I grabbed the skeleton key from the dresser in my room, I usually used it to open the attic door to get to my parents' personal belongings, but I was using it to get into my Dad's office that day. I left my room and walked into the hallway, hesitating to unlock the door that would lead to more questions about that night. I waited a few minutes before I stuck the skeleton key into the keyhole and twisted it to unlock the office door. I twisted the door knob and opened the door and stepped in. It looked just like I'd imagine it would, a huge buildup of dust all over the place.
I walked around in awe just taking it all in, the pictures that hung from the walls, though dusty, looked as new as they did three years ago. I ran my pointer finger across the wall as I walked toward the bookshelf. The dust I'd picked up with my finger disapearred in a streak across the wood panel. I gazed up at the bookshelf, looking at all the books my dad had read in his life. One that caught my attention was a book titled 'The Theory of Time Travel,' I dusted it off and opened it.
"Time Travel is a concept of moving between two different points in time and space," I read aloud, "Huh, my dad always had a fascination with time travel," I laughed to myself as I continued to read, "A theory to time travel is that you need a device to travel through space and time...hmm," I thought to myself, 'Phonebooth...no, some type of machine...' I looked over to my Dad's desk, the dragon. I walked over and pulled it, the floor started to shake and the bookshelf opened. I gazed into the blackness beyond the bookcase and wondered if it was really in there.
I hesitated, but I finally walked over to the doorway, there was a light switch conveniently placed to the left of the doorway. I turned it on and walked in. It led to a long hallway and then a staircase, honestly, I didn't remember the hallway from my dream, just the machine right behind the bookcase. I walked down the staircase, and into a room. I wandered around it, looking for anything to further my search, but the room was damp, and to my surprise, completely empty. I thought I was in an unaccessed part of my basement, but I couldn't be sure.
Almost positive that nothing was down there after an hour of searching, I walked back up the stairs and into my Dad's office. I sat in his chair and put my elbows on his dust filled desk wondering what I had missed. Maybe what I had thought up in my head to further my dream was just made up on the spot, but I wasn't sure. I put the dragon statuette back into it's normal position, the bookshelf closed. I sat at his desk for a few more minutes then I left the office and locked the door behind me.
At the next therapy session I discussed my findings with Dr. McDowell, I didn't want to tell him that I didn't find what I was searching for. But when I did, he seemed like he already knew I wouldn't find it, like the passage wouldn't even be there. But he was surprised about the hallway and the empty damp room. Truthfully I was surprised the machine wasn't there, but I guess I was letting my imagination get the best of me. Like maybe if I found it, I could go back and save them. But things like that don't exist, it's all just fiction.
"Well Damien, at least through all this, you overcame your fear of dealing with your parents' death in a way," He said to me, "Although I'm surprised that the statuette did lead to a part of your basement that can't be accessed from the rest of your house."
"Doctor, I want to try the hypnosis again, try to unlock more of the dream, maybe it'll tell me more about the hallway," I said looking at him with a stern look on my face.
"Alright, I still have the pocket watch in my desk drawer, do you want to do the hypnosis now?"
"Yes."
He walked to his desk and picked up the watch, he grabbed the tape recorder as well, "Okay Damien, go lie on the couch again," I lie down as he walked over to the couch. I close my eyes and relax before the hypnosis starts, "I'm going to start the recording, is that alright?"
"Yes." I said as I opened my eyes.
He pressed the record button on the tape recorder and started the hypnosis, "Alright Damien, look at the watch," He started to move the pocket watch left to right, I kept my eyes fixated on it, "You will feel yourself get sleepy," I felt my eyes slowly closing, I finally fell asleep.
"Okay, now you are completely asleep, I want you to think back to that night, your parents death, think back to the dream you were having before the gunshots, what happened?" - Dr. McDowell
"I...I pulled the dragon statuette and the bookshelf opened...it opened to the time machine, I...I walked in...and." - Damien
"And what...?" - Dr, McDowell
"I get inside the machine..."
"What did you see?"
"A...portal."
"What do you mean a portal?"
"I...I time travelled..."
"How? By the machine?"
"No, by my own free will."
"Where did you time travel to?"
"Five years..."
"Okay, Damien, which way did you move the dragon statuette?"
"Toward me."
"Where are you?"
"Sitting at the desk."
"Okay, now when I clap my hands, you'll wake up."
Again I awoke to Dr. McDowell clapping his hands. He sat there smiling, as if knowing something of use. He just continued to smile, rewound the tape, then played it back for me. To his credit, he was smiling for a very good reason. The recording came with a revelation that may be useful in my journey to find the truth. I just had to try it, why didn't I think of it before? Moving the dragon statuette in the opposite direction.
When I got home, I grabbed the skeleton key and went into my Dad's office, I sat at his desk and just thought over everything for a few moments. 'What happens if I pull the statuette back and it does lead to a time machine...? Or what if it just leads to the same hallway with the same damp room? I guess there's only one way to find out...' I pulled the dragon statuette toward me, this time, while I was sitting at the desk. The floor started to rumble slightly, and the book case opened. Only this time...there it was, the phonebooth, the machine.
A sigh of relief came over me, I guess it was a memory after all, but does that mean that I also travelled five years in time. Is that even possible? Up until this point, I was led to believe that time travel was a myth, or a work of fiction. At least, that's how I thought about it because of my dad's novels, I never actually thought there was any truth to a real time machine. At that moment, all I could think about is the novel my dad told me to hang on to before he died, Love from a Time Machine.
I put the statuette back to it's neutral position. At that moment, I didn't need to inspect what it was, I knew. After that, I locked my Dad's office and went to my room. I opened my drawer and dug through all my belongings, at last I found the book. I opened the cover and read the Preface, "I sat gazing up at the stars on a park bench, you were the only thing on my mind and had it not been for you, none of this would be possible. Some might say this is a work of fiction, but the truth lies within the lies." Yep, that was definitely Dad who wrote that...
I tried to keep reading without shedding a tear, but the tears ran down my face as I continued to read. "Rules to time travel...?" I asked myself out loud, "One, don't get involved in a time period you don't belong in. Two, there's a cost to time travel. Going forward in time causes irreversible aging, and going back can cause...the possibility of destruction of the space-time continuum...Great!" I closed the book in anguish, 'I guess going back in time won't be a possibility, huh?' I thought to myself.
