CLIPPED_Another Time Travel Tale

by Angela R. Hart

  "There's more?" said my Dad. "Yeah, Dad, there's more. Whenever you wear the clip, along with the links, you can travel with another person. Riley and I tested it out, accidentally. She wanted to go with me, when we went a few years back and I told her that Auntie said that it was impossible, but you know how she can be stubborn, so she grabbed my arm and we tried it anyway. Sure enough, we both ended up in the past in the middle of my bedroom floor. It let us both go! I don't know if more than two people can go, but it did work for at least two, I can attest to that." I explained. "WOAH! THAT'S FUCKIN' SWEET, DUDE!" said my Dad, loudly. "Allie, didn't you tell me that we tried to travel back together, after the fire?" he asked Aunt Allie. "Yeah, and it didn't work. I clicked and clicked and nothing happened. I guess that means that you can only do it with the clip. Isn't that weird? I wonder where it could've come from?" she said.

  "I have no idea. I still think that Papaw might have known something about it, but I was always too afraid to ask him." said PawPaw. "Somehow, it ended up in one of those boxes though. All of those old boxes in the attic came from Mamaw and Papaw's house. Maybe one of your aunts or uncles or cousins threw it in there, after Mamaw and Papaw passed away. I found the links at their house when I was a boy, it's possible that they found it and didn't think anything of it and tossed it in without knowing." he explained. "That makes sense, Dad." said Aunt Allie, nodding. "Anyway, go ahead and tell them why you're here, Chloe."

  I took a deep breath in preparation of telling the tale all over again. I wasn't even quite sure how it all actually came to pass, but I remembered my Dad and Auntie's dead faces and I knew that I had to save their lives. "Well, guys, I am here because something horrible has happened in my time, so I have come back here to ask for Aunt Allie's help in fixing it..." I started. It was time to tell them everything.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  "Someone has found out about the links. I don't know who it is, I don't know when they found out or how, but somebody, somewhere, knows." I started. "At first, it was just calls, to Auntie and Dad. They would call and say that they were coming, that they knew where they were and they were going to get them. They always kept their faces hidden and their voices were altered. Auntie and Dad told me immediately, because I already had the links and clip in my possession, by that point. Auntie bought me a safe when she gave me the links, and I had everything hidden away in there at my house." I said.

  "When the calls first started, Auntie and Dad just told them that they didn't know what in the hell they were talking about, and they would hang up on them or threaten to call the police. Then the calls started becoming more frequent and scarier, the men were threatening to kill you both if you didn't hand over what they wanted." I nodded toward Aunt Allie and my Dad. "Dad decided that it would be best if we put everything into a safe deposit box at the bank. It would be harder to steal something from there, and we thought that they would be safer." I said. They were all staring at me, speechless. "Then what happened?" asked Dad.

  "They never called me, and they never bothered me. They only called Aunt Allie and Dad, nobody else. I don't think that they even knew about me, or if they did, they didn't think that I knew anything about what they were after. Aunt Allie and Dad got worried that they were being watched and followed. So one day, they both came over to my house and we all pretended like we were going out to eat, to throw them off of our real purpose of the trip, hiding the links and the clip. On the way to the restaurant, we decided to go to the bank, and we all went in together as nonchalantly as possible. Dad was going to get cash to go out to eat and Aunt Allie was going to keep a lookout. I was going to be the one to sneak off and put the links in our family's safe deposit box." I continued.

  "Since they never called or harrassed me, we figured that I was the best person for the job. On our way to the bank, we noticed a car that was following us. I was so scared, but we stayed cool and made it to the bank with no problem. The car pulled over right after us and a man got out at the same time as we did. I pretended that I was going to the restroom, so that I could sneak off to the back part of the bank, Aunt Allie stood in the front, acting like she was watching the news that was on the Screens and Dad went to get the money. We talked as loudly as we could, so that people would know that I was going to the restroom, or that Dad was getting the cash for the restaurant. The man had followed us inside. He was just a regular looking guy in a suit, I had never seen him before, and we weren't sure if he was really following us or we were just being paranoid." I explained.

  "I made it to the safe deposit box but I wasn't able to get the links hidden inside. The man had followed me back there. I didn't reach for my pocket or anything, I didn't want him to know that I had anything in there. I just pretended that I was getting some papers out of the box, and then I just left with a couple of random papers in my hand. I came back out into the main area and we all left the bank. We got into the car and rushed off, before the man could catch up to us. I explained that I wasn't able to hide the links in there, because the man had come back there and saw what I was trying to do. We decided to just keep the links on us at all times. I would have them sometimes, Dad would have them sometimes and Aunt Allie would have them the rest of the time. We switched out constantly, no regular schedule. We also kept Auntie's journal with us, so nobody would find it and read what it said. We thought that the men had stopped following us, because the calls abruptly ceased." I explained.

  "Then, one day, the three of us were going to meet up, to swap out the links and clip again. It was Dad's turn to hold onto them and the journal. We met in an empty parking garage downtown. It was away from a lot of people, so we didn't think that we would be seen. We never did it at our houses, just in case the men knew where we lived. What we didn't know was that we were followed, well, Aunt Allie and Dad were followed, they had been in the same car. They never saw me. I was hidden from view. The men came into the garage and I immediately ran and ducked underneath a parked car. I had the links and the clip in my pocket and the journal was stuck into the back of my pants, at that point, I hadn't gotten to give them to Dad yet. The men were yelling, asking where they were, telling Dad and Aunt Allie to hand them over or else. I was scared to death, and I was breathing as quietly as possible. I knew that they didn't know that I was there. They never mentioned me at all when they were talking and yelling." I said.

  "Then, as I was trying to lay there as quietly as possible, I heard the hammer of a gun click across the garage and then heavy footsteps. I got really scared after that, but I didn't say a thing. Suddenly, I heard scrambling, and I could see feet running in different directions. Aunt Allie managed to drop and hide underneath a car, a few cars down from me. She saw me under the car and shooshed me with her finger, making sure that I would be completely silent. That's when it happened, I heard more scrambling, and then "BANG!" a gun went off, echoing so loudly through the garage that I thought it would burst my eardrums. I saw Dad crumple to the floor, lifeless. They shot him dead. I covered my mouth so that I wouldn't scream and closed my eyes."

  "That's when Auntie went for them, she was in a murderous rage and then, "BANG!" they shot her too, she fell on top of Dad and I never saw her move again. That's when the men started to dig through their clothes, looking for the links, but they never found them, because they were in my pocket. I wasn't even thinking straight, but I grabbed them, attached them, and came here to the first date that I could think of, the day before Auntie's 40th birthday, when we had dinner with PawPaw and Granny, March 12, 2023. I poofed out of there and they never knew that I had even been there." I finished.

  That's why I am here, Aunt Allie and Dad are dead in 2045, and those assholes are the reason behind it. I don't even know how to function and I knew that young Aunt Allie would be able to help me save them. We have to figure out who these people are and stop them, and I can't do it by myself. I need all of the help that I can get, so I came here to beg for Aunt Allie's help." I said.

  They all looked at me with shocked
faces. PawPaw's mouth was hanging to the floor. "Holy crap, Chloe, are you sure you're alright?" my Dad asked. "I will be, Dad, as soon as we find those assholes and make them pay." I replied. "We have to make this right guys, and I need help. Aunt Allie said that she would come with me and help me out, but I might need everybody's help at some point, so Auntie wanted me to share this with all of you, so maybe we could figure out what to do in the future." I said. "We're all here for you, love." said Granny. "If it doesn't work the first time, you have to just keep trying, over and over. It gets hard and you'll really feel like quitting, I will promise you that, but eventually, you'll find a way, at least I did." Aunt Allie said.

  "Thanks y'all. I'm so happy to be sitting here with all of you, you're the best family in the world and I'm so proud to call myself a Harmon. Let's figure out how to save the Harmons again!" I said, excitedly. "I'm such a freaking loser, oh my God." I thought to myself, shaking my head. We talked a lot more after that, but about light subjects, like, if I had a boyfriend. I didn't. PawPaw asked me if I had my phone on me. He was always really obsessed with gadgets and electronics, so I whipped the Handheld out of my pocket to show him how it worked. He was impressed with the ultra thin, fully transparent fiberglass Screen. "They actually have Contacts for your eyes in my time, that you can use instead of the Handheld, but I always liked to have something to hold on to, so I never got the Contacts." I explained. "That is amazing." said PawPaw as he waved through the different menus and apps. You don't have to touch our Handhelds, the way that you do the old ones. It recognizes hand gestures and moves accordingly. They were way cooler than old 20's phones.

  We all talked for a while longer and then we decided to call it a day. Dad had to get home to Mom and the kids, and PawPaw and Granny were fixing to go, on yet, another trip somewhere. Dad said that all they did when they retired was drive around with that little travel trailer. "Must be nice." I thought to myself. They were going to be gone for a week. I decided that I was going to stay in 2023 for a while. It wasn't safe for me to go back to 2045 yet, and we didn't know what the past, or the future, had up it's sleeve for us. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be anything good.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I was going to be staying with Aunt Allie for a while. She lived alone with her multitudes of cats, so we figured that it was best that I stayed there. Nobody but family members ever went to her house, except the occasional friend, and we decided that if someone else did decide to pop up, that my alias would be Zoey Larson. Aunt Allie said that she made her alias rhyme with her own name, so it would be easier to remember and then she used her mother's maiden name, so people would think that they were related. So, Zoey rhymed with Chloe and Larson was my mother's maiden name. "Easy peasy." I said, as I told Aunt Allie my new name.

  "So, if anyone comes over, you're my cousin Zoey Larson, from Austin." she said. "Sounds good, Aunt Allie. I guess I should just call you Allie now, huh?" I asked. "Yeah, Lovebug, just call me Allie from now on. We will be like, besties for life, or whatever." she said, laughing. "HEY BEST FRIEND!" I yelled, flailing my arms around wildly, as we walked into her house. "HEY GIRL, HEY!" she replied, just as loud, snapping her fingers and shaking her ass. "I guess we are both pretty damn weird." I thought to myself, smiling.

  It didn't take long for me to fit right into the mix of things. We went over to Granny and PawPaw's house all the time for lunch and dinner. Aunt Allie said that Granny was the worst cook ever and if she ever offered me something called, 'Meat Sauce and Rice', to just politely decline, say that I had already eaten and run away as fast as I could. I had no idea what the 'Meat Sauce and Rice' actually was, but if Aunt Allie said to run, then I would run.

  After a week or so, I started to worry about Other Auntie's cats. It sounded ridiculous, worrying about some old lady's cats, but I did, and I knew how much Auntie (older Auntie) adored them. I didn't know how the time worked with me being here and her being dead and gone in my time. "What if they have no food or water?" I thought, sadly. I really did like my Auntie's cats, they were my buddies, especially Boomer, even though he was a terror. Finally, I decided to ask Aunt Allie what her thoughts were on the time stopping. In the past, when she would leave, she would return home and her cats would still be sitting there waiting for her, more or less, exactly as she left them. Even if they were in a different house because something changed the future, they were always okay. But I didn't know how the future would be with me in the past. I hoped she had some ideas. I knew that she would be concerned about her Other's cats, even if she hadn't met them before.

  "Aunt Allie?" I asked. I still called her Aunt Allie at home, or Auntie, but in public I had started just calling her Allie and she and the rest of the family started referring to me as Zoey in public. I assumed that they were just trying to get used to the new name. "Yes, Lovebug?" she replied. "I have a question about the time stopping. You know how when you went to the past and you came back, how all of your cats were still there and safe and fed?" I started. "Yeah, they were always there, waiting for me at the back door to pop back inside. The food was never low or anything, everything was pretty much as I had left it, minus having a new house and stuff." she explained. "Why?" she asked.

  "Well, I'm worried about your Other's cats, the future cats. We don't know if the time stops in the future the same way that it did in the past, right?" She pondered on that for a moment and agreed. "Yeah, you're right about that. Neither me or your PawPaw ever went to the future, at least he never said anything about going. I have no idea how that all works." she said. "I think we need to check on your Other's cats, Aunt Allie. What would you think about testing out the links and the clip together, with me. You can see how it all works and we can check on them at the same time. Then, once we find out if they are alright, we will know what happens in the future, kind of. Maybe we can get someone to watch them after we leave, just in case." I said.

  "Since we know the links can take us forward, and we know that the clip can take both of us, to an exact time, maybe we can go to your house in the future at the same time that you were shot and we can just make sure that everything is as it should be? I'm sure that they are fine, I mean, if your Other was just shot, then they were fed before your Other and Dad left, but I am still worried about them. I know how much she loved them, and she would want me to take care of them if anything happened to her, I always promised her that I would." I explained. "After we look in on them, we can just change the links to the minute after we left this time and we can pop right back, then, nothing will be reset, right?" I asked.

  "That sounds like a good idea, Chloe Bear. I'm interested to see the future, and now that you mention it, I'm a little worried for her babies too. We wouldn't want them being hungry or sad or anything. I know how attached these little assholes are to me, and I'm sure that hers are the same way. I am also extremely interested to travel with someone else, and who better to do that with than my lovely niece?" she said, petting the white cat that was on her lap. "I guess that sounds like a plan then!" I said, suddenly excited and nervous at the same time.

  I glanced over at the clock after that, it was almost 10:00 PM, 9:47 PM to be exact. It was nighttime in this time and nobody would be coming over looking for us. PawPaw and Granny went to bed early because they were old folks, so they wouldn't come-a-knocking. Dad was at home with Mom and the kids, so nobody would be stopping by and we were both well rested. She got up and went to the safe to get the links and the clip out of there. She brought them back into the living room and we sat down on the couch to look at them.

  "So, how do we do this?" she asked. She was nervous, I could already see the sheen of sweat glistening on her brow. She was the worst nervous sweater, I was pretty bad too, but not as bad as she was. "Don't be nervous, Aunt Allie, we will be okay, although, we will probably get sick." I said. "Oh, son of a biscuit, you're right. Your Dad told me one time to take Dramamine and nausea meds, and that was what I always did. It worked like a charm. We could take some now, but
it takes about 30 minutes to kick in. I think I can handle it, I am an old pro now, you know?" she said, laughing. "Yeah, you are Auntie, I'm not, but I will be alright, it passes quickly. I'd rather just get it over and done with." I said.

  "Where do you think the best place in the house to land would be, in your time, Chloe Bear? I have no idea how she has things in her future house, and since she's me, I know that I like to move shit around all the time. It always helps me feel better when I get down in the dumps. We don't want to end up in the middle of the floor. That happened to me a couple of times and it isn't fun." she explained. I looked around the living room and thought about how things were set up in my time. She was right, she had moved things around a lot since I was a girl. Then I realized where we could go. "The spare bedroom would probably be our safest bet, Auntie. It hasn't changed very much and you always keep the door shut so no cats get in there and get hair on the bed." I said.

  "Well, I guess that settles it then. Let's go check on those kitties!" she said, excitedly. "Are you ready now?" I said, nervously. "It's now or never, Lovebug, come on, let's go!" she hollered, as she pulled me up off of the couch. We grabbed the links and the clip off of the table and made our way into the spare bedroom that was now my room. Both of us sat down on the bed and took a deep breath.