Stuck in time

Chapter two

"Miss?" I heard a muffled voice say. There was a buzzing in my ears. I wish it would stop. "Miss, are you alive?"

"Well, look what you've done now," Another voice said, this one female sounding. "you've killed someone! I knew we shouldn't have let you steer! Now I'll have to bail you out of jail and my parents will never let me go near you ever again-"

"No, he did not kill her! Stop stressing out. She's very much alive," a third voice, much sharper than the previous two, snapped. I felt someone nudge me with their shoe. "Miss?" I opened my eyes. It seemed to be night. But where was I? I tried to remember and stumbled on something disturbing. I had no idea who I was. That probably wasn't good. Why was I lying on the road? The three people who were discussing whether I was dead turned out to be some people about my age, two girls and one boy. They were also wearing the weirdest outfits. They were wearing some very old-fashioned clothes. I decided to ignore this because they were probably just cosplayers or something.

"Where am I?" I asked them groggily. My head was pounding as if I'd hit it against a wall. They exchanged concerned looks. 

"London, miss," the boy answered. 

"Oh," I frowned. I didn't have many memories, but I was pretty sure I didn't live in London. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you calling me miss?"

"Because we haven't been properly introduced yet,"

"But... that's a bit formal, don't you think?" I asked him. "Honestly, no one says that anymore. It's so 19th century."

"Miss, perhaps we should have you checked out..."

"JAMES! We don't call strangers crazy, remember? It's rude to do that!" One of the girls scolded him. She had long locks of black hair and dark eyes like obsidian and was wearing one of the frilliest purple dresses I'd ever seen. "Besides, it's not like you want to be addressed as Mr. Baker, right? In fact, if I remember correctly, you're quite against it" James looked at the floor sheepishly.

Suddenly I had an odd idea. The formal speak, the old-fashioned outfits, the fact there weren't any cars running me over right now. It was probably too out there to be correct, but I could at least ask, right? "Hey, would you mind telling me the year?"

"It's 1899," the black-haired girl answered, scrunching her eyebrows. "Why do you ask?" 1899. Well, damn, that wasn't good. I was sure it hadn't been the 19th century. It had been the 22nd century, just a few seconds ago, right? Right? She must have noticed my expression because she asked again, "Why did you ask?"

I sat up. In the process, I saw I was also wearing one of the fancy dresses. It was baby blue. That was a weird observation to make in such a perilous situation. Suddenly it came back to me. A bright flash of light, then nothing, just an infinite void with nothing in it. And it felt like a cold, clammy hand had wrapped itself around me, squeezing the heat out. Then I was here all of a sudden. A name surfaced in my mind... Annabell Smith- was that my name? I got up and heard a weird sound of creaking wood. I shifted my weight, and the sound persisted. "Nothing! I just wanted to make sure hadn't been out for too long".

"Oh, I see," she said, her expression changing from concern to a more lax smile. "I'm Lady Sato, or if you find that too hard to pronounce, Lady Lucia. What's yours?"

"Annabell Smith," I said.

"What a lovely name, Miss Smith," Lucia frowned. "Say, my mum said that a governess willing to teach me advanced mathematics by the name of Ann Smith was coming to town. Would that be you?"

"Uh, yes, I am a governess" I was not, but if I said no, I would be left to die here, so desperate times call for desperate measures. Besides, maybe I was just delusional, and I was. Wouldn't that be funny?