Timekeeper

Prologue

Katherine ran for cover towards the nearest tree amidst the sound of breaking glass and smashed windows.

"Yeah, Rowbottom!" a guy wearing a pullover vest, shirt, and trousers yelled as he and his companions turned over a vintage-looking Cadillac.

"Rowbottom?" Katherine looked around, confused. The last thing she remembered was walking back to her dormitory. Suddenly, guys wearing clothes like they were straight from the 1940s appeared, breaking windows, overturning cars and setting fire to what looked like trolley tracks. In the two years that she had been a nursing student at the University of Pennsylvania, this was the first time that she had seen something like this. Where were the campus police, anyway?

"Hey, Kat! Are you okay?"

Katherine turned towards a familiar voice. "Alex? What's going on?" she asked.

"I know you're confused, but you need to come with me." Alex took her hand and led her away from the rioting crowd.

"Alex, I don't understand. What's going on? Did I just hear Rowbottom? As in the Rowbottom Riots that were banned in the 1960s? And were those trolley tracks I saw? Aren't streetcars a thing of the past?" Katherine asked as they ran towards safety.

As they turned a corner, Alex looked at her. "You must have a lot of questions. What's about to happen will seem bizarre and unreal, but I need you to trust me."

"You realize that we've only ever had a few classes together, right? And although everybody knows who you are, since you're the captain of the football team, and all the girls would die for the chance to talk to you, I still don't know you well enough to trust you. Although it is surprising that you know my name, or that I even exist," Katherine replied.

Alex smiled. "Well, you don't have much of a choice." He then looked at his watch and touched the screen a few times. Suddenly, a portal appeared and Alex stepped through.

Katherine stopped dead in her tracks. "You've got to be kidding me. This is a dream, right?"

Alex looked at her with his hand outstretched. "I promise. We'll explain everything. Now come on before you get stuck in 1945."

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Author's Note:

Hey there! This is my first attempt at writing a story. I've only ever tried writing poems and short stories before. I hope you guys will enjoy!

*Rowbottom Riots - Rowbottom is a tradition by the students of the University of Pennsylvania. It started in 1910 when a student, Joseph Tintsman Rowbottom was called by his friends by shouting "Hey, Rowbottom!" late at night outside his dorm. The calls disturbed his fellow students, causing them to throw objects out of their dorm windows. Soon the call "Hey Rowbottom!" or "Yea Rowbottom!" became embraced as a call to mischief-making by the student body. Once a Rowbottom got underway, cars might be overturned, windows smashed, and trolley tracks doused with gasoline and set on fire. Rowbottoms were most frequent in the fall, particularly after football games. By the late 1960s, the University and the police took a firmer stance against Rowbottoms, and 1966 marked the last "full-fledged" Rowbottom. (source: Wikipedia)