2. Did you know that in the future, people have flying cars
and floating gas-stations? Ok, maybe you knew that but what
about floating chairs or even time machines? Well, did you
know who made them?
3. It all started in Chargingville,
Illinois in 2056. Her name was
Carmen Thomas. She wasn’t a rich
person or a poor one either, and
she definitely wasn’t popular. She
always sat in the back row with her
huge glasses that looked like owl’s
eyes and she only had one friend
who moved a day after they
became friends. But one day, she
surprised us all.
4. It was Dec. 15, only ten days away from Christmas and
everyone was excited about getting out of school, especially
Carmen. She was all excited for some new thing she was
going to make, a Time machine. She told everyone but no one
believed that she could. I mean would you have?
5. Carmen lived next door to me and I never saw her parents
or anyone walk into her house. Every night, there would be a
glowing light coming from the window of her basement. Once
I looked through it, but the light was too bright to see
anything. One night, my curiosity got the best of me and I
looked through the window.
6. For once the light wasn’t on, but I still saw something
moving inside. It was her and she was looking right at me. She
came over to the window and peered through. I couldn’t
move. My legs were trembling and sweat was dripping of my
head.
7. I still couldn’t move, even though I knew she was going
to come out of her house and take me to her parents and
then I would be grounded for life. But she did the complete
opposite. She waved her hand in front of me and invited me
over, knowing I was curious about what was in her basement.
8. I knew this would be a great story to tell my friends, so
I accepted her offer and followed her into her strange looking
house. The roof of the house was circled and the tiles were
coming out, instead of lying on top.
9. The house was covered
in paintings of people,
girls and boys, women
and men. There was even
a dog named Rex. The
steps were straight down
instead of circled like
mine and all of my
friends.
10. When I saw their kitchen, I was amazed. It had a box shaped
thing that Carmen called a stove, and they had a tall
rectangular thing called a fridge.
11. I was surprised that her house was like my ancestors
and only consisted of one television. Their car was a box one
and they drove it on the ground!
12. Carmen took me to their basement. A long time ago,
before they made weather machines that controlled the
weather, they had to go down there in case of a big storm. I
haven’t seen anyone who still has those.
13. The basement was used for storage and had a small
room to the left that looked very strange. When she opened
the door, I was blinded by the light and could not see
anything. My mind went blank and I felt like I was floating in
air. It turns out I was! I was falling through, for what seemed
like years, before we hit something. I could see people riding
on horses, wars going on, the first light bulb, and cavemen. I
was going through time!
14. When we
finally reached
the ground, it was
sunny and there
were flowers
everywhere.
There were
beautiful
mountains and
trees with flowers
blooming.
15. Then something destroyed it all. It was a dinosaur! It
crushed everything that got in its way and never had a slight
doubt before it killed something. It was coming right at us!
But Carmen never did anything. She just stood there looking
at it. I kept glancing at her and then the giant beast. I was
horrified! Why wasn’t she doing anything?
16. The beast was right in front of us. It stepped closer
and right when it was about to hit us, Carmen said
“ZAPP” and before I could blink, we were back in her
smelly basement.
17. I was astonished of what I had just seen. She told
me not to tell anybody about this because the
government had banned them because people kept
changing time and everything was messed up.
18. “Well, don’t your parents notice all of the light?” I
asked. She said that she did not have parents. “Who takes
care of you then?” I asked.
“The robots do,” she said. I kind of felt bad for her
because I know that I could not live without my mom and my
dad.
19. She asked me if I wanted to play a game in her room. I
wanted to see what it looked like, so I said yes. Her room was
filled with science books and pictures of the solar system. It
was astonishing.
20. I asked where her parents were. She said they were on
Mars doing an experiment to try to get the air clean enough
for people to live on it. I thought that only astronauts could
do that. What if her parents were astronauts? I was going to
ask her, but she looked really sad when she talked about her
parents.
21. After playing an ancient board game, I walked home. I
had a strange feeling that I had to tell someone because it
was wrong to have one of these machines. Another part of
me said not to, because of her parents and her not having
very many friends. I thought about it all night long. I decided
not to tell anyone.
22. The next day we
had to go back to school.
History was my worst
subject and what do you
know, we had a pop quiz
right off the bat. I was
surprised that I did not
see that coming. Every
time we got back from a
vacation, one of the
teachers gave us a pop
quiz to see if we were
studying over break. I felt
sick to my stomach and I
could not do anything
about it.
24. I got home and went straight to Carmen’s house. I had
to ask her what had been on my mind ever since I found out
that we had a pop quiz.
25. “Do you think I can use your time machine to see what
questions are going to be on the test? I know it is cheating
but it would help me a lot,” I asked. “That is cheating and you
know that. I can’t just give you the test answers. If my parents
were here, I know that they would tell me not to do that,” she
answered.
26. I was furious with her. If she really was my friend then
she would do what I asked and not even have to think about
it. What kind of friend is she?
27. I had to do
something about
this test. If I failed
it, my parents
would kill me. It
was right then that
I made the
decision that could
change it all.
28. When Carmen went to school, 1 hour early, I ran over
to her house and opened the door. I was very surprised that it
was unlocked. Especially since she only had robots there to
watch the house. I ran down to her basement and there was
the odd looking machine.
29. I was about to touch the on button, but I heard a
strange noise behind me. It was the robot. I ran to a pile of
books and hid behind them. The robot picked up the trash
from the garbage can, and went back upstairs. It was right
then that I realized I was trapped.
30. The robot was upstairs
and there was no door to the
outside from the basement.
Soon my parents would
notice I was gone and get
worried. I had to get out of
there! I ran to the window
and jumped up. I grabbed
the window ledge and tried
to pull myself out but I was
too big. I heard the robot
come down the stairs. I used
all of my might and I just
made it out. I was not done
yet though.
31. Right in front of me was my …………………………. Parents.
“Where have you been? Have you lost your mind, sneaking
into someone house like that? We are very disappointed in
you! Go to your room now!” my parents screamed. I was
going to talk back but my parents had already made it clear
that I should probably go to my room.
32. I hated my room. It hadn’t got redone since I was 4. It
was all pink and purple. I was so bored that I actually read a
book and I never read books! Every time I looked at the clock
only a few minutes had passed since the last time I looked.
Finally my parents came with FOOD and their mouths.
33. “What were you thinking" my mother demanded.
“I don’t know. I just wanted to use her time machine.” My
mom looked stunned and my dad looked furious.
“Don’t be making these things up. You’re not five anymore”
my dad said with a little grin on his face.
“But I am not making this up. It’s true!” I said
My dad stormed out of the room looking more disappointed
than he did when he found me at Carmen’s house. My mom
stayed though. She looked at me for a long time, without
saying anything.
34. “I promise I’m not lying. You have to believe me!” I
begged.
“You can’t tell anybody about what I am going to tell you" my
mom said.
I promised.
35. “I know that there is a
time machine over there. I
was good friends with
Carmen’s parents. I did not
tell your dad about them
leaving because he would not
believe me. I just said that
they moved for a project and
left Carmen with her
grandparents. I am really not
surprised about the time
machine considering,
Carmen’s parents made
machines to reduce the
weather.”
36. “They were the ones who made those. I thought
astronauts made those. ……………………They are astronauts
aren’t they?’’ My mom nods her head. We sit in silence for a
while until my mom finally says something.
37. “I am sorry I did not stop your dad from yelling at you,
but if I did than I would have to tell him. I know your dad
would have to tell someone because he can’t keep a secret”
my mom says quietly so dad won’t hear her.
38. “Do you think dad would tell his friends?” I ask. My
mom shrug’s her shoulders. Dad works at the police station.
He does the taxes and stuff, but he is good friends with some
of the cops.
39. A million things are racing through my head right now.
How could mom have kept that secret? Does Carmen know
her? Why is she just telling me this now? I wish I knew the
answers, but something tells me that is impossible. There is
one question that I have been meaning to ask my mom in this
short period of time.
40. “If the air is clean enough on Mars……. Will we live
there with Carmen and her parents?” I say, barely more than
a whisper.
“I don’t know, I guess we would have to tell your dad about it
to know for sure. But we can’t tell him now. We need to wait
until it is in the open and everyone knows about it.”
41. “Why exactly did you want to use her time machine?”
my mom asks with curiosity. “I wanted to look at the
questions on the test so I could know what to study for” I say
quietly. My mom looks stunned. “Listen honey, this is an
extraordinary thing. You don’t want to use it for a bad thing.
Use it for a good thing’’ my mom says.
42. “You didn’t get mad at her did you?” My mom says
seeing the look in my face. I make a little nod. My mom looks
disappointed, which makes me very sad because all I really
want to do is make my parents proud.
43. “I think you should go and apologize. I know you are
probably thinking why. But Carmen has been through a lot
and she does not need any more grief. I bet you are the only
person who talked to her this whole year. I know if you were
in her place you would want her to apologize” my mom says
in her normal, casual voice.
44. My mom never gets worked up over things. Whenever
she gets mad she never screams, she just reads or goes to
church and prays. She doesn’t get mad easily, which can get
very annoying.
45. “Fine, but if I don’t fail this test are you still going to
ground me?”
“If you can be back here and showered by 9:30, then I
will help you study for your test. But you only have 15
minutes!” my mom says with a little grin on her face.
46. I run down the stairs and onto Carmen’s front porch.
Before I can even knock, the door opens and Carmen is
standing there, with teary eyes.
“I am sorry if I made you upset, but I really wanted to
get an A on that test” I say with a sad look on my face.
47. “ I accept your apology, but it is not you I was crying
about, …………………………. It’s my parents. They just called.
They said that something exploded and all of their equipment
destroyed. They only had one phone call left so they used it
on me to say goodbye” she says with the saddest expression I
have ever seen in my life.
48. She shakes her head and
falls to the ground in tears. I
kneel down beside her, for a few
minutes. I don’t know what to do,
but cry with her. It starts with a
few tears and ends as a sob. I
know crying is not the best thing
to do in this situation but it is the
only thing I can make come out of
my mouth.
“But they will get
help won’t they” I say a
not in my stomach.
49. I realize after what seems like more than fifteen
minutes that is should go over to my mom and get help. I run
over and get her, telling her about what happened while we
walk over. Once I finish my story, she starts to run. I follow,
not knowing how fast my mom really was.
50. My mom runs to Carmen, who hasn’t moved since I left,
and comforts her. I on her right and my mom on her left. I
hear the TV come on so I go over to it. On is an emergency
warning………………..It is about Carmen’s parents. I turn it off,
knowing Carmen doesn’t want to see it.
51. After a night of tears, we end up with mom and dad
talking about it downstairs, Carmen and me upstairs sleeping
on the bunk bed that I used to share with my cousin when
she lived with us. I wake up early in the morning and get a
shower and study as much as I could before I have to go to
school.
52. I sleep like a rock and can barely hear anything when I am
sleeping , so I did not hear Carmen crying all night, but I did
see it. Her whole face was red. And her eyes were swollen. It
made me want to cry to. My parents were still in the kitchen
talking about it. My dad seemed to take it well. I am glad.
53. Me and Carmen went to school and had our
normal schedule. It continued for days until
one, which had some problems.
54. “Hey I heard that your parents died. Sorry for your loss of
geeks. At least now there is only one geek in school!”Brittney,
the meanest girl in our school, says. I run over and tell her to
stop. “And who is going to stop me?” she says with a smirk on
her face. “Me……….and you can’t stop me!” I screech. Brittney
turns and walks away with her friends behind her.
55. As we walk back to my house I see that my parents are
waiting for us. “We have made a decision about where you
are going to go Carmen,” my parents say with smiles on their
faces. “Where?” Carmen and I both say at the same time.
“Here!”My parents yell. Me and Carmen both run up and hug
them.
57. Epilogue
My parents and I adopted Carmen and she is
now my sister. I am now 15 and so is Carmen. We
have become best friends and we stick up for each
other no matter what.
