Hello! This is my first story that had to do with the Bible. This is some story I had to do for my Religion class. So based this story on how I had to do a presentation. I'm just like the girl, Cherria Matthews. Except dash out the travelling in time and dash out the name of my Religion teacher...so yeah. Hope you enjoy it! ^^

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except Cherria and Rebecca.

I lay atop my bed on my stomach. I was reading a book, but not just any book. It was the bible. I turned the page in complete fury and boredom.

This is so BORING! I thought to myself.

Just this morning, I was on the computer Facebooking when I should have been doing my religion homework. My mother caught me, and made me do my homework. Ugh! Oh, how I hated this.

A small but freezing breeze flowed into my room. I shivered, feeling the cool air on my skin. I would close the door if I wanted to but I had to keep it open, as to what my mum ordered me. She wanted my door to stay open so that whenever she passes by my room, she could see whether I was doing my work or not. I blew at the stray hair that got in the way of my eyes, only to make it cover my eye more.

I looked into my school diary. Once again, I read the instructions of my homework, of what I had to do. Apparently, I had to create a presentation about what it was like during Jesus' time. Maybe I could pretend to do my homework to trick my mum when really I'm daydreaming. And when school comes I'll just make an excuse to my religion teacher about why I haven't done my homework. Yeah...I imagined myself talking to the teacher, blurting out my excuse.

"Excuse me Ms. Price. I haven't finished my homework because I had a mourning to attend to."

Now that's a pretty good excuse. And if Ms. Price asks me if whose funeral, I'll just mention my grandma. Yeah, this is a good idea! I'm so smart! Tomorrow is the due date for this presentation so I'll have to practice my expressions to make my excuse more convincing.


I stared at the blank paper that was in front of me. The only thing written on it was my name: Cherria Matthews. My eyebrow twitched. I was feeling pressure and failure. Yeah, I had the idea of making the excuse but...it didn't work! Ms. Price fell for it at first but then she called my mum to say that she was sorry for the loss. My mum was confused. Ms. Price explained about my excuse and then she had found out that it was all a lie. And now, I had to do twice the work on this presentation. I was supposed to do only around 400 words, but since I had to do more, I now have to do 800 words! Oh, me and my smart brain that is not-so-smart after all. What was I going to do now? I was gonna die doing this dumb presentation!

I looked around the room. I spotted my old spell book.

I can't believe I still have that book...I thought, maybe I should throw it away now.

I mean, I've had it when I was a little girl, when I still believed in magic. I'm 16 now so I don't believe in such tales anymore. I stood up and grabbed the book roughly, as if I was angry. Doing so made me drop the book. As the book landed on floor, it opened up to some random page. I bent to pick it up and close it but these words stopped me: Travelling Back in Time Spell.

I picked up the book, reading off from the page. I came to the incantation and I suddenly felt the need to chant it.

Back in time, now I go,
to the time I want, the time that shows,
what was different to then and now.
Bring me there; make me say 'wow'.

Just as I thought, nothing happened.

"Ha! I thought so. Why the heck would this spell work? I mean there's no such thing as – " There was a flash of bright light and the next thing I knew, I was outside in the cold. " – magic?" I continued, after the sudden teleportation. I looked around at my surroundings.

It was strange place. Nothing like I've ever seen – the houses looked so ancient…like, Rome-ish and the ground was simply sand, grass or concrete. It was as if no roads even existed, for I saw none as far as my eye can see. Well, maybe there were roads but it looked more as if people walk on it, for I saw footprints scattered on the ground.

Okay…okay, I panicked in my thoughts, this is just a dream. Just a nightmare.

I pinched myself to prove myself right. It seemed, however, I was still in the creepy, ancient, Rome-ish place. I began to panic more. I had to get home.

Carefully and quietly, I ran in the shadows, keeping myself from sight. I saw a couple of people walk pass by. I looked closely.

What the-? Even the fashion is so ancient, I thought.

I observed their clothing. They looked like rags, basically. They had just used some rope to tie it all together, to keep the rags from falling off the body.

If I wanna blend into this place, I'm gonna need a couple of those cloths, I thought to myself.

I began to scavenge, still in the darkness, like I was some rat scampering towards food it had spotted. I finally found what I was looking for. A bundle of rags were piled up at the backyard of some house. These cloths looked so dirty. Seems like someone doesn't need them anymore. I picked up some and wore them on top my pyjamas. Hopefully, no one needs these cloths anymore. I didn't want to steal it or anything. Well, if it does belong to someone, I'll just return it before I get back home...that is, if I can even get back home.

I found some rope and tied it around my waist. I also found a cloak of some sort and put it on. With a bit of luck, this should be convincing enough that I was one of these people...whoever they were. Now, time to find out where I was, what timeline this is and someone who can help me out of here.


This was not good. This was not good, at all! I was in the time of Jesus! The only way I found out was because I heard people talking about him. Well, yeah, even in my own timeline people speak of him, but not as much as they do where I was now.

Hey, I thought, maybe I can compare this Judea to modern Judea for my presentation. Yup! What I great idea! I squealed quietly in excitement.

If only I had brought along a pen and notebook. I guess I just had to memorise my observations. I began to stroll around the place, taking in the sight of this city. I looked into the sky and saw it was becoming orange. Dawn.

The door of a building near me opened up, and a fragile, old woman stepped out.

Maybe, I could get her to let me inside her house, I thought, I could add to my presentation about how different the inside of a house is.

Without a second thought, I walked up to her and asked, "Pardon me, I am a mere traveller and hope to find out where I am exactly."

She look at me as if had spoken in another language. I began to panic, thinking that the way I speak might have frightened the old lady. I had hoped I that I could speak the way the people do in this timeline, but my hope had just vanished.

"You are in Jerusalem," the old lady said.

I was relieved. She understood me, but she still had the look of uncertainty on her face.

She continued, "What is a girl as young as you doing out at a time like this?"

Surprised at her question, my body twitched.

Oh man, I thought, what do I say?

What she said next, though, surprised me even more. "I am sorry. I must not force you to answer if you do not wish to do so."

"Thank you," I said, blinking in revelation.

"It is cold right now. Would you like to come in? I am sure you do not want to stay outside for a long time, now would you?"

She smiled warmly at me. Her smile made me feel comfortable, and it felt as though I have known her for years.

The woman opened up her door once again and gestured me to come in before her. I walked inside.

"Wait one moment. I will light a candle for us," I heard the lady say. The flame of the candle lit up the house dimly. "Is there anything you would like?"

"Perhaps water, thank you," I replied.

I looked around the place. The house was small. It held only four rooms, which included this kitchen I was standing in.

Wow, this place is so different to the houses in my timeline, I thought.

I watched as the lady poured water from a pot into two mugs. The mugs had no handles. With the mugs in her hands, she walked towards me and passed one of the mugs to me. I took a sip and nearly choked on the water.

Even the water tastes different…my thoughts drifted in my mind.

Hopefully, my expression was still calm. I didn't want to upset the old woman.

"I am Rebecca of Jerusalem," the old lady introduced, before taking a drink.

I introduced in return, saying, "I am Cherria of…" I tried to think of one of the cities in Judea, "…Jericho."

"You have come from Jericho?" Rebecca had another face of surprise.

"Yes."

"Where are you mother and father?"

"They are here, in Jerusalem. I have been living with my grandmother since I was a baby. I heard my mother had fallen ill. I have been travelling from Jericho to see my mother to help ease her pain."

That was a complete lie. I hated doing so, but I just couldn't tell Rebecca where I was really from. That may frighten her. I have read from a book once that witchcraft (which was known as "the Old Religion" in this timeline) was considered evil soon after Christianity came.

Rebecca asked me more questions that I had to lie about. Some of them, I never answered. I could tell Rebecca didn't want to seem rude by asking me all these questions that could be personal. I knew it was a bad thing to do, to lie, and I felt bad about it myself. Another thing I knew was that I had to get back home quickly.

It was already a few hours (as to what I estimated) before I told Rebecca that I had to leave.

"I must make haste," I said, standing up from the floor (there were no chairs in the house, only cushions). "My father and mother are awaiting my arrival." Rebecca stood up too.

"I hope your mother will heal soon. I will keep her in my prayers," Rebecca said.

I smiled at her. "Thank you for allowing a stranger into your home. I hope I have not disturbed anything important you had to do."

"You are welcome here whenever you wish to visit, Cherria."

Rebecca walked me outside, her hand gently pushing me at my back. I then walked off, waving back at Rebecca.

Rebecca had been so kind to me, while I was completely lying to her. Not only that, I had used her to let me see the inside of her house. For that type of reason, was it still a bad thing to do? I didn't know. All I knew was that I was feeling bad and guilty about it. I wish I could tell her the truth but I like I had said, I didn't want to scare her.

I looked around and saw people buying and selling. It seemed most people have their own market right in front of their homes.

"Would the young lady like a bag of fruit?" asked one of the people behind a booth.

I turned my head to him.

"Thank you for asking, but I must hurry," I said with a smile.

The man nodded with understanding. I continued my walk.

I examined more of Jerusalem. There was now so much I could mention in my presentation. I was thinking I could do a "narrative" story of my adventure here. My head was already so full of ideas; I needed to get back home quick before I forget them. I just needed to figure out how exactly to get back to my timeline.

If you got here with a spell, then return home with a spell, a voice in my head advised.

Well, if I wanted to use a spell, I had to do it in private. Performing "the Old Religion" will cast fear into these people. First of all, I had to return these clothes, in case they actually belonged to someone. After placing the cloths to the pile I had found earlier, I was back in my pyjamas. I wanted to get back home so badly that I just made up the spell as I went.

Return me home, from whence I came.
Make me feel like everything was the same.
I am exhausted, I just wanna go home.
Don't bring me anywhere that has anything to do with Rome.

For a moment, nothing happened. I began to panic, but there was a sudden flash of bright light. My view suddenly changed from a sunny day outside to a dim bedroom. I looked around. It was my own room! I was finally home! Remembering I had a presentation to do, I jumped onto my chair, grabbed my pencil and began scribbling down words on the paper, starting with: I lay on my bed on my stomach. I was reading a book, but not just any book. It was the bible…


"I am very fascinated in your presentation, Cherria," Ms. Price said to me, "These facts are so precise. It was as if you are the main character of your story, like it was actually you who experienced everything!"

I stared at Ms. Price. Her face was completely shocked and her eyes so wide and bulging she reminded me of startled horse.

"This is so good that we can keep it in the school library! But…how on earth were you able to get such clear-cut information?"

I simply smiled and said, "Let's just say I googled everything and even looked through a children's bible with pictures of Jerusalem…"

I looked at the window and saw my reflection. I winked at it, actually winking at myself.

That's all. Thanks for reading and please review.