Long chapter today!

Chapter 5

Dr. Clarkson strode into the room, ready to get to work on making his patient better, and even more, ready to find out who this mysterious girl was. He had never seen her before and in a small town like this one, that was rare. He knew practically everybody here at Downton due to the fact that everyone had been in his hospital for one reason or another. His hospital was a central part of the community.

His patient was lying on her pillows with her arm lying over her eyes as Lady Edith led him into the room. The girl didn't appear to be asleep but he wasn't positive. Before he got a chance to check, he was stopped by the sound of her voice.

"Are you the doctor?" asked the girl.

"Yes, My name is Dr. Clarkson and I will be the attending physician. I have been told that you remember what has happened to you. You have suffered from a concussion, abrasions on your right temple and a broken right tibia, meaning I had to stitch the -"

"I know what you mean, Dr. Clarkson," she interrupted, removing her arm for her head to look at him. "My father is a doctor." She thought it strange that another person had a British accent, but she dismissed the thought as a coincidence.

"Ah, very good. That will make things a bit easier. Now tell me about yourself, starting with your name." Edith poised a pen to the medical forms the doctor had given her earlier when he had requested her presence. He reasoned that, if the girl didn't object, it would be easier to have a helping hand writing down the medical history as he spoke with the girl.

"My friends call me Ellie but my full name is Elizabeth Edith Crawley. Though really its Crawley-Bennett but my father prefers to keep it as Crawley in memory of my great grandmother. My birthday is October 18, 1996. I was born in New York before moving to California when I was 8. I live at 150 S..." She finally noticed the looks that the doctor and the woman were giving her.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked them.

"Did you just say your name was Elizabeth Edith Crawley?" Asked the woman.

"Yes, my middle name is also in honor of my great grandmother, why?"

"Because I'm Edith Crawley."

"Wow! What a coincidence! Perhaps we are related?"

"Never mind the name," said Dr. Clarkson. "You must have hit your head much harder than I had originally thought."

"What do you mean?" Asked Ellie.

"You just said you were born in 1996."

"I was, I just turned 16. In fact I have my drivers license. Speaking of which, I would have thought you would know all of this considering it is in my bag-"

"That's impossible," said Dr. Clarkson, "considering the fact that the year is 1921."

Ellie chuckled. "Don't be absurd. I know what year it is and I know what year I was born."

When she got blank looks, she began to get nervous. "Very funny, now jokes over. How long have I been here?"

"We are not joking," Edith said. "Here, I have this month's copy of The Sketch," she grabbed it from the bedside table and gave it to Ellie.

"This isn't funny anymore. I appreciate your efforts with the old fashioned clothing and the fake magazine but, this has to be unethical. I have already seen this issue before. You probably just got it from the archives. Unless..." The details of the day rushed back to Ellie. She hadn't really thought of this before because her head was killing her, but now that she had feelings of fear washed over her like a tsunami.

"You're not really a doctor are you! You're kidnappers! Oh my god! Let me go! Please I promise I won't tell anyone! Just let me go! Please!" Hot tears streamed down her face as she yelled and pleaded.

Robert stormed into the room, "What's going on?"

He turned to look at Ellie. "My dear, I am so pleased to see you are awake, we were so-"

"Please, tell me they are wrong. Please tell them that the year is not 1921, but 2013," Ellie pleaded.

"Whatever are you talking about? Of course it's 1921," replied Robert in confusion.

Ellie stared back at him, eyes puffy and red.

"You are not kidding are you? None of you are? Oh my god, Oh My fucking God! What the fuck am I supposed to do in fucking 1921?! I don't even know where the fuck I am? I..."

"There is no need for that sort of language," Clarkson interrupted. "Especially from a young woman and in front of those who are above you! Might I inform you, you are at Downton Abbey!"

As much as Ellie wanted to say she wasn't expecting that, it would be a lie. As she had taken in her surroundings, they had become increasingly familiar to her. She remembered staying in this very room when she had been young and her family had spent the summers at her cousin's home.

"Oh my god! I'm dead aren't I? That could be the only way I would be here. I had always hoped when I dead I would get to see past relatives, but I had hoped the one to greet me would be my mother -"

"What do you mean past relatives?" Edith asked. "And you are most certainly not dead. Just confused."

"Well, that would be the only way I would see you."

"Me?"

"Edith?"

"Yes, I told you. I was named after my great grandmother Edith Crawley, better known as Lady Edith Crawley. Clearly, if I'm at Downton Abbey and its 1921, that must be you."

Robert was in shock. He could not believe the preposterous things he was hearing. Similarly, Dr. Clarkson was in denial.

"Ms. Crawley," Dr. Clarkson said indulgently, "you just had a major car accident that you barely survived. I think that this has been quite enough nonsense for today."

"It's not nonsense. I'm just as sane as you are. Look, I have proof. If you would get me my backpack, I'll show you," she said. Ellie was beginning to get very frustrated. Her head felt like someone was consistently beating her over the head with a giant brick and her leg felt as if a building had fallen on top of it.

"Backpack?"

"Book bag, or just bag, whatever you people call it in 1921. My stuff. Unless you don't have it." Which would be a shame considering there are a few valuables in there such as her iPad and her iPhone. "Speaking of which, where is my jewelry? The ones that I was wearing?"

"We took your jewelry off to make you more comfortable. They are all on the bedside table. Father, her bag is in the corner. If you could please grab it, it's surprisingly heavy."

"Hmmm," mused Ellie. Of course it was heavy. It was always heavy due to the amount of work her teachers assigned. Taking two AP classes was no easy task. But she wasn't going to start on that.

Robert handed her the backpack and Ellie immediately dug into the bag to grab her wallet. She took out her driver's license and handed it to Dr. Clarkson. As the three adults were looking over it, she took out her iPad and opened up the picture of the last family reunion on it. It occurred to her how ironic it was that when she was supposed to be working on a research paper about her family's genealogy she ended up in the past.

"This is a picture of the last family reunion. It was taken just after I was born, so obviously I don't remember it but I have heard a few great stories." Ellie handed them the iPad and six eyes grew wide at the technology presented to them. The photo was crystal clear and in color, not to mention the fact that it moved when you slid your figure across it.

"What the devil is this technology?" asked Robert with a hint of fear mixed with amazement.

"It's called an iPad," responded Ellie. "I won't go into details now because it's way ahead of your time and far too complicated. And it's beside the point. The point is that that is you, Edith." Ellie pointed to a woman in a wheel chair in the middle of the front row of people. The woman was elegant, even in her old age, and it was easy to tell that she had been even more beautiful in her youth. The resemblance between her and Edith was too uncanny for even Dr. Clarkson to negate.

"I won't go into who the others are, simply because I have read and watched enough science-fiction to know that bad things happen to those who meddle with time," said Ellie. She knew that she shouldn't reveal to many critical details. She didn't want Edith or any one in the family to change history, her own life was depending on everything going perfectly as it should.

Edith, meanwhile, was in shock. She regarded the picture closely. She had never really considered her death. If anything, she expected she would die young and alone, forever the maiden aunt. However, clearly this was not the case. Obviously, eventually she will marry and have a very happy family, by the looks of it.

Edith looked at at Ellie. She could clearly see that the young girl had similar features to hers, mainly her eyes. They had the same shape and color as her own. Then, Edith noticed something else, something very familiar hanging around the girl's neck. Impossible! Edith thought. She would have to check as soon as she could. Looking for an excuse to leave and escape the craziness surrounding this girl's arrival, Edith saw that Ellie's facial features were scrunched up with clearly suppressed pain and her eyelids were dropping in exhaustion.

"I think that has been enough excitement for today," Edith declared to the room, shocking her father and the good doctor out of the scrutiny of both the girl and the new device that held the photograph. "Anyway, it's almost time for dinner. Will you be joining us, Doctor Clarkson?"

"Certainly, my lady, if you will have me," he responded, recovering from the shock of the forward young girl and her incredible tools.

"Is there anything you should give Ellie for the pain?" Asked Edith. While Edith couldn't say she was one hundred percent sure that Ellie was telling the truth, all the evidence pointed in her favor. Furthermore, Edith felt a strange connection to this girl, the kind you only get in the presence of family.

"Umm, yes of course," he replied. "Here is some medication for the pain. I took the liberty of putting a splint on your leg while you were unconscious." The doctor handed her two pills and the glass of water.

"Thank you," replied Ellie to the doctor, but she was looking at Edith. She recognized that Edith, though she may not believe Ellie, was trying to help her.

Although Ellie wasn't sure how effective the outdated medicine would be, she still took it. If her migraine persisted, she had medicine in her bag. She always carried around a prescription for migraines because she got them frequently from stress and genetics. As the three filed out of the room, Ellie relaxed and closed her eyes, falling asleep almost immediately.