To Save a Friend

Part Two

Orlina awoke with a groan and hauled her aching body to her feet. All was quiet inside and outside the box now, and when she turned the handle, it gave way easily. Before opening the door, she glanced at the time and date, and with a thrill of excitement and horror, saw that it really did say a date two years in the past, and the seconds and milliseconds were moving once again. She grabbed her phone from her pocket, intending to check the time and date, but the screen remained dark. Dead. She pushed the door open and gave a yelp of surprise as the dark sheet fell on her head. Had John thrown it over the box? John was nowhere to be seen, and much of the room looked a little different. The bicycle now only had one wing, and was painted white instead of black. Some of the spindly machines were in different places or were absent altogether.

Orlina heard rain outside. It had been fully sunny when they arrived, with no chances of rain for days. But she remembered it was raining that fateful day two years ago. She shivered. She had really traveled into the past. With a thrill of joy and terror, she rushed to the trap door. Then something occurred to her: The light was on. Someone must be nearby. She listened hard but heard nothing. Ever so carefully, she climbed the ladder and slipped onto the ground floor of the shed. Now she could hear quiet voices, two or three, at the other end of the shed. She crept along the wall, carefully avoiding exposed nails and other hazards. A sudden movement caught her eye, and she ducked behind the white car, heart in her throat. After a long moment, she continued, still crouched low to the ground. At last, she was in reach of the door she and John had entered (or would enter in two years). She clambered to her feet and had only just laid her fingers on the handle when it was wrenched open from the other side. She clapped a hand to her mouth.

It was Grayson, her dead best friend's older brother, surprised and soaking wet. Both Orlina and Grayson leapt back in alarm.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered.

"I work for old Kent," he said. "What's your excuse? Shouldn't you be at the school?"

School? Orlina's mind raced. Band practice ran late that night; she remembered now. "Yes and no," she replied. Already, a dim plan was beginning to form in her mind. "Look, you're never going to believe me, but I need your help."

"Just say the word," Grayson said with a sigh. "I'm sure I owe you a favor for something or other." His tone was nonchalant, but Orlina thought she saw a flicker of worry behind his eyes. His eyes looked so very like his brother's: they appeared gray at a distance, but up close, a ring of green was visible around the pupil. She felt a lump forming in her throat.

"Can you get me somewhere I can lie low for a couple hours?" she asked.

"Sure," Grayson replied. "Just a sec."

Orlina took a step back and stood motionless just inside the doorway, her back to the wall. She could dimly hear Grayson telling Kent that he was leaving for the day.

The wind had picked up and the rain was falling in earnest now. Grayson jogged back into view. "I don't have an umbrella on me, sorry," he said. "We'll have to make a break for it."

Orlina nodded, and they raced to his car. She took shotgun, slammed the door behind her, and slunk low in the seat.

Grayson glanced at her curiously as he buckled his seatbelt. "Something really is going on with you, huh," he said.

"Something like that." She sighed, sat up a little straighter, and buckled her own seatbelt.

"Okay," said Grayson as he started the engine. "What's wrong?"

After a deep breath, Orlina told him everything. About how she was from the future, and how Flynn had died on his way back from the senior keg this very night, and how she was only sort of here on purpose.