Trapped In Time: Love's Secrets (Adult)

Chapter Two

Alissa nodded and once again slipped the chain back over Shannon and Lyla’s heads before looking around and taking a deep breath. “Here we go!”

             There were 720 or so hours in a month and lucky for the girls, they had to make it a month forward after their dizzying trip back. They had to break when Lyla fainted and Alissa had wanted to vomit but worry for her daughter had kept her going. Shannon was panting and sweating in shock, especially after the “old” oak tree turned out to be a sapling 19 years before and she’d done a slow motion face plant, pulling Alissa and Lyla down with her but she was still functioning. They pulled out drinks from the backpack Shannon was wearing and took a break once Lyla came to.

In no rush to get back to the spinning, they had done the upwards spins in bunches of 100 until it was the end of June, 1993. Shedding their rain gear and finding their legs, the girls started forward to make sure they were in the right area and the right time frame before continuing on their mission.

          

The run down houses on either side hid the lonely and downtrodden; people who rarely stepped outside except for occasional trips for food, if they could afford it. Anyone who had been outside when the girls appeared would have scurried back in at the sight of them. Or it seemed that way which was preferable to being mugged; at least that’s what Shannon was telling herself.

The cobblestone road might have been quaint if it was clean and not littered with garbage and who knows what else. A blind lifted and the dirty face of a little boy appeared, his dark brown eyes saucer wide. Alissa smiled at the boy who was jerked backwards before he could return the gesture.

“Great place this is” Shannon nodded at the street sign where a barely legible “Spinners End” dutifully announced the girls had found the starting point for plan A. It had been a long trip, and even after being prepared for the poverty and depression of the area through description in the book, neither of them were really feeling safe or smart for coming here let alone with a young child.

“We knew it would be like this” Alissa repeated the thought for the fourth or fifth time. Every street they got closer, and things got a little worse, one of the two would say that exact phrase for reassurance.

“What if he’s not even home, oh wait, even better, what if he doesn’t exist?” Shannon said sarcastically. It had seemed like it would at least be a fun trip at first, even though she did have to beg for money from her mom to afford the plane ticket and using her upcoming birthday as a reason people should fork over money for her rushed European trip. You only turned 30 once right? Everyone should see the world while still young!

“Well, we’ll soon find out won’t we? Besides, the street exists and it looks almost exactly as the book said, which is saying something. Not to mention the whole you know…going back in time thing” Alissa replied with forced determination.

“Right well, pick a house and knock man, because I ain’t doing it” Shannon looked around at the few houses which made up the end of the street blocks from the rushing, stinking river.

Alissa scrutinized the crumbling houses and settled on the one that seemed at least semi cared for. The windows weren’t boarded up anyways, and the walkway was clear of debris. She stepped forward, seizing the moment and let momentum take her onward, jolting Shannon into action behind her. Alissa reached the door and knocked three times, inspecting her knuckles afterwards as if the door was carrying the plague.

The girls stood in silence, both frightened at the possibility this was the right house and the possibility it wasn’t. If this was the right house then behind that door stood a formidable man who you wouldn’t want to mess with even with the help of magic. Shannon’s heart was thumping against her ribs, sending her pulse beating against the tips of her toes and rushing in her ears.