Change: The Forgotten Past

By Matthew Smith And Kirsty Harrington

Chapter One

Location: La Grande Dune, Tunisia

I jammed the gas pedal down as far as it would go. The dune buggy shot forward, its speed increasing. My sister, Rebecca Smith and one of my friends Ajmina Kahn, who sat in the back of the buggy, held on to the handle bars on the ceiling.

I looked over, past Rebecca, as a second buggy rolled up a few feet away from ours. Two other girls and a young man, nodded over at us. I shook my head. "RACE YOU!" Shouted the one girl driving the other buggy. Her name was Kirsty Harrington. The girl next her was her best friend, Lara Hall. In the back was Jacob Feeney, our friend from Australia.

Suddenly their buggy shot forward, leaving ours in a trail of dust from the Tunisia desert. Ajmina (AKA; AJ to us) leaned forward. "Are you going to take that shit? Run 'em down, will ya?" she said. I smiled, as her Australian/Pakistanian/British Accent filled my ear. "Sit back, hang on!" I replied. I gripped the steering wheel tightly with both of my hands, both with black racing gloves on. I shifted gears and pushed the gas pedal down more.

The race was on. It was the first time any of us had actually hung out in person. We'd been planning this trip for several years now, each of us saving up to visit the filming locations of our favorite films. First up on the list was the Tunisia Desert area, which was used for filming several of the Star Wars films, including A New Hope. We had met up at the Habib Bourguiba International Airport, had lunch, and then set out on our first adventure together, as a group.

The sun was bright and hot, as we drove through the La Grande Dune, which was the filming site for the 'Dune Sea' in the Star Wars films. As the day went on, we stopped at the first site. Located in the town of Matmata, it was the filming location of Luke Skywalker's home on Tatooine. The sunken homes were actually part the Sidi Driss Hotel.

I parked the buggy, as Rebecca and AJ got out to meet up with Lara, and Jacob. I took off my baseball cap, which had the insignia of FBI on it, and ran my right hand through my medium length, dirty blond hair. Kirsty came around to my side of the buggy. "Come on, hot shot. It'll be night soon." I nodded, as she pulled on my shirt sleeve once. I placed my cap back on and got out of the buggy.

Minutes later…

I looked down into of other sunken pits that made up the courtyard of the Lars' homestead. It wasn't much, really. "There's no one here, you know. We can go down inside."

I looked down into the large pit of a courtyard. Then I looked over at Jacob. It was about 5 feet down into the pit. We'd have to go through the actual house and down into the courtyard. "Let's go."

I led the way into through the door, which gave off a creaking sound we found ourselves inside the main room, which led into the Kitchen area of the building. As we stood around in awe of what was truly Film history, I heard a rumble from the courtyard. I moved through the kitchen, and found the doorway that led to the workshop, in which Luke worked on C-3PO and R2-D2.

As I entered, I looked out through the open area of the courtyard. It was nothing but dirt and sand out there. A few random props still sat around, but nothing surprising. "Hey guys!"

The group came out, and stood next to me, staring out into the courtyard. It was surreal. We were standing in the same spot Mark Hamill had stood, with George Lucas and everyone else from the movies. Of which Storm troopers had attacked this place. It was burning on the big screen.

Kirsty stepped out into the courtyard. I noted the strange look on her face. She looked up into the sky, and then paused, and looked back at us. "Are you guys going to come out here? It's great!" I looked over at Lara. She shrugged. "I just want to go see the locations of middle earth!"

"It's on our list, Shads." I said, as we stepped out into the courtyard. I pointed up at the top of the wall of courtyard. "That's where Luke stood, talking to his Uncle Owen!"

"WOW!" Rebecca exclaimed. Then there was a rumble.

"Did anyone else hear that?"

"Hear what? Oh, look! One of the old power droids. Gonk!"

Kirsty started to move forward toward the old prop droid, only to trip over her own feet. I moved over next to her. "You alright?"

"I'm Fine. Just a cut up knee and hands." She stood and brushed herself off. "Here…" I said, noting her bleeding gash on her knee. I tore off a sleeve from my extra shirt I had tied around my waist and tied it around her knee. She smiled. "Thanks." She said.

We sat down next to the Gonk droid prop and I took off my hat, and waved it at myself, in a fanning motion. Jacob sat down next to Kirsty and took out his water bottle. As he took a gulp and smiled. "This is great guys."

We looked over at him. He's smile was huge. I nodded. "It is. I'm glad we could make these trips happen."

"So what's next on the list?"

"Lord of the Rings locations. Starting with Tongariro National Park, home to three volcanoes: Mount Ruapehu, Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe proved ideal as the dark rand savage realm of 'Mordor' and 'Mount Doom', where the ring is forged." I read from our list.

Lara smiled. "How exciting! Volcanoes!"

"Are you sure we can get there?" Kirsty asked.

"Probably not legally." I replied.

"Matt!"

"Just being honest. I'll get us there. Trust me."

Lara snickered, and Kirsty shot me a look that spelled out 'oh-no-you-didn't!'. I just smiled at her. AJ clapped. "Now I look forward to that one. Just because of the volcanoes."

"Indeed. It should be good."

"Yeah, well. Just keep me out of jail and alive, please." Rebecca spat. I fell backward laughing. "Don't worry!" AJ said, patting her on the shoulder.

At that very moment, unbeknownst to any of the six of us sitting in the courtyard, against the wall, away from the suns beating glare, a single drop of blood from Kirsty's knee had forged with the sand and dirt.

It was slowly being absorbed into the ground, vanishing. "Well, we should get back to the hotel, before it gets dark."

"Yeah. I'm famished." Jacob murmured. As we all stood, there was a loud rumble. I put out my hands against the wall, to steady myself. "What the fuck?" AJ hissed. "You must just be dizzy, AJ." I said, trying to be logical. Yet it was completely illogical. Because we all had felt it. We all heard it.

Suddenly the sand in front of us began to sink into the ground. Seconds later, there was a massive black opening in front of us. And it was getting bigger. "Go! To the right!" We all started to move single file, to the right, against the wall. But the large black hole was getting larger with each passing moment. I saw Kirsty lose her footing, and she slipped down and started to fall into the hole. The blackness under her seemed endless.

I reached down and grabbed her hand. "HOLD ON!" I screamed. "Matt! Look out!" Suddenly I felt myself fall into the hole. I could see Kirsty falling in front of me. I heard the faint screams from our friends behind us.

And then, all I saw was black all around me. I lost sight of Kirsty, and the sky.

Then everything went dark.