Time Diaries - maybe discontinued, I don't really know -

Chapter 4: Oh look, they kidnapped my time machine

(I'm going to make the chapter names look more.. amusing)

Summary of the last chapter

It was certain: Fiona was in 2021. She meets two teens named Bai and Erin. Together, they help her settle down and get comfortable in the past plus locate the time machine.

6 - 8 - 2021

According to Erin, diaries are basically where you write your thoughts and feelings and are kind of like a personal best friend. Apparently, people who write in diaries start with entries stating: Dear Diary. (A/N I think, I never had a diary so I dunno) I don't know why they do that, it's not like diaries are able to reply to your entries. But I guess it's a tradition.

Anyways, I'm not going to do that. 

________________________________________________________________________________

"About earlier... why is that machine so important to you?"

I froze. 

*Flashback thingie*

A few minutes after we had cleaned up the mess, the door swung opened. It gave me quite a fright, as I was immersed in watching the television. Standing in the doorway were two females. 

One of whom looked incredibly similar to my grandma. 

"Mother! Momma!" 

Erin got up from one of the couches and walked over to them. As she took the bags from them, the female with the dark brown curls looked at Bai and me. Her dark brown eyes searched me over, seemingly looking for a reason for my presence. 

"Hi, Mrs. Jones, hello Mrs. Clinford." Bai greeted politely. 

"Hello, Bai" The one that reminded me so much of my grandma, which I assumed was Mrs. Clinford said. She then proceeded to disappear into the kitchen with Erin and the bags. 

The lady with brown curls - Mrs. Jones smiled and greeted Bai before turning back to me. 

"And you are?"

"I'm Fiona, nice to meet you."

To my surprise, they didn't question why I was there. Instead, they treated me as I was their own. I was reminded greatly of my parents. The same warm feeling that I receive when I'm in their presence, the same happiness that radiates in the air. A wave of sadness passed over me from homesickness. Oh, how I wanted to return to my time period. 

*End of flashback

________

The car was really comfy, not as much as the ones I grew up riding in, but comfy enough. I studied the outside, amazed by the sight of real trees. Unlike the city, the air here seemed pure, the woods bustling with bugs which I later learned were called cicadas. I remember seeing cicadas last year... or 34 years later in this case.

Gosh, time is so confusing.

________

According to the phone, there were about 28 more minutes until we arrive.

I fidgeted in the chocolate-colored seat. The loud k-pop music - is that BTS??? My parents make me listen to them all the time - blasted through the speakers of the car, interrupting my train of thoughts. 

"About earlier... why is that machine so important to you?" 

Bai had asked. My mind went blank. I twirled my brown, straight hair, a habit that comes up when I'm nervous. That is until I remembered the plan I had thought of before. 

"Ahahah... it's a school project."

He looked at me weirdly. I started to panic. Did I say something wrong?

"It's summer..." 

"And?"

"We don't have school in the summer?.."

Oh.

I opened my mouth. Then closed it. 

Erin then spoke up. Thank you, Erin. I mentally thought. 

"Hey, guys, I saw this interesting announcement on the news! It said here that they found a machine with evidence that it came from the future." She reached over, putting her purple-cased iPad onto Bai's lap. An article stared back at me with a picture that looks suspiciously identical to the machine that had brought me into this mess. 

I concluded that it was my time machine.

Oh ok, they found my time machine.

Wait.

They found my time machine

As in the machine I brought from the future that is my only way back.

WAIT, WHAT???

ASJDHGKASDHG

To say my heart dropped is an understatement. I'm not surprised if China will find my heart lying on the streets somewhere. (A/N If you didn't get it... the heart dropped all the way to China... cuz China is on the other side of the planet of the US, where this story takes place...)

I scooted over, looking at the iPad. Squinting, I made out the words.

(A/N, my writing style isn't professional, it's not going to sound like a news article. Also, the normal font is Fiona's thoughts.) 

TIME MACHINE REVEALED???

I sighed at the title. The excessive use of capitalization seemed unnecessary to me. 

Time machines are said to be impossible. According to modern scientists... 

I skipped the part. The information wasn't all that important. 

But, this might be proven otherwise. Civilians had claimed to have found a machine that has never been seen before. 

At approximately 1:00, a garbage truck had picked up a machine, mistaken for garbage. "It was just sitting there with a homeless girl sleeping beside it. It looked suspicious, but I didn't think much of it." David Greggs, the truck driver explained. 

I huffed when they described me as a "homeless girl". I didn't look that bad... did I? 

Scientists were able to save the machine from being dumped into the dumpster. It is currently planned to be on displayed June 17, 2021, at the *Insert museum*. 

(A/N Was that good? Idk *silently debates on whether to delete this part*)

I took a deep breath and tried to look like I was fixing my seatbelt to hide my anxiety. 

But how could I look not anxieted (A/N is that a word, I doubt it is, see even Grammarly is screaming at me that it isn't) when the key object to me getting back to the future was currently in a lab being tested on who knows what and there's a chance they'd break it or find the alien DNA and I just changed the whole future or... 

Oh look, there I was, rambling again.

I should probably tell Erin and Bai that the trip to the dump was a waste of time. 

"Hey, Fiona, that looks really similar to the machine you said was yours?"

Bai narrowed his eyes at me accusingly. I could practically see the gears turning in his head as he pieced together the information. 

"Are you, by any chance, from the future?"

A/N

You know, I feel like I have so many ideas for this book, yet feel like I'm running out of ideas. ;-;

Cliffhanger... yayyy *jazz hands thingies*

alright bye