You're Not Alone

Visito Frome the Past

Crashlanding on her back, Frisca moaned and tried to arrange herself. Feeling the swelling on her lower back, she sat upright and had a good look around. Her surroundings were hardly visible to her in the dark, which made it all the more complicated for her to conjure where she was.  “Oh no….It’s too dark in here…” She recoiled and pulled her knees to her chest. It was cold and scary. Frisca had a phobia of dark places since she was a little girl. Darkness made her shiver with scary thoughts about ghost and monster, especially if she were alone in the dark.

“Relax, everything will be fixed. Because I just fell in a ditch,” She assured herself in a musical tone and hesitantly stood up. Singing was what she resorted to whenever she found herself surrounded by darkness. It was an old habit, taught to her by her grandpa. Frisca used to panic a lot in her childhood days, especially when her grandpa would force her to get his bottle of wine from the basement. She always had a sinking feeling that a pair of ghostly hands would seize her from behind if she were to enter any dark place alone. Hence, her grandpa came up with a simple solution. He advised her to keep singing in the dark so that her mind would be diverted from scary thoughts that troubled her. To some extent, it did help her, but the thought of ghostly hands grabbing her didn't leave her mind.

“The monster may like your voice and let you go.” Her grandpa had once winked and explained when she complained to him about her fears. Replaying the very words he had said, she built courage and walked around like a blind person. “Tori, can you hear me? Call for help, I’m stuck down here!” She gazed up and gave a loud call, but got no reply. “Tori, are you there?” She shouted again, but in vain. “Freak! What now? I don’t think he can hear me,” She ran her fingers through her hair and felt helpless. Having no other option she continued singing and walked in the darkness with no clue as to where she was heading.

“Ouch!  My nose!” she cried out in pain after banging into a dead end.

“Darn it,” she felt defeated and leaned against the wall. She realised that she was trapped and that there was no way she could get out even if she would scream her lungs out. As panic gripped in, she couldn’t take it anymore and hence stopped singing. Beads of sweat roll down her back as she contemplated what to do. The thought of becoming history and nobody ever knowing what had happened to her made her all the more delirious. She brooded and cursed her luck. “Great, so this was how I was supposed to die. Follow a grey cat into a tree, then have an epic fall on the butt and then bang your head against a dead end. What a better send-off could I’ve asked for?” she bit her lower lip and cussed.  

“I wondered what Tori would be doing out there? I hope he’s safe,” She sighed and imagined miners digging down the earth someday and then stumbling across her brittle skeleton.

“Meow!” the sudden cry of the cat startled her.

“Mr. Fluffy! Is that you?” Frisca’s sensed awakened as she began to search him in the darkness.

The cat cried again as if he were signalling her to follow his cries. Frisca turned and pressed her ear to the wall. That was when she realized, that the cries were coming from the other side.

"Is there a way out?” she scrunched her brows and knocked on the wall. “Whoa! It’s hollow, this must be a door or something!” she exclaimed in utter relief. “Great so she won’t be dead after all,” she assured herself as the feeling of fear subsided in her.  Spreading her hands over the wall, she explored the wall in hopes of finding something that would help her exit. Much to her relief, she finally did. To the extreme right was a brass doorknob which she immediately grabbed and turned around. she found something, as she fingers ran through it, she realized it was a knob. And a knob only meant that it was a door.

Pushing open the door, Frisca was generously greeted with a kiss of broad daylight. Squinting her eyes in reflex to the warm sun rays that fell over her face, she pursed her lips and thanked God for sparing her life. It felt extremely good to come out in the open. She drew in a deep breath of fresh air and soaked her body in the warmth of the sun. She literally felt like a prisoner who was experiencing freedom after being trapped in the dark cell for years.  “Thank heaves, I’m still alive!” she smiled in delight when all of a sudden her eyes fell on the main culprit, Mr. fluffy.

“There you are!” she grimaced and gave a nasty look at the grey cat. ‘You’re not getting away from me, you little ras…” she took one step forward and had hardly completed her statement when she clumsily fell. Splash! She landed in a pool of ice-cold water. “What the hell!” she spluttered and looked around. It didn’t take long for her to realise that she had landed in an artificial fountain, built in the centre of a garden.

Standing up with weeds and water droplets falling off her body, Frisca resembled a sea monster that emerged from the depths of the sea. She was terribly drenched from head to toe, her wet hair was stuck over her face like a mask.

Turning around to see how exactly she ended up falling in an artificial fountain, she parted her wet hair that came in hr view and gasped. Before her, stood an 11feet grandfather clock. This antique clock was standing tall, right at the centre of the fountain.

“Did I actually walk out from there?” she asked herself in bewilderment, as she noticed the huge door of the clock close by itself.

Frisca could not believe that she had walked out of an eleven feet grandfather clock. The antique piece was beautifully crafted, the tall and sturdy look gave it an impression that it had been standing there for years. The sparkling water below highlighted the dark mahogany finishing of the grandfather clock. The copper dials clearly showed that it was 12:00 pm.

Frisca looked at it and scrunched her brows. ‘Strange! When I was chasing the cat in the reserve, it was six in the evening.’ She crossed her arms and stepped out of the fountain.

The fountain was set in the middle of a gorgeous garden that stretched far and wide till where the eyes could see. Frisca explored and feasted her eyes on the pretty bushes of flowers that were set at a distance from each other. She followed a dry and barren pathway which she assumed would lead her out of the garden and take her to someplace familiar. There were so many things running in her mind at that moment. Finding Tori was her main priority, then heading back home, and then giving an explanation to her mother for being late. All those things perturbed her mind as she continued walking on the barren path.

“This must be some sort of theme park, but why would anyone build one in a forest reserve?” she questioned herself and shrugged her shoulders. 

When the path ended, she paused and gazed up to find a massive structure standing right in front of her. It was a white mansion that looked similar to the white house, with only the dome missing on top.  The entrance of the mansion was artistically carved with marble angels mounted on the sturdy pillars that stretched along the extensive corridor. Frisca walked in and stood at the foot of the ornamental double door that was adorned with a symbol scribed near the crystal handle. The symbol had twin heads facing in opposite direction, as if depicting that every person has two faces, like a coin. One was good and the other was pure evil.

Drifting her eyes from the symbol, she looked up and noticed the name of the mansion engraved on the wall. It read:

ORION NATIONAL MUSEUM.

Built in the year 2050.

“2050!” Frisca stared at the figures and dropped her jaw in disbelief.

She was surprised and baffled to see that the museum was claiming to have been built in the year 2050 which was like thirty-nine years from now. Our heroine was still in the year 2011, and she was only seventeen. “How can it possibly be 2050? She re-read the engraving and felt lost.

“2050!” she re-read it aloud just to see if she had made any mistake in reading the numbers before.

“The numbers won’t change!” A mysterious yet sinister voice remarked from behind.

Frisca turned around to see who had startled her, but to her astonishment, nobody was there.  Nobody, except the gorgeous garden and the grandfather clock that was at a distance away from her. Her eyes raced around to see who had uttered those words. As far as she was aware, she hadn’t seen anyone other than the grey cat.

“Maybe I’m imagining stuff again,” she murmured and raised her hands to push open the double door when all of a sudden the same voice startled her yet again.

“No, you didn't!"

 Frisca shifted her gaze down and was taken aback on seeing the same grey cat. He was seated near her feet, from where he stared twitched his whiskers.

“Did he just talk?” she asked in horror and widened her eyes.

“Yes! he did..Ahem!…I mean I did,” The cat promptly replied and licked his paws.

“M-Mr. F-Fluffy! She stuttered in bafflement and gulped.

On hearing Frisca utter his name, the cat stood up and pushed open the door with his paws, before vanishing inside. Frisca thought twice before she finally entered the museum. She wasn’t too sure whether it was agreeable to just barge in without a ticket, but then she had questions that needed to be answered. Therefore, here she was standing in front of a huge main hall that looked like a ballroom to her. At the centre rested a brass replica of the globe, the only difference was that this globe had a deep crater in between. Frisca shifted her eyes from the globe to the helpdesk at the far right. The wooden flooring had recently been waxed since she could see the reflection of the tiny crystal lamps suspended from the ceiling. The cream coloured walls were covered with glass screens, for reasons she couldn’t conjure.

She gave out a loud call, asking if anybody was in there, but as feared, nobody answered her. By the looks of it, it was quite evident, that the museum was unoccupied. She walked the empty hallway with the company of the squeaky noise that her wet sneakers made. She noticed that the hall had archways that led to other galleries, but surprisingly, these galleries were not empty. Just like any other museum, it was spread with historical artefacts and scientific inventions. Frisca turned at the corner, to one of the archways and entered a gallery filled with marble sculptures.

Big, small there were sculptures of all shapes and sizes. As she walked past each, she felt their marble eyes watching her movements.  Frisca felt uncomfortable and entered another gallery, which displayed fossils and models of prehistoric creatures, the only thing funny was that the fossils resembled a dragon. Frisca felt confused and continued walking when all of a sudden she heard weird and strange noises that echoed in the gallery. No sooner she turned around, it stopped. This continued till Frisca turned numb in fear and ran out of the gallery.

She was in no mood to explore the strange museum further. She desperately wanted to see a human face and what she wanted, even more, was to head back home to her family. She ran from gallery to gallery in hopes of finding someone she could talk to. In the process of running aimlessly, she accidentally dashed a modern piece of art that crashed into pieces.

“Oh no!” she gulped and cringed in guilt. No sooner she reacted, a demonic laugh surged in the air, before crashing out the stained window.

Frisca shrieked and turned pale. Struggling to regain control of her movement, she ran for dear life. After what felt like going around in circles, she paused to catch a breath and spotted an elevator at the far end of the hallway. She raced for it and hurriedly pressed the button.

“It works!” she exclaimed in relief, as the metal doors made way for her. She rushed in and planned to remain inside until the guards or staff showed up.

She felt a lot safer when the doors of the elevator closed. Standing there motionless, she stared at her reflection in the mirror that was covered either side of the elevator. She noticed how pale and frightened she looked. In an attempt to push the strand of hair from her face, she raised her hand when suddenly the elevator started with a jerk. Frisca lost her balance and fell on her knees. The elevator charged upwards as she regained her balance and looked around in confusion. Frisca’s heart raced when the elevator came to a standstill. She cringed in tension as the metal doors gradually parted. That's when she first encountered the man who would change her simple life into something beyond her wildest dreams.

Standing before her was a young man, casually dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans. Balancing his brown leather jacket in the crook of his arm, he stared at Frisca in curiosity.

“Finally, a human!” Frisca squealed with relief and excitement, while the young gentleman stepped back with a start.

 Seeing a human face after what she had experienced down in the gallery had certainly taken a toll on her sensibility.  Smiling from ear to ear, she barged out and embraced him in excitement, not caring to realise that he was just a mere stranger. The man stood there motionless, waiting for her to release her arms that were tightly wrapped around him. It didn’t take long for her to snap out of her daze, that’s when she turned red in embarrassment and pulled back.

“Uh..Mmm..S-sorry! Forgive me, I didn’t mean to…, “ She stuttered sheepishly and lowered her head to avoid his icy gaze.

“Aha! Now I understand what your urgent work was all about?”

Frisca seemed startled and raised her head to answer him. “Eh…Urgent work?” She repeated the words in confusion before the young man shifted his gaze to his right. Frisca shifted her gaze too, to see what had captured his attention. That’s when she saw another gentleman walking in their direction.

“Not you, milady, I’m talking to your boyfriend,” he said as he approached them.

“What! My boyfriend?” She went tongue-tied and exchanged glances with the man standing before her.

“Give it a rest, Magmus, I don’t know this woman,” He suddenly broke his silence and grabbed her attention.

“Ha-ha! That will make you a live magnet then. I know what you are, buddy so don’t pretend,” Magmus sniggered and shifted his gaze on Frisca who was finding it rather odd to be standing amongst two strangers.

“Suit yourself! I’ve got better things to do today,” His friend remarked and loosened the collar of his shirt.

He walked past Frisca with his head held high and proceeded towards the elevator. She didn’t know why, but somehow she received a strange vibration from him. It was a feeling that she had never felt before in her lifetime. The stranger stared at her reflection in the mirror before the doors of the elevator closed behind her.

“You are late, Miss,” Magmus said politely and grabbed her attention.

He was heavily built and a bit muscular than the stranger she had encountered before. By his rough and tough looks, she could make out that he was in his late twenties. Noticing the type of clothes he was in, she realised that he was one of the museum staff. His sky blue shirt highlighted the colour of his dark-blue tie where he had pinned his identity card. The letters were too small for Frisca to figure out his name.

“I’m Magmus, the chief security officer of this museum. Pleased to meet you,” He smiled and brought forward his hands to greet her.

“Pleased to meet you too sir!” Frisca replied and hesitantly shook hands with him. The warm and friendly handshake convinced her that he was a person she could trust for the time being.

“You may be aware, that you’re late for your first day at work, aren’t you?” He raised his brows worriedly and gestured her to follow him.

“The rules are simple yet strict in here, don’t worry you’ll learn in time,” He explained and walked into a room. He made Frisca take a seat and offered her a glass of water.  As she relaxed on the sofa and quenched her thirst, her eyes fell on the digital calendar that was projected on one of the similar screen walls that she had seen below.  She studied it minutely and froze on seeing the date it displayed.

“Typhoon coming! Dust bunny alert! Dust bunny alert!” A robotic voice startled her all of a sudden. Her pupils dilated in astonishment as she witnessed a short height robot, walking in with a vacuum. It caught something grey and furry as it cleaned the carpeted floor.

“Professor told me that you will be joining us soon,” Magmus exclaimed and continued blabbering, while Frisca just stared at him blankly. She had no idea about what or whom he was referring to. He probably thought that she was someone else.  Noticing how weirdly the robot was behaving, she stopped him and interrupted, “Sorry sir. I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I desperately need your help.”

Magmus looked at gently and smiled, “Everybody gets nervous on the first day of their job. Relax! I’m here to help you,” he said and tried to make her feel comfortable, but it wasn’t working for Frisca couldn’t take it anymore.

Without minding her tone, she asked demandingly, “Which year is it?”

 “Whoa, hold all the excitement kid!” he laughed and gazed at his wristwatch. “You want to know which year is it, right? Well, it's 2056,” He added and shifted his gaze back on her. Frisca was left dumbstruck, she could hardly believe what he had said. Frisca had walked into the future was hardly aware of it until now. Magmus looked at her curiously as she sat there confused and perplexed. She felt she was going crazy and that the whole room was spinning around her. First, she heard Mr. Fluffy talking to her and now the chief security officer of the museum was telling her that it was the year 2056. These incidents weren’t something that happened to her every day, they were more unusual than ever.

“Sir, you may think I’m crazy, but I’m not from here,” she stood up with trembling legs and wiped her most brows.

‘Pardon me! I didn't get you?” Magmus replied and tried to figure out what she had said.

“Sir, before I entered your museum I was in the year 2011," she explained pensively and lowered her head. She felt stupid saying things she never thought she would ever say, but she had to say what was right, no matter how weird it sounded.

“The mademoiselle is right, she is in fact from the past,” a familiar voice interrupted them.

Frisca looked up to see who had spoken, that’s when she saw the grey cat again. Crawling out of the robot’s vacuum, he jumped on the window sill and faced Magmus.

“Shut up, Koru! Nobody believes what a demon like you says.” Magmus snubbed him and shifted his attention back on Frisca.

Frisca broke into a sweat after hearing what Magmus said. “Okay! So now the cat is actually a demon!” she gulped and felt like she could collapse any moment. Feeling really exhausted by the turn of events that had taken place with her. Frisca drifted into unconsciousness and fell down before Magmus could react and help her.

“Tell me you had no hand in this,” Magmus rushed towards Frisca and an asked Koru suspiciously.

The cat glanced at the scratch marks on Frisca’s ankle and grinned sheepishly, “Of course! I’m the one with the paws out here,”

‘He’s not going to like it if he finds out what happened! I hope she’s alright,” Magmus lifted Frisca in his arms and placed her on the couch.

“Chill, big guy. She’s just over-excited. I’m sure she’ll wake up soon,” Koru swayed his tail and curled under the table while Magmus checked her pulse. He looked at her with concern in his eyes and pondered about what she had said earlier. Was she really from the past? He sighed and looked out the window. The weather had suddenly turned rough. The wind whistled as it breezed through the trees in the garden surrounding the museum. Realising that this wasn’t a good sign, he got up and closed the windows, before leaving Frisca with the demon cat, Koru.