“It works!” Thomas yelped with joy. He could not believe his eyes, he had worked on this project for almost two years and, it finally worked. He thought of all the things he could do with it, like to see the dinosaurs, or meet important people back then like George Washington, or to even fix mistakes that he or others have made. He stopped and thought for a bit… “I have to be really careful with this machine, or things I do with it will change things in present time,” he said quietly to himself as he calmly thought.
He wanted to try to go back in time to test it, but he realized that he had to have someone help him open the portal just in case it doesn’t open when he presses the button on his watch. So he decided to phone his best friend Meidan to come to his house for the extra help. He decided to meet him outside.
Thomas impatiently sat on his porch. He was so anxious to go back in time. A couple of minutes had passed and Meidan pulled into his driveway. His best friend was in his white Mercedes.
Meidan and he had been friends since junior year in highschool. Thomas had just moved to that town. He had been waiting nervously for the bus. The bus stopped in front of him, as he made his way to the back of the bus, he tripped and everyone laughed, so no one let him sit with them because of that incident but his best friend Meidan did. Meidan has a good sense of humor; he’s loyal, confident, and really polite.
“Howdy,” he said with a smile on his face.
“Hello Meidan,” Thomas said excited to see him. “Let’s go get started shall we?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
They walked to the basement as Thomas was expressing how excited he was. Thomas began to explain how his machine worked. He finished and asked, “You got it Meidan?”
“Yeah, I got it.”
He went on many trips back in time, to see the dinosaurs, watch athletes from back then play, and to the Civil Rights Movement, etc. But something happened on his last trip. He went back in time to Illinois, and when he tried to open the portal, it wouldn’t open. He contacted Meidan with his watch.
“Hello.” Meidan said gleefully. “What’s up?”
“The portal, it isn’t opening when I press the button.” Thomas said worried. “Think you can try to fix it?”
“I’m not sure about this. What if I make the problem worse?”
“It’s worth a try, so just do it please.”
“Okay, I’ll try my best to get you back.”
Hopefully it works, Thomas thought to himself. Thomas trotted down the sidewalk to find a place to rest. As he made his way down the sidewalk, he saw a man in his early twenties cutting down a tree. He made his way to the man and asked, “Excuse me, do you mind if I take shelter with you for a couple of days?”
“Yes, of course sir, what’s your name?” asked the kind stranger.
“I’m Thomas, how about yours?”
“I’m Abraham.”
“Where can I go take a nap?”
“Go in through that cabin, turn left and there’s an empty room with a bed.”
“Thank you.”
Thomas did what he was told and lay there on the bed exhausted. He was thinking of how much time it would take Meidan to fix the time machine. Then the horrific thought occurred to him, what if he never fixes it? What if he has to stay in the past forever? All of these questions raced through his mind. He got to the point to where he worried so much that he just dozed off.
He woke up to the aroma of food being cooked the next morning. Did I really sleep that long he thought to himself as he jerked out of bed. He made his way out of the room and to the eating area where Abe had been cooking.
“Good to see that you’re awake. Eggs or chicken?” Abe asked looking offering him one of the plates
“I would like some eggs please.”
“Here you go.”
“Thank you.”
The next few days had seemed like weeks. The most entertaining thing that he’d done was take long walks and sometimes even run. He was hoping that Meidan was hard at work trying to fix the machine.
At dawn while Thomas was about to start his walk Abe had asked him a question.
“Can you help me cut down some trees?”
“Yes, sure.”
“Do you know how to do it?” Abe yelled from the tree next to Thomas as he was cutting it down as well.
“Yes, I have a pretty good idea of how to do it.”
While he was hard at work chopping down the tree, he got a call from Meidan as the tree was almost cut.
“I think I got it!” Meidan shouted with joy. “Try it out Thomas!”
So Thomas did as he was told. He could not believe his eyes. It actually worked. Without thinking, he just ran through it. But he didn’t notice that he had left the tree half way cut. The tree had fallen.
When Thomas returned he had appeared in a basement. He could tell it was not his. Where is Meidan? he thought to himself. He made his way up the unusual house that was not his. Meidan was nowhere to be found. He went to check outside. He saw Meidan and a few other people next to a man yelling, “Slave Auction.”
Then he remembered the tree he had been helping Abe with. The tree had fallen on Abraham Licoln.