Chapter 5

2:04 pm
Nov 16 1985
Hill Valley California.

"Mom, is that...? No it isn't," Marty muttered as he awoke. He stared at the strange girl who stood over him. He had the strange feeling that he should know her. She looked naggingly familiar, yet he was certain he had never met her before. He also noticed she was fairly cute.

"Are you okay Marty?" she asked in a concerned voice.

"Yeah, just a little shocked."

"Did you hit your head or something?"

"No, I'm not hurt at all. Jules hurt his arm though."

"When?"

"Today, of course."

"But where have you been for the last few weeks?"

"At home, and at school of course. What's it to you anyway?" he challenged, wanting to figure out who she was.

"Marty, don't you remember who I am?" the girl asked, catching on to his question.

"Uh, not really," Marty stammered in return.

"Amnesia, just like..." she murmured softly to herself. Then she answered, "I'm Catherine."

"So what are you doing here?"

"Huh?"

"Why are you at my house?"

"Because I'm your sister."

Marty considered fainting again, but decided against it. "What about Dave and Linda?" he finally asked.

"Dave's watching football with his buddies, and Linda's shopping with Mom."

Just then, a car pulled into the driveway.

"Correction: Mom and Linda just got home from shopping. Are you sure you don't know where you've been for the last few weeks?"

"I tell you, I didn't know I'd been gone," Marty asserted.

"In that case, you'd better make something up fast, to tell Mom. We'll talk about this later."

"Uh, yeah." Marty tried to think about what had happened. When he woke up that morning, he only had one sister, and he hadn't been missing. What had gone wrong? More importantly, why did Catherine look like she was his age?

He decided he would need to talk with Doc. For the time being, he needed an excuse. From the way Catherine had talked to him, it seemed like she knew more about the situation that she dared say. He finally decided on a simple, just believable story.

Excited talking in the living room told him that his mother would be joining him.

"Marty!" she spouted joyously as she appeared in the door. "You're back!"

"Yeah," Marty answered a little groggily.

"What, what happened to you? Where have you been?"

"Uh, I really don't know. I just woke up in the middle of a field next to my truck, so I drove home. I don't have the slightest clue what happened to me."

Lorraine's eyes went wide. "Did you hit your head?"

"I dunno. Maybe."

"Oh Marty! You know what the doctor said."

Marty had no idea what the doctor said, and he didn't want to ask, and he had no time to do so, due to an interruption.

Catherine was feeling just as confused as the person she thought of as her brother. She had just rung a friend to tell her that Marty was home. Next she dialled the number of the Brown household.

"Emmet Brown speaking."

"Doc, this is Catherine. Have you heard about Marty?"

"What about Marty?" Emmet asked, wondering who was ringing.

"He's come back. I don't know how he got back, and he doesn't know either. He doesn't even remember what happened at all. But he's definitely back!"

Emmet had no idea what this girl was jabbering on about. "Excuse me, I don't understand. Who is this?"

Catherine groaned. "I'm Catherine, Marty's sister. Did you hit your head too?"

"No, why should I have?"

"Because Marty doesn't remember me either."

Emmet thought for a moment. This phone call was quite unexpected and unpleasant. He tried to think of something to say.

Catherine couldn't stand the awkward pause, so she said, "I heard that Jules hurt his arm."

"Yes, the doctor put a few stitches in it. He'll be fine after some rest."

"Great. How did he hurt it?"

"He was climbing a pine tree and fell."

"Oh! The poor boy. Do you want me to tell Marty?"

"Tell him Jules is alright now."

"Okay. Um, so, about Marty being back..."

"Back from where? I don't really know what you are talking about. As far as I know, the only sister Marty has is Linda, and you sound nothing like her."

"But, how could you just go and forget like that?"

"I have no idea. Perhaps you should come over and we can talk about it in private."

"Uh, sure. I'll be right over." She paused for a moment. "You live at Century House, right?"

"Yes, I do. I'll expect you in a few minutes."

"Yes. Bye Doc."

"Er, goodbye Catherine."

Catherine hung up the phone and ran into Marty's room. "Mom, I rang Doctor Brown. Jules hurt himself and had to get stitches. I'm going over to see him, and I need to talk to Doc."

"Alright, just don't stay to late," Lorraine answered.

"Thanks Mom. Oh, and Marty..."

"Yeah?"

"I rang your girlfriend. She should be here soon."

"Thanks."

"Marty, I need to put the shopping away now, or Linda will get grouchy. Your father should be home soon though. Try to relax and see if you can remember anything," instructed Lorraine.

"I'll try," Marty promised half-heartedly.

Lorraine walked into the kitchen to find her daughters engaged in an argument.

"Mom, how can you let Catherine go out? She should help put the shopping away. It isn't fair," complained Linda.

"Linda, she's spent the whole morning cleaning. You spend most of it mooning over dresses. Do you understand?"

Linda nodded meekly. Catherine vanished out the door before her mother had a chance to change her mind. She jumped in her own vehicle, an old, deep purple two-door. The engine spluttered to life and the car vanished down the street.

A few minutes later, Catherine parked out the front of Century House. She walked up the half-repaired steps and knocked on the huge front door. She heard footsteps and the door quickly opened.

"You must be Catherine," said Dr. Emmet Brown.

"Yes, I am," she answered, a little nervously. "But I don't understand why you don't remember me."

"I don't understand it myself, so why don't you come in out of the cold and we can discuss it."

"Okay." Catherine followed the scientist into the living room and sat on the dusty lounge. "You said Marty was here for lunch, right?"

"Yes, I did, and he was."

"What did he do while he was here?"

"Nothing unusual."

"What in particular?"

"He didn't do anything in particular," Emmet answered stubbornly. "However, Verne nearly hit him with a kite."

"Kite?"

"Yes, the boys flew their kite today. In fact, Jules scraped his arm while retrieving the kite out of a tree."

"A kite? But there's hardly any wind, and it's cold!"

Emmet realised his error, so he tried to change the subject. "Yes, but it's not important now. You referred to Marty being 'back'. You could start by explaining where and when he left."

"October 26th."

Marty sat on his bed, wondering what to do. From his previous experiences, it seemed that something had gone wrong with the timeline. This reality seemed to be a lot better than the one where Biff had become rich, but it didn't bother him any less. It was rather unsettling to come home after lunch and be told that you had been gone for three weeks by a sister you never had.

He assumed from Catherine's words that she had some idea of what was going on, and was going to Doc's place to try to find the problem. He wanted to do exactly the same thing, but he didn't think there was much chance of sneaking out unnoticed. He decided to wait until Jennifer arrived.

It wasn't long before he heard another vehicle arrive. Someone dashed through the house and flew into the room. She made a beeline for Marty and threw her arms around him.

"Oh Marty! I've missed you ever so much! What happened to you?"

Marty stared at the girl in acute shock. She was Bess Tannen.

"Great Scott! October 26th! That was the day..."

"That was the day Marty and I went back in time," Catherine finished.

"That was the day Marty went back in time. But as I never remember seeing you before, I certainly don't remember you going back in time. I didn't even expect you knew about time travel."

"Ooh, that would explain why you wouldn't tell me anything. So what happened that night as you remember it?"

"I sent Einstein forward in time by one minute, almost went to the future myself, and was killed by terrorists. Marty went back to 1955, caused some trouble with his parents, almost erasing himself, warned me about the terrorists, and came back ten minutes before he left with the help of the lightning bolt that struck the clock-tower. I returned him to his home and travelled thirty years into the future."

Catherine digested this information. "That's both similar and different to what I remember happening. Marty and I both went to the past, but only I ever came back."

"So he was stranded in 1955?"

"We think so. If he was still alive. At least, that's what you thought until this afternoon."

"Do you mean you don't really know what happened to him?"

Catherine shook her head. "We never managed to find him."

"Can you tell me as much of what happened as you can remember?"

"Yes, but it's a long story."

"I want to hear every word of it, as soon as my dear Clara gets us a drink. Would you mind asking her? She should be in the kitchen."

"Okay. Have you told her about me?"

"Yes, I have explained the situation."

"Good. This is weird: as far as I remember, I know Clara as well as I know some of my school friends, but she's never heard of me."

"It is quite unusual," Emmet observed. "I'll take some tropical punch. Clara made some for the picnic and we failed to drink it all."

"Okay. I'll have some of that too." Catherine walked to the kitchen, where she found Clara tidying away some picnic things. "Hi Clara," she greeted.

"Er, hello. It's nice to... meet you, although Emmet says you already know me."

"Yes, I do, but I'll try to remember that you don't. Doc told me to get some drinks, some tropical punch."

"Mmm, I wouldn't mind a spot of that myself. Just take some cups from this cupboard; I'll find he jug and join you in a moment."

"Okay, will do." Catherine found the cups and returned to the lounge room with Clara close behind her.

Emmet poured himself a large glass and said, "So Catherine, tell us what happened on October 26th."