When the dreaded day finally came, Tim and I piled onto the bus and found seats closer to the front. Tim, bless him, held my hand the whole way to North Carolina.
The cave was in a place that might have been a few miles away from residential area, but to me it looked nothing less than the wilderness. I kept close to Tim, caressing my bag every now and then, to make sure I still had my emergency kit.
I heard the disconcerting buzzing sound the instant we entered the cave. It was a kind of buzzing that sounded like I was inside a horror film. I tried to pull Tim's sleeve to warn him, but my hands did not work, out of fear. I wanted to say something, or to scream, but My voice failed me. We kept going, and the buzzing noise became louder. It sounded to my terrorized ears as if we are nearing a city of bees. I felt like I was inside a terrible nightmare. I tried hard to say something, and when I couldn't, I tried to fill my lungs with air, so I could scream, but I felt chocked.
When we turned the corner, I wanted to shut my eyes, not to see the source of the noise, that surprisingly, everyone else was ignoring. However my eyes were wide with terror, and when we turned the corner, I saw an innocent looking circle of standing stones. Apparently, the terrible noise was coming from there. Walking together with everyone, I got very close to the stones, and someone, either by mistake or on purpose, pushed me onto the stones.
That's when I heard the screams. I entered a confused maelstrom of horror; a whirlpool of nightmare.
When I woke up an hour, a day, or several weeks later, I found myself inside an empty cave. I tried to remember what happened, but then decided that I was to scared to face that memory again. Where was Tim? Where was our group? They didn't just leave me there, did they?
Hands shaking, I reached for my cellphone. No reception.
Damn Verizon! They said there would be a reception from anywhere, I thought. I'd better get out of this cave.
Finding my way out of a pitch-black cave, using only the little night-vision feature on my GPS, while climbing rocks and stuff (in total panic too) was not at all easy. When I finally reached an opening, the sky looked darker, and there was no one in sight.
Don't panic, I told myself fearfully, as I tried the phone again. Still no reception. I moved around, bent down, raised my hand holding the phone to try and get reception. My attempts were getting exceedingly more desperate; Panic was beginning to take over completely. I screamed, I cursed, I ran around and around stumbling on the raw and untouched soil.
That's the way Jamie and his men found me, a blue haired girl, running like the devil was behind her, screaming hoarsely incoherent curses, waving my cellphone hand. Eyes as big as saucers, face pale like a corpse.
I was told later that I had frightened the men greatly, and they were going to shoot me on the spot. They thought I was some kind of an evil spirit, but Jamie stopped them, and took me to his wife Claire.
Claire treated me for shock and exposure before I was able to say anything in comprehensible English.
When I was finally able to talk, I said to the redheaded man who was in the room at the time, "what are you, why are you in this primitive cabin, and why are you dressed like historical freaks?"
"That was just what my men were asking about you, lassie," said the large, red headed guy, "forgive my observation, but you are the one who looks the less human between the two of us. With your blue spiky hair, the metal rings all over your face, and that strange thing you hold so tightly in your hand, which makes strange sounds and gives out light."
"Oh, don't tell me you've never seen a cellphone! They told me that even the most deprived third world countries know what technology is. And you are living in the United States, even though it's not a city, you should have everything city dwellers have, just in a bigger, scarier space." I said, ranting.
Reminded of my phone, however, I decided to try using it again. I dialed Tim's number, and clicked 'send', but there was still no reception. Jamie, (that was the redhead's name, I later found out) must have seen me starting to panic again because he quickly called for his wife.
I looked around and saw my knapsack on the floor. I picked it up, and took out my laptop, thinking that if my cell isn't working, at least the internet should. I clicked on the power button, and a couple of seconds later, just as Claire walked in, I heard the comforting "Bling!" of start-up.
Claire looked at the computer for an instant, before checking my pupils again.
"It looks like you have gotten over the first terrible shock," Claire said gently. I didn't like her tone of voice, she sounded like she was speaking to a retard,"do you think you can talk to me now?"
"What do you mean, the first shock," I asked nervously, tearing the wrapper of a vitamin bar, and looking at the icon on the bottom right side of my computer, waiting for it to blink that there is a connection.
Figuring that the connection might take some time in this deprived-looking house in the country, I clicked on 'my videos' to pass the time, as I usually did on the rare occasion when connection was bad. I opened a music video by 'Lil Bow Wow, and leaned back to listen, while I kept a nervous eye on the bottom right hand of the screen.
"Where you're from, is everyone dressed like that?" Claire asked me.
"Of course not," I said giving her a nasty look, "everyone wears what the want."
"No, I meant, does everyone make their hair look so unnatural?"
"No, that's just me, I hate nature. The only thing natural about me is my name, Jasmine, which really doesn't fit my personality at all." I said feeling a bit talkative. Anything to get my mind off that connection icon.
"Oh," she said, "where are you from?"
"New York," I replied, "Manhattan. This is the first time I ever left the city, and after today, I don't think I ever will again."
The scariest thing for me to do, now, was to look out the window and see all that emptiness. That's why I kept my head averted from the window across from Claire, so I wouldn't look out by mistake and receive another small jolt of shock. I decided to turn my full attention to Claire; I had some questions of my own.
"By the way, did you happen to see a group of tourists, about my age, anywhere in the area?" I asked.
"No," she said, "were you with that group?"
"Yes, with my friend Tim, that's who I'm trying to reach," I said, looking at the computer again to find that it's still not connected. I shut it down to re-boot it. "You don't seem to have a connection," I continued when the system was re-booting, "do you have a regular, old fashioned phone I can use?"
Claire gave a little start, "so, phones are old fashion?"
"The ones using phone-jacks are," I said blinking at her, "if you have any of those, can you hand me one, or are you so backwards that you don't even have a chordless?"
"We're so backwards, we don't even have a phone." Claire said.
I looked at her for a second, and then, it suddenly hit me. Of course!
"An Amish town," I declared triumphantly, " I stumbled into an Amish town!"
"Um... er – not exactly," Claire said, "do you know today's date?"
"Today's date?" I asked surprised at this change of subject.
Claire nodded.
"I think it's May third, unless I was unconscious for a long time."
"What year?"
"Year? What are you getting at?" I asked, confused.
"Please, tell me the full date, it's important," Claire insisted.
"Okay, whatever," I said, "it's May third, 2018, so what?"
"Because, I don't know how to say it to you in a way that would least shock you, but you have just traveled two hundred and forty years to the past." Claire said quickly, as though hoping it would really hurt less if it's quicker.
I looked at her for a long moment, then I said, "yeah. Right. Uh-huh. Sure. That's right, why didn't I think of it before? Like, duh! Of course, you must have also watched the Back to the Future remake that came out in 2015, to commemorate thirty years from the first Back to the Future movie." I said, "don't play that game on me, I have both movies right here on my laptop, I'm also a fan. Now, you'd better start answering my questions, or I'll call the police the second I get connected."