Lost in time

Chapter 3

“Fine! Just stop the squealing, I already have a headache, what with mom and not having a job. Let’s just rip the band-aid off. I’m going to tell mom I’m going to look for work, then she will know you are on your own.”

“Then she is going to tell us to stay at home! You can’t do that.”

“She won’t. I’ll talk to her.”

Mystery sighs, not totally convinced, and starts working on the next part of the machine. Their sisters soon join them, and they work in silence. Magenta slips a small metal part into place after hours of work, and they look at the notes one more time.

“I think that’s it.” Mischief grins.

“Are you sure?” Mayhem steps back and looks at the machine. If they don't do it right, it might be catastrophic.

“It doesn’t look complete.”

Magenta checks the notes.

“Yeah, she’s right. All we need is the power source.” She walks around the machine looking at it as if it’s a treasure they just found, and it is going to solve all their problems.

“Magenta…”

“Yeah?”

“Do you think we will find dad?”

After a couple of months, their family has fallen into a more normal routine. Their mom leaves for work early in the morning while Magenta pretends to be asleep until after she has left.

Once she is out the door, the girls start fidgeting until she finally chases them out so she can concentrate on getting the machine to work. Finding a power source for the machine is more difficult than she thought, and she understands why her father had such a difficult time.

Her mother’s birthday is also coming up, and she overheard her sisters planning on trying to scavenge so they can buy ingredients for a cake. Rolling her eyes, she still has to think of some way to explain that one to her mother.

Today, however, is different than other days. Today she has an interview for a change, and she is dressed and ready to leave the apartment before her mother is even ready.

“I’m going out… Bye.”

She is out the door before anyone can say anything. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she makes her way to the city trains. Maybe she should have worn something more appropriate for the interview? Then she would have had to ask her mom for something because she doesn’t own anything other than sweats and black hoodies.

She feels as if she has been transported into a completely different world when she steps out of the station. Everything is so colorful on this side of the city. The apartments even have people who open the door for you… Really!

She finds the address, but the doorman stops her.

“No beggars!”

“I’m not a beggar. I’m here for an interview with Mr. Maximillian.”

“As what? A street sweeper? No, I don’t believe you. GET!”

GREAT! She should have worn something different! Who knew things looked so good here? Deciding that she is not going to give up that easily, she walks away and starts looking for the alleyway that leads to the side of the building. If she can’t get in through the front door, she will just have to go in through the back…

But the moment she finds the stairs, she also finds guards. Who is this guy that needs so many people to look after him? Walking back around to the front, she notices a well-dressed gentleman furiously shouting at someone on the phone before climbing into a black SUV and driving off.

If that were him, she ought to punch the doorman for taking away her only opportunity for a job. Nobody knows more about antiques than she does!

She walks past the doorman again, then turns back.

“You know what? I might look like a beggar to you, but I have a master’s degree in historic preservation! You just cost me the only job opportunity I’ve had since we arrived here six months ago! I hope you sleep well tonight because I will be going hungry!”

She throws her arms in the air and stomps off ignoring what he has to say as she disappears into the underground train station.

***

“Max! Finally! We are ready to run our first test, and you are late.” Sophia reprimands him the moment he walks into the office.

He had a late night and is not in the mood for her mothering, and on top of that, the woman that was supposed to come for the job interview never showed! You would think that in today’s day and age, people would give their front teeth for an opportunity like that! People don’t stand him up, ever.

“Are the investors here?”

“Yes, but I still think we shouldn’t have involved the government in our project. They don’t have the same plans you do.” She whispers on her way to the boardroom.

“We had no other choice, and you know it.”

He walks into the boardroom with his sales pitch smile on his face, greeting everyone, leading them through to the lab. When he stumbled on the research done by Dr. Frank Hart, he originally thought it was another hoax, but when he had his team look into the possibility, the numbers showed that it was possible.

Dr. Hart’s research was close to making the breakthrough to actually making a time machine, and today is the most important day of his work for the past seven years. It’s the first test of his machine to see if they can open a portal and send it through his raptor.

If the video footage shows that they have gone back in time, this will be the day the government gives him the financial backing he needs to carry on with his research. Having money of his own didn’t mean he had the kind of resources he needed, and only they could provide it.

They walk into the lab visitor’s room, and he shows them to their seats in the small stand. Tapping the button on the intercom, he instructs his staff to start up the machine.

He has an agreement with the government that if it works, they will fund his research so they can send teams back in time to change the outcome of their current predicament. The oceans are rising and the desert is growing, and soon there will be no place for anyone to live. Unless you don’t mind living in a desert, drinking salt water.

He watches Sophia switch on the last button and hears the turbines start to kick in the power source. He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes for a second, then nods when she looks at him. His sister has been the driving force behind the actual research, but few people know that they are related because she took their mother’s maiden name.

She never knew their father, only their mother, and refused to be called by a surname that, according to her, was not who she was. It also made things easier when doing business.

Pressing the button to open the portal, you can hear everyone holding their breath.

Sparks start flying between the nine points in the metal wheel, and it looks as if an energy field was about to open when everything including the visitor’s room light goes out.

***

“Stupid damn doorman!” She walks out of the station and into her dull, dreary side of town.

“I live on the freaking apocalypse side of town!” She mumbles.

***

The store looks as if it’s abandoned, but there is a light burning inside.

“Do you think someone’s in there?” Mischief whispers, holding onto her sister’s arm.

“Only one way to find out.” Mayhem opens the door and the bell rings.

“Coming.” They hear an old man’s voice coming from the back of the shop and try to scatter out of the door before he can see them.

“Can I help you young ladies with something?” He catches them just as Mystery is about to close the door.

They whisper trying to figure out if they should go back or not, all the while Mystery’s hand is on the door handle, keeping it open slightly.

“Ladies, I’m old, I can’t stand here waiting all day.”

They slowly make their way back into the store and introduce themselves, apologizing for their quick exit. Pretending to browse, Mayhem decides to rather get to know the old man rather than just pretend to browse and leave.

“Hi, I’m Mayhem, that’s Mystery and that is Mischief.”

“Wow, your parents really didn’t like you.” He bursts out laughing.

Mischief shrugs.

“We are used to people looking at us like that.”

“Like what?”

“As if we are weirdos.”

“Well, you have very different names than what people are used to. That doesn’t make you weird. It makes you unique.” He lifts his chin, smiling.

“Are you looking for anything in particular?”

“We are scavengers.”

“Mischief!!” Mayhem reprimands her.

“Oh, but that’s a very dangerous thing for three young girls like yourselves to be doing? Where are your parents?”

Mystery rolls her eyes.

“I told you we should have left.”

“No, no. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

He almost looks angry at himself.

“Can I get you, girls, some water?”

“No, thank you. Our sister will be home soon. We had better get going.” Mayhem smiles kindly at the old man.

“Okay, but you haven’t told me what you were scavenging for?”

“Anything we can sell.”

“Mischief!!”

“Hmm, are you sure you don’t want some water?”

“Yes, we are sure, thank you. We aren’t street kids. Our mom and big sister will be at home soon.”

“We are trying to get money to buy our mom a broach for her birthday.”

“Dammit, Mischief!!” Mayhem angrily looks at her baby sister.

“Ah… The one in the shop around the corner. It is a nice piece, but you will have to do a lot of work to get money for that.”

He asks them about where they are trading their goods and at what prices. Lastly, he asks where they are scavenging and doesn’t look too happy to hear where they go each day.

“I will make you a deal. Bring me your loot every day. Maybe I can give you a better price than the market can, and at least then you won’t be as unsafe as you are in the market.”

They shake on it, and the girls happily show him their loot, immediately striking up a friendship with the old man.

***

After seeing the three girls sneaking into his shop, he could see from their clothes they weren’t the normal thieves, but to be on the safe side he went to check them out in any case.

When he hears their story, as he looks at what they found, his heart goes out to them. He lost his wife and daughter years ago when the first wave of heat hit the country. They were at a school event in the inlands and didn’t make it back home alive. The world has gone to pot since that first wave, and all he has left is his shop. Having the girls come in every day, might be a nice change.

Their eyes sparkle when they open their bags and pour out what they found. It breaks his heart to think that these girls had to find these types of items to try and buy their mom a gift. Looking at small metal corner pieces of cupboards, two taps, which they were very lucky to find, a chipped bowl, and some other metal-based items, he is surprised that they are actually getting any money for this.

“Okay, I will give you three coins.”

Watching their eyes grow wide, he fights to keep his face straight and not to burst out laughing. The things they brought aren’t even worth a quarter coin, which is what they would have gotten at the market, but the taps are actually something he could use and what is he going to do with the money he has in any way.