Someday We'll Be Together

Chapter 26- A Second Chance For Everything

Lena, Tyler, and Max saw Mrs. Lincoln in the vast expanse of land where they had fled from the Indians. The woman had also seen them coming and appeared to be out of breath.
"Oh my God, I just sent you to the future a moment ago, and this letter arrived!" She was waving a yellowed and wrinkled piece of paper. It was the letter they had written to her.
"You received our letter!" Lena exclaimed excitedly.
"Of course, I did! This time machine has been nothing but trouble," Mrs. Lincoln replied, catching her breath.
"I want to go home as soon as possible," Tyler said.
"I miss my computer and two shelves full of games!" Max added eagerly.
"Alright, after dropping me off in 1983, you can return to your own time," Mrs. Lincoln said.
Lena quickly adjusted the time circuits of the machine to the date the woman had arrived and took a photo of Tyler, Max, and Mrs. Lincoln.
A white light flashed, and everyone opened their eyes to find themselves in the backyard of the woman's house. It had started raining, and Schrödinger was wandering around their feet.
"I didn't think I'd miss 1983," Max said.
While Mrs. Lincoln refueled the camera, Lena asked a question. "Mrs. Lincoln, what if an event in the past prevented you from inventing this machine?"
"Oh, that would mean you never found the machine in the first place. All the alternate universes you created along with this one would cease to exist," the woman explained as she refueled the machine.
"So, you mean we would go back to where we started?" Lena clarified.
"Precisely. The only difference would be that while you traveled in time, you would continue with your normal life instead. Although you wouldn't even remember what you experienced because you wouldn't have traveled in time at all," Mrs. Lincoln replied.
"That's it," Lena said to herself.
"It's still possible to fix everything."
Mrs. Lincoln adjusted the time circuits and handed the machine to Lena. Lena turned to the woman. "Mrs. Lincoln, don't forget to drop the box into the pit today."
The woman nodded. Meanwhile, Lena set the arrival time twenty minutes earlier.
Max was busy explaining the secrets of being unbeatable in Mortal Kombat to Tyler. Lena took a deep breath and pressed the button to take a photo, deliberately excluding Max and Tyler from the frame.

When Lena opened her eyes, she found herself in the backyard of the woman's house. But the woman's house appeared to be abandoned.
"She must not live here," Lena thought. She hurried through the bushes toward the pit where she had found the woman's belongings. The rain had started, indicating that her other self would soon find the pit.
Lena quickly grabbed the box and walked away. As she approached the entrance to the forest, she heard the voices of her other self and Tyler. After making sure they didn't see her, she threw the box into the river that ran through the forest. The camera inside the box was already in her hands.
As Lena reached the entrance to the forest, she threw the camera into the middle of the road. A truck was speeding towards it from ahead.
Lena closed her eyes, and as the truck passed by swiftly, she heard the camera shatter into pieces.