Chapter 1: Old-Fashioned Lunatic
"I wish I could go back, like, two days, and retake this freaking test," Frost complains to his best friend Jane, showing her a test packet with a huge red "F" in a circle.
Jane laughs and slaps Frost on the back in a friendly manner. "Dude, face it, you and Physics just do not get along. You never have and you never will."
"Ugh, my parents are going to kill me, no, wait, they'll murder me with their butter knives at dinner tonight!" Frost groans, whacking himself on the head with his test as they walk down the hallway after school. "Do you think Mr. Hath will let me retake it?"
Jane shakes his head and laughs lightly. "You know what he says; no retests, period," Jane says, quoting their Physics teacher perfectly.
Frost lets out a heavy sigh as they exit from the school. "Maybe if I could find some way to go back-"
Jane laughs, cutting off her friend. "Frost, dude, you can't go back in time. I'm sorry to inform you, but time travel is not possible, my friend, trust me," Jane says in an amused tone, shaking her head at her friend's crazy ideas.
"Fuck you. Maybe it is," Frost says thoughtfully, though he terribly doubts his own words. "They do it all the time in movies."
"Yeah, well they also have pink dancing elephants in movies too, but you don't see that everyday, do you?"
"Fine, fine, point proven," Frost says with a laugh. "So maybe not everything you see in movies is true, but who's to say that time travel isn't possible?"
Jane shakes her head and smirks at her friend. "Frost… you're a nutcase."
"Yeah, I love you too," Frost replies with a smile, slinging his arm around Jane's shoulders as they walk down the sidewalk toward the abandoned town park. Jane shoves Frost off and pushes him away.
"Too much lovin' man, cut it out," Jane warns, glaring at Frost. Frost only laughs back; he knows it's one of Jane's pet peeves for people to get too close, especially around her shoulders. It's always something about them getting too close to her brown, curly locks, you know, something odd about people and their hair.
They reach the park and walk toward the old, forgotten wooden area, a perfect hangout.
"So, are we going to that new club later tonight?" Frost asks in a hopeful voice.
Jane grins. "Yep, count me in," she says, flashing her wicked smirk.
They hang around some old abandoned picnic table and chat about useless junk, until Frost looks at the time on her phone.
"Shit, I've got to go!" Frost yells as he waves a goodbye to Jane and scurries off down the gravel path and out of view.
Jane shakes her head and laughs; typical Frost, always running late for something. She leans back against the table, resting on the seat with her legs stretched out in front of her, her elbows on the tabletop of rotting wood as her back leans against the edge for support. She stares off into the distance for a few moments, daydreaming as she looks at no space in particular, thoughts swimming through her mind.
But then she quirks her head to the side and arches a curious eyebrow as she notices something several yards away.
A pipe is standing up out of the ground.
Jane furrows her brow in confusion. That's never been there before, she thinks to herself as she stands up to walk over and examine it.
She looks it over and cautiously kicks it with the toe of her sneaker. It's sturdy, and made out of some form of thick steel. It's painted black and looks brand new, the paint still looking rather fresh, and there's definitely no sign of aging or rust. She's not quite sure what it is, though it faintly reminds her of something she once saw in her history book, like some sort of device for bringing water out of the ground, or something along the lines of that.
She scratches her head as she stares at it, terribly confused as to why such a thing would be residing in the abandoned area of the park, surrounded by century old oak trees and dying grass. It looks so out of place, standing there like it was just constructed the day before.
Testing to see if the handle moves, Jane places her hand on the cold steel, gripping it tightly as she jiggles it. Finally it loosens and moves in her hand, along with a huge gust of wind, blowing Jane's clothes against her body.
Weird, Jane thinks as she shakes her head and releases the handle, it's nothing more than a useless piece of…
Jane freezes after she raises her head and glances around, her eyes widening at the scenery around her.
She's no longer in the abandoned part of the old park. Instead, she's standing in the middle of a luscious yard, with vibrant green grass and blooming flowers surrounding her.
She turns her head, and takes note of all the differences. The sky isn't dark and cloudy like she remembers it looking right after school; it's pleasant and filled with large, white puffy clouds.
The century old oak trees are no longer there, though there are small twig-like trees beginning to pop out of the earth. And the grass isn't dead, it's healthy and fresh, and looks surprisingly cared for.
And that's when she realizes she's in someone's yard. A massive stone house stands opposite her, rising high above her and cowering over her like a castle in a fairytale. It's made of grey stone and is a couple stories high, accompanied with large windows. The outside of the house, or mansion even, seems to yell rich.
Man, they've got some dough, Jane thinks to herself with a smirk as she sizes up the house, imagining what it would be like to live in such a spacious building.
"Excuse me, ma'am, could you please get your filthy body off our lawn?" a young voice travels through the light breeze in the late afternoon.
Jane jumps at the voice and turns to see, in the distance, a short, young woman. She had shoulder length, honey blonde hair, full, pouty lips, and a pair of deep, hazel eyes. Jane shudders by the natural beauty, taken aback by how it radiates off of the person before her.
"Excuse me, ma'am, I do believe I asked you-" the voice says again, this time with a bit of annoyance evident in her tone as she walks closer to the thing on her family's lawn, the nerve of that woman. "Oh my!" the person says as they come within a few feet of Jane. "What in heavens are you wearing? That attire is… is… quite atrocious!"
Jane smirks, looking down at her blue jeans and her fitting white t-shirt. She shrugs, her brown locks falling over her shoulders as she looks back up at the person who is standing right in front of her now, the young woman's jaw dropped as she critically looks Jane up and down.
"Um…" Jane says, not knowing what to even say, her voice trapped in some faraway place, locked up in a toy chest.
"What is that on your head? I've never seen anything quite like that before!" the boy exclaims, pointing at Jane's backward cap. "And these… clothes? I've never seen anything even near those in the stores, not even the cheap stores down in the district. Where did you manage to purchase those… rags?" she asks, raising her eyebrows curiously as she looks at a dumbfounded Jane with an expectant stare. "Well?"
Jane feels like a mute, as she stands in this woman's demanding stare, unable to scavenge out any type of answer. What is with this proper girl?
Jane lets out a nervous laugh as she stares back at the girl, looking at her full, antique-looking dress. Wow, old-fashioned. "Dude, you're acting like you've never seen anything past the 20th century," she says with amusement.
"Well, I'd wish to in my dreams," the girl says softly, slightly confused by the change in topic. Were they not discussing this woman's atrocious attire?
Jane laughs a little bit uneasily as she takes another glance around, noticing that everything around her seems so old-fashioned, hell, even the air seems old.
"But you're living in the 21st century, it's 2008, tons of people dress like this," Jane says with a bit of confusion, though she feels like she's not going to win this conversation.
"2008? Oh, my! Have you… had an injury to the head recently?" the girl asks, backing a few steps away from Jane, gaining some distance.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but it's 1908…" the girl continues softly, feeling slightly sad as she notices the other girl's face pale, her cheeks turning rather white from the sudden news.
"1908?"
The woman nods cautiously, afraid of how this frightening human may react.
"You," Jane says, shaking her head and laughing as she wags a finger in the beautiful woman's face. "You are a fucking nut case!"
"Excuse me, ma'am!" the young woman says in an offended voice. "What in heavens did you just call me?"
"You're crazy!" Jane yells, ignoring the question. "This is… this is ludicrous! It's 2008, I don't know what the fuck you've been smoking, or what costume store you've been crashing, but you're crazy!"
"I do believe they say it takes one to know one," the young woman replies defensively, yet in a rather calm tone as she watches the girl rant and fling her arms around like a mad woman.
Jane seals her lips and attempts to calm her racing heart. This is mad, she thinks to herself. Though when she looks around, her surroundings beg to differ with her challenging mind.
The honey blonde young woman stares at Jane with a welcoming face, a small smile tugging at her lips as familiar dimples appear on her cheeks.
"Are you alright, ma'am?" she asks softly.
"Where am I?" Jane asks. The woman furrows her brow. "Where am I?"
"1541 Beacon Street," she replies quickly.
Jane's eyes widen at the name. That's the street the park is on, she thinks to herself, looking around to notice the young, growing trees are in the same spots as the huge oaks back home.
She shakes her head, muttering useless words to herself as she glances around. "This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this cannot be happening!" she nearly yells, startling the woman who's still standing in front of her, staring at her with curiosity.
"Excuse me?" the woman asks, unable to decipher Jane's rambling.
Jane raises her head and stares at the girl. "I need to get home," she states clearly.
"Well, where do you live? I'm sure I can help you find it."
Jane motions away from the house, out past the fence that blocks them in. "Over on 5th," she says.
"5th! I'm afraid that's not possible, you silly lady. 5th is nothing more than a few small office buildings, there are no homes over in that area of town," she replies, failing to hold back a laugh. "Now, where do you live?"
"I told you! I live on 5th, and there are houses there! I know; I live there!" Jane yells, unable to hide her frustration. "Show me," she says in a stern voice.
"Show you? Show you what, ma'am?" the woman asks.
"Show me that there are no houses there; I don't believe you."
"Well, I would, but I'm afraid you can't traipse around town dressed in those… rags," she replies, motioning toward Jane's clothing.
"Fine, do you have anything I could… borrow?"
The girl lets out a sigh, clearly disliking the idea of having this strange girl wearing her clothes; the thought makes her shudder with disgust. "I suppose I may have an old dress you could change into," she says pointedly, though she still doesn't like the idea.
"Great," Jane says with a forced smile. Dress? Fuck, she's not kidding around.
"Follow me," the woman says, turning on her heels and walking away briskly, not even waiting for Jane to follow. Jane jogs after the honey blonde and falls into step beside her as they walk across the yard and to the stone house. "I don't believe you mentioned your name?" the young girl says, ending in a question.
"Oh, uh, Jane," she replies.
"Just Jane? No last name?"
"Rizzoli."
"Rizzoli?" she repeats with mild interest. "Are you in relation to John and Helen Rizzoli? They're close friends of my parents," she says.
"Uh… no, I don't think so," Jane says, though she doesn't know her family tree.
"Hmm," the girl says, glancing at Jane to see if there are any resemblances between her face and that of her parents' friends.
"And you are?" Jane asks, interrupting the girl's thoughts.
"Oh my! How rude of me, not introducing myself! I'm Maura Isles," she says pausing in mid-step and extending her hand toward Jane. Jane grasps the soft hand and smiles lightly. "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Rizzoli," Maura says with a smile.
They separate their hands and enter through the large front door of the stone house, Maura leading Jane into the spacious main hall. Jane stands in amazement, her jaw dropping as she looks around. "It's like something out of a history book," she mumbles quietly.
"Excuse me?" Maura asks.
"Oh, um, nothing, just… you have a nice home," she says, glancing at the burgundy carpeted hallway and staircase in front of her and the rich wood of the walls and banister.
Maura smiles as she motions for Jane to follow her up the carpeted stairs to the second floor. "Thank you, my parents would be glad to hear that."
Jane rolls her eyes. What's with all the proper speech?
Maura walks into a bedroom and opens a drawer of a dresser and begins rummaging around in some clothing, and pulls out a worn, light blue dress. She hands it to Jane.
"Here, you can change in here, Ms. Rizzoli, I'll wait in the hallway," Maura says with a smile as he walks out the door and closes it behind her, the door closing with a soft click.
Jane looks at the clothes in her hand. "This is crazy," she mutters and throws the clothes onto the bed and walks toward the window, looking outside upon the yard she was in a few minutes before.
Shaking her head in amusement, she pulls her cell phone out of her pocket and flips it open.
The screen is blank.
"What the fuck, I just charged this piece of crap!" she whispers to the room as she holds the power button, waiting for it to light up.
But it never does.
"Great, so I'm in the house of some… old-fashioned lunatic and my phone doesn't work, brilliant," she mutters. "Hey, um, Maura? Do you have something less—fancy? Like some pants or something?"
"Why would you want to wear trousers? That is male clothing!" Maura exclaimed through the door.
"Please, Maura."
"Alright, but I will have to get them from my father's room, so stay there."
Maura is back soon with a pair of worn, brown trousers and a nice dress shirt. Jane thanks Maura and starts changing into the provided clothing as Maura leaves the room again, feeling like she's stepping into some bizarre episode of the "1900s House."
After a couple minutes she peeks her head out into the hall, opening the door a smidge.
"Hey, Maura?" she asks softly.
"Yes, Ms. Rizzoli?" Maura asks, coming into view and smiling her usual, polite smile.
"Do you have a phone?"
"A what?" she asks, furrowing her brow in confusion.
"Yeah, a telephone?"
"Oh!" Maura's face lights up in recognition. "Yes, Father has one in his office, but I'm not supposed to touch it."
"Okay… never mind," she says, disappearing back into the room. She pulls at the itchy fabric and looks at her reflection in the glass of the window. "This is fucking ridiculous," she says out loud, but that doesn't stop her from turning around, leaving the room, and following Maura onto the town streets.
She glances around the town as they walk away from the stone house, and Maura, or Ms. Isles, is rambling about some random stuff that Jane completely zones out. The houses and buildings are all rather old looking, like the paintings and photographs Jane has seen in her textbooks at school. The women are dressed in fancy dresses, hats and all, and the men are dressed in knickers, trousers, suits, and dress shirts. They all look like they're going out to some dinner party, or walking out of some old-fashioned play.
But as Maura and Jane reach 5th street, Maura still jabbering on about something she heard the other day, Jane doesn't see what she normally sees everyday. Instead of seeing the duplexes and small houses, she sees a few small shops, convenient stores, and tiny office buildings.
Maybe Frost was right, she thinks to herself, her face paling as she takes another look around. Maybe time travel is possible.
Should I continue? Do you all like it? Hate it? Please let me know in the reviews; They mean so much to me. Thank you