Chapter 10 — The Trip Ends

Marty told him everything. Turns out, Doc didn't get as mad at he thought he would. In reality, he steamed up a little, yelled once or twice, said "Great Scott!" a few times, but was, relatively speaking, only mildly peeved. (Doc had an enormous reservoir of patience stored inside him somewhere, and a truly angry Doc was not one of the nicest people Marty had ever met.) Doc gave him the long, predictable lecture about the dangers of time travel in general, and he promised to put some more security around the DeLorean so the mischievous kid couldn't get to it again.

Finally glad to have that guilty weight lifted from his chest, Marty was impatient to get to his next order of business: have Doc figure out a plan to make sure he didn't die in May. This was his response.

"You don't have to do anything, Marty."

Marty sighed. He shouldn't have expected anything else.

"But that's what you, I mean, your past, I mean, your future self said already!" he protested. "I don't get it."

Doc casually flicked his hair back. "Take a while and think about it," he advised. "It's very simple, really."

Marty made a face. He thought back to what future Doc said to him the night before.

You are from January, so when you go back to January and reach May through the natural course of time, you will be able to avoid this accident simply because you know of it beforehand. See?

And then it clicked.

"Oh!" Marty gasped. "So that's…that's it? I just…sit around and act like nothing's wrong? No more time machine?"

Doc nodded. "I suppose you didn't realize it earlier because you were so tired. From what you've told me, it sounded like you'd been up for a long time."

Marty agreed.

"But now that my brain's working, I've got a couple of questions for you," he said. There was one in particular that burned in his mind. "If you gone back and saved me on May 17th, how come the newspaper still said that I died?"

"The ripple effect takes time to change the future," the scientist explained. "Remember when you broke up your parents back in 1955? You didn't disappear right away; in fact, it took you nearly a week. It takes time for changes in the past to affect the future."

If he thought about it for a while, it vaguely made sense.

"Um…okay," Marty said uncertainly.

"If you don't mind, I have a question for you," said Doc. Marty tensed up, but he needn't have worried. "Do you happen to know why Chaser left the concert so early? You told me that it was supposed to end at ten, but he was at Shanna Avenue at nine thirty."

He thought about it for a moment. "Well, you can get kicked out rock concerts if you get too drunk and start doin' stuff, you know," Marty guessed. "Maybe he was causing a lot of trouble or something." He suddenly felt a chill go up his spine.

"Perhaps," Doc mused.

Now he remembered. That girl! She was complaining about her boyfriend, Jeremy, who—

"Jeremy!" Marty exclaimed loudly. Doc gave him a curious look and asked him what was the matter.

"Of course!" the teen breathed, slapping his hand to his head. "It all makes sense now…the girl…Eileen! And her boyfriend, Jeremy…Jeremy Chaser…the apartment…" He explained his revelation to the scientist.

Doc rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Incredible. The very apartment you landed the DeLorean on was the one your future self was headed to! Perhaps you were destined to be there…or it was just a remarkable coincidence."

The two fell silent for a while.

Doc half smiled to himself. "Now that I think about it," he said in a bemused voice, "It seems that your adventure can be very…ironic at some parts."

The teen made a face. "It's like a horrible fiction story some moron wrote up," he muttered. "I'd like to have a word with the author if I ever had the chance."

Doc eyed him critically. "Now who took the time machine in the first place?" he pointed out.

"I think we should go back in now," Marty suggested quickly.

The two returned to the house. Fifteen minutes later, Marty was skateboarding down Elderwood Drive and onward towards his home in Lyon Estates.

And towards a brighter future, he thought hopefully, the pushing his foot on the ground to keep his skateboard moving. The wind whisked through his hair, blowing his bangs over his face. But first things first: I gotta get that car fixed!

The End.