Blast To The Past

No, It's Not A Cult

I jolt awake in a panic, my clothes sticking to me with sweat. My hands desperately feel the side of the bed next to me, searching for a body but finding nothing. I clutch the empty sheets and feel a sob rise in my throat.

"Lola," I whisper, tears falling down my cheeks.

"Elise?" I hear a soft voice sound from my left. I jump in fright before my eyes focus in on the figure.

"Lola!" I practically scream, elated.

"I thought I'd dreamt it!" I cry, grabbing at her and crushing her in a tight hug.

"Me too," she smiles, eyes watery.

"We have so much to talk about," I pull away, wiping my eyes and sitting down on the bed in an effort to compose myself.

"Yeah we do," she says. Something about the tone of her voice makes me frown up at her.

"Is everything ok?" I ask worriedly.

"Everything's great," she gives me a crooked smile, "Except for the part where when I looked out the window and everyone is dressed like we're in a Jane Austen novel," she half chuckles in an attempt to conceal the panic that I can clearly hear in her voice.

"Lo..." I'm lost for words. How do I explain this to her?

"I think that man, whoever he is, has taken us to some weird cult or something, Elise. I think we need to get out of here."

I stare at her for a moment before I burst out laughing.

"Elise it's not funny!" She swats me across the arm. "The people here are really weird!"

I sober up and look at her, wondering how she's going to react to what I say next.

"Lola, the thing is, the people here are dressed like we're in a Jane Austen novel because we are. Kind of."

"Elise what are you on about, do you mean we're in some sort of movie?" She begins to get excited.

"Not exactly," I say slowly. Her face drops. "They're not dressed like they are because they're acting, they're dressed like that because it really is the 19th century," I try to smile but it's forced and comes out as more of a grimace.

Lola doesn't answer me for a second, which is totally understandable seeing as I've just told her we're about two-hundred years from where we're supposed to be.

"Elise..." she begins, looking frightened. "Please say you haven't been taking drugs. Just tell me the truth, Elise. We can deal with this together. First we just need to get out of here then we-"

"Lola!" I cut her off, shaking my head. "I'm not crazy. I mean, this whole situation is crazy, but it's real. We're really here. It's not a cult, or a movie set, or drugs. It's time travel."

"Shut up, Elise. Ok, yeah, I'll admit it's weird how that man brought me here to see you and all but the least you could do now that I'm here is be honest with me!"

I pause and look at her, thinking about how I can convince her.

"Take out your phone," I say calmly.

"What?" She snaps.

"Take out your phone and try turn it on," I order her.

She slowly walks over to the dresser and picks up her phone, which appears to be dead.

"It just needs to be charged," she says stubbornly.

"Fine, can you turn on the light?"

She stares at me, annoyed.

"For Christ's sake Elise you're really doing my head in," she throws her hands in the air. I stare back at her, not responding.

"Where's the light switch then?" She crosses her arms.

"Exactly," I shrug.

"Elise I've had it up to here with-"

"Lola, really, I'm not lying, your phone isn't working, there are no lights, people are dressed like it's a Jane Austen novel, as you said, and a man just arrived at the house by horse and cart. You need to accept it."

She runs to the window and looks down at the man standing below in a suit, having just stepped out of his carriage attached to the horse.

"I think I'm going to be sick," she mumbles. I nod.

"I know it's a lot to take in," I say slowly.

"You think?" She begins to laugh hysterically.

"We're in the 19th century!" She howls. "Elise we are in the 19th century what the hell are we going to do!" She begins to cry.

"I think start by taking a nap, then we can talk more," I walk over to her and lead her to the bed.

"Yeah, good idea, maybe when I wake up we'll be home," she nods. "Yeah, ok, sleep." She says more to herself than to me. I pull the covers over her and she closes her eyes, murmuring to herself. I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh deeply. I don't know how I had expected her to react really. I think some part of me believed she'd just accept it, but really not many people could.

I watch her for a few minutes, a wave of guilt washing over me. Although I hadn't brought her here, if I'd stayed where I was this never would have happened. I need to put this right. Lola isn't cut out for this. We're best friends but we're different people. This is my dream, but it couldn't be further from Lola's.

I look away from her, my head spinning, before opening the door and walking out, leaving her to sleep in peace, hoping that when she wakes up again she'll come to terms with it all. If she doesn't, I'll have to figure out a way to get her back, and I have no clue how I am going to do that.

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Ok so it's been like over a year and I really want to continue this but I feel so detached from it ,,, like honestly I'm so sorry I know this chapter was a piece of shit but I feel like my writing has changed so much since I started this and i can't even remember where I was going with this story, but I'm gonna try get it back on track ,,
Also I've actually forgotten all of the characters in this book I really need to read over it and refresh my minddd

So please please please excuse this absolute mess and I'll try make it better I stg

Love u guys loads I'm up to 1.67K reads rn which is insane and so many of you have added this book to your reading lists which means the world to me,,

I really am gonna try get it together with this story ,, please don't get turned off by this shitty chapter !!

Xxxxxxx