Parallel [ONC 2020] // Shortlisted

Chapter Sixteen

We decided to try Mrs Likens plan later that evening, when everyone else was in the dining room and we could knock the clock over without having anyone come running. For that reason, we ended up eating a little more for lunch then usual and ended up getting some strange glances from those who hadn't gone home for the holidays. Ricky and Mitch didn't appear to mind all that much, though and it looked as though they were used to people staring at them.

I didn't eat all that much at lunch. I knew this would most likely be my last time eating with them if the plan worked the way it was supposed to. Neither Mitch nor Ricky seemed to notice as I tore my sandwich apart and picked at the crisps that had been given to me. They most likely thought I wasn't eating because I didn't like it, which was partially true since we didn't have crisps where I was from but most of it was nervousness. If everything went well, I would be back at home in just a few hours.

"If you return home at the same moment the door was opened in the first place, what happens to us?" Ricky asked as she took a bite out of a muffin.

"We probably end up going back to the same day as well. None of the past few days would have happened in Harriet never went through the door. We'll end up back in the library trying to finish our project."

"None of this would have happened? That sucks! These past few days have been way better than any school holiday we've ever had."

"Why don't we take a photo? It might end up being removed, but it might not, and we'll have something to remember this odd event by."

"Let me get my polaroid, we can all have our own then."

Ricky shoved the rest of her muffin in her mouth, pushed her chair back along the floor and stood up. She left in a hurry and Mitch and I watched her go. I had no idea what a polaroid was, but I hoped it would be quicker than any of our cameras. The photographs that had been taken of me had taken a very long time and by the end of it my back ached, and I just wanted to go to bed. If these new cameras took that long, we wouldn't be able to take them and get them developed in time.

There were many things about this new world that were concerning or unnerving, such as the little devices that contained a whole encyclopaedia. But there were things that were thrilling and unusual and I wished we had them. Their advancements in medicine meant less people died of things that killed hundreds in my day. Science had come so far as well; they had even put a man on the moon – although Ricky thought it was a conspiracy – and so many exciting things had come from it.

The new world was interesting, thrilling and deep down I wanted to learn more about it, but it would never be my place. I didn't belong in this world as much as Ricky and Mitch would belong in mine. Home would always be with my family, in a time before man was on the moon and treatments to well-known illnesses existed. Times were difficult for us, but it was all I had known, and I wouldn't change it for the world.

But I knew I would miss my new friends.

"Here we go. It was under my bed," Ricky said as she returned. She breathless and her cheeks were flushed after having run up to our room and back.

"What is that?" I asked.

"A polaroid. It's a camera that prints the photo almost immediately after it's taken. There is enough film for three photos, and we can all have one each."

"You'll have to go in the middle, Harriet. If you end up getting removed when you go through the door back home, we'll know because it will look really weird."

Mitch grinned and stood up from the chair, I joined the two of them at the end of the table and watched Ricky as she played around with the back of the polaroid. She stopped and held the camera out in front of her with her finger over a button on the top. The lens on the front was facing us but I had no idea how Ricky could see what the photograph would look like if she didn't even know that it was being aimed at us.

"Smile!" she exclaimed.

I did as she was told and watched as she clicked the button. There was a bright flash and a click before a small square of paper started to emerge from the bottom of the camera. Ricky pulled it out, placed it on the table before repeating the same action two other times. The three squares of paper were lined up on the table and I watched as images very slowly started to appear.

Those photographs were the first time I had seen myself fully dressed in the clothing that Ricky had given me. I didn't look like the person I knew to be; I could have been someone completely different. As I took my own photograph and held it in my hands, I wished more than anything that the photograph would remain as it was so I would always have the image of me and the others together, even if I didn't remember it.

When the others had grabbed their photographs, we all started to walk towards the canteen exit. Mrs Likens stood peering around the door and gesturing to us that it was almost time to put our plan into action.

It was almost time for me to return home.