Time Got In The Way

Chapter One~Again? Really Dad?

(Elaine's Point of View)

(September 15th, 2070)

"I hate you!" I scream at my dad, instantly regretting it.  I don't hate him.  I just strongly dislike him at the moment.  I stomp down the hallway and into my room, slamming the door behind me.  Sighing, I plop down on my bed.  I grab my phone and open it.  There's a new text from Katie, my neighbor.  I open up the text and a 3D image of Katie is projected from the phone.

"Hey Elle, it's Katie.  Do you have any plans for tonight?" The image asks me.  I close my phone and toss it to the other side of my bed as the image of Katie disappears.

Yeah Kate.  Going back to 1960. Not like I could ever tell her that. Only travelers and heirs of travelers are permitted to know about CMBF program. "Correcting mistakes of the past for a better future."   You see, my dad is a time traveler.  He goes into the past, slightly alters a historical event, to create a benefit the future.  He drags me with him every where he goes, because I am the heir to the job.  Only a select few can know about the program, so the job stays within families.  The department is relatively new, so my dad is the first generation of my family to get the job.  He takes me with him so my body can get used to time traveling, and I can gain some knowledge of the job that will be forcefully thrust upon when my dad is unfit to perform it anymore.  Can you only imagine how much this impacts my life? I get no say in any of this!  My whole life has been determined by my Dad's job.  This explains the hatred I have for my dad's boss, Robert Mayberry.  But I can talk about him later.  I'm talking about my life right now.  When a case is completed(or a mistake is corrected) and my dad and I are ready to travel back to the present, Robert Mayberry makes us come back after the exact amount of time we spent in the past.  It's something to do with our body's aging--we can't be older than we're supposed to be.  So if my dad and I are in the past fixing a mistake for one year, we come back into the future exactly one year after we left, that way, I wouldn't be a seventeen year old, living in the time when I was sixteen.  You're probably wondering a lot of things, so I'll start at the beginning.

I was born on January 16th, 2053.  My mother died in a car accident when I was 6, so I don't remember her very well.  My dad was devastated; my parents had been incredibly close.  My dad got his job in 2063.  I don't know all the details, but I know he was working in some history department when they appointed him and two others as the time travelers.  My dad is amazingly smart when it comes to history.  Name any day int the last three hundred years and he can tell you an event that happened on that day.  My dad loves his job.  Me on the other hand...

It's hard for me to make friends.  My dad and I leave for cases pretty often, plus the fact that my dad home-schools me.  I'm pretty good friends with Katie, but it's hard to come up with an excuse every time my dad and I leave town.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK! "Elaine, are you almost ready? I told you we were leaving at 7:00 sharp."  I sat up quickly, glancing at my clock. 6:45 a.m.  I hadn't even realized I'd fallen asleep.

"Yeah." I half-yawned, half-mumbled in reply.  I walked into my closet.  On the right, normal, everyday clothes.  On the left, an outfit for every decade.  I pulled out the one for the 1960's--a yellow sundress with a retro collar, and a yellow headband.  I put it on, glanced in the mirror, rolled my eyes, and headed out to my dad.  I saw him standing by the silver object on the floor that I despised. To show my disgust, I shot him an angry glare.  "Well, let's get this over with." I grumbled.

My dad had powered up the machine, and he pressed down the green button, holding it for three seconds--no more, no less, and blue sparks shot up all around us.  I squeezed my eyes shut, a ritual of mine.  And then there was no house around us anymore.  I can't explain it, but it's white all around except for the blue sparks.  It doesn't feel like anything, just pure nothingness.  That is until you land.

The blue sparks slowly disappeared, leaving us lying in the an alley.  The time travel never effected my dad, but it left me feeling out of whack for at least two days.  As I began feeling extremely nauseous, I looked at my dad with a caustic look on my face, showing my displeasure. 

He shrugged, as if to say, "Sorry, but what do you want me to do about it?"  I groaned, rolled over, and struggled to my feet.  My dad was already on his feet, headphones in, listening to the message being conveyed to him from the 3D image of Robert Mayberry, giving him some information about the case at hand.  I rolled my eyes.  Workaholic.  But I guess the sooner he started, the sooner we could go back home.  Back to the present.  As I headed out of the alleyway, my dad gave me a look.  I knew that look all too well.  It meant, "Don't get into trouble, don't do anything to severely alter history, and don't get too attached to anyone."  I swear, it's like the man is trying to deprive me of any social life.  We're not at home long enough for me to make friends and he doens't let me make friends when wer're in the past.  He's scared I'll get too "attached" to someone.  Whatever that's supposed to mean, Dad.  I walked out of the alleyway casually, but little did I know those first steps into the 1960's would alter my life forever.