"Okay class, get your laptops out and start typing." I heard my Language Arts teacher say. If I remember correctly, we would be typing out our if-we-could-go-back-in-time-when-and-why-would-we-go-there story. She obviously wanted us to do research on the subject we were supposed to think of. I scanned my mind through old movies that I used to watch and looked for one that I would actually WANT to go back in time to.
"What are you gonna write about?" My seatmate, Leslie asked me. She probably saw me just staring at nothing in particular again with my mouth slightly agape. I usually do that when deep in thought; although I don't find anything deep about this project.
"I don't know. What about you?" I asked her, slightly out of my trance, but just staring straight into my laptop that was loading up its contents.
"I'm going to write about going back in time to the Renaissance Era. It always fascinated me on how…" There she went again, blabbing for 5 minutes about a particular subject matter that did not interest me at all. I was just of course, asking out of politeness, but not really wanting to hear all about the art and beauty of the Renaissance Era. I already had enough of that in the book club my mother signed me up in to improve my vocabulary and interest in books.
Yea, not gonna happen anytime soon Mom.
Language Arts was the last subject of the day and as soon as the bell rang, which was just 10 minutes after Leslie started talking, I quickly packed my stuff and headed to the main entrance of the school. Mom was on time today. I immediately saw the car parked behind some of the bushes and knocked on the window, signaling her to unlock the car door.
"How was school?" She asked, getting her shades out of its case. The sun was shining brightly, I noticed. I checked the temperature and saw it was 76 degrees Fahrenheit out; pretty uncommon in good ol' Fountain, Colorado.
"Eh," I sighed and took my jacket off. It was pretty warm in the car. I opened the window nearest me. "It was okay. I have a new project to work on tonight. Rough draft due tomorrow." I informed her.
"Have you at least started on it yet?" My mother knows me as a straight-A student with a history of procrastinating. That sometimes worries her if I get my work in on time.
"Don't worry Mom; I'll finish it tonight after dinner."
She just sighed and started the engine of the car. We drove off headed to pick my sister up from the middle school opposite the high school I was enrolled at.
I banged my fist on my desk table. Hard.
"I got it." I said, looking at my pet dog sitting at the opposite side of my room. "Titanic. It was a real event, right? The ship really did sink. It's original. I'd bet no one in my class had that in mind." I smiled to myself. Now to write the rough draft.
I finished writing the draft, printed it out on the new colored printer Dad got me for my schoolwork in just an hour. It was currently 8 in the evening and I was full, satisfied with my work, and damn tired. I just felt dizzy all of a sudden, that was weird. I placed the hard copy on my Language Arts folder for school, zipped up my bag and just lay on my bed for a while.
I closed my eyes and slowly drifted to sleep. Last thing I heard was Tigger barking at something, or someone, in my room. I don't care. Let him worry about that now. I'm sleepy.
I opened my eyes and groped for my alarm clock. I had better not slept through the alarm, I thought. I do not want to miss school today. We have a major bake sale during lunch that I have to supervise. I couldn't get hold of my clock. Where the heck was it?
"Damn it, if Tigger broke it again, I swear…" I didn't even finish my threat because when I opened my eyes, I was at a doctor's clinic. Or so it looked like. It wasn't any modern clinic that I was always brought to when my mom thought I had severe fevers. No, this was different. I was originally at a stretch bed with merely a thin cloth draped over me and a pillow that was as hard as rock under my head the night before. I rubbed the back of my neck. It didn't hurt at all, that was good. I swear I would have sued if it made my neck hurt.
"Hello?" I called out, looking around at the empty room. It was a small room, with a couple of emergency supplies in a nearby cabinet, 2 small windows and a nearly empty desk.
I decided to sit up and head for one of the 2 nearby windows. I looked out and saw a bustling street full of people, probably heading for work, the same way I needed to head back to school. One thing I noticed that was weird though, was their style of clothing. I may not know much on history but their era of attire must have been the early 1920's. It was also a provincial area. There was nothing but mountains surrounding the town.
"Ah, she's awake. Praise the gods!" A man's voice boomed through the hollow room. I quickly turned around and demanded the location I was at.
"Location? Why, you are at a local hospital. My, that fall was drastic too. What caused you to possibly jump off the second floor of a building?" As he was talking, he got a damp towel and dipped it in cool water. He then gave it to me. "Go ahead, rub your forehead. You're a big girl. Stella…" He called out to a nurse, probably. He headed out the door.
I checked the cabinets and found a hand mirror. Why did he want me to rub my freakin' forehead? I was fine. My head hurts a bit, but nothing else.
I saw a huge bandage at the right side of my forehead. What happened to me? He said that I fell? But I was just at home, sleeping! How did this happen?
"Doctor?" I cleared my throat. My voice sure did sound hoarse. Instead of him appearing again, it was his assistant. She was probably Stella.
"How can I help you, miss?" She asked, smiling with a perfect set of white teeth.
"This may seem weird, but, where am I? And how in the name of Jesus, did I get here?" I asked, pulling the bandage out of my forehead slowly.
She let out a sigh. "First of all, do not pull that out miss. It is not healed yet." She grabbed the bandage from my hand, threw it into a trash bin and peeled off a new one. "Second, you are at Xenotime's local village hospital." She finished, placing a bandage back in my forehead.
"First of all," I said, mimicking her voice. "I do not know where the heck Xenotime is. Second, is this a freakin' joke?" Only I didn't say freakin'.
At that same moment, two boys, one in his teens, and the other younger one, probably no younger than 12, appeared from the door. Seeing me arguing with the nurse, the older one spoke up.
"I, I mean, we, didn't mean to intrude your… um…" He stuttered, probably wondering why I was actually arguing with the head nurse.
I finished his sentence for him. "Conversation," I straightened up and looked right at them with a straight face.
"Mr. Elric, I apologize. She had an emergency case and needed to be treated immediately. I apologize for the delay. Alphonse's check-up will be in a short while." The "head" nurse said, constantly apologizing to these two teenagers. I wish adults did that in my century.
"I was asked by the doctor to do a simple favor though…" The older one said, looking at my direction. "He asked if we have an extra room in the mansion." He added skeptically.
"Which we do!" The younger one, Alphonse, said in a tiny but excited voice.
"Oh yes, thank you for handling her needs quite well. You are complete gentlemen to agree to such sudden agreements." The nurse said, giving my back a push.
"Hey!" I said in outrage. How dare she push me towards these strangers! I barely know them and here they are, deciding where I should sleep for the night?
I pushed aside from them and headed to the door, not looking back. "Thank you for the concern," I said in a straight voice. "But I am perfectly capable of finding my way—"
"And I suppose that way would be?" I heard the doctor's voice interrupt me. I turned around and saw the old man looking blankly at me. In fact, all four of them were.
"W-What are you talking about?" I stuttered. "Back to A-America, Fountain, specifically."
The old man sighed and looked up at me. "The truth is, dear, you did not fall from the second floor of a building. You were found lying on the ground, in the middle of the village. You were unconscious and your forehead seemed to hit the ground on your fall from the gods know where." He sighed. "Neither of us knows where you came from."
"That is… insane. I've never heard a thing like that in my life. I just fell asleep in my room. I fi-finished a project for my Lit class! I-I was supposed to go to the bake sale today and supervise it!" I held my head. I was starting to get dizzy again.
"H-How can this happen? I was just lying down on my bed and now I'm in a place called Xenotime? No, no, it's not true." I started to laugh.
"Hailey probably set me up for ruining her birthday last year, huh?" I said, referring to one of my enemies at school. "She's just paying you to make me think that I actually time traveled." I concluded, placing my hands on my waist.
"Well, tell her that she can go screw herself, because I'm not falling for it." Except I didn't say screw. And with that, I left the small cabin and headed out into the street. I looked around and it was nearly sunset. The nearby market was closing and packing their goods for the day. Several of their customers, content with their grocery shopping for the day, left the stalls and headed home.
"This really isn't Fountain anymore." I mumbled to myself.
"You can bet anything it isn't." I heard a voice behind me. It was the boy from the cabin. The older one. I just noticed that he had really blue eyes and that his hair slightly covered his right eye in a messy, but good way. "What's your name?"
"N-Nicola." I said, unable to tear away from his eyes. It was so weird. I was never known to fall for a boy. Much more, believe and experience crushing on one when I just met him once.
"That's an exotic name. Pretty, too. Just like the one who owns it." Come on, nobody could not blush when a boy that cute told you something like that. "Come on, I'm offering my services to help you, Nicola. Least you can do is accept?" He said in a small voice, holding out his right hand for me to take. Which I did.