I’m wearing a dress. Not just any dress, I might add, but a woolen shift and a sleeveless tunic. I definitely do not remember buying this I think as I look down at my dress.
“Why do you look so confused?” I look up to see a woman dressed in the same manner who was around my age but had aged yellow teeth and unkempt hair.
“I don’t remember buying this…” I say slowly. She laughs.
“You didn’t buy that! Do you honestly think you would be able to buy something that nice?”
“What are you talking about? This thing itches like nobody’s business!” I scratch my waist through the shift and tunic.
“You made that dress.” She tells me. “You must have really hit your head hard on that rock yesterday when you fell.”
“I fell?” I touch the back of my head.
“You are joking, right? Wow, maybe you should go and lay down for a bit and get some more rest.”
“I would love to, but I don’t know where I am or how to even get home from here.”
“Sweety, Adelisa, this is your home. This is where you live. Are you okay?”
“Adelisa?”
“Your name.”
“No, my name is Lisa.”
“Lisa? Alright, Lisa, I’ll call you Lisa now.”
“I’m sorry, but who are you?” She looks at me quizzically.
“I’m Clarissa, your cousin, we have been friends ever since we were born. How…how do you not remember me?” Clarissa asks.
“I do not know; I am sorry but none of this seems familiar to me…”
~
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I don’t know, I don’t know!”
“Honey, Honey, wake up, it’s just a dream, it’s just a dream!” My mom comes in and holds me while waking me up from my dream. “Was it that dream again?” mom asks.
“Yeah… it was different this time though. It was as if I could really feel everything…” I say as I scratch my torso as I sit up in bed.
“It’s only been a week since you found out, you gotta give it some time.”
“I have given it time, mom, dad’s been in custody this entire week and I haven’t been able to ask him any questions about where I am from!” I exclaim and mom takes a breath.
“We told you when and where you are from…”
“That’s not what I mean, mom! I mean, what was it really like back then? What was my family like? Why did he take me?”
“You study history like your father, you know what life was like back then.”
“Reading about it in history books is completely different than actually living it and seeing it with your own two eyes.” I state.
“I am sure it is but I cannot answer those questions for you, I haven’t been there, myself.” I roll my eyes.
“I need answers.”
“I know.” mom whispers, “Why don’t you get dressed and meet me downstairs for breakfast. I’m making your favorite; pancakes!” Mom smiles cheerfully trying to change the subject.
“Fine.” After I answer, mom leaves me alone in my room to get dressed. I think about my dream again. Who is Clarrisa? Is she really my cousin or is that just my desperate attempt and finding my blood family that I made her up to have someone? Or is she really someone from my past? Either way I’ll never know. Even if she was real, she would be dead by now by almost 700 years or so because as it turns out I was born in 1346, so I was about 2 years old when the black plague began. I guess maybe that is when my father came across me and took pity on me enough to bring me home to his family. At the time it was his wife, Jenny, and his son, Konrad, who we all called Konny. After He brought me home, they found out they were pregnant with their second child, Gisella. My father was obsessed with the history of Germany, which I guess is what ultimately brought him to the small town where he found me wandering around piles of dead bodies that were being burned. I guess he was worried that worst case scenario I contracted the black plague or best case scenario I fell into one of the many bonfires around town burning the dead bodies while toddling around by myself. Don’t get me wrong I love my family, I just wish I knew more about my other family, the ones I am actually related to. Why did my father take me away from my family? After I finish brushing my teeth and getting dressed in black leggings ( these are my favorite pair because they have pockets) and a long t-shirt, I walk down stairs to join my mom and Konny and Gisella for pancakes.
“Morning, sis!” Konny says to me when I enter the kitchen.
“Hey.” Gisella grunts out.
“Mornin’.” I say to them.
“Your pancakes are almost done.” Mom says over her shoulder while flipping a pancake at the griddle on the counter.
“I wuv pwancake day!” Konny mumbles with a full mouth of pancake.
“Geee, I certainly wouldn’t know it by how you stuff your face every single pancake day this family has ever had.” Gisella responds in a disinterested tone. We all know she loves us despite her dark phase she is experiencing right now…. Konny and I never really went through it, at least not quiet as bad as Gisella. We think she is just trying to stand out a bit. To be honest because of my adoption status in the family I never really had the middle child syndrome… It kind of passed on to Gisella, so if this phase of hers is anyone’s fault it is probably mine. We still all get along though when it counts the most. I sit down in between Konny and Gisella as mom puts a plate full of pancakes on the table in front of me. I grab the butter and the syrup that was already on the table from Konny.
“Thanks, mom!” I tell her as I start to butter up my pancakes. Ding dong. We all look up and slowly turn towards the front door which we can see through a short hallway to the front foyer.
“I wonder who that can be?” mom simply states as she wipes her hands on her hips and walks to the front door. The rest of us go back to eating. We hear whispers coming through the hallway and then, “Lisa? Could you come here a moment?” I stand up as I wipe my face with a napkin and set it down before I walk away from the table giving my siblings a doe eyed look, telling them that I have no idea what is going on. I walk to the front door and see three men standing outside the front door with their shades on.
“Lisa Montel?” the first man in a black suit and shades asks me.
“Yes…” I cautiously respond.
“We are here to inform you that you will be sent back to the original time you come from at the end of the next 24 hours. Please, pack only what you need, find clothing attire for the time in which you will be deported to, and say your goodbyes. We will be back at the end of the day to pick you up in order to take you to the facility we have been housing Professor Montel’s time machine in. After you are sent back the time machine will be destroyed. Good day!” And with that the three men turn around and walk back to their car.
“Wha…?” I start, stunned that I can hardly speak anything coherently. My mother just hugs me, holding me tight like she is never going to let me go again. Slowly we close the door after watching the men drive away and walk back into the kitchen holding each other up.
“Who was that?” Konny asks without worry.
“Bet it was another boy trying to ask Lisa to the summer dance at her college.” Gisella retorts.
“No…actually… I am to be deported back to my own time within the next 24hours…” I tell them..
“WHAT? No!” Gisella shouts.
“They can’t take you away from the only family or time you have ever known!” Argues Konny.
“Well apparently they think they can…” Mom tries to explain…
“Not if they can’t find her, they can’t!” Gisella exclaims.
“I can’t run away, I would just be a… a time fugitive for the rest of my life running away from these men who are trying to return me to my own time…”
“We can’t just let you go though! You are family!” Gisella keeps trying.
“Yes, family!” Agrees Konny.
“Family, yes, but not by blood. I was taken from my own time and grew up here with you. Besides I have always wondered about my birth family…” I try to be optimistic.
“Fine! If you want to turn your back on those of us who accepted you into our family and gave you a home and food and clothing and love, then leave! What should I care!” Gisella shouts at me and runs upstairs.
“Gisella!” Mother exclaims in exacerbation as she runs past her to the stairs.
“It’s alright, mom; my leaving is just easier for her if she is mad at me.” I tell her calmly staring straight ahead out the window looking out over our backyard.
“Until she realizes that you are gone forever, never to come back. This isn’t like you are moving away and can come visit us for holidays. You will be gone with no way of returning. And once she realizes that she never said goodbye, or gave you a hug, that she just stomped off in anger never having told you how much she will miss you, she will lose it.” Mom tells me.
“She does realize that mom. She has hours left to come and give me a hug goodbye and tell me all of that stuff. Right now she needs to be angry.”
“Mere hours.” My mother corrects me. “There is not enough time in the day to make last a lifetime of missing you, my daughter and their sister…” She says sadly and walks away to go talk to Gisella. Konny looks at me.
“It would be easy to be angry right now. But this isn’t your fault and I would just end up being angry at myself once you are gone that I didn’t spend quality time with you for the last time. I can be angry after you leave, although, I’ll probably just be sad.”
“You won’t just wish dad never found me and brought me home?” I ask simply.
“No, never! You are my sister, and even though it means losing you now and never getting you back, I would never trade this life with you! And we will never stop fighting to bring you back home with us.”
“They will never stop until they send me through the time machine and then they will destroy it. There is no way you could bring me back.”
“Even if it takes years to rebuild, we can always build another machine from dad’s notes.”
“What do you mean, dad’s notes? They already have his notes.”
“Not the second copy. I helped dad out a lot with making repairs to the time machine and I worked closely with the original copy of the machine. We eventually decided it would be wise to create a second copy in case anything ever happened to the first. I have the flash drive in my room. No one else knows about it.”
“Wait, you would do that for me?”
“I would do anything for you; we are family.” Konny shrugs. I walk around the table and give him a hug.
“Thank you! I won’t hold my breath for it, but I will go to the town square everyday around noon. That way if you do ever finish the second time machine, then you know where to find me.”
“Sounds like a plan!” Konny laughs. “And don’t worry, no matter how long it takes, I will come for you.” For the rest of the day I hang out with mom and Konny. Gisella has locked herself in her room listening to sad and angry music. Mom, Konny and I watch my favorite movie for the last time. We also baked my favorite blondies for me to have one last time too. Mom made my favorite dinner too. I already had a dress to change into. That really is all I need. Not too many peasants way back in the 1300s had more than one gown to wear. So after dinner I change into it and we wait by the door hugging each other as we wait for the men in black to come and get me.
Knock-knock-knock.
I take a deep breath and open the door.
“Are you ready to go miss?” The same guy that spoke earlier asks.
“Ye…”
“Wait!” Shouts Gisella as she races down the stairs and gives me a huge hug.I wrap my arms around her and give her a big hug back. “I’m gonna miss you so much! Sorry I was too upset to spend your last day with you!” She whispers in my ear. I look at Konny over Gisella’s shoulder and he simply nods.
“Do not worry; I will come back to you someday!” I whisper back and give her a kiss on her cheek and step back. I hold hands with mom and Konny in one hand and Gisella with the other. “I love you all!” I blow them a kiss and walk out the door with the men in black into the night.
~
We drove in silence in the limo for about an hour until we reached the local airport. When we stop the men urge me out of the car and I ask,
“Where are you taking me?”
“Germany. To the approximate location of your home town of Rothenburg.” The first man in black states.
“It will be easier for you to make your way to your real family.” the second man in black continues.
“My real family is here, the ones you are taking me away from. My father only brought me back with him because my family were all dead because of the plague.” I retort.
“We have done a little bit of research that claims differently. You have some family that was devastated at the disappearance of you. Your disappearance actually caused quite a rift.” The first man in black explains as they escort me onto the plane, “Come along now, get on the plane so we can arrive there by morning.” I walk into the private plane that will be taking me to my original homeland; away from the one I was raised in. As the hours tick by I stare out the window of the plane flying over the ocean. I don’t speak to anyone except for the attendant when she brings me food or water. After several hours of trying and failing to get comfortable and trying to get some sleep I finally drift off only to moments later be woken up by the third man in black.
“We are here.” He speaks dryly. I sit up straight and stretch. For a private plane it really had no luxury in it for me. Especially when I had to wear this medieval dress. No good coming from complaining now, I guess, I’m in for a lot more uncomfortable things for the foreseeable future…. When we arrive at the field just outside of the town of Rothenburg. They explain the procedures to me. They set the device on the ground and started it up, punching in the date of 1368. The year in which I would be in now with my current age of 22. At least they thought of that.
“Have you considered the consequences of sending someone from the 21st Century back to live in the year of 1368 could do to the event of history?” I question, as my last ditch effort to stay in this time with my family.
“Yes, and if you want to survive this time period without getting burned at the stake for being a crazy witch, then you won’t breathe a word of this time to anyone you come across.” The first man in black states with a note of warning. I stare at him as if to say, “watch me”, as I square my shoulders and lift my head up tall, staring into the portal that is going to take me back. Before I walk through to the past, I smile and say,
“See y’all on the other side!” And I step into what is going to be my future.