When 15-year-old Leah Orchard's father invents a time machine, Leah and her best friend Nick Hoffman decide to give it a try behind his back. They find themselves not in the future as they had hoped, but in an amazing alternate universe much like th...
"Leah. Claire. Orchard." Mrs. Orchard punctuated each sentence forcefully as she climbed into the driver's seat beside her daughter.
"What?" Leah spat defensively.
Her mother's fierce glare seemed to burn straight through her. "You know what," she said in a voice so calm it was almost scary. "I cannot believe you acted like that to Dr. Fletcher."
"Well, everything I said was the truth!" Leah insisted. "What did you want me to do, lie?"
"All you did was shrug, nod, and say no! You made it seem like I scheduled that appointment for nothing, and the one thing you did say was that you were fine and nothing was wrong!"
"Nothing is wrong!" Leah shouted.
"Leah, you have OCD and anxiety! I wouldn't call that nothing!"
"Mom, I've told you a million times, it's not even severe and I feel fine!"
"That's all you ever say!" Ms. Orchard shrieked. "You're fine! Well, you're not! You acted like a spoiled teenager, and the whole trip seemed pointless! You acted like I dragged you to that appointment, like I forced you to go! You embarrassed me! I do this for your own good, Leah, do you want to have issues all your life?"
"You did force me to go! I don't need therapy anymore, I feel like I'm getting better! But you keep ruling over me like I'm your slave, treating me like I'm seriously mental and need help all the time! And I don't!"
Ms. Orchard turned a corner in her blue Chevrolet. "Leah, I'm just trying to help you." She still sounded angry, but her voice was softer. "I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask God to give you OCD when you were born."
"You didn't ask for this? I'm the one who's had to suffer through it my whole life!" Leah shot back. "I thought I was recovering, it's not as bad anymore, but you're making me anxious all over again."
"Stop it with the attitude, young lady, you need to take this more seriously! What you have is real, and I just want you to get better. If you feel better that's great, but that does not mean you are better!"
Leah huffed furiously and resisted the urge to adjust the decorative chain hanging from the rearview mirror. Her OCD simply wouldn't cooperate, and she couldn't abide. She leaned forward and corrected the chain so that it was on straight, which took almost a full minute to give her satisfaction.
Leah knew that her mother had noticed, but, to Leah's relief, she said nothing.
They pulled into the parking lot of the lab. Leah got out and slammed the door in her mother's face before she could say a word. Ms. Orchard pulled out of the lot rather quickly, leaving Leah alone with her heated thoughts.
Once she had stomped hotly up the stairs and reached the top, Leah heard her dad mumbling to himself from behind the door closed to a crack, still hard at work. She slowly opened it.
"Yes, yes . . ." He said in barely a whisper. He was standing in a far corner of the room in front of a gold-rimmed oval-shaped mirror on the wall, fiddling with it using a funny-looking screwdriver. Suddenly, the mirror started glowing a bright, brilliant blue. Leah stared in awe, momentarily forgetting the argument she had had with her mom just a few minutes ago. Mr. Orchard dropped the screwdriver, which hit the floor with a surprisingly loud clang.
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