Short Stories

Time Travel Story

The building was old and abandoned. The windows were boarded up with plywood causing it to emit an eerie feeling. In short, it looked extremely creepy. Victoria, Marilyn, and I crept up to the abandoned building. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked with skepticism as we neared the front door.

"Come on, Rey. We all bet on the dare that the guys made up. We have to do this. I don't know about you two, but I don't want to look like a wimp in front of them," Victoria said as she moved to open the door. I nodded in reluctance and followed her with Marilyn behind me. The door squealed in protest as Victoria pushed it open. "Let's look around."

"Victoria! Have you not watched any horror movies? This is always where something bad happens to the main character!" Marilyn whisper-yelled at her.

"You're just paranoid," she said as she walked toward a door and opened it, "Ooh, a basement!" Victoria walked down the old, wooden stairs toward the basement. Marilyn and I followed, not wanting our best friend to get killed in this creepy place. The three of us reached the bottom of the stairs. "Why does it always have to be dark in basements," Victoria muttered as she turned the flashlight on, on her phone. The light illuminated the room. Old furniture and bookshelves filled the room. Most of the furniture had white sheets draped over them.

Victoria and Marilyn walked off to look at something across the room. I shook my head at their antics before walking around also. As I was walking, I saw something that resembled a machine in the corner. Not having any idea what it could be, I walked closer to it. The machine was silver with red, blue, and green buttons. I saw a power button and did the one thing the main character always does in a horror film. I pushed the button.

The machine came to life with whirring and beeping sounds. "Uh, girls? We might want to run!" I yelled as I started to back away. Victoria and Marilyn came running over to see what was happening.

"What did you do?" Marilyn and Victoria yelled simultaneously once they saw the machine. I didn't have time to answer because a bright light appeared and sucked the three of us into the machine. A loud pow filled my ears causing me to cry out in pain. Lights flashed around us. The sound of an old train whistling, brass bullets ricocheting, and airplane engines whirring grew louder and louder until it all stopped, and there was nothing but darkness.

"Victoria? Marilyn?" I whispered into the darkness. Another bright light appeared in my line of vision causing me to close my eyes. Am I dead? I opened my eyes to see that I was laying on a couch with Victoria on the other end and Marilyn on the floor. Where were we?

"Where are we?" Victoria asked the same question as she sat up. Marilyn sat up too and rubbed her head. We all froze when there was a knock on the door before it opened. A middle aged lady in a blue dress walked in. Her hair was in curls like what women wore in the 1940s.

"What are you girls wearing? You should be getting into costume! Your performance is in an hour! Get up!" she yelled in frantics as she shooed us up from the couch. The three of us jumped up and looked around with confusion on our faces. "What are you waiting for? Get dressed!" Victoria, Marilyn, and I ran behind the dressing screen that was in the room.

"What are we even supposed to be wearing?" Victoria smarted off once we were behind there.

"Your uniforms are hung up behind you. The hair and makeup crew will be in here soon to get you three ready," the lady said before leaving. Marilyn and I looked at each other before looking at the uniforms that hung up behind us. Khaki shirts and skirts with black heels and ties awaited to be put on.

"She expects us to wear this?" Victoria asked with a scrunched up nose. I shrugged in answer.

"Let's get this on before she gets back in here," I muttered as I started to put the uniform on. After we got our uniforms on, makeup on, and hair curled, we were lead to a stage. The stage was decorated with red, white, and blue flags and streamers. An old microphone was placed in the middle of the stage. I looked over at Victoria and Marilyn in confusion. The lady from before stood on the stage with an impatient look. We climbed onto the stage and stood in front of the audience that was already gathered. "Rey, what are we supposed to do? We don't know where we are let alone what our 'performance' is supposed to be!" Marilyn whispered in my ear.

"I don't know. We can always improvise," I suggested with a slight shrug.

"You're no help," Victoria said with an eye roll. We were silenced when we heard an announcer speak. I froze when he introduced this program.

"Welcome to the USO show!" (United Services Organization)

"That was a time machine!" I whispered to the other girls low enough to where no one could hear us.

"No way. Those don't exist," Marilyn said in disbelief.

"Girls, they started USO shows in WWII which was in the 1940s. That would explain how everyone is dressed! The curly hairdos, women in dresses, men in suits, shall I go on? Oh no. This is bad! Very bad!" I said as I started to panic once again.

"Rey, calm down. You're over reacting," Victoria said as she put a hand on my shoulder.

"Please welcome the Andrews Sisters!" I started to hyperventilate as cheers filled the room with joy.

"Okay. Now, we can panic," Victoria murmured.

"Girls, it's time for you to perform," the lady said as she pushed us onto the stage. We looked back at her with wide eyes. The sound of a bugle filled my ears. I recognized the song immediately.

"You better thank me later for this. Just follow my lead," I said. Marilyn and Victoria nodded before following my steps as we twirled and danced to along to "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy". The audience cheered along causing me to smile. When the solo popped up, I sung the words with ease and danced just like Patty Andrews had in the 1940s, well I guess that would be now thanks to a certain somebody. *Cough* Victoria. *Cough* At the end of the song, the three of us pivoted on our feet and raised our hands up into a salute. "Are you glad I made you two listen to this all the time?"

"Yep," Victoria said with a sigh of relief. I giggled as we were lead off of the stage and back to our changing room. "My only question is how we're going to get back home."

"I don't know. We probably should be trying to figure that out. I mean, we don't even know how we got here in the first place," I said with worry building up in the pit of my stomach.

"Obviously it was that machine," Marilyn said with a smart alecky tone. I rolled my eyes at her bluntness. All of a sudden, a loud siren started to wail causing all of us to look around in confusion and fear.

"What's going on?" I asked with the fear growing. I already had a suspicion. I just didn't want it confirmed.

"There's an air raid!" someone yelled causing us to panic. And there it is, the confirmation. A loud whistle was growing louder and louder. "Take cover!" I hid under a table and covered my head just waiting for something to explode. Nothing ever came. I opened my eyes to see I was in my bed back in my room. I looked around and sighed in relief. It was all just a horrible dream. I got out of my bed and headed for the bathroom to shower. I looked in the mirror and froze in shock at what I saw. The uniform that I had on in my dream was what I was wearing. If that wasn't a dream, then how did I get home? And where is Marilyn and Victoria?