optimistic family where trust was put in the relations. She was happy that her parents fell in love in the days of their youth and got married. Having that family and being their daughter were the things she adored the most in her life. Because whenever she would try to imagine how her life would be without them, she would see nothing. Her life would be nothing without them.
The little family slept soundly on their beds. And finally, the most awaited day came, Monday. Saturday morning, when the processor planned to sneak out of the house into the laboratory, her parents were quick enough to block all the ways. It had been a while since they spent some quality time together. Since it was the day of a celebration, they got an excuse to trap the girl in the house.
They gathered together and enjoyed the time in each other's company. Gifts were also exchanged. Scarlett's dad, John, gifted her mom a fragrance, a scent that filled the eyes of her mom, Heaven, with tears. Tears of joy. Nostalgia hit the woman when the delicate and silky scent entered her nostrils, flooding the mind with the warm sensation of memories from the old summer days when her husband, who used to be her boyfriend back then, would bring the gardenia flowers for her whenever he came to meet her.
Her mom gifted a mini-album to her dad. The album had pictures from different years. It even had some photos of their youth. Memories were a treasure, if beautiful. For some, they were monsters that would hunt them in their present. For some, they were a lesson.
When her mom gave her a knitted sweater and a stunning floral dress from her dad, she was apologetic for not buying them anything. They told her that how could they forget her on the important day of their life and that she was the reason for them being happy to the moon and back. She made a mental note to buy something valuable for them.
"Morning, Scarlett. Oh, wow you look fresh. How many hours did you get to sleep last night?", passing through the revolving door, she was met by Dylan on the campus.
"I did nothing creative this weekend. So, slept most of the time", by most of the time she meant the nights. Since the last year, most of her nights were being spent either in the laboratory or in her room staying up till midnight, sometimes until dawn, working on the time machine. When her parents politely refused her to go to the university on an off day and didn't let her be imprisoned in the work that she would do usually, she spent all the time at home.
Half of the time was spent in the study of her dad, admiring his architectural samples for the new projects. The rest was cherished while watching her dad baking muffins for them, helping her mom preparing dinner and doing some chores. As she didn't have anything to do at night, she would enjoy the comfy mattress and reminisce some of the memories until she would eventually fall asleep.
"That's great! I love your parents", he laughed at the helplessness of the girl. She could refuse everyone but when it came to her parents, there was no refusing.
"I also love my parents", gritting her teeth at the boy she arrived at the laboratory with Dylan beside her.
She was eager to look into the machine all over again but what she entered to had her eyes widened, nerves almost popping out.
"Where is my banana!"