Jump: A Beatles Fan-Fiction

Chapter 14: December 6th, 1963, 6:45PM || London, England

I looked around the dingy basement that I was trapped in. There was no carpet, but there were a couple of workbenches scattered with mechanical parts, tools, and papers. This must've been where my father was doing his work. The two goons paced around the room, and they began interrogating my father.

"Stan the man. I see you've found a little friend, haven't you?" one of the men chuckled.

"Stop blabbering, Staples. She doesn't know anything," my father lied.

The two agents had tied us both to chairs, back to back, and our hands were tied out in front of us. It reminded me of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, when Indiana and his father were held prisoner by the Nazis. Hopefully the room wouldn't set fire.

My thoughts were interrupted by the other agent rummaging through my bag.

"Hey! That's mine!" I yelled.

"Staples, you're going to want to take a look at this," he called.

"Wowie Haus, what a find! Those are some fancy threads for a 60's girl. Jeans and a denim jacket? Where did you buy these at?" the agent asked in a patronizing manner as he held up my clothes.

"Would you look at this!" Haus exclaimed as he held up my Jump Reader.

"So, you're a time traveler, aren't you?" Staples asked.

"Well, no, not intentionally--" I was cut off by Haus.

"Hey! You're that twep from The Vault! You were in my way when I was trying to leave today!" he sneered.

"I guess that I was there--"

"You were with The Beatles!" he exclaimed, "What did you tell them? They can't know about time travel! They'll tell the whole world!" Haus frantically spoke.

Staples chimed in, "You know I never really liked The Beatles... I say we just go down to their concert tonight, for which I have seen all too many posters for, and off em'."

"No! They don't know anything!" I shouted.

"You can't!" my father said, in a very stern voice, "It will alter history in unimaginable ways, you can't kill them."

"We can, and we will. Who knows the information they might have about time travel? We can't have any loose ends. It's a government secret! We'll deal with you two later, after the concert," Staple grinned as he grabbed his jacket.

The two burly men boomed up the stairs. There was a loud slam, and a "click" of the lock. My father and I were trapped. Two men were on their way to kill The Beatles. They were going to assassinate the most iconic band in history. They were going to murder my heroes.

"No," I whispered.

There were seconds of silence. My eyes glazed over as I stared at the wall, cursing myself for being so careless. I didn't want to say anything. I didn't want to do anything. I had resigned to my fate. My father finally spoke.

"Penny--"

CRRACKK! The deafening rumble of thunder, accompanied by the slush of pouring rain sounded from outside. I slumped down in my chair, frustrated with myself.

How could I have been so stupid? How did this even happen? I've put my favorite band of all time, my idols, in danger. They might die! They probably will die. All because I--

"Penny?" my father asked. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn't register that he had already said my name twice.

"Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking, sorry," I answered.

"You always were a thinker," he chuckled.

"Thanks for telling me, I thought I was born brain dead," I said, sarcasm practically dripping from my voice.

An uncomfortable silence fell. I could hear the drops of rain from outside, they continued to get louder. The wind was whipping against the side of the building, matching my growing anger. I was angry at myself. I was angry at the world. Most of all I was angry at my father. If he wouldn't have stolen my reader-- taken me here, The Beatles would be fine! I'd be fine! But no, he just had to show up and ruin everything.

"So..." my father tried again, interrupting my thoughts, "You're dating George Harrison?"

This took me by surprise, I guess I didn't realize that George and I were holding hands in front of my father in the cab.

"You haven't... you know, you've--well, you've made good choices?"

"DAD!" I yelled.

As if this situation needed to be made anymore uncomfortable.

I paused. That was the first time in five years that I'd addressed Stanley Parks as "dad". He was my dad, but it felt odd, almost foreign as it rolled off of my tongue. It wasn't completely foreign, though, maybe more like rusty. A part of my speech that hadn't been used in years, at least not to describe a father that was my own.

I looked around the room as I thought, straining my wrists against their bonds. I saw at the workbench beside me. That was when everything clicked. The thoughts of my father and my resignation to defeat were yanked from my mind, as a new plan emerged.

We were going to get out of there. We were going to save The Beatles. I communicated my intentions right away.

"Okay, dad, I need you to shift to the left about two feet with me."

"What? Why?" he asked.

"I'm going to to try and grab the utility knife on the workbench. We need to get out of here and go warn The Beatles." I replied.

"Sounds like a plan," he said.

"Okay on three we'll move, to my left, to your right. One, two, three!" we grunted as we lifted the chairs over.

I reached my arms out and grabbed the utility knife. I cut my hands free, and then I cut myself from the chair. I gave the knife to my father to get himself out. I began to grab my belongings that had been strewn on the floor.

"Penny, we should bring both of the Jump Readers. If we bring mine, we can send the agents back in time, and trap them! Then we won't have to worry about them anymore!" my father exclaimed.

"Then we can use my reader to get home!" I nearly shouted.

My heart was racing, and my head was pounding. This was actually happening. For once in my life, I, Penny Parks, was going to be like the protagonists in all of my favorite movies. I was going to save my friends, and restore balance to the space-time continuum. I picked up my bag and threw the readers into it. I grabbed my jacket and turned to my father.

"Ready to go then?" I smiled, partially from nerves, and partially from excitement.

He looked me up and down. I could tell that he was sad, that he regretted missing me grow up. Tears were forming in his eyes. "Sure Penny," he said.

He snapped out of his trance and started rummaging around, looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"My keys to the cab, but it looks like Staples took them. Guess we'll have to hijack a car or something," he said, a little too nonchalantly.

He grabbed a hammer as we headed for the top of the stairs. He hit the doorknob off, breaking the lock, as we rushed outside into the pouring rain and whistling wind, in search of a car to steal.

This was going to be one hell of a night.