Anyway, here's the story:
It’s the year 2121. A flustered man, robed in a stained white coat and large plastic protective glasses, is compiling a booklet of directions and precautions regarding his newly-created mechanism.
This man has had many encounters with mysterious instruments during his lifetime. Being parentless since a young age, he had to grow up quote quickly compared to society’s standards about children and parenting. He regrets not having parents to discuss problems with, but he only knows what really happened to his parents and he was to blame...and it was all because of a mechanism that had the capability of changing one’s healthy—mentally and physically.
That’s why he’s being extra cautious about this machine he’s just created. A machine meant for good, but could change someone’s life for the worst in a matter of minutes...
Clark and Azalea eyed the machine warily. It was as tall as two six-foot humans and the width of two small cars set lengthwise. It was nothing to think of lightly. A large screen that bore the word “Welcome” glowed in the front with a bluish tinge. The two siblings stared at the device in utter awe.
It was a time-portal, Clark and Azalea had learned after reading the side, one that only moved to important events of the inputted year. It had been made some fifty odd years ago and never been used since its fabrication. Everything looked brand-new about it, if a little dusty from sitting in a corner for a while. Below the large front screen, there hung a booklet, faded with age and anything but decipherable. Azalea stepped forward, unhooked the manuscript and threw it off to the side, obviously useless since they couldn’t read it. She stepped back in line with her brother.
“What do you say we do with it?” Azalea asked.
“Let’s test it out,” Clark, her brother, responded. “If it’s been unused for a long time, it might not work now.” Azalea nodded in agreement and the two stepped forward. Clark walked in the entrance that was on the left side and his sister followed.
Inside was a sort-of office. Two futuristic-looking chairs were nailed to the time-portal’s floor and a large screen that showed a current view of the basement was placed in front of a desk that had rows and rows of buttons. The siblings each took a seat.
“I wonder how this machine travels back in time?” Clark murmured to himself. He leaned over the giant control desk and pressed a button that said “Time and Place”. On the screen, the basement image disappeared and a computer menu took its place. Azalea quickly typed in the year 2121. The entrance doorway suddenly slammed shut and the two siblings felt themselves tumble about the inside of the machine like two dolls in a moving dollhouse. Once the gadget stopped its violent rolling, the doorway once again opened and Clark and Azalea were faced with an image of a scientist, eyes wild with adrenaline, creating a machine much like the one they were in. Azalea ran up to the man, who did not notice her. She tapped him on the shoulder, but he didn’t turn to look at her. She shook him lightly, but still he didn’t pay attention. It soon came clear that anyone who used the portal couldn’t communicate with people of the past. Azalea ran back to the machine where Clark waited.
“I can’t talk to him.” And Azalea explained the rest. Clark nodded when she was done and they returned to the time-portal.
“Still, we can see the past. Think of all the things we can see!” Clark cried once they were back home in their basement.
“It is wonderful, this time-portal,” Azalea agreed. She and her brother stepped out of the machine back into the coolness of their basement. They faced their parents, who looked angry in expression and stance. And when they spoke, their tone was like nails on a blackboard.
“I see you’ve found a little toy, Clark and Azalea,” said Mrs. Higgins, the mother.
“Yes.” The children shuffled.
“Things that are unknown can be very dangerous,” said Mr. Higgins.
“We know.” The children looked at their feet.
“Perhaps you mustn’t continue the use of it. As a time-portal, a bunch of things can get easily messed up.” The mother looked at the children sternly, who still didn’t dare a take a peek at their parents’ faces.
“No!” Azalea and Clark cried, now looking up suddenly. “It really seems great! Perhaps we can show you!” The children pulled their parents into the machine and urgently typed in the year 2100, when a great celebration had been held.
At arrival in the year, the family saw a jubilant festival, with music and dancers, ethnic foods and people. The parents couldn’t help but remember these festivities when they were a child, and Azalea and Clark had always wanted to witness the great celebration. Little did the family know, a horrible thing was about to happen.
The family was heading back to the time-portal when the machine started to shake, like it was about to head back to the basement. The family started sprinting towards the machine and only Mr. and Mrs. Higgins made it. The door closed just as Clark and Azalea tried to reach the time-portal and only then did they remember a sentence that hadn’t faded in the manuscript. It had read: “You only have twenty minutes to visit the place you wish. And then if you miss your time, you shall never return to your real life.” Yes, the children were stranded in a place where they couldn’t live, and they wouldn’t. They would starve. The parents would never be able to find their children again. It was a heartbreaking thing to acknowledge, but only true. And it was a consequence to those who hadn’t read the instruction booklet. Because, if the Higgins family had paid any attention to it, they would have been reminded of a story, another heartbreaking story. Because the inventor of the time-portal was not to be trusted as he was named Peter Hadley.
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