So here we are again. Much sooner than I anticipated with a far more complex story. I'm ahead of the game in this one, I've written the following chapters already. Constantly editing. I've done a bit of a mix and mash here so this is loosely based on book and movie. I was planning on not putting this up for a while because I was up to my nostrils in other kak but I couldn't resist.
Ratings may go up...they might not. Depending on how brave I feel. Language ahead, because modern people, modern language.

You've been warned, we're off.

"This sucks on so many levels..." Marie groaned despairingly before letting her face fall flat on her open history books.

Alice was re-reading a classic English tale for own studies. She would major in English.

"Get your face off of the book, you'll ruin the spine," she said sternly, reaching for its cover to edge it out from under Marie's face tentatively.

But Marie was unmoving, even pressing her face harder into the pages as if to physically absorb the information at which point Alice gave up and slumped back in her chair. Marie was incorrigible at the best of times but also her very best friend. She had been for the past 8 years having met in high school when Alice moved over to New York when she was 14. Marie had moved over around about the same time.

She was quiet and conservative in a loud and disquieting new school. Marie, a bushy haired, dark skinned girl, had latched onto her like a leech. Alice had initially been annoyed and confused by it but as time wore on, Marie became her anchor. Here, in Albany, they were studying together, on their way to greener pastures; notably New York. The dream for many others other than themselves. Marie was struggling to find the road though. Taking pleasure in seeing the bent pages and turned corners of her used and abused history books. A history buff, though she was, she found the course tough, Alice could quite plainly see.

"Marie?"

"Hmm?" Marie answered without looking up.

"You'll ruin the book with your face."

"Vengeance is sweet."

"You'll ruin your face with the book, too," Alice quipped but Marie was just as fast.

"I don't mind taking one for the team."

Alice sighed.

"Alright, fine," she put her book down and flicked the top of Marie's head, "Let's do something else. Perhaps all you need is a break."

Marie jumped at the chance, head shooting up, eyes bright,

"I love it. Let's go and get coffee and maybe not come back."

Marie was up and out of her seat, leaving her books behind before Alice had half the chance to pack up her backpack. She smiled at Marie's back, well aware that were Marie truly intent on not coming back, her books wouldn't have stayed where they were.

"So where are we going?" she asked Marie once having caught up.

"To get coffee." Marie threw her a sideways glance without pausing. Alice rolled her eyes,

"Yes, but where, dear? The cafeteria or..." Alice couldn't finish, Marie's wit demanded attention.

"No, the moon. Don't be dull."

Alice clicked her tongue irritably,

"…or the Starbucks off campus. But fine, the cafeteria it is."

Marie didn't respond. They walked in silence across the university fields to where the cafeteria stood on the other side; a beacon of hope for the broken of mind and intellect when exam time became too much. Their own exams were coming up faster than winter.

The interior was sickeningly white and chemically clean but there was a buzzing student atmosphere that gave it a bit of life. They got their respective drinks and took a seat by a window to look out at the main building. It was old and timely, the grandfather of the modern architecture that surrounded it.

They sat in relative silence until a small clink came when Marie leaned forward. When Alice sort out the source of the sound, she realised it came from a little trinket Marie had about her neck. It was a little clock on an axis, easily spun. With each clink against Marie's mug, it turned half an inch.

"What's that?" Alice asked, reaching for it.

Marie glanced down,

"Mom brought it back from Bolivia when she went last year. I've only recently started wearing it though."

"It's cool," Alice chided, playing with it between her fingers, "Why does it spin?"

Marie shrugged,

"Apparently it's for time travel. She found it in this really quirky shop she'd said I'd like. Unfortunately she couldn't bring me the shop," she smiled dryly, "So she brought me a souvenir instead."

"Have you tried it?" Alice's question surprised even herself. Normally it was Marie who came up with peculiar ideas, peculiar if not completely absurd and doomed to fail.

"Sure..." Marie frowned briefly before going with it, "Pick a time."

"1765."

"What?" Marie was confused, "Why?"

"No history book has written about that period extensively."

"They have so," Marie countered, "Just wasn't that interesting..."

"I'm sure it was well interesting. Let's go!"

"You're insane..."

"Let's go!"

She laughed excitedly. The Idea felt so real to them both that the discussion felt as if it were a serious one and that all things needed to be considered carefully before anything was tried. Marie shrugged,

"Alright," she puzzled over her trinket before shrugging, "Here's to winging it."

She spun it seventeen times, then counted to fifty-two on a whim, shrugging while she did.

Alice was leaning forward in anticipation. Of what was unbeknownst to her but she felt like a child. A throwback to a childhood in the back garden of a farm-y home in Bromsgrove, forty-five minutes out of Birmingham in the West Midlands.

The fields were big and green, haunted, she swore, by war veterans. Anything could have happened then. As Marie watched the tiny clock spin, Alice felt like anything could happen then too.

She couldn't help the feeling of disappointment as it welled up and settled sadly in the pit of her stomach when nothing came of the spinning clock. Marie looked just as put out, if not more as she voiced Alice's feelings towards their failure,

"This sucks on just as many levels as studying does. I genuinely felt like this was a thing," she looked up at Alice with a disbelieving smile.

"Same," Alice answered dully before sitting back and taking in a sharp breath, "How badly do we need to escape to have believed that stupid thing to work?"

"How dare you! It's not stupid," Marie defended, cradling her trinket gently in her palms before tucking it back into her top, "But yeah...pretty badly I guess."

Alice held up her hands in apology,

"We should get back."

Marie sighed, getting up lazily,

"Whatever Trevor."

Alice stood up to follow but not long after she did, she felt like her innards were falling out. Her soul drifted from her and was replaced by an empty chasm.

"Marie?" she wheezed worriedly as the air was sucked from her body.

Marie turned. She was pale, fearful, clutching her chest.

The university building and even the apparent structure of the world was beginning to crumble. They couldn't move. Stunned into paralysis as things fell apart.

Alice couldn't breathe, reaching out to Marie for help but Marie appeared to be fading. Then suddenly, in a final surge of energy and will to exist, Marie's form solidified briefly, her voice like an echo in the fray,

"Alice! Look..." Then it faded, she faded and darkness encompassed them. Alice looked up to see the last of the present world crumbling down, crushing her.

8888888

A life time later, Alice was being shaken awake. She refused to open her eyes, feeling like the sense of a deep, comforting sleep was wearing off. But memory made itself known; the fading, the peculiar and sudden decay of the world, Marie's slow but sure cease of existence. And what of her own?

Her eyes flew open and she jolted upright,

"Oh my God!"

Marie's fearful face, warped with panic, recoiled instantaneously. She scrambled away from Alice, pressing herself against the wall,

"Jesus Christ!" she uttered in bewilderment, strangely soft given the circumstances.

Alice was still regaining her sense of self,

"Marie!" she gasped, "You were gone!"

Marie didn't react. She was still shocked, but relief was making itself known in the finer lines of her face.

"Marie?" Alice ventured, trying to calm herself, "Are you alright?"

Marie went from relieved to startled, eyes wide and eyebrows arched,

"Me? What? Are you?"

"Yes, I'm- what?" Alice was confused. So was Marie. She was frowning again, looking Alice over sceptically,

"I thought I saw you die..." Marie muttered softly, "The building fell down but everything went black before I could see what happened... I thought you'd, well, ended…"

Alice took a moment to remember. But it was there, in her head. The grey skeleton of the university building falling down.

"I..I remember. I'm fine, though," she reassured her friend, "Honest,"

"Hmm…" Marie cocked her head, reluctant to move, as if worried that moving might cause another catastrophic lapse of whatever had happened, "Good...I guess."

Alice made to get up but Marie moved suddenly, grabbing her wrist and holding her down. Alice, in her shock, swayed off balance and fell back down in a heap. Marie, however, had no sympathy. Instead she looked deadly serious, her eyes boring into Alice's, willing her to understand the depths of what she was about to be told,

"It worked," was all she said.

It took Alice a moment to realise what she was talking about. The spinning clock around Marie's neck. Impossible.

"How?" she asked sceptically.

Marie shrugged,

"I don't know! Time is as abstract as the art in the Goddamn Tate Modern. The concept is impossible from sooo many angles and yet..." She pointed to small window just to their left. Light was streaming through but was impaired by the dust and the grime that lined the glass. Wherever they were, it had been conveniently abandoned.

Alice crawled over to it and rose gently to her haunches to peer through the stained glass out into the world. She gasped.

"Here we are," she heard Marie finish off in awe.

Outside, the world had changed. Roads were replaced by well-trodden dirt paths. Cars were carriages, wheels were horses. Ladies in high shoes, hats and petticoats floated from here to there elegantly while men strode past or perhaps arm in arm with such ladies whilst clad in fine top hats and tail coats.

Of course those were the upper class; other men and women strode more firmly across the land in clothes withered and worn. They were stronger people, hardier it seemed with hair awry and tattered hems followed by hens, pigs or children alike.

Then there were soldiers; dashing men in brilliant uniforms with shouldered muskets and gunpowder at their waste. A longsword hung gallantly at many of their hips.

And Indians.

They were a mesmerising sight for Alice. Tall for the most part, agile people but with a fierce charisma. Tomahawks were at their hips too, easily accessible. Traders, Alice concluded for they carried fine cloths and jewellery and it seemed they knew who to look for. Who they were looking for often seemed to be expecting them or otherwise weren't surprised.

It was not an easy interaction. Alice could see the tension between the traders. It was a practiced exchange but neither body wanted anything to do with the other. Then it was over and the Indians, with their tomahawks, mohawks and exceeding grace, glided off into the abyss. The wilderness, if Alice squinted, wasn't far off.

She sank back down, drawing her knees up to her chest, trying desperately not to hyperventilate.

"Oh my God!" she whispered, "Oh my God!"

Marie didn't say anything. She just stared at Alice in her own bubble of terror.

"Oh my God," Alice repeated before putting her head in her hands, closing her eyes and trying to explain their situation. No such luck. When she opened her eyes nothing had changed and Marie was still gazing at her expectantly.

"What?" Alice asked sharply, "Why are you staring at me?! Are you waiting for me to have answers?"

Marie frowned,

"Calm down, drama llama, I'm thinking," she paused, taking a breath for which her body heaved to accommodate, "We need get out of here."

Then Alice remembered the trinket. If it had gotten them there then surely...

"No way! Just turn the thing back-"

"Do you think I haven't tried?" Marie answered easily, "You were still out cold. So while I waited for you to wake up, I tried. I began to worry that you were actually dead after a while, I thought the pulse I felt was some sort of echo of life...then you did...and the 'thing' didn't work."

Alice's mouth fell open. An echo of life. She shook her head free of the haunting thought,

"This is insane, we can't go out there!"

"We'll have too," Marie countered, bustling to the window to glance out of it, gauging the obstacles, "The answers won't be in here, Alice, they'll be out there but we'll have to fit in."

"How?!" Alice demanded. The idea of mixing with the outside world was beyond her fathoming.

Marie edged over to a cupboard that sat idly in the corner of the room. Just as dusty as the rest of it. Alice followed Marie's movements with scepticism until Marie opened it and revealed its contents.

An endless amount of women and men's clothing. She glanced over her shoulder at Alice,

"I got it."

88888

Moments later, they shuffled out into the world. Marie's hair was done up in a bunch, bits of hair rebelled beneath a petit bonnet. She stood out in a crowd with her dark skin and wild mop but she looked striking.

Alice felt like a fish out of water despite how elegant and genteel Marie said she looked in her garb. She felt somewhat futile against the likes of her friend. The adventure of a lifetime was before them but Alice couldn't rise to it. Marie appeared to have prepared for this moment her whole life.

Alice had rolled her eyes. No one even gave them a second glance. They were walking arm in arm. As time plodded on around them, Alice became aware of Marie's grip growing tighter and tighter. The look on her face grew more and more excited, her eyes growing wider and wider as they looked on.

Alice, however, grew more and more worried about Marie's growing excitement.

"Look," she whispered, pointing at nothing, "Alice..."

Alice looked but she feared she was seeing something different. A glass world made to shatter. All sorts of theories about choice and time fluttered through her head; Schrodinger's cat, chaos theory – all of them made one thing very clear; very small actions impacted very great things. They were in the heart of the past.

None of this fear was on Marie's face, she saw this world as merely different and something to be explored despite her history teachings.

Sometimes Alice wished she was more like Marie, but not now.

"Marie, please, please focus!"

Marie seemed to sense Alice's worry as well as hear it and she turned, suddenly serious,

"We'll be fine, Alice, we'll figure it out. But for now, look, we're still in Albany," she pointed to a sign that welcomed and bid farewell, then she looked at the expanse of water in front of them, "It's the Hudson River. Have you ever seen it so clean?"

If not for the gentle hush of wonder in Marie's voice, Alice might have seen nothing.

But the river rolled in untarnished from an open ocean not far away. The ground was dirt, not dirty. There was space and the air was fresh. The people buzzed but not loudly. Life was simple and enough.

Alice found herself leaving Marie's side to drift to the jetty where she gazed out over the twinkle of the water. The river was wide, wide enough for the opposite shore to be a mirage. The breeze blew softly against her face and a distinct feeling of nostalgia made itself known. She'd been standing there before once. Maybe in a dream, in a different time. But she'd stood there all the same. She was sure. On the ground at her feet, an old newspaper lay. She leant down to read it. The headline, though hazy, read 'WAR DECLARED OVER'. The year; 1765.

It really worked... She thought in wonder before straightening to gaze thoughtfully over the river.

"You remind me of my son, the way you stand there now."

Alice spun on her heel, almost toppling off her heels. She found herself looking into the damaged eyes of a man deeply hurt. An man with wrinkles of sorrow that outweighed the laughter.

A heavy brow that sank lower every day. He was a native but not so traditionally garbed. Instead he wore buckskins with a cotton shirt tucked into a belt that held his tomahawk, hanging limp and untouched by his hip, a musket in his weary hand but easily dropped. His voice shook when he addressed her. As he looked at her, his eyes seemed to narrow.

"You remind me of his..." voice trailed off, eyes widening, "I know your face, child."

He took a step forward, reaching out to her,

"Moon child...Alice?"

Alice almost fell off the jetty. She'd miraculously been recognised. Her fears were coming alive. Marie was still floating around not too far off, too enticed by her surroundings too have seen Alice's encounter. There was no way out but one; she bolted.

She whipped past the surprised looking Indian, his hand still held aloft even moments after she tore past him.

Marie turned just in time to look surprised before Alice grabbed her wrist and kept going, leading them back to the abandoned cabin they'd just come from, slamming the door behind her and huddling into a corner.

Marie was still in a state of shock,

"Fuck me...what the hell was that?!"

Alice couldn't form the words. Marie knelt down to her, reigning in her surprise,

"What happened?"

Alice crawled to the window and peered through the glass. She spied exactly what she hoped she wouldn't see. The man was looking for her, he was wading anxiously through the crowd, tormented and yet he was only a spot of bother to those around him.

It tugged violently at Alice's heart strings.

"That man," she pointed, "The Indian; he's looking for me. I met him on the jetty,"

"Why would he be looking for you?" Marie enquired, looking curiously out the window beside Alice, "What did you do? What happened..?

Alice glanced over at Marie, she appeared to be affected by the man's obvious despair too,

"He looks..so...lost."

"I don't know, really," Alice answered, "But he recognises me from somewhere...Marie?"

"Yeah?"

"He knows my name."

Marie looked at Alice in concern before turning both of their attention back to the man. Only, he wasn't there.

"Where'd he go?" Marie asked abruptly, trying to counter the limits the dirty glass put on her vision.

Then the door behind them gently clicked and swung open. The action was non-threatening and entirely civil but Alice and Marie screamed anyway.

When they'd stilled, the man walked towards Alice cautiously, his eyes set on hers, even as he lowered himself to her level,

"Alice," He whispered again, sure of himself now that her face was very near his own, as clear as day. His eyes grew misty as memory overcame him,

"I saw my child fall from a cliff, his throat open. I swear I saw you follow him... he has died for you. How is it," Alice felt his course and calloused fingers on her cheek as he took her in, "That when you died for him, you are still here? Because you are here. So he must be too, no? Alice, where-where is my son?"

His voice broke and he let out a deep, guttural sob that was obviously unintended but he made no move to hide it.

Alice knew that no words she could muster up would ever be enough. The truth, least of all.

But she couldn't very well leave him like he was. Where would she run too? The answers were accessible. Dangerous, but accessible.

"I'll find out," she whispered hoarsely. To her relief, the man before her smiled the smallest of smiles. Alice felt a surge of courage and determination.

She looked over at Marie. Marie was still caught up in the situation and was too slow to stop Alice when she finally did catch on.

"Alice, no wait!"

But Alice had already grabbed the tiny clock. Yanking it from around Marie's neck, she spun it only a half spin in hopes she'd magically mastered the art of time. It was too late to realise the stupidity so she just gazed apologetically at Marie as she slowly blurred out of view.

The second time lapse was less traumatic than the first. Alice wasn't robbed of air, nothing collapsed on her. Things simply faded into a shadow, even the man kneeling in front of her showed no signs of dismay. He remained frozen in his position until the essence of time wiped him out layer by layer until there was nothing but the outline of his being there. Then that too blew away like dust.

When things settled and the world came back to what it was, Alice was looking out over the river again. The same sense of nostalgia was there only this time she knew exactly where the feeling came from. It was an odd thought. An abstract concept she was able to understand from simply experiencing it.

She'd stood there moments before...in the future.

"You remind me of someone I met once, standing there the way you are now," came a familiar voice.

Alice took a breath to steady herself, then turned. The man before her was the same man but stronger, the laugh lines were still very clear. His eyes still danced. He was still happy.

On either side of him stood too exceedingly striking men. One was white with dark hair, dark eyes and a sharp, all knowing face. Handsome all the while.

The other was an enigma. A stoic face that conveyed nothing of his thoughts, taller than both the other men, slimmer and more elegant. His eyes were sharp too, his cheekbones sharper. His skin darkened by the sun and he stood impossibly still. The 'Son', Alice knew and she was enthralled by his beauty.

This is who I would die for? Who would die for me? Impossible.

Then she remembered it wouldn't be her. It would be someone like her. Another her. It was a disappointing thought.

"hmm..." The older man mused, narrowing his eyes, "I do not remember the name or the face but I remember the feeling."

The moment scared her. The original fear came sailing back. Lost in the picture that was gazing back at her, Alice saw a flicker in the Son's eyes. A blink of recognition followed by a brief puzzlement, a frown, a cocked head. It was enough to have Alice believe, somewhat to her horror, that he too, recognised her, even if it was only the feeling.

After all, if all of what the man had told her was true, then the son had indeed seen her once before, in a different time.

How are we feeling? Navigating the characters around what they do and don't know as well as around each other is a bloody nightmare. Maybe not so much in this chapter but in the ones following it but it's a fun challenge.
Don't forget to leave a review.
Oh, and I really don't mind any kind of constructive critique. This one's a big one, so if you catch something that doesn't make sense, or feel like it's not working - lemme know. Be kind about it, but let me know.

Ta!