Turning Back Time: A Short Story

 

It was just a normal autumn day in Circleville, Ohio. 12 year-old Elita Carpenter and her 13 year- old best friend, Samantha Carson, were walking home from a normal day at school. They had the normal amount of homework and the normal amount of exercise in Phys. Ed.  Everything was normal.  Except it wasn’t.

Elita and Samantha are just seventh graders. They aren’t popular. They aren’t  nerds. They’re  just “there”. They’re wallflowers. They think that they aren’t important. They’re  wrong.  They don’t know it yet, but they are. Time to hear their side of the story.

The girls went into Elita’s bedroom. They needed to work on their homework.

“Come on, Sam. Let’s work on our project on the French Revolution.” Elita said. Sam replied, “ Oui, Oui!” The girls burst into giggles. “Okay, seriously, we have to work now. It says here that Marie Antoinette got married at age 15 and became queen at 19. Wow, she was young. It also says that she died at age 37.” Elita read aloud. “Why?” Sam asked. “Let me see. I don’t think it says- here it is! It said she was decapitated for treason. In one part of her life, it says that a baker in one town said that they didn’t have any bread. Apparently, she replied, ‘Let them eat cake!'” Elita answered. “Wow, I can see why she was decapitated. She sounds like a jerk.” Sam paused. “ I really want to meet her!”

Elita shifted her weight, “I kinda do too. I know that the French Revolution was a really bad time in history, but imagine the grade we could get on our project if we actually experienced it! That would be awesome!” Then everything went dark.

Elita opened her eyes. “Oh gosh. This is NOT my bedroom.” Instead of the plush carpet, the girls were lying on a cobblestone street. It was dark and quiet. It was kind of eerie. “Sam, wake up! This is SO not Ohio. This isn’t even the 21st Century!” She held up her cell phone. “See! It doesn’t have cell signal!” Elita yelped. “C’mon. You’re faking,” Sam said with her eyes still closed. “You’re just messing with me. We probably just blacked out for a minute, that’s all. There’s no way that we- Oh. My. Gosh. Where the heck are we?”

“I don’t know, but it’s scaring me. Where is everyone?” Elita thought aloud. “C’mon! Let’s explore!” Sam said. “I wanna see what this place is like!” Elita looked unsure. “I don’t think that we should. This place looks familiar, but I just can’t put my finger on it. Hmmmmm…. I GOT IT! I saw this in our social studies book. We’re in Versailles!” Sam looked confused. “Where on Earth is Versailles?” Elita rolled her eyes. “Were you even paying attention in the last 40 minutes? We’re in 18th Century France!” Elita got up and started pacing. “I think that we’re invisible. Didn’t someone write that if we time-traveled we would be invisible? It also said that we would start fading from the present time and start appearing in this time if we were here too long! We have to go back!” “NO! I refuse to go back. Not now, at least. How about you go back alone. If  you make me go back, I’ll tell everyone that we can time travel.” Sam argued. “Then we can’t be friends.” Elita stated.  “Fine.”

Elita stormed off, pushing her way through dozens of people. “Wait. Wasn’t this place empty just a moment ago?” Then, she heard chanting. “OFF WITH HER HEAD!” “KILL THE MONSTER!” Who do they want to kill? She looked up. It was Sam.

Elita dashed up onto the platform. They were about to put Sam into the guillotine. “HEY! Stop! You’ve got the wrong girl!” Elita screamed. Wait. They can see us! “She is not Marie Antoinette?” A commoner asked. “NO! Her name is Samantha and she is 13 years old!”  The crowd started screaming, “LET THE CHILD GO!” The guard wouldn’t let Sam go. She pulled, but he wouldn’t budge. Elita kicked the guard in the shin, grabbed Sam, and ran. “Time to go.” She hissed in Sam’s ear. “Does this mean we’re friends again?” Sam asked. “OF COURSE! Now run!” Sam smiled, then everything went dark.

Elita opened her eyes. She no longer felt the rough cobblestone street under her elbows. It was carpet. “SAM! YOUR MOM’S HERE!” Elita’s mother yelled.  As Sam opened her eyes, she shared a smile with Elita that would last forever.

 

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