Marty was quickly thrust onstage with Marvin's guitar, while I was behind the curtain watching. Huh, just like always. Marty wouldn't be Marty without coming to save me…no! We're not thinking like that! You know what comes after!
No sooner did I think that did my wrists start to itch.
'Come on Abby, ignore it!'
"Sorry about the delay folks, but we're back and ready to make some music. Now how about we slow things down for ya?" Marvin said, and motioned for Marty who started playing his guitar while staring off into space. I inched over from the side of the stage to look over at Lorraine and George. They looked just like Marty and Jennifer did when they were together; completely smitten with each other and gazing into each other's eyes.
"This one is for all you lovers out there." Marvin said and began to sing. Marty quickly shot a glance at me and I held up my arms. He quickly looked at the photograph and just shook his head.
'What the hell?! They're dancing and are going to live happily ever after. What more do you need?' I thought. I looked at the crowd again and happened to notice Benjamin standing off to the side by himself looking around. My thoughts were interrupted when Marty messed up a few notes. I looked over at him and saw that he grew pale and looked like he was going to pass out.
"What are you doing?" I muttered to him.
"No, George no," he muttered. I looked back over and saw that one of Biff's gang members had pushed George away and was dancing with Lorraine. George didn't do or say anything, but just sadly walked away.
"Go back!" I hissed about to march down there.
"You alright boy?" one of Marvin's band members asked. I looked over and saw Marty had fallen to the floor holding his head with his hand.
"I…can't play," Marty muttered.
"What do you mean you can't play?" I asked. Marty then looked at the photo one more time and his eyes got huge. He looked like he was…terrified. But…no! Marty never got scared or backed down from any kind of challenge. So why did he…? Marty then lifted his left hand to look at. To my horror, his hand was fading away.
"No!" I whimpered and inched closer to him. "Martin Seamus Mcfly, don't you dare!" I ordered.
"George!" we heard Lorraine call, but he just kept walking away. Tears instantly filled my eyes as I held on tight to my brother.
"Marty," I sobbed. Marty laid in my lap and cupped my cheek. Then he quickly passed the guitar over to me.
"Keep going," he said.
"I can't!" I whimpered. Marty then tried to place my fingers on the guitar right.
"It's just…the same few keys. You…have to," he said. I tried strumming the guitar the best I could and instantly felt tingling on my wrists. Marty helped the best he could, but he grew weaker every time he moved.
"What in the world are you two doing?" one of Marvin's band members asked, but we ignored him.
"Keep….go…..ing," he begged.
'You really are turning into him,' I thought only for a fraction of a second.
"Dad…please," Marty muttered as he slumped to the ground. I looked over and saw that George had now froze where he stood. He then marched right back up to Lorraine and Biff's lackies before pushing the guy off of Lorraine hard. He fell to the floor and the two embraced again but with George cupping her cheeks.
"Come on! Come on!" I muttered through tears. At that moment, George leaned in and Lorraine closed her eyes before they kissed right in the middle of the dance floor. I instantly got butterflies and Marty instantly sat back up. I pushed him the guitar and he went back further on stage. I could hardly breath as Marty quickly looked over at the photo still on the guitar. I studied his face with horror as he began to chuckle with the biggest smile ever. Afterward, he looked back at me and nodded excitedly. It was then that all of the stress and worry over the past week had disappeared completely and I jumped up for joy. Marty stared back into the dance floor and I peeked out too. Lorraine was dancing again while leaning up against George's chest. George himself looked like he was going to cry and gave a quick wave at us. I assumed that it was more for Marty than me, but regardless, we both waved back at him and the band concluded the song. The entire gymnasium erupted with applause including Marvin for Marty. I couldn't help but smile as I knew deep down that this was exactly what Marty and his band had longed for; making people happy with their music.
"Let's do another one!" Marvin announced.
"I…look, this has been great and all, but we really have to go," Marty said after looking at his watch.
"Come on, man! Let's do something that really cooks!" Marvin encouraged. The entire student body started clapping and shouting for an encore.
"Marty…" I hissed, but he just kept his attention towards the crowd. "Something that cooks? Alright, alright," Marty said. I just rolled my eyes. Marty then walked over to the microphone at the front. "So, this one is an oldie," he said. Some of the crowd looked a little confused including Marvin, but kept his cool. "Well…it's an oldie where I come from." He then turned to the band. "Alright guys, let's do some blues riff in B, watch me for the changes, and just try and keep up, okay?" Marty then dramatically turned around and started playing the opening of Johnny B. Goode. I unconsciously started to bop my head to the beat as he continued with the band joining him. The crowd got a slow start, but before we knew it, most of them were dancing along; some where dancing similar to how Benjamin and I were.
Benjamin!
How could I have forgotten?! I quickly looked into the crowd and saw Benjamin still standing off to the side by himself trying out some dance moves by himself. "Oh Benjamin," I muttered and started to make my way back onto the gym floor. Just before I reached the door to the gym from backstage, I saw it open, someone shrieked, and fled back inside the gym.
"What?" I said to myself and walked to the door. As soon as I walked in, I saw nothing out of the ordinary so continued making my way towards Benjamin.
"…why thank you. I do try. I'm glad I know at least one person here, Carolyn" I heard someone say. As I got closer, I noticed that it was Benjamin talking to someone.
"What are you doing here by yourself? Anyone who can dance like you should never be left alone," a young girl with dark black hair said. She wore a watermelon color knee-length strapless dress with three rows of pearls around her neck.
"I was dancing with someone, but they got called away and I haven't seen her since. Don't know if she'll come back or not," he said.
"That's a shame. My partner decided last night to tell me that he thinks we should see other people. We already got our tickets and I wasn't going to miss this," Carolyn said.
"I'm sorry to hear that. Well, since I'm technically not here with anyone either, would you care to dance?" he asked holding out his hand.
"I'd love to," she said. I was about to go over there when I thought about Marty nearly fading from existence and why. We were in 1955 and I was chasing after someone who was going to be over three decades older than me. As soon as Marty finished his son, we would go back to 1985 and everything from the relationships with not only him but with Lorraine; my own mother. How had this past week been both some of the best and worst of my life. As I watched Benjamin and Carolyn walk away together, my heart began to break.
"Goodbye Benjamin," I muttered feeling my eyes get glassy. With that, I sulked backstage and leaning against the wall near the door to the gym. I paid no attention to Marty's solo that was apparently so good that everything and everyone stopped dancing.
"…guess you guys aren't ready for that yet; but your kids are going to love it," I heard Marty say over the microphone. Everyone then clapped slowly before the music started back up again.
"Abs?" I heard someone call.
"Down here," I called wiping my tears away. He came down the stairs and just looked at me.
"You alright?" he asked
"Yeah, it's just…" I said but didn't want to go through with the same lecture he gave me when Lorraine and I went dress shopping. "You really scared me," I said. I mean that was true after all. Marty then put his hands on my shoulders.
"That scared me too, but I'm alright now. Everything is fine, see?" he said and showed me the photograph with all of us back in the picture. "And you were amazing back there," he said.
"I hardly did anything," I said.
"But you kept it going; the show must go on and it did thanks to you. Now we're ready to head back to…Lorraine," Marty said turning his attention away from me. I turned around and saw Lorraine.
"Marty, that was very interesting music," she admitted.
"Uh, yeah," he said awkwardly.
"I hope you don't mind, but George asked if he could take me home," Lorraine said.
"Good! Great, t-that's alright with me," Marty said. "You know I have a good feeling about you two," he teased.
"I have a feeling too," Lorraine said. That's when George came over and put on Lorraine's jacket over her shoulders.
"Look, we both have to go but I wanted to tell you that it's been…education," Marty said.
"Yeah," I said perking up. "Oh, Lorraine, I better give you these gloves back," I said, but hesitated when I realized that my secret would be blown if I did.
"That's okay. You can keep them. They look good on you," Lorraine said. I suddenly got goosebumps as I rubbed my hands over my wrists behind by back.
"Yeah," I said.
"Marty, will we ever see you two again?" she asked. Marty put his arm around my shoulders and said "I guarantee it."
"Well Marty, I want to thank you for all your good advice; I'll never forget it," George said shaking Marty's hand.
"Right, George. Well, good luck you two," Marty said. Marty gently pulled away but then hesitated. "Oh, one more little thing. If you two ever have kids and one of them when he is eight-years-old happens to accidently set the living room rug on fire, go easy on him." I slowly let my head fall to the side and just gave him a look.
"Okay," George said. I shook my head and Marty grabs my hand and tries to lead me away, but my legs freeze. I stare up at Lorraine and George and see just how happy the two are together; no excessive drinking or smoking, no dad being a pushover, and someone in our family who actually takes an interest in gymnastics. And yet I was never going to technically see any of them again.
"Abby, we gotta go," Marty whispered pulling me away. With that, I forcefully pulled myself away from the two lovebirds and someone in the gym who I was just starting to have feelings for.
Break*Break*Break*Break*Break*Break*Break*Break*Break*Break
After Marty and I got out of our party clothes, we sped to downtown. When we arrived at five of ten, Doc was pacing back and forth and looking at his watch.
"You're late! Do either of you have no sense of time?" Doc scolded. Both of us ran over to help take the tarp off the DeLorean.
"Hey, we had to change! You think that I'm going back in that zoot suit? Man, I can't believe he did it. The old man really came through, everything worked!"
"What?" Doc said.
"He took Biff out in one punch! It was amazing!" I said.
"Yeah, I never knew he had it in him. He's never stood up to Biff or anyone in his life!" Marty said. He even pulled out his photograph to prove that all of us were still there.
"Never?" Doc said studying the photo carefully.
"No, why? What's the matter?" Marty asked.
"N-nevermind! Let's set your destination," Doc said. He walked over to the DeLorean and sat in the driver's seat. "Nothing. Alright, let's set your destination time precisely when you two left. It'll be like you two never left." Doc said, opening the car and setting in the destination. "I've painted a white line way over there on the street. That's where you start out. I've calculated the distance and wind resistance to active the moment the lightning strikes. In exactly 7 minutes and 22 seconds, this alarm will go off and you hit the gas, Marty." He said, winding a clock and setting it on the dashboard.
"Right!" Marty said.
"Well…I guess that's everything," Doc said.
"Thanks a lot, Doc." Marty said.
"For everything," I added.
"Thank you." He said, and Marty and I walked over to give one final hug to Doc. "I'll see you two in thirty years."
"I hope so." Marty said with a little worry.
"Don't worry! As long as you hit that wire at precisely 88 miles per hour, the instance the lightning strikes the tower, everything will be fine," Doc insisted giving off his famous smile.
"Right!" Marty said as he and I quickly gave each other a look. While both of us were about to get into the car, Doc reached into his pocket to grab something, but pulled out an envelope.
"What's the meaning of this?!" Doc demanded. I looked over at Marty for clarification, but the pain on his face told me everything.
"You'll find out in about thirty years." Marty said.
"It's about the future, isn't it?!" Doc hissed.
"Wait a sec!" Marty insisted, jumping out of the car.
"It's information about the future, isn't it?! I warned you two about this! The consequences could be disastrous!"
"It's a risk you'll have to take; your life depends on it!" Marty shouted.
"NO! I refuse to accept the responsibility!" Doc said as he tore up the letter.
"No! Doc, you have to know now or …!" I said jumping out myself and running over to him.
"I'll find out eventually! Whatever it is it can't be that awful!"
"No Doc, it is! I'm just gonna to have to tell you straight out," Marty said. Suddenly, all of us felt the wind start to get strong that both Doc and my own hair blew everyone. Suddenly, we heard a 'thunk' coming from the clocktower. We looked over and saw that the cable connecting to the clocktower itself had disconnected.
"Great scott! We need that connected!" Doc said, and grabbed some rope. "Marty, you get the cable! Abby, keep a close eye on the clock. You two have to be heading to the starting line at precisely 10:00 pm."
"Got it!" I said, and the three of us went off. Doc ran inside the courthouse and a few moments later appeared right in front of the clock.
"DOC!" Marty shouted, and Doc tossed down the rope. Marty then tied the cable to the rope and shouted to Doc that he was ready.
"Marty, we've got less than a minute!" I shouted not taking my eyes away from the hands. "He's never gonna make it back down here in time! He's still gonna die!" Instantly, I pictured Doc in the parking lot throwing the gun away just before he was shot to death.
"DOC!" Marty shouted at the top of his lungs at him. Doc paused at what he was doing and looked down at us.
"What?!" he answered.
"I have to tell you about the future!" Marty screamed.
"What's that?!" he said.
"I SAID I HAVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT THE FUTURE!"
"WHAT?!" Doc called again but holding his hand to his ear.
"On the night we go back, you'll get…"
"Doc, cover your…!" I shouted, but before I could finish, the clock tower was already ringing the tenth hour. The bell scared Doc so much that he slipped and fell, but managed to hang on to a lion statue. He pulled himself up no problem but he was in agony with how loud it was us there.
"Marty, Abby, go!" Doc yelled, trying to shoo us away.
"No Doc!" Marty nearly sobbed.
"Look at the time! You got less than four minutes! GO!" Doc ordered. It took all of our strength, but Marty and I ran for the car. As soon as Marty got in the driver's seat, he immediately drove off to the painted line. Once there, Marty got out once again and positioned the hook behind the car. I didn't hear him come back in though as I was deep in thought.
"Everything will be fine," Doc had insisted, but both of us knew that it really wouldn't.
"Dammit!" I heard Marty curse and hit the wheel. "Why did you have to tear it up Doc?! WHY?!"
"Why couldn't we just have more time?" I muttered.
"That's it, Abs; you're a genius! We're sitting in a damn time machine for crying out loud!" Marty said. It took only a second for me to realize what he was getting at.
"Just set it back a few extra minutes and that'll give us time to warn him!" I said.
"Exactly. Ten extra minutes should do it." Marty said entering in the new time coordinates. "Okay, time circuits on, flux capacitor…uh fluxing, engine on…" Marty said but the car didn't start.
"What are you doing, turn it on!" I said.
"I'm trying! The damn car won't start," Marty admitted.
"Oh my god, are you serious?!" I said. Marty tried again and again, but the car would not start. "Come on baby start!" I screamed. Suddenly the clock started ringing which startled the both of us.
"Oh god, we're not gonna make it!" I said, now starting to hyperventilate.
"Shut up! Come on come on!" Marty shouted at the ca,r and got so frustrated that he hit the horn with his head. Amazingly, the engine fired right up. Both of us went wide-eyed and quickly looked at each other in disbelief.
"HA!" I yelled and held out my hand for Marty to give a quick high five. After that, he pressed down on the gas as hard as he could. "GO GO GO!" I cheered. The car drove down the lane heading towards the hanging wire while quickly gaining speed. I happened to look over at the clocktower and saw that the cable at the bottom of the clocktower connecting the two street poles was now disconnected thanks to a fallen tree. Before I could respond, I saw that Doc was now ziplining down from the clocktower to try and fix it in time. I quickly glanced at our clock and saw that we had less than 30 seconds.
"Doc." Marty said out loud.
"It's all or nothing." I said glancing over at my brother. He held out his hand which I grabbed with no hesitation. Even through my gloves I could feel how tight he squeezed and the love he felt at that moment. I closed my eyes, but even still, I saw the sudden bright light appear and we all of a sudden came to a hard stop only being saved by our seatbelts. I knew that we had crashed into the movie theater no matter if we made it or not, but I still couldn't bring myself to open my eyes.
"Y-you okay, kid?" Marty asked as he ran his repositioned his hand so he could rub his thumb over my hand in comfort.
"Y-yeah," I said after taking a few shaky breaths.
"Okay, let's be prepared for anything. We're both going to open our eyes on three. Ready?" he asked.
"Uh huh," I said.
"1…2…3." Marty said I opened my eyes. Just like I thought, we had crashed into the movie theater. I looked over at Marty who put the car in reverse and slowly backed up. After that, he made a quick 180 spin before putting the car in park. With that, he opened his door and jumped out with me following his lead which I had no problem with; this time at least. The Delorian's hood was covered with ice and still smoking just like how it was supposed to. The park was completely covered with trash, a triple X rated adult club, the bank, and a familiar bum, homeless guy who came over to look at us.
"Crazy drunks," he muttered at us.
"Ret," Marty said and Ret went back over to his nearby park bench. It was official; we were back in 1985.
"Woo! We did it!" Marty shouted.
"Wooo!" I shouted back, and he came over and spun me around as I laughed. "Man I've never missed the 80s before so much," I commented. Marty then looked at the digital clock near the bank.
"1:24, we still got time. Let's go Abs." Marty said, and the two of us went back to the car. Marty put the car back into drive and pressed the gas, but nothing happened.
"Aw no," Marty said. He tired to restart the car, but we got the same results as we did back in 1955 for a moment; nothing.
"Not this again. Come on!" I shouted. I smacked my head against the seat in response, and a moving bright light suddenly got into my eyes thanks to the rearview mirror.
'Wait, who's driving around here at 1:30 in the morning?' I thought. I sat up and saw a blue van speeding towards us.
"Oh my god, Marty!" I said as goosebumps ran up my body. Marty looked up just in time to see the Libyans driving past us heading towards the mall. With that, I jumped out of the car and just started running. I could tell from the sound of shoes hitting the concrete behind me that Marty was also right on my tail. Both of us ran as fast as we could until we got to the Lone Pine Mall.
'Wait, Lone Pine?' I thought, but was instantly interrupted by gunshots. I looked down and saw Doc crumble to the ground dead after being shot. A lump formed in my throat and I fell to my knees. Marty meanwhile was leaning against the sign and then screamed.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Bas****!" he yelled, but for some reason it sounded more far away; almost too far away. I looked up at Marty who looked distraught, but also as confused as I was. It was then that I saw an exact copy of Marty and I down at the parking lot. The Libyans now had the gun aimed at both of the other Marty and Abby.
"WAIT!" the other Abby shouted before the other Marty turned to hug/protect me with his back against the Libyan. I could almost feel just how hard the other Marty was squeezing. That's when the gun aimed at us jammed, and the other Marty yanked me away towards the Delorian. With that, Marty and I watched in amazement as the Delorian drove away with the Libyans close behind only to disappear in a flash of light. Meanwhile the Libyans had crashed into a film sale cart. Once that was over, Marty and I rolled down the hill towards the motionless Doc.
"Doc?! Doc?!" Marty shouted, rolling him over where he had a blank stare to his face. I then started sobbing into my hands. Marty eventually came over and cried with me while rocking me back and forth. Everything that Marty and I had worked for during the past week had all been in vain.
All of a sudden, I saw some movement from the corner of my eye. Thinking it was the Libyans again, I tensed up but saw that it wasn't them at all. Doc had sat up like nothing had ever happened.
"Wha-…" I said, not being able to get a word out. Marty released his grip a little and turned around to see Doc as well.
"You're alive?" Marty asked. Doc looked a little shocked, but then took off his radioactive suit to reveal that he was wearing a built proof vest.
"Bullet proof vest? But how did you know? We never got a chance to tell you," Marty asked. Doc then pulled out something from his pocket and offered it to us with a smile. Marty and I looked at each other before Marty took it, and saw that it was the exact same letter Marty had written thirty years earlier except that it was taped up and faded with age.
"What about all that talk about screwing up future events? The space time continuum thing?" I asked, finding my words again.
"Well, I figured…what the hell." Doc said and all three came together in a group hug.
Afterwards, the three of us hopped into Doc's portable lab where Einy was so glad to see us. He kept jumping on all of us and licking wherever he could. We showed Doc where the car was and he was able to get it working again with no issues. After quickly dropping off his lab at his house, all of us jumped into the DeLorean so he could take us back home.
"So how far are you going?" Marty asked once we had arrived home.
"About thirty years. It's a nice round number."
"Alright, look us up when you get there alright?" Marty asked patting Einstein one last time.
"Indeed, I will." Doc said, and gave each of us one last handshake.
"Take care, Doc." I said.
"You two…too." Doc said making the three of us laugh.
"See you later, Einy," I said making sure to get his favorite spot on his neck.
"Oh, and watch that reentry. It's a bit rough." Marty said.
"You bet." Doc said and Marty closed the door. Marty put his arm around my should as we watched Doc take off and disappear in a flash.
There we go! We've got one more chapter to go before that'll be the end; or will it? I also had the previous file of this chapter saved on my computer and it's almost amazing to see just how far this story has come in both content and writing style. It's kinda cool, but I'm not bragging or anything like that. Hope you all have enjoyed and until next time,
LaurenHardy13