flowers from 1970 (entrapdak)

Chapter 1

Entrapta walked into her bedroom, extremely exhausted. She hadn't gotten any sleep in the past 48 hours which was normal for her, except now she was suffering from burnout and a migraine. Despite how much she loved working, she was glad she was going to have the week off.

Her service dog, Emily, followed her into the room. The big dog jumped up on the bed in her usual spot which was right next to Entrapta's.

Emily watched as her owner slowly got into her sleep clothes. Today, Entrapta seemed off. She had tried to fix it by snuggling super close to her as if she wanted to be pet. Sometimes when Entrapta pet her it took her mind off of things. It helped for a while, but now the feeling was back. Emily jumped down from the bed and trotted over to the women.

Before Entrapta could say anything, she heard a loud ring. Emily's ears perked up and she looked over at her nightstand. Entrapta followed her dog's gaze, and then she noticed her old vintage phone was ringing. She had tried to repair that phone a couple times, but surprisingly, she couldn't. But now she was getting a call!

Entrapta hurried over to answer it, excited to see who was calling. She never got calls, and especially not on her broken old telephone.

"Father? I apologize for calling at this time, but-"

"Hello! I'm not your father, but hello! At least I think I'm not. I'm a woman!" Entrapta interrupted the man. He was silent on the other line, so Entrapta continued to talk. "How did you call this phone, anyways? I've been trying to repair the old thing for yeeeears, but I never could which is really strange. I'm good with tech. Never figured out how to fix it. It's working fine now. How'd you get this number?"

The other person was still silent. Entrapta wondered if they had hung up until she heard him clear his throat. "Oh. My apologies. I was trying to call my father. Good day," he mumbled. "Wait! You didn't tell me how you were able to call me!" Entrapta hurriedly exclaimed. There was more silence, but she waited patiently.

"I told you. I was just trying to call my father. This was the last number he gave me," he explained.

"Sooo, why were you calling him? What were you gonna talk about?" Entrapta asked, curious.

"Uh, that's none of your business. But, I was also going to tell him Percy Spencer passed away today. Thank god for microwaves," he chuckled dryly.

Now Entrapta was the one who was silent. What had he said? Percy Spencer died? Today? He died 50 years ago.

"That's not right. He died in 1970. 50 years ago," Entrapta told him. There was some rustling from the other end, and then a loud meow. Apparently it was loud enough for Emily to hear, because the dog perked her ears and cocked her head.

"Ma'am, it is 1970," he paused, "Are you okay?"

"Are you okay?! It's 2020! Percy Spencer has been dead for 50 years!"

It takes Entrapta about a minute to realize the man had hung up. She let out a sigh of disappointment and put the phone down, turning around and walked over to her bed.

When Emily saw her getting into bed, she quickly followed and jumped up next to her.

"He didn't even give me his phone number. I can't call him again!" Entrapta said cheerlessly while pulling the covers over herself and Emily.

The woman sat there in her bed, thinking about the call. There was no way that the man was from 1970. That wasn't possible. Unless he had created some time machine that Entrapta had to know about.

She let herself fall asleep instead of waiting for him to call back. She was exhausted.