Once Upon a Time Machine - A Short Story by hoodedwarbler12

by hoodedwarbler12 Sun Jan 31, 2010 5:23 pm

Maturity: Not much, it's just teenagers that like each other.
Fantasy: The whole thing is unbelievable, but nothing too scary.

Once Upon a Time Machine
by hoodedwarbler12

Chapter 1

"You're kidding!" I shouted.
"No, I'm not," replied Hannah, "but you don't have to come if you don't want to."
"Time travel doesn't exist! Even Einstein couldn't do it! Do you expect me to believe that you can simply design an actual time machine! Ha!" I couldn't believe she still expected me to believe her.
"Okay then, fine! Just go away if you don't believe me! But I'm going to the Middle Ages!" shouted Hannah. She was still playing at it!
"All right, fine. I'll come see your stupid "time machine"." I knew she wouldn't quit bugging me until I did. Her house was just a block away, so after I saw her little box, I'd come back and do my homework.
"Good! You won't be disappointed!" she said.
When we got to her house, she took me down to the basement.
"I made it in our old furnace, after we got an electric heat pump." she explained, as I stared around the room. Sure enough, there was an old furnace with a door cut in it. She led me inside, where about 10 million circuit boards were welded into the furnace wall. Something that looked like a computer screen, keyboard, and mouse was there as well. Hannah was a bit of a geek,so she was really smart. Still, I was surprised when she hit a button and the screen lit up to reveal a small box which read, "Desired time".
"See? I told you so!" she said. "Sit in one of the chairs." I hadn't noticed them before, but two metal seats were welded into the furnace wall. I sat, and she typed the year "1420" in the box. Another box appeared on the screen, saying, "Desired location". She typed in,"London, England."
"Oh, so it's a teleport as well as a time machine!" I mocked.
"Shut up, Rob!" she said, clicking a green button that had appeared.
I felt a strange feeling, as if something were pulling me apart, but it did not hurt. Then, a loud Bang! sounded, and I was back to normal, still in a metal chair in the furnace in Hannah's basement. Nothing had happened.
"Ha! Told you!" I said, before wishing I had a machine that could take back words. I saw tears in Hannah's eyes.
"Go away! I never want to see you again!" she sobbed. "You stupid, selfish little idiot! It really does work! It's just never done a human before! Look at the screen!"
I did look, and my heart skipped a beat. The screen showed a castle, so large and beautiful, and it wasn't ruins. People bustled in and out of the gate, rolling goods along in carts. And there, lying in the grass, was a curious collection of objects. There was a pencil, a folder, a soda can, and, to my great surprise, a domesticated cat, which I knew to be Hannah's. The time machine really worked!

To be continued...