Dark ominous clouds hovered over the tree covered hills of southern Indiana. Thunder rolled across the skies and a light rain began to fall.
Twenty-one year old Jacqueline Moore jammed her smart phone into her blue jeans pocket and hurried along the path towards Clarksville. The future history teacher was enjoying the last days of summer before going back to college. She soon became aware of the sound of motors behind her and glanced back to see a couple of young men on ATVs, causing her lip to curl slightly in annoyance. As the guys roared past they both gave Jacqueline charming smiles, and one of them winked. Jacqueline rolled her eyes; she was tired of men flirting with her. But what man could resist?
Her 5’5” frame was thin and well formed, her face was oval shaped with high cheek bones, a thin pleasant mouth, a thin nose, expressive almond shaped brown eyes, and shoulder length golden hair. But unlike most beautiful girls, Jacqueline was not a man hunter. She believed that the man meant for her would come into her life when he was supposed to.
And speaking of men… Who was the mysterious gentleman that had been appearing in her dreams lately? She never saw him clearly, always through a mist, pacing and muttering to himself. She got the feeling she was supposed to help him somehow. Stop him from doing something terrible. But what?
Thunder rumbled again, much louder then before. Jacqueline looked up in time to see a bolt of lightning flashing toward her. All she could do was gasp, and then everything went black.
~~
Jacqueline awoke with a splitting headache; she sat up slowly and looked around, confusion crossing her face. There was no burn mark where the lightning had struck, the path was gone, and the forest looked different.
Upon standing up carefully, Jacqueline was able to see a town up ahead. She began walking in that direction. As she got closer she started to recognize a few of the buildings and decided that it must be Clarksville after all, though it wasn’t as large as she remembered.
As Jacqueline entered the town she noticed that everyone seemed to be dressed in re-enactors clothing, which she found very odd since she had seen no notice of any re-enactment.
The main street was covered in dirt, as though someone had ripped away the pavement. In her confusion Jacqueline was not watching where she was going, and soon ran into something solid. She looked up to find that it was a man she had collided with. A tall man, with hair the color of carrots.
“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t see you.” Jacqueline said feeling very embarrassed.
He smiled, causing the corners of his blue eyes to crinkle slightly. “It’s alright, Miss. No harm was done.”
Jacqueline smiled and turned to walk away, promptly running into someone else.
She mentally rolled her eyes. “I’m doing just great today.”
“Sorry.” She repeated before looking up.
This time a colored man stood before her. He smiled slightly and bowed his head to her.
Jacqueline was a little puzzled by this as she watched the two men walk away, the colored man a couple steps behind the red head. They had both been dressed in the style of the early 19th century, so Jacqueline thought perhaps they were part of the impromptu re-enactment.
Deciding to enjoy the festivities, Jacqueline set off down the street, only to realize minutes later that all of the modern buildings were gone. It was as if they had never been there.
Jacqueline was starting to freak out a little bit. The logical explanation was that she had been knocked out by the lightning strike and this was just a really strange dream. She remembered reading that if you slap or pinch yourself in a dream it will actually wake you up. So right there in the middle of main street, Jacqueline began to slap herself silly. But it didn’t have the desired effect. All she succeeded in doing was drawing the concerned and somewhat nervous attention of the townsfolk.
The theme of The Twilight Zone automatically began to play in Jacqueline’s mind. On impulse she ran out of town at top speed, until an oak tree stopped her with a protruding root. She fell to the ground shaking, and as a haze began to cloud her mind, she wondered if she had finally gone crazy.
