The Tale Of A Century

Chapter 2

1913

When Karen woke up she was in a bed, although it wasn't hers. Panicked and confused, she stood up and looked around. The room she was in was the same size as her bedroom but it had no paint on the walls, no carpet and barely any furniture. 'I've been kidnapped!' Was the first thought that came to her head. She noticed that the door was partially opened and started creeping towards it in attempt to escape. She reached for the handle but the door opened. Mary begun walking into the room before seeing Karen and screaming.

'Why are you in my room?" Mary asked. "If you're trying to steal something, go to another house, we don't have anything worth taking!"

'Wait... What? Where am I?" Karen asked, confused.

"You're in my bedroom, but you won't be for much longer. Get out!" Mary grabbed Karen's arm and began pulling her out of her room.

"Why was I in your bedroom?" Karen asked. "What's going on? You kidnap me and then kick me out? This makes no sense!"

"Kidnap you? Don't be ridiculous, why would we do that? You've been caught trying to steal, just own up to it!"

"I wasn't stealing! I went to my bed last night and woke up here! It's obviously not my fault!"

They continued arguing like this for a while. They were both so scared and confused that they had instantly jumped to their own conclusions, which neither if them were correct.

"Okay, okay. This fighting is getting us nowhere. I just want to get home." Karen said. "Which way to Sullavin Avenue?" I asked.

"Um... This is Sullavin Avenue..." Mary replied as if it was obvious.

"Okay, sorry for 'trying to steal your stuff'. Bye... What's your name?" Karen asked, realising that they didn't even know each other's names.

"Mary, what's yours? By the way I'm going to walk you to the door to make sure you don't break into any more houses."

"Karen." She looked around at the house. "Wow, I never realised that houses on our street looked so similar to ours before we patched it up! What number is this? I've never noticed it."

"12." Mary stated. Karen frowned and shook her head.

"No... My address is 12 Sullivan Avenue. You could be 21, that would make sense, it's not that hard to get the numbers mixed up." The girls reached the front door.

"No, my address is definitely 12. Maybe you're the one who's got it confused." Mary answered confidently. She opened the door. "Goodbye." Karen gasped.

"This is my street, and this is my house. But all the houses on the street are different." Both of the girls were so confused. "Ok, this is going to sound strange but maybe I'm in a different year or something, like time travel?" Mary looked as if she didn't understand but she pretended to anyway. "What year is it?"

"The same year it is everywhere, 1913." Mary laughed but Karen looked serious. "Why?"

"Last night, when I went to bed, it was 2013. Maybe it's just a dream?" Karen said although neither girls believed it for a second. Karen was already trying to think of ways to go back home... well to go back to 2013.

"That's incredible! I can't believe it! I was thinking you looked strange, like not as in ugly but just different, but it's because of what you're wearing! I've never seen anything like it!" Mary was speaking rapidly,her excitement level rising. Karen didn't share the feeling.

"Yeah, yeah it's great... Now how do I get home?" Karen asked.

"I don't know, but I can't think of anything out here, my brain's frozen. It's freezing!" Mary exclaimed. "Let's go back inside." The girls walked back through the front door, up the stairs and into Mary's bedroom.

"You said that you guys had nothing worth taking, as if you were poor, but you won a two-story home. How did you guys afford it?"

"It's my grandfather's house, he used to be rich but he lost all the money to his gambling addiction. We moved in with him before he lost all the money." She replied sadly.

"Oh." Was all Karen could think of. They stood in silence for a few seconds. "So... Got any ideas on how to get back to my life?"

"Yeah, I have actually. You got here during your sleep, right?" Karen nodded so Mary continued. "Why don't we try going to sleep again, and seeing if it happens?"

"It's worth a shot. But if I'm going back to sleep, how would I know that this all isn't just a dream?" Karen asked. She didn't want to wake up thinking it was all a dream if it was real. They both thought for another minute. Mary stood up and walked over to one of her walls. She pulled at one of the wooden beams and it opened up to reveal a safe. "Wow, I never knew that was there!" Karen commented.

"It's in the fifth beam." Mary replied.

"That's going to kind of hard, we've covered them up. I'll try to convince my mum to let me find it though."

"Ok. I'll put..." Mary looked around. She found a button in a draw. "This in there. If you find it, then this was real."

"But how will you know if this is real?"

"I won't I guess..." Mary replied, sounding sad.

"Every night I'll try to come back and visit you if it is real. If it is, I'll tell you."

"Ok." Mary started rummaging through her drawers again. She pulled out some blankets. "These won't be the most comfortable, but they're all I have for you to sleep on. Sorry."

"It's fine, they'll be good enough." Mary placed the blankets on the ground along with one of her two pillows from her bed. The girls laid down.

"Goodnight, Karen."

"Night Mary!"

Eventually the girls drifted off to sleep.