OMG, A CUL8R Time Travel Mystery

by Kat, Bob

Kelly suspected that was the closest she would get to an apology from Zoey, so she accepted it graciously.

  “Let’s go. I’m starving.” Austin tried to pull himself up off the bed but his ribs were clearly causing him some grief. “Scott . . . let me ask you something. Since there is like forty years or more between when I got hurt in last night’s game and when we get back home, will my ribs be healed?”

  Scott considered his answer for a moment. “What we’ve done is travel through a wormhole in the time continuum, and we arrived on an alternate timeline. That means there are multiple co-existing alternate histories, so that when the traveler goes back in time or returns, since our bodies are the same here and in 2013, we’ll carry whatever wounds and things that we currently have with us.” Scott looked at everyone’s face to see if he had sold his explanation.

  Austin smiled. “You don’t have any idea, do you?”

  Scott hesitated, then shrugged. “Not really. This is all new to me, too. I can’t wait to see how you feel when we hit the beach.”

  Zoey and Kelly laughed, and they left the Super 8 Motel for the last time.

  They stopped at the coffee shop for a late breakfast. Scott bought a newspaper. As soon as they had placed their orders, they opened it and found the article on the bottom of the front page. Kelly read it aloud.

  “Local Coach Charged with Kidnapping of Local Girl. Andrew Decker, first-year coach at South Beach High School was arrested early this morning after police discovered a local teenager drugged and restrained in his home. Her identity is not being revealed because she is a minor. The fire department was called when Decker’s truck exploded . . .”

  “What happened with that, by the way?” Kelly asked Austin. “We were expecting you to keep him distracted. But he came back in the room and caught me.”

  Austin looked sheepish. “I set the lawnmower on fire, but it just made a little boom and didn’t even catch on fire. Decker looked out, but there was nothing to see, so he went back in.”

  “Then how did the truck catch fire?”

  “The gas had spilled and ran under the truck. I lit a piece of paper and tossed it on the lawnmower, trying again to get it to burn and the whole thing blew up.”

  “It almost knocked me down,” Scott told him.

  “Yeah, me, too. Luckily, I had moved behind the palm tree so no one would see me, or I’d have been flattened,” Austin said. “I didn’t mean to blow it up. No matter how bad a guy is, it’s not cool to torch his truck.”

  “Harsh, but effective. He sure ran out of the house in a hurry,” Scott said.

  “I hate to think what he would have done to me if you guys hadn’t been there.” Zoey’s chin quivered at the memory of how close she had actually come to never leaving that house alive.

  “Go on,” Scott encouraged Kelly to continue reading.

  “. . . and moved to the house. They were able to extinguish the fire before it spread into the living areas or to any of the houses next door. The young girl was taken to a local hospital for observation, then released to her parents. The police found evidence of several other crimes, and an in-depth investigation will follow. Decker is being held in the local jail without bail.”

  The waitress returned with their food and everyone dug in. The talk between them was more upbeat and light-hearted than since their adventure had begun. It was such a relief to know that Wendy was alive and Decker was behind bars, that they were finally able to relax.

  They dropped the clothes off at Salvation Army on their way to the school. It was closed, as expected, and Scott dropped the letter into the mail slot in the front door. Then they all made the walk to Wendy’s house. It was a typical warm October South Florida Saturday as they stood on the front porch. Just as downtown, every house was decorated for Halloween with pumpkins on the porches and tissue paper ghosts hanging from the trees. Zoey knocked on the door and then stepped back. The door was open so she could see Wendy’s dad coming toward her.

  “Well, hello, Zoey . . . come on in,” Wendy’s dad said as he opened the front screen door to let them all enter into the living room. “I was hoping you would come by today.” To everyone’s horror, he covered his mouth and nearly broke down in tears. None of them had ever seen a grown man cry, and they didn’t know how to deal with it. “I’m sorry . . . Wendy told me what you did last night, Zoey. You were really brave to go with her. If you hadn’t been there, he probably would have killed her, and we would never have known what happened to her.” Her dad reached out and hugged Zoey. “We were all wondering how you escaped.”

  “I . . . managed to slip out when he wasn’t looking. I couldn’t wake Wendy up, so I climbed out the window and called the police.” Zoey struggled to explain, hoping her confusion would be attributed to the trauma she had suffered.

  “But how did the truck catch on fire?”

  All the kids exchanged looks, but no one spoke up. It was vital that no one know they had been there or questions would be asked that they would rather not answer. When the silence stretched into several seconds, Wendy’s dad shrugged.

  “It really doesn’t matter. All that I care about is that my daughter is okay.”

  “Can we see her?” Zoey asked.

  “Sure, she’s in her room. Go on back.”

  Wendy’s door was cracked open an inch when Zoey knocked. They could see her lying on her bed, surrounded by record albums. The melancholy sound of Marianne Faithful singing As Tears Go By played on her stereo. As they listened, the song reached the end, then the arm reset and started over. Apparently, it was her song of the moment.

  “Come in,” Wendy said in a lifeless voice.

  “Hey . . . how are you?” Zoey asked as she pushed the bedroom door open.

  The sound of Zoey’s voice catapulted Wendy off her bed and she hit the floor running toward the door to greet them. She grabbed Zoey in a big hug.

  “You saved my life last night. I don’t know how to repay you . . . I really don’t.”

  “I’m just so glad it all turned out okay. It could have been really bad . . . for both of us.”

  “I can’t believe he turned out to be a psychopath.” Wendy shook her head sadly. “I thought I knew him. I thought he loved me and we would have had a future together.”

  “So, now you’ll have a future with someone else . . . someone better,” Kelly spoke up. Wendy had no idea how much of a blessing that was. She didn’t know how close she had come to being a body under the pier. People rarely get second chances to change a bad decision.

  “I know. I’m going to seriously consider the scholarships for several local colleges. I’m thinking maybe the University of Miami or Florida State. Mom doesn’t want me to go far from home.”

  “That’s probably a good idea. It’s nice to have your family around,” Kelly agreed, realizing that she had barely had time to think about her own parents in the last few days. The adventure had been sort of therapeutic for her, too.

  “I’m actually pretty excited about it,” Wendy told them. “I’m hoping to get on the cheer team.”

  “Of course, you will,” Zoey said. “I’ve never seen anyone with your moves.”

  Wendy gave Austin a sideways look. “And maybe we can finally go on a real date.”

  “That would be awesome except we are going back home . . . to uh . . . Texas,” Austin said.

  “Yeah, that’s why we dropped by.” Kelly hurried to explain. “You know I told you that our dads work for the same company? Well, their jobs here got cancelled, and we’re all moving back . . . today.”

  Wendy looked shocked. “But I was hoping we would be able to hang out.”

  “I know. Me, too,” Zoey assured her. “You and I, together, could have ruled that school.”

  Wendy laughed. “Just remember that it’s possible to be nice and popular.”

  “Really?” Zoey seemed amazed at the possibility. But Wendy had proven it was possible. Zoey just couldn’t imagine how it would work in her own world.

  T
hey all said their goodbyes and shared a round of hugs. Wendy saved Zoey for last and gave her a long hug. “Don’t ever let someone in a position of authority take advantage of you again,” Zoey said.

  “You either,” Wendy reminded her. “You should cut if off with your history teacher before it goes too far.”

  Kelly, Scott and Austin all turned to stare at Zoey who reddened under their focus.

  “I will. I realize now that it is inappropriate. Besides, I’d rather date someone my own age or maybe a year or two older.” She slid a meaningful glance at Austin who pretended not to notice.

  Wendy walked them to the front door. “Wait, let me get my camera. I want to take a picture of all of us.”

  “Oh no . . . we really have to go,” Scott said as he hurried to walk outside. Kelly and Austin followed.

  Only Zoey stayed behind. She pulled some Polaroids out of her pocket and handed them to Wendy. “Here, I took these off the wall before I left. I didn’t think you’d want your photos out there for everyone to see. I ripped mine up and threw them away.”

  Wendy looked down at the humiliating photos of her proudly posing in her bikini, then flipped through to the ones of her in her underwear, unconscious and tied to the chair. Her eyes filled with tears. “Thanks, but I think I’ll keep them. I never want to forget how stupid I was.”

  “Not stupid, just eager to please. Unfortunately, he was a monster, and he knew how to manipulate you.”

  “I’m glad he won’t be able to do that to any other girls.”

  “Well, you’re going to have to be strong and testify against him,” Zoey reminded her. “He needs to be put away for a very long time.”

  “It’ll be hard, but I will.” Wendy gave her another hug. “Will you write me?”

  “I’m not really good at that sort of thing. But you’ll love texting.”

  “What’s texting?”

  “Oh, it’s a way to send messages using your cell phone . . . I’ve heard . . . someday.” Zoey realized she was saying too much, so she hurried out the door and gave Wendy a little wave. “Take care. Enjoy college.”

  “What’s a cell phone?” Wendy called after her.

  Zoey pretended not to hear her. She joined the others on the sidewalk and they headed back to town.

  “Guys, I know it’s a little out of the way, but could we walk past my grandma’s house?” Kelly asked.

  “You can’t talk to her,” Scott cautioned.

  “I know. I won’t even knock on the door or anything,” Kelly promised.

  Since it was only a short detour and they were a little ahead of schedule, they agreed and headed toward their neighborhood.

  As could be expected, it looked very different. Scott and Austin’s houses hadn’t been built. In fact, Kelly’s great-grandparents’ house stood alone in a large field. There was a split rail fence around about ten acres and a small barn in the back. The front yard had a white picket fence across the front and the flower beds were filled with roses whose profuse blossoms scented the air. The outside of the house was wood instead of siding and was painted a pale yellow with white trim. It looked almost exactly like it did today except for the color and the large yard. A middle-aged lady was bent over one of the flowerbeds, her back to the street as she pulled weeds.

  The four teenagers stopped at the gate. Kelly kept her word and didn’t make any attempt to make contact with the woman who was probably her great-grandmother. Instead, she just stood and soaked it all in, trying to commit it to memory.

  “Can I help you?” came a voice behind them.

  They whirled around and stared up at an attractive young woman sitting on a huge, coal black horse. Her bare, tanned legs gripped the horse’s glossy sides as she sat on him bareback. The wind blew the horse’s thick mane and tail and tossed the girl’s long, straight, dark-brown hair around her face.

  Kelly knew she was looking into the face of her grandmother Mary who was, at this moment, almost the same age as Kelly was. It was like looking in the mirror.

  “Oh, hi. No, we were just walking by on our way to the beach and stopped to admire your house,” Kelly finally managed to say. “It’s really beautiful.”

  Mary glanced at the house, then back at them and smiled. “Do you want to see inside? I’m sure my mother wouldn’t mind.”

  Kelly’s heart swelled in her chest with longing, but she knew she had to decline. Already, she was crossing one of those invisible lines that Scott had warned about. “No, we’re kind of in a hurry.”

  Mary studied her for a moment. “You look really familiar.”

  Kelly smiled. “Yeah, so do you. Your horse is awesome. I love horses.”

  “Yeah, so do I,” Mary agreed and patted his shiny neck. Her horse started to dance, impatient at standing still for so long, and Mary reined him around expertly. “Well, maybe we’ll meet again someday.”

  “I’m sure we will,” Kelly agreed ruefully.

  The girl smiled, then clicked her tongue and tightened her legs as her horse turned and galloped away.

  “That was pretty cool,” Austin said.

  “Kind of weird to see your own grandmother as a teenager,” Kelly admitted.

  Reluctantly, she turned away and they continued their walk to the beach. They walked slowly and quietly, soaking in the area as it had looked in 1966 so they could appreciate the changes when they got back. If they got back. No one dared say it out loud, but they were all a little worried that the technology might not work so well in reverse. Where would they end up? And in what time period?

  They stopped for ice cream cones at the stand across from the pier. A tall, very attractive young man waited on them and flirted outrageously with Zoey.

  “Do you go to school around here?” he asked.

  “Sort of but not yet,” she answered vaguely.

  “I come home every weekend from Florida State,” he told her. “I’m in pre-med.”

  “Awesome. Too bad I won’t be around here for long.”

  “Maybe I’ll see you around. I’m Dan . . . Dan Denucci. What’s your name?”

  “Oh my God!” she exclaimed.

  “That’s your name?” Dan looked confused.

  Scott, Austin and Kelly were watching the interchange with interest and great amusement.

  “It’s Zoey,” Austin offered for her.

  “That’s an unusual name.” Dan nodded and smiled. “I hope to see you again, Zoey.”

  “Oh, you will,” Scott assured him.

  They crossed Estero Street and walked down the beach.

  “Zoey’s got a boyfriend,” Scott mocked.

  “Yeah, and someday she can live under the pier with him.” Austin laughed.

  “Shut up, both of you,” Zoey demanded. “He’s pre-med. What on earth could have happened to him to cause him to be homeless in 2013?”

  That sobered them all up. No one had a clue, but they knew they would look at him a lot differently from now on.

  There was a cool breeze off the Gulf today, so the beach was deserted. Even though everything looked different than they were used to, it didn’t take them long to find the exact spot where they had arrived just days before.

  “I’m so excited to get back to the real world.” Zoey didn’t really understand the technology, so she wasn’t as concerned about the possibility of failure or malfunction as the others. “Where do I stand? Are there magic words or something?”

  “It’s not a magic trick,” Kelly told her. “Scott put an app on our phones that crosses currents or something.” Kelly shrugged. “Okay, I don’t really understand it either, but you’ll just have to stand in the middle and make sure we’re all touching when we push the buttons.”

  Scott was wandering around the piles of sand that were too small to be called dunes. “Can you guys help me look for Violet?”

  Zoey looked at Kelly. “Who’s Violet?”

  “She was our test turtle to see if the time travel app worked . . . which it did, but we couldn’t bring her back.
She’s out here somewhere.” Kelly started looking around, pushing aside clumps of grass and pieces of driftwood that were big enough to hide the turtle. “She belongs to Scott’s sister.”

  “A turtle? Why couldn’t we just buy one at the pet store?” Zoey asked, anxious to get the show on the road.

  “She’s special. Lilly glued purple jewels all over her shell,” Kelly explained.

  Zoey realized this was going to delay their return, so she joined the others. “How big is this turtle? How far could she possibly go in a week?”

  Scott considered that and did some quick mental calculations. “I think we should search a little farther out.

  They moved their search party a few more feet back. When Kelly saw a dazzling reflection under a Coke bottle, she yelled, “Over here. I think I found her.” Sure enough, stopped by the barricade of the discarded green bottle, Violet was trying to find a way to climb over it. Kelly picked her up. “She seems to be none the worse for her trip.”

  Scott was genuinely relieved. He held out his hand and Kelly passed Violet over to him.

  “Oh, she’s sort of pretty . . . for a reptile,” Zoey said. “Now we can go, right?”

  Scott put her in his pocket and made sure the Velcro on the flap was secure. He took the three cell phones out of his backpack and powered them up.

  “Okay . . . are we ready?” Scott asked.

  They all nodded. He handed Kelly and Austin their phones.

  “As soon as they boot up, we’ll set the date and time.” A few minutes passed. “Everyone have the main screen showing?”

  They turned their screen toward Scott.

  “Okay . . . hit the settings widget and select calendar.” Scott continued through the process, showing them how to select the proper settings and assured they all had the same exact date and time on the time travel app.

  Austin, Kelly and Scott stood with their backs to each other and their cell phones in their hands. Because of their backpacks, Zoey couldn’t stand behind them. Instead, Scott positioned her in front of Austin so her arms were around his waist and his arms rested on her shoulders. Austin wasn’t too thrilled about the arrangement, but Zoey was loving it.