Missing in time // {UNDER EDITING BEFORE CONTINUATION}//

Chapter 20

The world rematerializes before me, I'm lying on a dusty wooden floor that I don't recognize. My body aches, as if I actually fell and hit the floor. A ringing sound echoes in my ears.

Groaning, I push myself off the floor, and look around. I'm in what appears to be an attic. Dusty, unused furniture and shut boxes litter the room. Faded pink curtains are closed over the window.

"Where are we?" Andrea's voice comes from beside me. I look down at her, shrugging.

"Dunno," I start to say, Cassie interrupts me.

"This must be what your house looked like in whatever year this is. By the way, what year IS this?"

"Well, the house the built in 1807, so it can't be any older than that." I pick the up the time machine and turn it on. We're in the year 1912.

A groan comes from beside me, I turn to find Jessie sitting up.

"Ow," she mutters, rubbing the back of her head. She blinks, and looks around why.

"Where are we?"

"1912," Cassie says, getting up and dusting off her pants. She offers her hand to Jessie, who accepts gratefully. Jessie stumbles slightly once on her feet, and leans on Cassie's  shoulder for support.

"You okay?" Andrea asks, concerned.

"I'm fine, my head just really hurts," Jessie complains.

"Guys," Cassie says suddenly, sounding mildly panicked. "Guys, where's Tess?" Turn around and scan the attic, Tess is nowhere to be seen.

"Tess!" I call, "Tess!" For a moment, there's no reply, then a pile of boxes on the other side of the room shifts.

"I'm...over...here," Tess says, clambering out of the boxes.

"Why did you end up there?" Andrea asks, tilting her head in a bird like gesture.

"I think I let go," Tess shrugs.

"Don't let go. Ever. Bad stuff could happen if you do," Cassie says instantly.

"Like what?"

"Dunno. I think it would work like flu powder, how you can sometimes end up in the wrong fire place. I think you can end up in the wrong year. And then you'd just be stuck forever since you won't have the machine."

"Well, I'm okay," Tess says, brushing dust off her shirt.

"Yeah, at least- no you're not! You're bleeding!" Cassie quickly crosses the room and runs her thumb under the scratch across Tess's cheek. Tess seems to stuffen slightly, but that's probably because it hurts.

"I hit a desk, or course I'm bleedig," she says, shrugging Cassie off.

For a fleeting second, an emotion I don't have time to place flashes across Cassie's face, it's gone in a heartbeat.

Cassie suddenly pulls Tess into a hug.

"I can't believe you did what you did. After everything he did to you." At this, Tess's hand subconsciously drifts to her right hip, right where her scar is.

"He was gonna hurt you," Tess whispers. She pulls back.

"So, what do we do now?" She asks.

"Dunno," I say. "Hey, what did Edgar mean by Michael? Who's that?" 

"Who knows," Jessie says, fixing her hair. I can see a bruise already forming on her shoulder where she collided with the wall.

I suddenly remember something.

"We have to go back!" I say.

"No!"

"Why?"

"What!"

Tess, Cassie, and Andrea all speak af the same time.

"My mom. He hurt her. We have to go back."

"How do we know he won't still be there?" Tess asks, her voice shaking slightly.

"Yeah, what if he knows that you'd come back, and he's waiting for you?" Andrea mentions.

"That doesn't seem like something he'd do. He isn't really the 'wait patiently' kind of person," Cassie says.

"I don't care whether he's there or not, I have to go back. I'll go alone if I have to." I pick the machine back up.

"You can't go alone! We'll be stuck!" Tess grabs my arm.

"I'll come back, don't worry," I say. I turn the machine on and select the year 2015. I can feel four pairs of eyes on me as the world dissolves once again.

***

I land back in my room, this time on my feet. A quick glance around tells me Edgar is already gone. I trip over a pile of clothes on my way to the door, stumbling slightly.

"Mom!" I call on I reach the top of the stairs. There's no answer.

"Mom?" I make my way down the stairs, and into the kitchen. At first, I see nothing out of place, but then my eyes land on a smudge of brilliant red on the floor. I make my way around the table. I stare down at the floor before me. A scream rips itself from my throat.

A/N so so so sorry for not updating! It's been hard with the whole Italy tour. I'm still in Italy, but now I'm with my family and we've rented a house. So hopefully that means I'll be able to update more. I'm saying hopefully, because I'm done with making false promises. I know I always say things like "probably my gonna update over the weekend" and stuff like that, but then never do. So I'm just gonna say, I have no idea when I'll update but I'll try to do it soon! I really need to make a schedule for this...

Also, side note:

I'm so close to  one thousand views! Hope this chapter gets me there, or at least closer...