Finding Her Time

Claire stayed up late that night to pace around her room. She longed for home, missing her father terribly. Her poor father, she realized, what he must have thought after she disappeared. And she really missed Mitch too. Mitch, who had been her best friend since middle school, who was the only person who knew her inside and out, she missed that Mitch. In fact, she even missed her wretched cat Piccolo. She’d give anything to get as much
as a glimpse of them.

On the other hand, Claire felt as if she belonged here in this time. She had four new friends. They listened to and respected her. Especially Mr. Marshall. Smiling to herself, Claire focused on him. It was like she always dreamed. He was better than Mr. Darcy or Mr. Thornton. He was real, he existed, and he was her friend. It was only friendship, she knew that, but that didn’t stop the goose bumps on her neck whenever he called her name. Here she wasn’t just Claire, the plain, quiet girl. Here she was Miss Silver, a mysterious traveler from a distant land and time.

What a clever story, she thought as she laid her head down on the pillow. She drifted to sleep while wording together brilliant sentences she make use of in her novels. Her dream brought her back home. She was peering into a looking glass as the scene unrolled in front
of her.

Mitch and her father stood in the study. Mitch stared at the golden telescope like structure.
Claire’s father was bent over his notes making calculations. His hair was wild and his clothes were in disarray. His face was wrinkled from the stress. Mitch spoke first, “Well, will it work?”

“I think it should,” her father looked up at Mitch, “I’ve programmed the time machine to send a person to a selected destination. When they arrive at the destination, it will be in the form of lightning.”

“But the machine did not go with Claire, so how does she get back from the other side?” Mitch asked as he picked up Piccolo and moved him away from the machine.

“The same way that she entered that time,” Mr. Silver explained in an almost Christopher Lloyd from Back to the Future style, “after a fortnight of being in that time, Claire can go to the spot where she first appeared and a flash of lighting will touch the same ground twice. Instead of electrocuting her, it will bring her back to her time.”

“It’s almost been two weeks already,” Mitch pointed out, “And how will she know how to get back?”

“I don’t know,” Mr. Silver sat down and laid his head on the desk, “If there was some way to let her know, I would have thought of it. We’ll have to cross our fingers and hope that she knows how to come back.”

“I hope she’s happy and safe wherever she is,” Mitch breathed out sadly.

Mr. Silver mumbled into his arms, “She’s probably somewhere in the 19th century, most likely England.”

They looked at each other, exchanged familiar looks, and laughed. Mitch replied, “Then she is definitely happy there. She’s living in her time.”

And slowly Claire drifted away from the scene and the looking glass. Her eyes fluttered open. The room was familiar, the one in Kent. She sat up and smiled grimily. She now knew how to get back home. The only thing left to decide was whether she would remain in Kent with her new friends or travel back to the 21st century to rejoin her father and Mitch.

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In the master bedroom of the grand house, James Marshall sat up in his bed. He rose and drank from the pitcher left on the small table by the window. What a strange dream he just had. He frowned, wondering if he just received a glimpse of Claire’s world. Whether she was really from another world or had a clever imagination, he felt like the world was real. With a frown, James wondered who the lad with Claire’s father was. Was he Claire’s brother? Or a suitor perhaps?

He shook off the dream; it was after all only a dream.

But as he looked up from the pitcher, he noticed the way the clouds covered most of the moon’s brilliant rays of silver light. Rain was coming…