The meadow lay still, bathed in the tranquility of an ordinary evening, until a mysterious blue portal shattered the serenity with an unexpected thud. Startled, Thalia found herself unceremoniously deposited next to her best friend, Jason. Her glasses, victims of the chaotic arrival, had taken flight and disappeared into a sea of endless purple wildflowers. They resembled fleeting blooms before her vision blurred again. Maybe it was time to consider contacts if she intended to continue these interdimensional leaps.
Desperately, she fumbled around like Velma from Scooby-Doo, a detective without her most crucial tool. The scent of fresh air and fragrant flowers confirmed they were outdoors. Thankfully, the portal hadn't whisked them away to a different dimension, granted them extra heads, or dropped them into prehistoric times. Jason's silence, however, spoke volumes; he was disappointed.
This marked the third failure of their enigmatic time-traveling portal. The first leap through time had been almost effortless, so the stubborn refusal of their cosmic gatekeeper left them baffled.
"Jason, are you okay?" Thalia called out, her voice breaking the eerie silence.
"Yeah, I'm okay. How about you?" Jason responded, his blurry figure slowly rising.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Thalia replied as she finally located her gold-rimmed glasses and slid them back onto her nose. Just in time to witness her nephew tumble out of the portal and onto the field.
"I thought it would work this time! I think my arm is broken." Her nephew clutched his arm, and the blue portal above him sealed shut.
Panic surged through them, and both Jason and Thalia rushed over to him. As the adult in charge, Thalia knew her sister would have her head if anything happened to her son. She knelt beside him, carefully examining his arm.
"Thankfully, I don't think it's broken. I told you to stay in the garage while we tested the portal. You could have seriously hurt yourself, Leo!" Thalia scolded, though her voice trembled with relief as she hugged him tightly. His unruly curls tickled her chin.
"I'm glad you're okay, buddy," Jason added, his dark hair fluttering in the wind as he squinted at the orange sun peeking through the clouds. Nightfall approached rapidly.
"It didn't work again. Maybe we can try tomorrow?" Jason's tone was gentle, like a parent soothing a disappointed child, as Thalia sat amidst the purple flowers, holding her young nephew. The once-blurry petals now came into focus, but she couldn't find much solace in their beauty.
"Let's head home."
The journey back was marked by silence, with Jason carrying Leo in his arms as he walked beside Thalia. Leo snored softly, drooling on Jason's shoulder. His patience knew no bounds, one of the reasons he had agreed to accompany her on these wild escapades. They had been inseparable since that fateful day in the 10th-grade cafeteria when Thalia stumbled and fell, eliciting laughter from the entire lunchroom. When she looked up, Jason asked if she was okay and helped her to her feet. Since then, their friendship had grown unbreakable.
The chorus of crickets grew louder, and the air grew colder as night descended. Stars shimmered in the sky, and it was well past Leo's bedtime. Thalia knew her sister would give her a lecture reminiscent of their grandmother's. She pressed buttons on the mysterious watch they had found a few days ago, wondering why it hadn't worked. But to understand how they ended up here, they needed to rewind a few days.
⏪
It all began like any other scorching summer weekend, a well-deserved break from her long hours as a waitress. The restaurant could manage without her for a day, and she was convinced her coworkers would survive a day carrying heavy plates and enduring the wrath of angry customers. She leaned back, basking in the sun's warmth, while Leo and Jason decided to join her at the beach. Leo, always eager for adventure, attempted to bury Jason in the sand. Amidst the playful shoveling, Leo uncovered something shiny - a silver watch, seemingly ordinary.
With excitement, he showed Thalia the watch, and she examined it, congratulating him on his discovery. Jason, now free from his sandy confinement, grinned at Leo, fitting the watch onto his wrist. In a dazzling burst of light, the watch illuminated so intensely that it stung their eyes. Sand swirled around them as they found themselves caught in a sandstorm. Thalia's voice was lost in the deafening wind as she called out for them.
Suddenly, a bright blue portal materialized below them, sucking them in, beach chairs and towels scattering around. They plummeted through a swirling vortex, desperately reaching for anything to hold onto. Panic set in as they screamed, convinced that their fate was sealed. Closing her eyes, Thalia braced for a quick, painless end, thinking about reuniting with her parents.
However, the vortex spat them out into an unfamiliar location, landing them unceremoniously in a haystack within a wooden barn. The blue portal sealed above them, leaving them dazed and disoriented from their harrowing ordeal. Jason nursed his head, and Leo vomited into a nearby barrel. Where were they? Is this a dream?
They were suddenly in a wooden barn full of haystacks. The air was humid, and it smelled like burning wood. As they gazed out the window, a picturesque scene unfolded before them, with quaint cottages and people in old-fashioned attire, riding in carriages pulled by beautiful, sleek horses, devoid of any modern technology. They were not in their own time anymore, and Thalia questioned if they'd stumbled onto a movie set. Three time-displaced individuals in swimwear would surely disrupt any period piece. Thalia's two-piece polka dot bikini felt out of place among the conservative clothing of the era.
"Where are we? I'm scared," Leo hid behind her.
"This is just a dream. I'll wake up any minute now," Thalia pinched her skin and closed her eyes. She opened them to find herself still standing in the unfamiliar barn.
"I think we traveled back in time," Jason picked up a rolled-up newspaper from the ground and read it. "The date is August 2, 1890."
"That must be a mistake. Time travel is clearly impossible," Thalia said in pure disbelief. Then she realized that they had traveled when Leo pressed the button on the watch he found. She picked up the silver watch, and it gleamed in the sunlight. It still smelled like the ocean and buzzed in her hand.
"Where did you find this, Leo?" Thalia asked.
"I found it under the sand because it was buzzing," Leo replied.
Thalia thought to herself as the barn doors suddenly opened.
A young boy in a brown jumpsuit, dirty and barefoot, opened the barn door and spotted them. Fear surged through him, causing him to scream, joined by Leo's shrieks. This was precisely why Thalia had reservations about bringing her young nephew along. Two screaming children in a barn were bound to attract attention, potentially leading to imprisonment for their unconventional attire.
The boy's mother rushed in, holding up her white-stained dress, and let out a horrified scream at the sight. Thalia's nimble fingers found the button on the side of the silver watch, and she pressed it with a sense of urgency. In a flash of blue light, they were zapped back to their present time, leaving the astonished woman and her son behind in the barn, their shocked expressions frozen in time.
They landed back in the familiar surroundings of their own era, but Thalia's heart was heavy with determination. She had experienced a glimpse of the past, a tantalizing taste of what might be possible. She knew her mission now - to travel through time again and save her parents.
Growing up, Thalia and her sister, Isabella, had been raised by their loving grandparents, who had always made sure they knew they were loved. Heartwarming birthdays were celebrated with homemade cakes adorned with candles, and Christmases were filled with cherished gifts and laughter. Yet, despite the warmth of her grandparents' embrace, Thalia's heart ached for her parents.
In the living room, an old picture hung on the wall, a frozen moment from a past life. It was taken in Hawaii, and in the photograph, her mother's tan skin glowed under the tropical sun. Her flowing, curly hair framed her face, and her bright smile radiated happiness. Standing beside her was her father, tall and strong, his bright green eyes and sun-kissed skin capturing the essence of a carefree vacation. His smile matched hers, and together they looked so happy, so full of life.
Thalia often found herself gazing at that photograph, yearning to know the parents she had never truly known. Unlike her older sister, Isabella, who had a few memories of their parents, Thalia had been too young to remember them. The stories, the photographs, and the love she felt from her grandparents were a lifeline to a past she longed to explore.
Now armed with a mysterious time-traveling watch, she was determined to bridge the gap between past and present, to meet her parents, if only for a moment, and to rewrite their family's history. The watch held the key, and Thalia was ready to unlock its secrets, no matter the risks and challenges that lay ahead.