Unfinished Business
By Shane Logan
Chapter 1- Back to the Future
"Doc! The red log's about to blow!!!" Marty screamed into the walkie-talkie. He looked in the Delorean's rearview mirror, hoping that Doc and Clara were bracing themselves for the impact.
"Clara!" yelled Doc. He was on the side of the train, reaching for Clara's hand. There was a huge explosion which shook the train. Clara was thrown and she was suddenly hanging upside down, attached only by her dress.
"Whoa!" said Doc, too shocked to move.
"Emmett!" cried Clara, trying not to look down at the ground passing in front of her eyes.
"Clara! Hold on!"
"I can't!" she screamed in desperation.
Inside the car, Marty noticed the Mattel hover board floating near Marty. Marty yelled into the walkie-talkie: "Doc! I'll gonna slip you the hover board."
"Marty! Watch out!" yelled Doc back to him.
Marty turned around to see, just in time, a wooden sign that indicated that the bridge was not yet finished. He ducked in just before the sign was blown apart by the car. "Ahhh!!!" he screamed.
"Ahhh! Ahhh! Emmett, help!" Clara was slipping even further now, her dress refusing to hold much longer.
"Hold on, Clara!"
Marty yelled into the walkie-talkie: "Doc! Catch it!"
Doc looked back to Marty and nodded. Marty sent the hover board flying toward him. "Whoa!" The Doc's feet landed on the board perfectly.
"Yes! Yes!" Marty knew it was his only chance, and it had worked.
"Emmett!" There was pure panic in Clara's voice.
"Hold on!"
Doc let go of the train and picked Clara up just in time; they floated away together on the hover board, staring into each other's eyes, away from the train to safety.
"Yes!" Marty was both happy and sad at the same. Without Doc in the Delorean, he would not be coming back with him to 1985. There was nothing he could do about it now, he thought to himself and slammed the door shut and prepared for his journey through time . He and the Delorean disappeared as the Delorean hit 88 miles per hour and the locomotive, on fire, fell off the edge of the ravine.
That peculiar feeling of being pulled through time washed over Marty. It was something he didn't think he could ever get used to, no matter how many times (hopefully no more) he changed time periods.
Suddenly he was back in 1985, rolling down the train tracks. As he passed in front of cars waiting to cross the tracks, he sheepishly waved to everyone who was staring at him. Suddenly there was a modern day train whistle. Marty looked up and saw a huge freight train about to collide head-on with the Delorean.
"Shit!" Just in time, he fumbled to open the door and jumped out. "Ahhh!" The train hit the Delorean and disintegrated it into a million different pieces. Marty walked over to where the car used to be, staring as the time circuit boards flickered one last time before they went dead forever.
"Well, Doc, it's destroyed. Just like you wanted." He headed north, toward his house. It was time to go home.
Chapter 2- Nothing As It Seems
Marty slowly walked up Jennifer's porch steps, careful not to wake her. She lay on the porch swing and for a few seconds he watched her sleep. He got down on his knees and placed his lips on hers. She responded by kissing him back. He ran his fingers through her hair.
"Oh, Robert" she moaned.
"Robert?!?!" Marty got to his feet, flabbergasted that she would be thinking of someone else. She opened her eyes and looked at him. Then she screamed.
"Who are you??? How dare you kiss me! Get off of my porch!"
"What are you talking about? Jennifer, it's me, Marty! Marty McFly?"
"I don't know who you are but if you don't get out of here, I'm going to call the cops!"
At first Marty thought that the trauma of seeing her future self had scrambled her brain. But Doc didn't say anything about memory loss. "You really don't know who I am?" he asked desperately.
"No! Now you'd better leave! I know karate."
"No you don't, Jennifer." She gave him a look of disbelief and ran into the house. Marty turned and ran away toward his house. He needed to go lie down and worry about this tomorrow. But when he got home, things weren't much better.
He walked into his house to find his mom, dad, brother and sister eating dinner. He was starving and he couldn't wait to join them.
"Can I help you?" asked his dad, trying to sound tough but not succeeding.
"Dad? Please tell me you recognize me..."
"George, who is this?" asked Marty's mom, Lorraine.
His sister said "I'm not sure but he's cute!"
"I'm not sure either, Lorraine. It must be a practical joke of some kind. You are the only woman I've ever been with." The look on her face told him that she didn't doubt that one. He turned back to Marty. "You need to leave right now before I call the police."
"C'mon! This can't be happening! Is this a practical joke?"
"I assure you it is not. Now, are you going to leave?" Marty's dad was shaking pretty badly now. Marty decided he would leave and go somewhere to think all of this over. He turned around and ran out of the house, toward Doc's place.
"What a strange young man," said Lorraine. She and George were looking out the window.
Marty's brother, Dave looked up from his food. "Mom, who was that?"
"No one. You'd better hurry, you're going to be late for work.
Chapter 3- Back to the Past
Marty lifted the welcome mat and grabbed the key to open the door to Doc's lab. He put it back under the mat and walked inside. The smell of days old dog food filled the air. Then he spotted the source of it; Einstein's dog food bowl was overflowing with at least a week's worth of uneaten canned food. Marty was about to throw it into the trash when there was a knock upon the door.
"Marty McFly? Are you in there?"
Marty cautiously went to the door and looked out. A man in a Western Union uniform looked back at him. He had dark hair and looked familiar. "Yeah. That's me."
"I got a letter for you." Marty opened the door immediately. Now that he had a better view of him, Marty knew why he was so familiar looking; he must have been the son of the man who delivered Doc's letter to him right after the Delorean was struck by lightning in 1955.
"Following in your dad's footsteps, huh?" asked Marty. The man gave him an odd look and said "Just sign here, please." Marty did and took the letter. The man walked away without a glance back.
Marty looked down at the letter. It had his name on it in Doc's unmistakable handwriting. He tore it open and pulled out the letter.
"Marty-
If my calculations are correct, you will receive this letter right after returning from 1885. Meet me at the train tracks where the Delorean was hit at 8 p.m. tonight, October 27, 1985. Your very existence may depend on it!
Yours truly,
Emmett Brown"
Marty didn't like the sound of that last sentence. Just as he read it he felt a bolt of pain shoot through him, eerily similar to the same feeling he had when he was disappearing while playing "Earth Angel" what seemed like years ago, but was actually only a week ago. He put that out of his mind and walked out of Doc's lab, locking the door on his way out.
It took a good 30 minutes to walk back to the scene of destruction. The sun was moving down towards the horizon, creating an eerie red mixed with yellow glow that might have been beautiful in different circumstances.
By now most of the parts of the Delorean had been picked through by curious passers-by. All that was left was broken glass, a tire frame, and pieces that were too small to care about. Marty was about to step on the tracks when he heard the train-crossing bells start to ring.
"Ding, ding, ding" they repeated. Marty looked to his left, then his right, then back to his left. No train coming. Just then there was a sound like thunder and suddenly a freight train appeared in the air, about 50 feet over the tracks. Marty watched as it slowly lowered onto the tracks and came to a stop. The door opened from the top and the bottom, split in the middle. Doc popped his head out. "Marty! Thank God you're here!"
"Doc! Boy am I glad to see you!" Doc motioned for Marty to climb aboard so he did. The door closed behind him. Marty looked around. It looked like he expected the inside of train engine would, except for the time-traveling equipment. "Doc, this in incredible! How did you make this in 1885?"
"You mean 2015!" Doc saw the confusion in Marty's face, so he explained. "After you left 1885, I soon came to realize that I should have never created the time machine in the first place. It has caused nothing but trouble. So, I decided that I needed to go to 1955 to stop myself from falling off the toilet. That way I would never hit my head on the sink and never have the vision of the flux capacitor. But before I started travelling back and forth through time again, I knew that I needed a more reliable time-traveling device. So, I went back to the cave that I had hid the Delorean in 8 months ago. I had drained the gas from the tank so that it wouldn't rust after 70 years but luckily I put it into several spittoons which I kept in my lab. So, I filled the tank back up, and travelled back to 2015. There I used the technology available to create this train which wouldn't garner as much attention as the Delorean did. Plus I've always wanted to be a conductor!"
Marty laughed at this. Doc seemed hurt by it but Marty urged him to continue.
"I knew that as long as I had the Delorean back in the cave as soon as I returned to 1885, it would be there for you to use in 1955. So, I connected the Delorean to the train so that they both moved through time together. I came back to 1885 and hid the Delorean once again. But something stopped me from going back to 1955. You see, if I stopped myself from falling off of the toilet, that would mean that I never travelled back in time to meet Clara. But then something happened which left me no choice: Clara professed her love to me for choosing to save her from falling off that train and for staying in 1885 instead of traveling back with you. She told me that she didn't want there to be any secrets between us so she told me her biggest secret: She is Mad Dog Tannen's mother. Or in other words, Biff's great-grandmother."
The shock of this revelation hit Marty like a ton of bricks. "How is that possible? She's so nice and he's such an asshole!"
"Exactly! That's why she never told anyone before! She was so ashamed to have a son like that that she kept it a secret until she told me. Then she felt so liberated that she went around telling everyone she knew! When Mad Dog's lackeys found out, suddenly he wasn't so tough anymore. The son of a school teacher doesn't seem so dangerous."
"So how did that stop him from having a son; Biff's dad?" Marty asked.
"Because when everyone found out, no one was afraid of him anymore. He was shot in the back 3 days later." Suddenly Doc's mood turned very somber. "Right before I came back here I had to tell her that I was leaving for good this time and that she would not have any memory of meeting me. She could not bear this thought. I told her that I would remember her, at least until I stop myself from falling in 1955. Then all of this will be gone from my memory." He looked at Marty with teary eyes. "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do."
Marty hugged him then sat down. "I thought I was going to be able to rest this weekend. I'm going to be exhausted for school on Monday." 'If I'm still alive,' he thought to himself. "Doc, I just remembered something my parents told me. Biff let them use his parent's house on the weekend that I was conceived. It turned out he just wanted to throw a party. He trashed their place."
"If Biff was never born, then he never let your parents stay there, and you were never born! That means you're only hanging by a thread! We need to get back to 1885 quickly!"
Doc punched in the destination date and time and pressed a lever which lifted the train into the air. The train moved forward and disappeared into the evening sky. The train landed on the stretch of tracks right before the ravine in 1885. It pulled to a stop and Marty and Doc got out. They started walking.
"Doc, what exactly do we have to do here, anyway? We have to stop Mad Dog from getting shot, right?"
"No, don't you see, that would only delay the inevitable. Once everyone finds out who his mother is, he will never be safe."
"So, we find Clara and tell her not to tell everyone, right?" Marty asked.
"No, we came back to stop my other self from ever meeting her. This way she will never fall in love with me."
"But if we don't save her then she'll fall into the ravine after her horses get spooked by the snake!"
Doc looked at him with a look that said 'Don't you think I've thought of that already?' "I've already arranged for someone to pick her up and take her to her house. For her, nothing will be out of the ordinary. The difficult part will be explaining to my other self what we're doing here! I set the time circuits to come back right after I rescued you from being hung. We'll both be at my lab right now. The good thing is, neither of us will faint when we see ourselves because we are all well aware of time travel. It will be a little surprising, though, I'm sure."
They walked towards town, careful not to be seen by anyone. They reached the lab after almost an hour and snuck inside. They could see Marty, wiping his dusty face. The memory of being drug through town by Mad Dog's horse made his aches resurface. "Let me handle this," Doc said and stepped out into the light.
"Greetings, fellow time travelers." Doc and Marty turned to see themselves. Doc was right about them not fainting, but they nonetheless received quite a jolt from staring at themselves. "We have come back from 1985. We must work together to prevent a future catastrophe."
The original Doc stared for a few seconds and said "What future catastrophe?"
Marty spoke up. "The one where I'm, I mean 'we', are never born." The original Marty looked at himself and said "So that's why I felt like I was disappearing earlier."
"Precisely!" said Doc #2. "Emmett, in a few hours, you would have met a woman by the name of Clara."
At this Marty #1 looked at Doc. "Clara, from your tombstone!"
"That's right, Marty. The very same. We need to make sure that you never meet her. She was the best thing that ever happened to me. Us. But sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the greater good."
Marty #2 explained what he meant. When he finished, Marty #1 said what Marty #2 felt. "You mean you are willing to sacrifice the love of your lifetime to keep me alive?"
Doc #2 looked at Marty #1. "I'm just an old man. You've got your whole life ahead of you. Who am I to take that away? Besides, it's not like we have any kids." Both Marty's walked over to Doc #2 and gave him a hug.
"So what do we do now?" asked Doc #1. #2 answered himself. "We've got to take the two Marty's back to 1985. Then we go to 1955 and stop our younger self from falling off the toilet."
"Ah yes. It was something I had been thinking about recently. It's the only way to ensure that the time machine is never made."
"So what's going to happen to us all when that happens?" asked Marty #1.
"Well, we will slowly disappear out of existence, leaving only the Doc from 1955. I'm not sure what will happen to you two Marty's. Somehow, you two will become one." This didn't sound like much fun to either of them but if it meant that things would go back to normal, they were all for it. Suddenly both Marty's fell to the ground, doubled over in pain. "Doc! What's happening? We stopped them from meeting Clara. Why are we still fading away?" Marty #2 yelped.
Doc #2 looked at his watch. "According to my calculations, we won't have met Clara for another 10 minutes."
"I don't think we can make it that much longer!" The Docs could see through them now.
"Hang on, Marty!" both Docs shouted in unison.
The Docs were helpless. They could only watch as the two Marty's faded more and more. "One more minute to go!" But neither of the Marty's was coherent anymore. They were all but gone when Doc screamed "We made it!" Instantly both Marty's returned solid and stood upright.
"That was a close one, Doc!" they both said in unison.
"Are you two alright?" Doc #1 asked. After assuring them that they were, the Docs said goodbye to their lab. All four of them walked out of town, toward the time machine. Night was falling and no one paid them any attention. With more sunlight, any passerby would have been dumbstruck by the sight he or she saw.
They reached the train and climbed aboard. "We set the time circuits for 1985, just after the Delorean is hit by the train." said Doc #2. He did so and the train lifted in the air, lunging forward through the air and through 100 years of time. When they landed safely on the tracks, a thought occurred to the two Marty's and they both said in unison "Doc, I need a disguise. We can't just go walking to Jennifer's house together!"
Doc #1 took off his coat and hat and handed them to Marty #1. The coat was quite big but it did the job. The two Marty's stepped off the train and turned back. "We will see you again, won't we?"
Doc #2 looked at Doc #1 and Doc #1 motioned for #2 to go ahead. He stepped out of the train and looked at them both. You will see me here in 1985, but I won't have any knowledge of time machines or anything we've done these past few days. I'll just go back to being a crazy scientist. Who knows what I'll spend my time creating without the time machine taking up 30 years of my life!"
This news hit the two Marty's hard. Clearly they were not prepared for this news. "Well, it's been amazing. Thanks for everything, Doc." They both said this in unison and shook both Docs' hands.
"See, you're already turning into one Marty!" Doc #2 said jokingly. He turned back towards the train. The doors closed behind him and both Docs waved as the train lifted into the sky, destined for 1955, on its last journey through time. In a flash, it was gone.
Chapter 4- Back to the Present
They figured they'd better be somewhere behind walls when they became one Marty so they headed to the nearest gas station bathroom. Just as soon as Marty #1 closed the door, something weird started happening: They looked down at their feet, which were leaving their bodies and joining up to form a third, new Marty. They watched in shock as the rest of them did the same thing, moving upward toward their heads. And then, only 1 Marty remained, with Doc's coat and hat crumpled on the floor. Marty looked in the mirror. "Wow, that was really heavy."
Marty walked back toward Jennifer's house, hoping she would recognize him. His fears were calmed when she woke up and smiled at him.
"Marty, I had the worst nightmare." Marty hugged her harder than he had ever hugged anyone, then turned and started running. "Where are you going? I want to tell you about my dream!"
"I've got to go home! I love you!" He looked back and blew her a kiss. If Jennifer recognized him, then that must mean that his family would. But he just wanted to be sure… He ran home to find his dad's car in the driveway with a dent in the front. His dad was in the living room, talking to Biff. He knocked on the door.
"Marty! Come on in. Don't be a stranger!" Lorraine said, jokingly. Marty walked in, happy to be recognized but he could tell something was a little off. "How are you, Marty?" she asked. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Yes, mom. I feel fine. What's happened to you guys?" Now that Marty really looked at his
mom and dad, he realized that they were as he had always known; his mother a little overweight, his dad the dork that lacked confidence.
"Now, now biff, now, I never noticed that...the car had any blind spot before when I would drive it. Hi son." George said, glancing at Marty.
"What are you blind McFly? It's there. How else do you explain that wreck out there?" Biff was also back to his old, bullying self.
"Now Biff, um, can I, can I assume that your insurance is going to pay for the damage?"
"My insurance? It's your car, your insurance should pay for it. I wanna know who's gonna pay for this." He pulled his shirt away from his chest. "I spilled beer all over when that car smashed into me. Who's gonna pay my cleaning bill? And where's my reports?"
"Uh, well, I haven't finished those up yet. But ya know, I figured since they weren't due 'til Monday…"
Biff tapped George on the head. "Hello, anybody home? Think McFly...think. I gotta have time to get them retyped. Do you realize what would happen if I turned in my reports in your handwriting? I'd get fired. You wouldn't want that to happen would ya? Would ya?"
For a second, George seemed like he liked that idea very much. "No Biff, of course not Biff, I wouldn't want that to happen. I'll finish those up tonight, and run 'em on over first thing tomorrow, all right?"
"Not too early, I sleep in Saturday. Hey McFly your shoe's untied." George looked down and Biff hit his face with his finger. "Don't be so gullible McFly. You got the place fixed up nice though, McFly" Biff said as he walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. "I have your car towed all the way to your house, and all you got for me is light beer?" He noticed that Marty was staring at him. "What are you looking at Butthead? Say hi to your mom for me." Biff started to walk by Marty but this time Marty stuck his foot out so that Biff fell to the floor, his beer spilling in his face.
"That's it, you're dead meat!" Biff yelled and got to his feet. He pulled his arm back, ready to punch Marty in this face but George grabbed his arm before he could bring it forward.
"Biff, you'd better get out of here right now!" George sounded like a new man. Marty couldn't believe his eyes. Biff turned slowly and looked at George with wide eyes. This was, after all, the first time that George had stood up to him.
"What are you gonna do about it, butthead?"
"Well, Biff, I'll do whatever it takes. Now make like a tree and leave."
Biff's eyes opened even wider. He couldn't believe that George used his own line on him. He got it wrong, but he used it nonetheless. "You're gonna have to make me, McFly."
George seemed to shrink as Biff stood up taller. George looked back at Lorraine, who was watching the scene with tired eyes. This awoke something in George and he clenched his hand into a fist behind his back. Just as Biff started smiling in that 'I knew you were a chicken' look, George swung his body and his fist connected with Biff's face, sending him backwards on his butt. Biff's face shone a mixture of shock and pain. He brought his hand up to his nose and saw there was blood on it.
"So that's how it's gonna be, huh?" Biff asked. He got to his feet, clearly embarrassed but trying to maintain whatever dignity he had left. "Whatever, I don't need this." With that he turned and walked out the door. George followed him and yelled out "And you can forget about your reports! Do them for yourself from now on!" George turned around and looked at his son and wife. They were looking back at him in a way he had never been looked at before. He liked it. David and Linda were there as well, with the same looks on their faces. "Well, after 30 years of it, I guess I finally snapped. What can I say?"
Chapter 5- An Unexpected Surprise
Marty gobbled some breakfast and grabbed his skateboard. He had to go see Doc. He hitched a ride on several cars' bumpers and was there in no time. He knocked on the door to Doc's lab. At first there was no answer, then Doc's familiar face greeted him at the front door. "Marty! Come on in!" He opened the door and Marty walked in. The lab looked mostly similar to the last time Marty was there. "What have you been up to lately?"
"Oh, you know, the usual. Hey Doc, let me ask you a question. Have you ever thought of creating a time machine?"
"Ha, it's impossible! First of all, you could never get going fast enough. You'd have to go faster than the speed of light. And you'd never be able to harness enough energy! Nah, I wouldn't waste my time on such preposterous things." Marty snickered at this. The Doc continued: "I've been working on something much more plausible and I need you to test it out." Doc pulled out what looked like a skateboard, but there were no wheels. "I'm calling it a hover board!"
Afterword-
The two Emmett Brown's stepped off the train. The year was 1955. They left the time machine on a section of unused tracks and headed towards the Brown mansion. Neither of them was happy to do what they had to do. It would cause them both to disappear from existence. But they knew it was for the best. The time machine should never have been created in the first place. The only way to stop this was to make sure that their younger self didn't fall of the toilet. As they neared the mansion, they realized that they hadn't planned out how they would do this. If 1955 Doc saw either of them, the shock would be enough to practically kill him. Or maybe literally kill him.
"We can sneak into his house and lock the bathroom door!" said Doc #1. Doc #2 replied "He would get the door open eventually. We have to stop him from hanging up that clock! We need to destroy it!"
"Yes, that's it! He won't buy another clock because that one fit perfectly in the bathroom! You remember it, don't you? The model of the clock tower? We bought it at the fair yesterday."
"Ah yes! Ok, I think only one of us should go in there. No reason to have both of us sneak in. There's just a better chance that we'll get seen. I'll go in." Doc #1 started to object but then realized how ridiculous it would be to argue with himself! They were now in the driveway. Doc #1 hid behind a tree while #2 went around to the back door. Doc was glad that he never locked the doors back then. After all, it was 1955!
He slowly opened the door and peaked in. He was also glad that he lived alone. If he remembered correctly, he had put the clock on the kitchen table when he returned from the fair and it still should be there. He snuck through to the kitchen and looked on the table. It wasn't there. 30 years and a few months was a long time ago, he figured. He searched his memories for a clue on where the clock might be now. Suddenly he heard footsteps. Doc was walking into the kitchen! Future Doc dropped down and hid under the kitchen table. He watched his other self hesitate for a second, as though he had heard something. He continued to the refrigerator and opened it. He stood there with the door open for a few seconds then walked over to the door. It was still open. Future Doc cursed himself for not shutting it. "Hello? Is anyone there?" Doc asked the room.
When there was no reply he shut the door and went back to the refrigerator, grabbed a jar of milk and poured himself a cup. He took it with him into the living room. Future Doc wiped the sweat off of his forehead, relieved that he was so lost in his studies that Doc didn't further pursue the open door. When Future Doc felt confident enough that Doc was back in the main room, he crept out from under the table. That's when it hit him; he had brought the clock upstairs into his bedroom! He slipped through the kitchen and up the stairs silently.
He hadn't been in this house since it burned down but he still remembered where everything was. He made it to the top without making any noise. He walked into his bedroom and saw the clock, right on top of his dresser. He grabbed it and walked over to the window, which he opened. He held the clock in his hands for a few seconds and said out loud: "Goodbye, Clara. I will always love you," and threw the clock out.
The End