August 22, 1986
4:00 PM PDT

Lisa Jung sighed to herself, as she simply stepped into the cabin. She wasn't sure if it was legal to be making her home in an abandoned cabin. It really wasn't even all that practical. Still, it's not as though she could actually afford to buy a house. She wasn't even quite eighteen - and, just recently, she ran away from her last foster home.

Her last set of foster parents were verbally abusive - and she was real sick of living in a household, where she really wasn't loved. Much of her money had gone into buying coloured contacts, as well as styling and dying her hair - as to just not be recognized.

As she stepped into the cabin, she sure felt horrified. She saw two boys and two girls, who quite appeared be about her age. Would they think of turning her into the police? She opted to use the "Jane Poe" alias, when she applied for delivering newspapers.

After taking a closer look, she realized that the boys looked a lot like Michael J Fox! As she scrutinized the girls, they also looked familiar! She couldn't think of where she saw them, though. She supposed she couldn't just blame the group, for being curious. She just hoped that nobody else would discover the cabin, as it was very well out of sight.

"I'm, uh, sorry," one of the boys said, rather nervously. "We didn't... Well, we were just taking a walk - and, uh, we caught sight of the cabin. We really didn't mean any harm. We were just... Well, this really seemed like a weird place... to build a cabin."

"I'm, uh, Lisa Jung," Lisa replied, nervously. As the words came out, she really felt like kicking herself. Why had she given them her real name? "I'm, uh... Please, don't tell... I mean, don't let anyone know that I'm staying here. I just have nowhere else to go."

"Lisa Jung?" one of the girls asked, quietly. Glancing at the other girl, she added, "The name sounds a little familiar to me." As the other girl nodded, she continued, "We, uh, would like to help you out. I think I might've seen you before. I'm Jennifer Parker, and this is my cousin. She's Sarah. These are our boyfriends, Marty and Calvin McFly."

Lisa suddenly recognized both names. She remembered being quite close to a pair of cousins, whose names were Jennifer and Sarah Parker. It sure was nearly ten years ago. After she moved away, they even wrote - until she really lost touch with them.

"It's nice to, uh, meet you," Lisa replied, nervously. "It's been so long. The last time I knew you guys, we were still so young. It's strange to think that we're older. In fact, my life hasn't exactly been happy. Two years ago, my mother died. Since then, I..."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Jennifer commented, as she embraced Lisa. "We could, uh... Well, we'd simply want to help you out. There's simply no reason, uh, why you should remain in this little cabin. You could, uh, maybe stay with one of us - until you're quite able to afford your own place. Even if you weren't our old friend, we'd still like to..."

"It'll be another two weeks," Lisa explained, quietly, "until I turn eighteen. As I'm still a minor, I'm quite afraid that they'll send me back - or that I'll be forced to go to another foster home. Granted, most weren't so bad. The last I stayed at, though, was awful!"

"I'm sorry to hear that," one of the boys commented, softly. "I actually didn't have a good life, myself. It simply wasn't even a year ago, when I... I was reunited with my twin... and the rest of my family. Something is very wrong... with the foster care..."

"Most weren't all too bad," Lisa replied, softly. "Well, I do have some snacks - if you'd all like to stay here... and visit. It'd be very nice, to live in a real house. It'd simply be best, though, to wait until I turn eighteen. By then, I'll no longer really be under their guardianship. It's only two weeks away. I'd simply rather stay here, than have to..."

"We quite understand, Lisa," replied the other boy, gently. "Earlier this year, we met another girl. She was a foster child, and she was simply unhappy with her family. We were able to reunite her with her mother, though. We'd love to help you out, too."

oooooooooo

After leaving the cabin, Jennifer really couldn't get the thought of her old friend from her mind. She thought back, ever so fondly, to the days of their youth. It was a little from before she and her parents moved to Hill Valley. She also really had yet to meet Marty. Not too long ago, she and the others had reverted to being eight years old.

"Y'know, Jenn," commented Sarah, "we even mentioned Lisa, a few times. It feels so weird, remembering everything about the incident. It felt so weird, going back to our childhood. Now, just a few weeks later, we end up running into a friend from our..."

"I rather know what you mean, Sarah," Jennifer replied, stunned. "We really couldn't recognize our boyfriends, because... Well, they weren't our boyfriends. It quite seems..." Jennifer looked up, as she noticed... "Rain clouds! I really can't believe it!"

"Yeah, I think it's going to rain," Sarah replied, quietly. "We'd quite better get back to our cabin, soon. They did announce, on the radio, that it's be raining. We really don't want to get stuck." After looking around, she added, "Y'know, I'm feeling raindrops. I think we'd... It's already starting to sprinkle. I heard that this is gonna last, all night."

"Perfect," muttered Marty, as he glanced around. "Just perfect. This is our very first day of being at Sunnyside Lake Resort, and it's already raining. So much for 'it never rains in Southern California'! They're even predicting thunder and lightning. It's a..."

"This isn't exactly my favourite kind of weather, either," Calvin replied, gently. "It just brings back real horrible memories, and... Well, earlier this year, I told you that story. Y'know, the one about being caught in an abandoned building? Thinking of that is..."

"Just look on the bright side, Cal," suggested Sarah, as she squeezed her boyfriend's shoulder. "We're away from all the pollution, aren't we? I'm sure not going to pretend that I know just how awful that world was. From what I've seen, Biff Tannen actually doesn't seem too bad. Granted, he has a bit of a bad attitude. Still, I understand..."

"It's because Dad keeps him in check," explained Calvin. "When my twin went back to 1955, he really made a difference. Since we took the almanac away... Well, he really has no choice... but to just suck it up. He still appears to harbour some resentment."

"Oh, I see what you're saying," Sarah replied, thoughtfully. To Jennifer, she added, "It really must be a small world, eh?" Jennifer nodded and smiled. "She just seems to be... Well, she seems to be so unhappy. I remember how her mother was so nice."

"Yeah, she was," Jennifer replied, as tears filled her eyes. While Lisa was every bit as friendly as she remembered, her old friend didn't seem to be very perky and cheerful. Oh, Lisa still had a sense of humour - and Lisa actually had an outward appearence of being happy. Still, she saw inside her friend - and saw that Lisa was rather troubled.

oooooooooo

Lisa was listening to her portable radio, as she was trying hard to block out the sound of rain and thunder. She never liked thunderstorms - and, in fact, she felt scared. It'll most likely seem like a long night - as they were predicting rain, until about sunrise. In fact, it was almost sunset. It was really one of the drawbacks of staying in the cabin.

She felt a sense of nostalgia, as she thought of her old friends. She really longed for the happier days, when her mother was still alive. She just wished, ever so badly, to bring her mother back to life. Tears filled her eyes, as she simply missed her mother.

Her thoughts turned to the twins, Calvin and Marty. They even sounded like Michael J Fox! It sure felt nice, meeting a pair of very compassionate boys. It was too bad, she thought, that they already had girlfriends. The boys have just made her feel at ease.

She crawled into her sleeping bag, as she decided to try getting some sleep. While she wished to have a bed, this would have to do. At least, she did have a pillow. She quite enjoyed the independence, as well. Her friends have really promised to not let anyone know about her presence. She wished that she couldn't meet the rest of their families.

She glanced at her bicycle, which was her only means of transportation. She couldn't afford a car. In fact, she simply didn't even have a driver's licence. At least, this was Southern California. The winters would be rather mild, so she'd be fairly comfortable.

Two weeks shouldn't be too long to wait. Still, her friends would be here for just one week. She didn't have a telephone, and she didn't even have an address. She really wondered how they'd be able to contact her. They lived quite a long distance away.

She rather wondered what Hill Valley was like. She never even heard of the town, but her friends told her that it was in the northern part of the state, closer to Sacramento and San Francisco. She just wouldn't mind moving that far. Granted, she'd really have to get used to colder winters. Still, she'd be living among a bunch of caring friends.

As Lisa was almost about to drift off to sleep, an especially loud blast suddenly jolted her wide awake. She wished that she asked her friends to stay. That way, she really wouldn't feel so alone. She felt a twinge of envy, as her friends had loving families.

Lisa suddenly noticed a strange sight, as she ran to one of the windows. She noticed that the pole was lit up, as if it was struck by lightning. She felt some tremors. It was rather frightening, as she was afraid of electrocution. The tremors finally stopped.

As Lisa glanced around the room, she just gave a huge sigh of relief. She seemed to be alive. It certainly was a rather scary experience, but she had a feeling that she'd be fine. She simply decided to crawl back into her sleeping bag. It certainly would be hard, sleeping through the thunder and lightning. Still, she had nothing else to do.