The trio of Mercy, Davis and Bethany soon broke up as they reached the beach. Mercy and Davis went one way down the beach, while Bethany went the other way. She had a feeling of where he might be, but she wanted to see if she was right before calling the others down. She walked along some half a mile before she came upon a run down pier. A house was there, she remembered, until a freak storm washed it away. It was empty, no one lived there but it was still a beautiful house. She remembered playing hide and seek with her friends till the wee hours of the morning. The small pier, owned by whoever owned the house, was all that was left. She walked up to the pier and looked down at the end. There Roark sat. Bethany carefully walked toward him down the pier. The pier was old but it was still stable enough to hold the both of them, she hoped.
"Catch anything matey?" Bethany asked. Roark looked up at her and then back at the ocean. He had a pile of rocks beside him. He picked up one and tried to skip it across the ocean. It sunk almost immediately.
"Figures." He muttered. "I feel like I have a lot in common with that rock right now. Sinking faster and faster." He sighed. "Why can't dad accept the fact that I want to try this?"
"He's concerned for you." Bethany said. "He doesnt want you to go through what he did when he and his band tried to make it. Slow months without a gig. Barely a thing to eat. Days when they thought they would be evicted. He thinks its no life for you." She said. She sat down next to Roark and dangled her legs off the edge.
"I know, but its the challenge of it is what grabs me." He said. "Can I do this? How far can I go? Can I go back?" He said. "Nope." Roark sighed. "He just wants to be in control."
"Well they say father knows best."
"Sometimes they're wrong." He grumbled.
"Who, they are or the fathers?" Bethany asked.
Roark looked up at her. He shrugged.
"I think you did an excellant job up there." Bethany said. "If I was a tennybopper, you'd find me spread out on the floor."
Roark laughed. "You are hardly the teenybopper type."
"I know." Bethany said. "Come on, lets go inside. There must be somewhere we can be without being cold, and feeling so lonely."
"Sometimes being alone is a good thing." Roark said looking into her eyes. "Gives you time with you thoughts."
"To think things through." Bethany said. She said returning his gaze.
"So you know what you are going to do next." Roark said. Bethany felt his face growing closer to hers. She could feel her face getting hot. Her cheeks felt like they were aflame. She felt his breath on her face now. She found herself closing her eyes. Just as she thought he would kiss her, she heard a creaky noise. Bethanys eyes flew open. Roark was nose to nose with her, inches away from kissing her. She turned her head the same time he did and saw what was making the noise. Mercy and Davis were coming up the pier. Bethany looked at Roark, almost wishing her friends were farther down the sandy beach. She was so close too.
"Roark. She found you." Davis said.
"I'd say." Mercy said. "Thats not they only thing they found." She said with a wink.
"Knock it off Mercy." Bethany said.
"Lets get back home. This jacket is thinner than I thought. Its like wearing nothing at all." Mercy complained.
"Our folks will worry too." Davis said.
"Right." Roark said sarcastically. "Let's go face the music." He got up and walked down the pier quickly. Davis soon caught up with him. Mercy looked at Bethany.
"I hope we didnt interrupt anything." She said coyly.
"Nothing, nothing at all." Bethany said. "Roarks a friend. Just that a friend."
"Sure he is." Mercy said. "And what if we didnt come back that moment?"
"Oh bite your tongue." Bethany said. "Can we go now?"
"Okay." Mercy said. "Roarky and Bethany sitting in a tree."
"Quit it, or your sleeping with the fishes!"
"ooooh." Mercy chuckled.
Roark and the guys came in the back way of the house. The adults seemed to be discussuing something very serious in the living room.
"Do you really think they should know about it?" Karen asked.
"I do." Mike said. "It's time they know everything about it, and where we came from."
"What are they talking about?" Bethany asked.
"Let's find out." Roark said. "Lets hide over there, near the stairs to the attic."
The four snuck in the house. They artfully avoided being seen by their parents, who seemed to have forgotten they had left.
"But didnt they cover that in sex ed?" Peter asked.
"Not like that." Livvie said.
"I dunno." Davy said. "What could be gained from telling them?"
"A lot." Chea said. "Maybe we can understand each other more. After all, we're not going to be around forever. it should be used."
Mike started to talk.
"But responsibly." Chea said.
"Use what?" Mercy asked.
"I have no idea." Davis said.
"There should be some kind of vote." Davy said. "Majority rules."
"All right." Mike said taking charge. "For all those who think we should tell the kids about the time gadget say Aye."
All present said aye.
"Time gadget?" Bethany asked. "Whats that?"
"Shhh." Roark directed.
"I guess no one disagrees?" Mike said. There was silence. "All right. Then we tell them in the morning."
"Do you remember where you put it?" Micky said.
"Upstairs in the attic." Chea said.
"I hope its not buried somewhere we can't find it." Karen said.
They listened to the adults chat for another ten minutes. Davy and Brianna started to leave when they remembered something.
"The kids!" Brianna said. "Where are they?"
"I'm sure they will be back." Micky said. "We can call you guys in the morning." Micky said assuredly.
Soon after Brianna, Davy, Mike and Karen left for their hotel. Peter and Livvie walked home. Micky and Chea went straight to bed, it had been an exahausting day. Once they were sure they wouldnt be heard, the kids snuck out from their hiding space.
"Time gadget?" Bethany asked. "Whats that?"
"A way of saying youre getting a watch for graduation?" Mercy asked.
"I have my gift." She held her bracelet up.
"So whats the time gadget?" Davis asked. "They never mentioned it before."
"True." Roark said. He walked to the stairs leading to the top floor.
"Roark, what are you doing?" Bethany asked as she and the others followed him slowly up the stairs.
"The only way we will find out is if we go see what it is for ourselves." Roark said.
"Shouldnt we wait till the morning?" Davis said."They said they would tell us."
"I can't wait that long." Roark said. "It could be something, could be nothing but I want to know now." He looked at Bethany. "What about you? Arent you dying to know?"
Despite herself, Bethany felt herself nodding.
"I want to know." Mercy said. Davis thought for a minute and finally agreed.
"Okay, so lets go." Roark said as they approached the door to the stairs. They stood before the door and looked it over. It didnt seem to have any locks. Only a rusty door knob. Roark began to turn it and it made loud creaky sound. Everyoen cringed and waited a second, for they thought that the sound had woken someone.
"Have you ever been up there?" Mercy asked.
"Yeah, once." Bethany said as she followed Roark up. Davis brought up the rear, making sure no one surprised them. "Me and Davis were up there playing."
"Just you and Davis? What about Roark?" Mercy asked.
"I don't think I lived there then." Roark said as he reached the top.
"Anyway we were digging through some old boxes, we found their old button down shirts." Bethany laughed. "My friend Annie saw them once, called them a crime of fashion."
"Course its not their fault, it was the sixties." Davis said.
"Yeah." Roark said. "Those grunge rockers a few years back, they will have kids too and they will wonder what they were thinking when they thought plaid was cool."
"I never thought it was cool." Mercy said. "Course where I live, grunge didnt really make it over there."
"Mom wigged out when we found this thing.Some kind of klunky metal thing." She said as Roark turned a light on. The only light in there was a large bulb hung over the middle of ther room. Only Roark, and Davis, were tall enough to get it. "She took it from us and hid it." She said thinking. "She said something to us, what was it?"
"She said she would tell us about it...
"When we were older!" Davis and Bethany said together.
"Then its possible that this time gadget thing is the same thing our folks were talking about?" Roark asked. Bethany nodded.
"Great." Mercy said. "So we're older. We should find out what it is."
"Before we can find out what, we have to find out where." Roark said.
"Where would she hide it?" Mercy asked.
"Mom has strange patterns." Bethany said. "She will put something in one place, move it, then put it back where it was in the first place."
"Why?" Mercy asked. "It seems so stupid. Confusing."
"Thats the point. To think its somewhere, where its actually where its been all along..." Bethany said stopping cold. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" She looked at Davis.
He thought for a second. He snapped. "She moved it, then after we gone back down, she put it back. That has to be it."
"Where did you find it in the first place?" Roark asked.
"Right over here, I think. Its been a while since we've seen it." Bethany said. "For all we know its been moved again."
"Not yet. They said they were coming for it in the morning." Mercy said.
They started looking through all the boxes one at a time. Each found relics of the past, records, clothing, other miscellaneous gear that had been long forgotten about but had to have an important part of their lives at one time. After a few minutes of looking Davis stopped.
"I remember now." He said snapping his fingers. "It was in a box of stuff by the window." He said pointing. He went to a small pile of boxes by the window and started to go through them. The others looked at each other briefly then went over to him and helped him with his search.
A few minutes more flew by before they found something at the bottom of one box. Roark felt something metallic with his right hand. He fumbled about at the bottom of the box. He looked at them as he brought something out with his right hand.
"Is this it?" He asked while clutching a large remote control like object in his hand.
"Thats the one." Bethany said. "Mom got so freaked when Davis and I were about to play with it. She said we wouldnt understand what it could do. Before we could ask her more, she shooed us downstairs." Bethany said.
Roark wiped off a thin layer of dust on it. It had been at the bottom of a box of blue jeans and bell bottom pants, so the dust had not really touched it.
"Why dont we see what it can do?" Roark said.
"Why?" Bethany asked. "We don't know what it could do."
"Curiousity." Roark said. "They're gonna show us tomorrow anyway. We can just look at it." He said looking it over. "We don't have to tell anyone. What do you say Davis?"
"I agree with Bethany." He said. "Maybe once we learn what it is, then we can decide." He said. "It can be anything, it could be an old remote. OR..."
"Or it could really be some kind of time gadget." Mercy said.
"Yeah, but for what?" Davis asked her.
"It could be a homemade clock." Mercy said looking at them. "It could also be, just imagine this, a time machine."
"A time machine?" Bethany laughed. "In my parents attic? Thats kinda a sci fi thing isn't it?"
"You asked my opinion." Mercy shrugged. "Either way, I don't see any harm in just turning it on."
"Thats a good idea." Roark said. "Wheres the on switch?" He muttered.
"Just turn it on?" Bethany said. "Thats it? Nothing else?"
"Thats it." Mercy said. "Then we can just put it back. No harm, no foul."
"All right." Bethany said. "Davis?"
Davis thought for a minute. "All right, but thats all we do."
Roark turned the switch on. The light came on and a humming sound emitted from the device. The lights flashed in the keypad section of it. A display flashed for a couple of seconds, it had been a long time since it had been used, it must be warming up Roark decided. After a minute or so of reconfiguring, something appeared on the display.
"It says here, enter year." Roark said.
"Year?" Bethany asked. "Maybe we oughta stop. Before we do something stupid to set that off."
"All right." Roark said. The display started to flash again. "Uh oh."
"What do you mean uh oh?" Mercy said.
"I didnt touch it, but its starting to enter a year by itself." He looked at the display as number seemingly input themselves into the computer. "Its entering a year on its own."
"What do you mean on its own?" Davis asked. "Without you touching it."
"Hey you have my word, I havent touched it." He said protesting complete innocence. The gadget beeped. "Confirmation." He said reading it.
"Confirmation?" Bethany asked. "For what?" She asked. Just as she asked the question, the humming grew steadily louder.
"Whats going on?" Mercy asked as a white light surrounded them both.
"I don't know!" Roark said. "Wheres this light coming from?"
"The gadget!" Bethany said. "Shut it off!" She said running to him.
Roark tried to push the off button, and several other buttons at the same time. "I can't. It won't shut off."
They started to feel a weird pull. It felt like someone was trying to suck them out of the room. A moment of inspiration hit Mercy.
"Quick, grab on to each other." Mercy said grabbing Davis's hand.
"Why?" Bethany asked.
"If we're going somewhere, then we better hang on to someone." Mercy replied grabbing Bethanys free hand. Bethany nodded and grabbed Roarks free hand. They looked at each other. Bethany looked at him and fear. Roark looked at her. He seemed to be mouthing something her but she couldnt quite make it out. An instant later they were gone.
Morning
Chea came down from the attic after a few minutes of looking. Everyone had gathered at the house that morning so they could tell the kids about the gadget. They were out on the beach watching the sunrise with cups of coffee. Chea knew this was a good idea. It would be a safety measure in case the kids ever found it and tried to use it. At least they would know what the gadget was capable of. But Chea was puzzled. She couldnt find the gadget where she left it the last time she saw it. When Bethany and Davis were young she found them upstairs in the attic playing when they unwittingly found the gadget. She took it away from them before they asked any questions. She couldnt find it now, however.
"Micky?" Chea said descending the main stairway.
"Yeah sweetums?" Micky said as he made himself some cereal.
"Did you bring the gadget down already?" She asked.
"No." Micky shook his head as he chomped on some captain crunch.
"I can't find it." Chea said.
"Maybe one of the others have it already." Micky said. "We gotta find the emergency one too."
"All right." Chea said. "Where are the kids?"
Micky looked at her. "They havent come back yet?"
"No," Chea said. "I have no idea where they are. Bethany is never out this long without leaving some sort of note."
"Hmmm." Micky said. "Let's get the others. They might have seen them." He went to her and took her hand. She hugged him.
"Where could she be?" Chea said.
Micky sighed and kissed her on the head."We'll find them. They have to be nearby."
"I hope so."
Meanwhile
The four landed on the beach. It had only been two seconds since they left but it felt like so much longer. The arrival knocked them unconscious. After lying on the beach for a few minutes, one of them finally got up. It was Bethany. She rubbed her head and looked around. She must have hit her heard hard, it hurt so much. She looked up and down the beach. She squinted as she looked, it was slightly foggy out and very hard to see. She stopped rubbing her head.
"Good god," She said. "Where are we? And how did we get here?"
