The Time Traveler's Wife - The Other Side

The Strange Naked Crazy Lady in the Park

May 1997

Laura Hollis, six years old, was always the first to speak up against injustice. Her mother fostered the feeling of righting wrongs, while her father supported her.

And so, when she found out her teacher was taking money from the candy-selling fundraiser for heart disease research that her class was running, she had to put a stop to it. She asked her mother for her video camera and set it up in the classroom closet to record, and caught Mr. Luce red-handed. Without wasting any time, she took the video tape straight to the principal's office.

Mr. Luce was promptly fired, but instead of being commended by her friends and classmates, Laura soon found herself as an outcast.

"He was so funny and nice! Now he's gone and it's all your fault, Hollis," her classmate Danny had grumbled.

First grade sucked.

Which is why Laura was so surprised to receive an invitation to Danny's birthday party.

Except once she showed up, Danny made it very obvious that her mother had made her invite Laura. Mrs. Lawrence has always been kind to Laura, and insists that Danny always says lovely things about Laura to her.

But to her face, Danny was currently saying 'Loser Laura' is a tattletale, and that snitches get stitches and not cake.

It's been an hour of this kind of comments before Laura finally decides she can't take it anymore. She goes to go find her mom and ask her to take her home.

The sounds of Danny and her classmates laughing and enjoying the party behind her echoes in her ears and she wills herself not to cry. Otherwise her mom would ask what's wrong and she didn't want to get into all that.

It was the lack of cake that really bothered her.

"Stupid Danny," she grumbles. "Sure, Danny. Let's just let our teacher take all our money, Danny. Dumb Danny. HAH. 'Dumb Danny' is waaaay meaner than 'Loser Laura.'"

"Laura?" a voice whispers so softly from the shrubbery that at first she's not sure she's heard it. "Laura!" it says again, more urgently.

Laura jumps and grabs her heart, looking around."Wh-Who's there?"

"It's Carmilla."

Laura frowns. She doesn't know anyone named Carmilla. "Who?" she demands, panicked.

"Have you ever met anyone named Carmilla Karnstein before?" the mysterious voice asks.

"No," Laura answers, doing her best not to sound scared.

Instead, she steps towards the shrubbery and regrets it immediately.

"Oh god! Why are you naked?" Laura shrieks. "Mommm--"

A mysterious naked woman lunges forward and clamps her hand over Laura's mouth, muffling her scream.

Suddenly she wishes she took the krav maga lessons she just started a little more seriously.

"Laura, Laura! I need you to calm down for a few seconds and let me explain, okay? And then if you're still scared, you can call for your mom." The woman looks Laura in the eyes, pleading. "Okay?"

Something in this woman's eyes tells her she's as scared as Laura is. And after examining them, they seem warm and kind, without any hint of wanting to hurt her.

Worse comes to worse, she takes the woman up on her offer to call for her mom.

Laura hesitates for a moment but seems convinced by the woman's desperate look to give her a chance. She gives a frantic but firm nod.