Parallel [ONC 2020] // Shortlisted

Chapter Fourteen

It was Mother's voice.

A voice I hadn't heard since she had sent me to my room that afternoon and everything had changed because of a single gust of wind that managed to knock everything slightly off kilter.

It was her voice, but she wasn't standing there. Instead, her voice seemingly echoed through the hall and sounded distant, as though she was standing at the far end of the hallway. I wanted her to be there, to be standing in front of me and be talking to me, but she wasn't. She was talking to a version of me that had long-since disappeared.

"Yes, Mother."

"Be quick about it, the carriage is waiting."

The sound of my receding footsteps echoed up the stairs and fell silent, as did the hallway. Ricky and Mitch exchanged looks and Mrs Likens had turned white. No one quiet knew how to react to the steps or the voices, but it seemed as though the past wasn't through with us yet.

"Can I come Mother? Please?" Luke whined.

"No, it's far too late now, we are due to leave in three minutes and you are not dressed for the theatre.

"I can give us some more time!"

More footsteps echoed through the hall and there was a slight creak from the clock, as though someone had opened the cover to the clock-face, but it hadn't moved. The slight squeak of the clock hands being moved by someone reverberated down the hall before the cover had been closed and the sound of someone jumping up and down broke the silence.

"See! Now it's still ten past four and I can get changed!"

"No, Luke. Moving the clock hands does not change time, we have two minutes now. I explained to you earlier that until you can learn to behave in public, you will not be coming out with us."

"It's not fair!"

"Luke! No!"

There was a loud crash before everything fell silent. I exchanged looks with the others but none of us really knew what to see in response to the event that had just taken place. I had heard my brothers voice, my mother for the first time since this entire thing started. I knew of events and conversations that had taken place whilst I had been gathering my shawl.

The past had shown itself to us just as Ricky had predicted but it gave us no insight into how I could end up going back home or how to disturb the timeline, so they crossed once again. Nothing appeared that ordinary, but I hadn't understood what they had been talking about before and I doubted I would be much use when it came to science and trying to solve a seemingly impossible event. Echoes of the past didn't seem like they would give me the answer I wanted.

Mrs Likens looked at me and then at the clock which ticked away as if nothing had happened, she seemed just as confused as I did but her eyes moved so fast, I wondered if she was trying to figure out just what had happened.

"That crash had to have been the clock. It was the broken the night of that theatre trip, supposedly by your father when he found out you were gone. What just happened says it was Luke who knocked it over. He knocked it over at quarter past four, the time you were due to leave."

"Why is that significant? That clock had been knocked over plenty of times in the past and nothing had happened, at least not to my knowledge anyway."

"The clock falling over could have been the trigger to you ending up here and the reason why the two timelines crossed at that moment. Breaking the clock may have broken the entire timeline, although that sounds rather extreme."

"Do we get to break the clock?" Rick said, she seemed far too excited.

"I'm not sure. The clock broke in Harriet's time so I'm not sure if there would be any significance if we broke the clock in our time. It might not have the desired effect."

"But it could work."

"It could or we just end up breaking the clock and getting into serious trouble for breaking something so old.

"What do we do? This might be my only chance to get home."

"Let me have a think and I'll get back to you. We can't just jump into this blind or we may end up causing more harm than good."

Ricky looked disappointed at not being to break the clock straight away, but a sharp look from Mrs Likens soon removed her expression. Mrs Likens looked at the clock, then at us before she started to wonder down the hallway muttering to herself about parallel universes and timelines interlinking.

We set the clock back to its original time before the three of us headed back to the library to see if there was anything we may have missed when we first looked over the books. I couldn't imagine there would be as it sounded as though everything that had happened had been made up by us and had no real scientific basis behind it. Then again, none of what had happened had made any sense since it started so I didn't expect there to be a basis or an explanation in science. Even in the twenty-first century.

Whatever plan Mrs Likens came up with, I hoped it work. I didn't think I could stand being in the wrong century for much longer.