Trivia and In-Jokes: 1:21AM is for 1.21 gigawatts, of course.
Chapter Three: Through Injury Comes Healing
Sunday
July 3, 1983
1:21AM
Lisa had spent the past few days wandering around Hill Valley absorbing what she could about the town – sorry, city. She spent some time in the library, walked around the high school's grounds as it was closed for the summer, and hung out in the courthouse square. She had a feeling that this place was once very beautiful…thirty years ago, maybe. Now, though, it seemed as if most of the stores were closing down, there was a bum that hung around the square at night and a lot of adult businesses were opening up. Lisa wasn't sure what that said about Hill Valley.
The one point of interest that she kept coming across was the subject of Dr. Emmett Brown. Every projected thought she managed to hear considered him a dangerous menace to society. He'd been ostracized since he was a child; too smart for his own good, she supposed. It still wasn't right.
Finding herself unable to sleep one morning, she decided to have a fly around the nightlife. She wound up hovering over Dr. Brown's garage and noticed the lights still on, but she couldn't hear anything much over the wind whistling in her ears.
As she watched, she noticed a couple of dark figures loitering around the fence. They were kneeling by the gate, gesturing animatedly. Frowning, she landed behind the Burger King building and peeked around the corner to watch.
It was two young males, one in a leather jacket, and they were whispering to each other, hunched over something in their hands. The whispers and thoughts came in a cacophony of sound she couldn't sort through right away. Before Lisa could fully comprehend what was happening, the kids had backed away and one of them threw something large and heavy into one of Dr. Brown's windows, shattering the glass, then they both hightailed it out of there. So intent was her listening in on what was going on, the sound of glass was piercingly loud and she clapped her hands over her ears, stunned for a moment.
"Great Scott!" Dr. Brown shouted as Einstein started barking. The scientist and dog came running out of the garage and that's when Lisa saw the spark of light near the gate.
"Look out!" she yelled but it was too late. A set of firecrackers went off just as Einstein neared the gate. The dog yelped in surprise and pain and Lisa had to shield her eyes from the light.
"Great Scott!" the scientist shouted again, this time frightened. "Einstein!"
Through the spots dancing in front of her eyes she saw poor Einstein lying on his side, crying with pain, and Dr. Brown rushing to his dog's side. Without even thinking, Lisa hurried over, giving the spent firecrackers a TK toss to get them out of the way. The dog had burns on the entire right side of his body, but the blast had thankfully missed his face.
"Help me…" Einstein whined weakly. "Please…"
Great Orion, she thought to herself as she surveyed the injury. Is this too severe for me to heal? Hoping it wasn't the case, she had to allow herself the most energy she could get out of her body. "Stay back," she instructed Dr. Brown. "Einstein, hold still…"
"What are you doing?" asked the stricken inventor. Tears were falling from his liquid-chocolate eyes.
Fully aware of Dr. Brown kneeling not two feet away, Lisa made her wings visible – she saw his eyes widen – and held out her hands, palm down, over Einstein's burns. Squeezing her eyes shut and concentrating with every ounce and pore of her being, she activated her healing power and her hands began to glow a soft orange.
Please heal him, she thought to herself, urging the desire into her healing energy. Please let him be okay…
"Great Scott…" Dr. Brown whispered a final time as he watched Lisa pass her hands over the burns and saw them fade away.
Only when Lisa finally sensed the healing was complete did she open her eyes. Where Einstein had had burns was now healthy pink skin, marred only by faint scars that would be covered by his fur when it grew back. Tears of relief fell from her eyes, her head beginning to swim, and she blacked out.
End chapter three.
