Future Day
October 21, 2015
3:45 p.m.
Hill Valley, California
Doctor Emmett "Doc" Lathrop Brown had just left 1897. The boys were about 10 and 8 now. Clara had delivered a healthy bouncing baby girl named Emily. Emily was the spitting image of Clara. Doc couldn't wait for her to grow up. He was definitely going to let her come time traveling with him, once she was older and could fully understand.
Doc was currently in the time stream alone, wanting to see how much the future had changed. While he knew that the future was not set in stone anymore, he still wanted to see everyone. Especially Martian "Marty" Seamus McFly. Oh Marty. His future boy. He never expected anyone to be his friend nor for someone to go as far as Marty did to save his life.
While when Marty first knocked on his door in 1955, he would admit that he didn't trust Marty right away nor did he believe him. Inventing a time machine, at the time, sounded unlikely. He did see a vision of the Flux Capacitor, the time machine seemed like a long stretch. Doc shook his head out of memory lane. There was no time for such things.
Right now, Hill Valley 2015 is where he wanted to be. The time train appeared in the abandoned train station as Doc walked the 5 miles to his hometown. Doc gulped down his nerves during those 5 miles but they were quickly replaced with horror and regret.
"Great Scott," he breathed, walking through the city gates.
The gates were worse now, covered with graffiti. A few houses and businesses were runned down, boarded up. The streets were filled with debris and with gangs. Doc felt like he was in Hell Valley again, hoping that this was really the wrong date. But the time train never had that problem before. He walked into the town square, looking around sadly.
It was just like Hell Valley. Only Doc almost got ran over by a police car.
"Be careful old man!" The cop grumbled, beeping the horn.
Doc quickly moved as he saw that the clock tower was still there and still broken. He walked over to the former exercise place, which was now a coffee shop like in 1955. Doc entered and saw a man behind the counter. There was a teenaged girl sitting at the counter and a few other patrons. It was a sad sight to see the place such a dump.
The worker asked, "Can I help you, stranger?"
Doc perked up as he answered, "I, uh, used to live here back in 1985. I wanted to see how my hometown was doing."
The worker seemed surprised by this and stated, "What did you do to come back then? Lose a bet?"
The girl sitting at the counter spoke, "That's not exactly nice, Steve."
Steve blurted out, "But you say it all the time, Claire!"
Claire replied, trying to shoo him, "Will you go away already?"
Steve laughed as he went away. Doc looked Claire over. She was seventeen years old, had dirty blonde curly hair, brown eyes, wearing a blue long sleeved blouse, a long black skirt that went down to her knees, white stockings, and blue dress shoes. She offered her right hand to Doc, with a beautiful smile on her face.
Doc took her hand and softly stated, "It is nice to meet you, Claire."
"Thank you," Claire replied, giggling. "And you are?"
"Call me Doc," he insisted.
A few minutes later, Claire and Doc were walking through Hill Valley together.
Claire explained, "Back in 2001, Hill Valley lost one of its reasons to really exist. The best mayor in the world...died in the World Trade Center."
Doc looked confused as Claire had a pained expression on her face. He decided not to press in what happened.
He asked, "Killed instantly?"
She merely nodded and answered, "Yeah and when the next mayor came in, nothing was really the same. Eventually gangs took advantage of it and practically destroyed Hill Valley by 2002. All those that dared to stay had to flee to Hilldale."
Doc breathed, "Great Scott! And they still rule the city?"
Claire nodded again as she further explained, "The cops aren't doing much of anything. They just keep the gangs inside of the city limits. Those who have to venture into town have to go at their own risk."
Doc cried, "That's terrible! Why can't the people do anything?!"
Claire responded, "We can't, Doc. The gangs have a strong hold over the government and police force here. So even if we could do anything, the rebels that dared to do something would be arrested for something stupid."
Doc couldn't help but feel bad for her as he asked, "So what is gonna happen to you?"
"Sadly, I can't move out until I am 18," she answered as they crossed a dirty street. "Even then, I'm not leaving without my cousin and my friends."
"Loyal," he commended.
She shook her head modestly and admitted, "Stubborn."
"Well, whatever the reason, you have a good head on your shoulders, Claire." He told her as they stopped in front of Hilldale.
"Eh, usually I'm annoying people," she replied, smiling a bit.
Doc chuckled as he responded, "Well, you aren't annoying me."
Claire had to smile as she hugged Doc suddenly. Doc was surprised by the sudden gesture but slowly returned the hug, instantly remembering the first time Marty hugged him back in 1955.
"In thirty years?" He remembered asking his teenaged friend.
"I hope so." Was Marty's sad and quiet answer.
Doc smiled at those memories. He and Marty had been through so much together. While he didn't know what Marty was trying to tell him at that point, he wished that he wasn't so stubborn. He could only wish going back in time but that, in itself, was a recipe for disaster.
Claire pulled back from the hug - breaking him out of his thoughts - as she stated, "It was nice talking to you, Doc."
Doc smiled as he replied, "The same to you, Claire."
The teen girl smiled as she walked to her house, leaving Doc behind. Doc couldn't explain it but there was so much about her that he wanted to know. Her parents, her friends, her life. He wanted to know more than what she provided him. But he had one other stop before he left this terrible version of Hill Valley.
He had to see Marty. Doc walked into Hilldale, on a quest to see his old friend. Sure Hill Valley didn't have happiness, but with people like Claire in it, maybe it wasn't so bad after all.
Marty, Doc was quick to discover, was living in Hilldale. Unlike the alternate future he saw with his own eyes (both with and without Marty from 1985), Marty of 2015 was just like his 1985 self. He practically glowed when he saw Doc on the doorstep. He was 47 years old now, his hair a slight lighter tone of brown.
His blue eyes will still filled with life as he wore a very nice brown suit with a white undershirt and a blue tie. His brown dress shoes shined as he hugged Doc almost instantly. Doc returned the hug, feeling Marty crying on his shoulder. Doc frowned, knowing what it meant as he just held Marty in his arms.
Marty calmed down after a while, wiping his eyes as he pulled away.
"I'm guessing I'm not welcomed," Doc joked slightly.
To that, Marty couldn't help but chuckle.
"On the contrary, Doc," he stated. "But I can't stay too long. I have work at 5."
Doc looked at his watch, seeing it was 4:15 in the afternoon. He had spent a lot of time with Claire before coming.
"Then may I come in?" Doc asked. Marty smiled as he let Doc enter. Doc looked around the house. He could tell Marty did hit the big time but was being modest about it. Doc was surprised by this as he looked at Marty. "You made the big time, I presume." Doc teased.
Marty laughed as he replied, "Yeah, even though it was a few sales, it still gave me a great gig at the radio station."
Doc smiled as he sat on the couch and asked, "How have you been, Marty?"
Marty sat next to him as he answered, "I've been great, Doc. I'm a radio show host, I have a beautiful wife, and two twin children."
"Great Scott..." He breathed. "Marlene and Marty Jr. are twins in this timeline?"
Marty corrected, "Actually Doc, their names are Emma Clara McFly and Clayton Brown McFly."
Doc was stunned by this and asked, "After Clara and me?"
Marty smiled and answered, "Pretty heavy, huh? Jules and Verne even live here with Abigail and Betty."
Doc looked confused as he questioned, "Abigail and Betty?"
Marty answered, "I guess you haven't met them yet. The two of them are sisters and they are the wives to Jules and Verne. Verne has a son named Peter Timothy Brown and Jules has a daughter named Claire Beatrice Brown."
Doc perked up at this and asked, "Claire? Has dirty blonde curly hair with brown eyes? Often annoys people?"
Marty was the one to perk up now and questioned, "You met her?"
"Yes and I thought I saw a bit of Jules in her," he admitted.
Marty laughed as he showed Doc a picture.
"Here, this is the recent picture of all of us together," Marty stated. Doc took a look and as Marty said, Claire was in the picture with an older Jules. "Jules married Abigail and Verne married Betty."
Doc nodded as he looked over his family and extended family. On the left was Jules, a woman, and Claire. The woman had to be Abigail. Abigail was rather tall, around Jules' age. She had curly red hair, brown eyes, wearing a red long sleeved blouse, a long brown skirt, tan stockings, and white dress shoes.
In the center was Verne, a woman, and a teeange boy. The woman had to be Betty and the teenaged boy had to be Peter. Betty, however, was rather short and around Verne's age. Betty had long brown curly hair, brown eyes, wearing a yellow long sleeved blouse, a short blue skirt, white stockings, and white dress shoes.
Peter seemed to be Claire's age. He had short brown hair, blue eyes, wearing a blue long sleeved shirt, brown jeans, white socks, and white running shoes. On the right was Marty with his wife and kids. He was stunned that Marty wasn't married to Jennifer. He was even more stunned to whom his wife was.
It was Annie Diane Baines, Marty's cousin on his mom's side of the family. Annie was 47 years old in the picture, her brown hair graying just a tad. She had green eyes, was wearing her mother's golden medallion, a white lab coat, a pink undershirt, blue dress jeans, white socks, and white running shoes.
Clayton and Emma were both spitting images of Marty and Annie during their teeange years. Clayton, like Marty Jr. in the alternate 2015, had greasy short brown hair. He had his dad's piercing blue eyes, a color changing baseball hat, a red jacket, a gray undershirt, blue jeans, white socks, and white Nike shoes.
Emma, unlike her mother, had glasses on. She had very fine short brown hair, her mom's green eyes, a silver chain that had a purple butterfly on it, wearing a purple headband, a pink long sleeved blouse, blue jeans with a white sweater tied around her waist, white socks, and white running shoes.
"The twins are spitting images of you and Annie," Doc stated after studying the picture for a long time.
"They are," Marty agreed. "I just wish that they didn't have to grow up in such a sorry place."
"Perhaps I can go back in time to stop the tragedy?" Doc offered, clueless to what had actually happened.
"There is not much you can do, Doc," Marty stated, letting Doc keep the photo. "While you might be able to change the future, you can't change destiny."
Doc knew that all too well. He had also been a prisoner of destiny, like having to make that deal with those terrorists. Doc felt a cold shiver go down his spine as he slipped the photo into his pocket.
"Preaching to the choir," he merely replied.
Marty only nodded, quickly checking the time. While he wanted to stay, he did have work.
"I can't stay too much longer, Doc." Marty commented softly. "But if you are determined to at least go back to your time and then visit me in 1990, I would be more than happy to see you."
"You usually are," Doc teased, chuckling softly.
Marty chuckled as he gave Doc another photo. Doc took it and was about to look at it when Marty stopped him.
"Sorry Doc," he said, his hands covering Doc's. "But that one is gonna be more of a mystery."
"Marty..." He started to protest, his pleas falling on deaf ears as Marty had already headed out the door, leaving the door ajar for Doc to leave and lock up.
Doc was left alone in that moment, wanting to know so badly of the photo in his hand. But, he supposed, it was another way to be a prisoner of destiny. 'Ah, what the hell?' He thought as he looked at the photo, surprised at what he saw. Turned out he had another reason to come back to 1990. He smiled as he locked the house behind him, walking back to the old train station.
AK1028: Well, that ends my one shot for Future Day. My birthday is next week, hahaha. For those of you who got the 9/11 reference, kudos to you. But I hope everyone enjoyed that and I hope to see you all in the next Back to the Future story, which will crossover with the Mario universe. For now, please read and review. And always think outside of the box.
Top of the world mom, who had passed away five months to the day.