Into the Past

This diary belongs to:

Brianna Jones

If found, please bring back to me

for a special reward! 

Monday 22 July 201

New school AND a new house!  Both at the same time! Great. Just great. First of all, I DIDN'T want to move. It was all Mom's idea.  Secondly, we did not NEED to move.  Everything was fine in New York. Now we HAD to move to Washington.

Well, the new house doesn't look too bad.... Okay,  it's awful. It literally feels like someone died in there. It stinks so awful, you have to bath every single day.  Worst of all, I need to share a room with my BROTHER!  Fantastic!!  

Tuesday 23 July 2019

Okay, yesterday night was a mess. My brother kept me up until MIDNIGHT!  This morning he was so sleepy, he needed to go to bed 7:00 PM!  Tomorrow I'm going to school.  Ringwood High, here I come! I just hope I'll make some friends this year.  

Last year at my old school, Crestview High, it seemed like I was the ONLY girl in the whole school that didn't have any friends. Except for Martine... but she doesn't count. She was our Science teacher. She was really young for a teacher. She was only 21!

Anyway, I read that the teachers there are really nice. The boys and girls too. I even saw a girl, Alya Ron, that has a blog about the school. Its name is: Secret Secrets about Ringwood. Well, it doesn't sound so secret to me!

Wednesday 24 July 2019

This will be THE longest diary entry EVER. 

Ring Ring!  Time for my first day of school!  I quickly got up and got dressed in my dark-blue knee-high jeans and a white-fading-into-gray shirt with no sleeves.  I needed to look perfect on the first day of school! Right?! 

Then I did my hair in two buns at my neck with a nice flowery headband. I was ready for school and 24 minutes to get there. Then the thought came to me: Oh! Wait! I forgot my bag! 

I ran to the kitchen, surprised to see my mother making breakfast. "Oh, hi mom! Did you see my bag anywhere?" I asked her. "I knew I forgot something!! I'm so sorry, Bree. I forgot... to..." My mother looked at me all serious. "I forgot it at the Bookshop! I'm so sorry... "

"Oh! Mother! It's okay. The bookshop is on the way to school. No need to worry. You did pack it before you left, right...?" I so hope my mother DID pack my bag. Because if not... "Bree... I'm truly sorry! I didn't! Of course not! I took the bag for a wash. " 

MOM!!!!!  What am I going to do now??

"You could take my work-bag if you'd like. It's better than nothing, and it's clean." 

She pointed at a black bag on the table. "Mom, not the bag that you bought from the second hand shop! That place smells like rotten eggs!" But I just said it in my head, so no one could hear it but me.

I took the bag and stuffed my stationery inside. Then suddenly I heard the bus engine starts. I would miss the bus! I ran outside, trying to get the driver to see me. It was of no use! And first period started in 15 minutes!

"Dear, I could drive you..?" My mother said in the doorway. "Mom. You can NOT drive me in that ridiculous van of yours. Every single kid in that school will to make fun of me! Don't you dare!" But I just said it in my mind, so no one could hear it but me.

 "Don't worry, mom. I'll take my bicycle."

So I quickly grabbed my bicycle from the garage and then set off. Here I come, Ringwood, here I come!

I could not believe I had made it in time with 5 minutes to spare! When I found my locker, I knew I was going to have a BAD school year. Why? My locker was only two lockers away from the most popular girl in the SCHOOL. Her name is Penelope Adair. Everyone calls her Penny. She has designer clothing and absolutely EVERYTHING she could ever want.

My first class was English. I went inside the class and then I took a seat. I sat right behind Penny!! Mr. Carter started the class by saying hello and all those stuff. He even asked our names. "Hello class. I'm Mr. Carter, and I will be your English teacher for the year. Let's start by introducing yourself. We'll start in this row." Then every kid got to stand up and SAY their name. "Nino" , "Emily" , "Rose" , "Alya" , "Penny" , "Jack" , "Luka", and a lot of other names. I said my name too. "Brianna" 

I don't know WHAT happened, but when I said my name the whole class began to laugh.

Anyway, my first day was actually quite nice. But later that day things got strange...

When I got home, I went straight to my room. I took a book out of my bag and then fell down on my bed. The title of the book was "Enchantress of the Unknown".

So I read the whole book in, like, 54 minutes. It was not large. It only had 213 pages.

When I came to the last page I heard something upstairs. The strangest thing was, there WASN'T a staircase. I didn't find a ladder either.

"Mom, do you know a way upstairs?" I asked as soon as she came home from work. 

"Hmmm... We can look around the house if you want." So when she unpacked her bag AND went to fetch my brother, we hunted for a way to go upstairs. Luke suddenly shouted, "Hey! Here is a small opening!" Me and Mom ran up to him. He pointed at a hole just big enough to fit me.

"I'll go in to see what I can find!"

"Honey.." my mom grabbed my arm, "be careful, okay? And be brave"

"Of course, Mother. I am and will always be." So I squiggled and squirmed until I were inside. There was nothing but an elevator-kind-thingy that was really small. Luckily my whole body could fit in there!

I pushed the up-button and then, suprisingly, the elevator-thingy moved upwards. It was a long way up, though. And it was very slow. Which didn't help the situation either. After about 4 or 5 minutes it stopped. 

It was the attic! It was all dusty and had lots of spider webs. There were lots of boxes, some with old fashioned music CD's in them, some empty and some with everyday stuff, like, books, paper, watches and magazines. But the weird thing that caught my eye, was a watch that almost looked like a compass. But what really freaked me out was that there wasn't time on it, but YEARS. 

I looked at the back of the watch-compass-thingy to see if there were any instructions how to use it. But there was only a little round-thing that can turn and a blue button that says: "D  ot  p sh" I guess it would've said: "Do not push" 

I wondered what the clock-thing could do. So I spun the little round-wheel thingy till it came to year 1923. Then I pushed the button...

Okay. I know it said "Do not push", but what's the worst that could happen?

Then suddenly, the clock started trembling. I dropped it, and then I started SHRINKING. I was the size of the clock! I climbed on the clock to see if there was any undo-button.

Unfortunately for me, there  WASN'T. 

Then something strange happened. I began to feel as if I was sinking, then I realized I was sinking into the clock! It was like the clock became quick sand. I scrambled and squirmed, but it was no use.

"Mom! Luke! Help!"

I sank and sank, deep down into the clock. It felt like I should've hit the wood-floor by now. But it just went on and on and on. When I looked down, I saw a strange purple-black portal-like thingy.

I stopped sinking. Now I was falling! I fell right into the portal. Suddenly it was all black. I couldn't see anything. 

A few seconds later, I was in sunlight. It smelt like Aunt Mable's farm when fresh wheat being harvested. 

Then I saw someone leaning  over me, saying things like, "Well, my donkeys! What do you need, missy?" , "People don't knock these days", "... the gray hair of experience is the splendor of the old." ,"An elderly person at home is like a living golden treasure."

I understood none of those things. 

All I could say is: "Where am I?"

"Well youngster, you're in Sweet Apples' farm, of course! And who are you?" the old man asked.

"I'm Brianna, sir." I replied politely.

"Hmmm.. I know no Briannas around here! Are you a traveller young girl?"

"No, sir. I recently found this magical watch at my home and then I turned it so it would go to the year 1923. Then it shrank me and then I sunk into the watch. Then a portal appeared and I fell through it. Now I'm here!" I said it all very quickly.  

"Hold it right there! Excuse me...? My ears aren't that good."

So I said it all slowly (and very loudly) again.  "Wait, you said, 'magical watch'? Do you have it here?" the old man looked excited and jumped up and down. 

"Uhm, yes, actually I do. " I handed it to the old man.

"Yes! Yes! It is! I found it! I found it!" The old man yelled.

"It is what? What did you find?" I was really puzzled.

"This, my dear, is a very, old legendary piece of a myth. This is an antique time traveller you got here." 

I was really surprised to hear this, because all that I knew, was that magic DID NOT exist. "So... I TRAVELED INTO THE PAST????? What year is this?!" I was beginning to freak out. I was 96 years away from Mom, Luke and Sweetie Meow. 

"This year is 1923, my dear. Is everything alright?" the old man had NO IDEA what just happened to me. He thought this was so 'epic' that he found his stupid little watch, while I'm in year 1923, 96 years away from my family and had NO IDEA how to get back to the year 2020.

What was I going to do?! 

"Miss Brianna, I could maybe help you to get back to your year. I just need to spin the wheel and then,  voilà! You're back home. All I need is... to get the thing to spin..." 

The old man's fingers trembled ever so slightly. I think he tried TOO hard to get the thing to twist, because the wheel-thing broke off!

UGHHHH!!! 

Seriously!? My ONE chance to get home, now it's gone! 

Suddenly I heard my mom's life motto in my head, "When you think you got your way, life will throw you on a rocky path, and you need to be prepared. Be brave, and follow your heart." It's actually a beautiful motto, but I'm not in the mood for it.

Usually I love to hear old sayings, but for some reason, today is NOT my day.  

"Sir, what's your name..?" I asked

" My name is Mr. Thompson. You can call me Farmer Tom." the old man replied.

"Mr. Thom, I mean, Farmer Tom, will you be able to fix the clock?" I asked him all serious-like.

"I don't know... " Farmer Tom's voice trembled. "Listen, Miss. You can't let anyone find out you've got this clock, yes?"

"Okay. Why not, may I ask?" I was starting to get really curious. Or you could say, 'nosey'. 

"Everyone has been searching for years to find this clock. If they find it, they can rule the world."

"How do you mean? And who are 'they'?" I was getting SO curious.  

"If they get their hands on the clock, they can go to the past and change the future. Example, they could stop electricity and phones from their existence." Sounds like the old man has lost his marbles.

 But it was quite interesting.

"Miss, you should go. It's getting late."

"But I don't know WHERE to go!"

"You can stay in my house till I fix the clock, if you'd want to."

"Oh, thank you! Farmer Tom, one question. Where  is your house??" He pointed and then said, "Just behind those forest of trees. You can follow the path, it's easier."

When I came to his house I was exhausted. His wife gave me supper and then I went straight to bed.

Thursday 25 July 2019

I had a wonderful sleep, mainly because we were on a FARM and everything was FRESH.

So I stood up, and Farmer Tom's wife came in. "Oh! Sweet Donkeys! You scared me there, miss."

"I'm sorry I frightened you." I apologized.

"Oh, no. Nothing to worry about, sweetheart. I got a comb and a few clothes left over when my niece's daughter came to stay." She gave me the brush and neatly folded clothes.

I dressed and then I went to the shack. Farmer Tom was in there. "Any luck with the clock?" I asked.

"Yes-actually. I have manage to get another wheel. Just because the other one broke in two when I tried to put it on the clock."  Tom showed me the iron wheel at the back of the clock. "You can try to go back home now." Tom gave me the clock. "You keep it."

Tom is a really nice man!       !!!

I spun the thingy till it came to 2020 (I almost spun it to 2023, but we don't want to go to the future, do we?) and then I pressed the blue button. It was as quick as a lighting flash, I was sinking into the clock. "Goodbye, Tom! It was so nice to meet you! You are the kindest person I know! Bye-" 

Then I fell through the portal, into the attic at my home. Oh sweet house! I'm back! I'm back!

Then I heard my mom shouting, "Honey! Sweetheart! Are you okay!?"

"Yes, mom! I'm coming down!" So I climbed into the little elevator and went down.

"Mom! Luke! I’m so glad to see you again!"

"But it was only like 7 minutes!" Luke said.

I was only seven minutes in the past!! And I thought I slept 11 hours that night!

Well, I'm glad I'm back home.

"Mom! I NEED to tell you..." I started.

Then I thought, "I should keep this a secret, and let no one know!"

"...that there is... things up there that we can use! " I said quickly. I'm so lucky I'm back home.

WAIT!

Don't go yet!

No! No! There is so much I need to tell you!

"Okay, Brianna. Say goodbye."

Do you NEED to go?

"Yes, Brianna. Goodbye. "

Okay. Goodbye then. See you again! BYE!

"Goodbye."

Author: Elmé Steyl (11 years old)

South Africa

Words: 2,534

Thank you, Reedsy for hosting this type of writing contests.