Same Place, Same Time

“ Rory, did you hear that?” I ask, hearing glass shatter. She nods and we both rush to the kitchen hoping to see what happened. All we find is a broken plate shattered in pieces on the ground.. 

“It was the wind,” Rory said, sounding kind of disappointed. I feel like she’s always looking to save the world sometimes she just has to accept that she can’t.

“Rory, do you ever think that…” I hesitate because I can’t find a way to phrase what I’m trying to say. 

“Think what?” she says slightly annoyed in my hesitation. She always wants everything perfect. Even the way that I talk. 

“Well, you know that feeling that you are being watched when you know no one is there?” 

“Yeah everyone knows that feeling and everyone knows just to ignore it because no one is really there. Why?”

“Just hear me out…” I say trying to explain what I’m feeling to her. “What if whenever people have that feeling they really are being watched. What if there are people in the future or even our future selves watching us.”

“You're making no sense,” she says, seeming even more annoyed. 

I decide to continue even though she's not paying much attention. “What if every time you hear a random creek on the floorboards or every time a glass breaks but no one is there, what if that is someone in the future. What if that is you in the future?”

“Well that’s not possible. How would we not see the person from the future? It just makes no sense at all,” she says kind of condescendingly.

“Trust me, if we invent time machines in the future, I’m sure we can find a way to be invisible. Just wait, you will see,” I say trying to sound convincing even though I am not quite sure myself. 

“Well I can’t wait until I do,” she says as she walks to the living room of our tiny dorm. She’s obviously annoyed with me. Although she might not be the most fun roommate we get along and it’s only for two more years then I can go to college far away from here. 

I sit down on the couch feeling slightly defeated as I flip through the channels on the T.V. There is nothing good on so I slowly allow myself to doze off. 

20 years later  

“Hey Rory! This is Ava I know we haven't talked in a while but I’m having a party with all of our high school friends kind of like a reunion.”

“Cool! When is it?” 

“I’m hoping to hold it on January 19. Does that date work for you?”

“Yeah! I can fly in the day before and I can stay with my inlaws. Thank you so much for including me. I can't wait!”

“Of course, I’m excited to see you there!”

I hang up the phone and exhale a breath that I didn't even know that I was holding. I had finally called all of our friends from high school, which feels like it was so long ago, and most of them can come! 

I finish making a list of all of the party supplies that I will need and then I head to bed. 

The day of the party approached faster than I thought it would and it came before I knew it. 

My house is all set up and everyone is super excited. I had recently got a new time machine as a birthday present and am super excited to go back to our high school days with some of my friends and look back on some of the stupid things that we did as teenagers. 

People started arriving and migrated to the couch area and were happily chatting among themselves. Once a good amount of my guests came in, I brought some snacks over to the couch and sat down and decided to join the conversation. 

They were talking about time machines (the newest invention). “I never thought that our society would get this advanced!” Rory said with some excitement in her voice. 

“Yeah, I really want one but I heard that only a few select people were chosen to try and test them out,” said Josh who was in my freshmen homeroom and senior Spanish class.

“Well actually,” I said, unable to contain the smile on my face. “I am close friends with the person who made the time machines sister and I don't even know how but I got one.” Everyone's jaws dropped and they started getting excited. “I was thinking that we could go back and look at some of the funny things that we did as teenagers…. If you guys wanted to.”

“YESSS,” one girl said who was the bully of the grade but now owned an expensive chain of restaurants. 

“Where should we go first?” was the question that seemed to echo the room. 

“When I got this they said that only two or three people should go at a time,” I said not wanting to break any rules. “I was actually hoping that Rory and I could go back quickly if you guys don’t mind.”

They nodded their heads and Rory stood up and walked over to me. “Where are we going to go?”  

“I have a day in mind,” I responded with a smile.

“Okay,” she said, “but how does it work?”

“It’s surprisingly super simple,” I said as I pulled it out of my pocket, “you just put the date in here and then you shake it, but everyone who is going needs to be touching it.” I put the date in and then told Rory to hold the other handle. Once her hand was on I started shaking it and in a matter of seconds we had disappeared from the room and we were in our old dorm room. 

“Woah,” Rory said as she put her hand on the counter. "This is the same place and the same time that we were in. How does this work?" Still flustered she didn't realize where she had put her hand and a plate flipped over and broke on the ground. “Oh no,” she said under her breath and looked at me with big concerned eyes. 

I pulled her over to the wall and hoped that our past selves wouldn't notice. Our old selves rushed into the kitchen one after another. Both Rory and I’s jaws dropped. “My hair was disgusting!” she whispered, sounding taken back, “how did you put up with me?”

I laughed under my breath and then put my finger up to my mouth and told her to be quiet. She nodded and we watched what we were doing. 

“It was the wind,” the young Rory said. 

“Rory, do you ever think that…”  little me said looking off into space. 

“Think what?”

“Well, you know that feeling that you are being watched when you know no one is there?” 

“Yeah everyone knows that feeling and everyone knows just to ignore it because no one is really there. Why?”

“Just hear me out…”  “What if whenever people have that feeling they really are being watched. What if there are people in the future or even our future selves watching us.”

The real Rory turned to me looking more shocked than ever. 

“You're making no sense,” the old Rory said, seeming annoyed. 

“What if every time you hear a random creek on the floorboards or every time a glass breaks but no one is there, what if that is someone in the future. What if that is you in the future?”

“Well that’s not possible. How would we not see the person from the future? It just makes no sense at all,” 

“Trust me, if we invent time machines in the future, I’m sure we can find a way to be invisible. Just wait, you will see,” the little me says sounding super confident. 

“Well I can’t wait until I do,” the high school Rory said as we started rushing back into normal time. 

“You knew it,” Rory said as we appeared back in the living room. “How did you know.” 

I shrugged my shoulders and laughed, happy that I finally proved her wrong.