2020 August 22nd 7:30 pm
The dim light of the basement shone down on fourteen-year-old Cassie Baker as she rummaged through old dusty boxes. They were left by the people who had owned the house before the Baker family had moved in. So far the only things that she could make out from the very dim light of the lamp swinging from the low ceiling, were lots of boxes of broken Christmas lights, a box full of music albums, a stack of heavy books that looked like they were in Latin and a rusty metal box that wouldn't open.
“Suppers ready Cassie!” Called a voice from the kitchen. Cassie pocketed the box and ran up the rickety old stairs and towards the doorway of light.
The kitchen reminded Cassie of spring with its yellow walls, white cupboards, daisy-covered tablecloth over the table and the big marble island which always had flowers in painted jars on it.
Much better than the apartment before, Cassie thought gladly as the Baker family sat down at their new table - it was also sad because she had spent her whole life at that apartment, and no matter how small and old and how loud the man next door was, it was home.
“So Cass, what did you find in the basement?” Asked John, Cassie’s dad. He put a fork full of pasta carbonara in his mouth.
“Nothing interesting really,” sighed Cassie, her short brown hair, the same colour as her dad's, barely reached her shoulders. She liked it because it meant she wasn't her mum, with her jeans and t-shirts and short hair. Cassie hadn’t worn a dress since she started soccer and had tournaments every weekend.
“Ovfuye!” Groaned Charlie, with a mouth full of food. Charlie was a ten-year-old boy, who had floppy hair and a crazy grin that was always there.
“Excuse you, Charlie,” their mum reprimanded him. She had long dark hair that flowed down her back in a big wave, and her face was covered in makeup that made her look like she had just come back from a day on the beach.
“I was hoping for a-” Charlie said.
“-Oh! I just remembered.” Cassie interrupted her brother's daydreams. "There was a metal box that I couldn't open!”
“I can do it, Sis!” exclaimed Charlie with a wide grin on his face “Hand it over,”
Cassie reluctantly handed over the box but after a few pulls, the boy's nimble fingers and nonexistent strength couldn’t open it. “It was glued! There's probably one hundred, thousand, quadrillion, bazillion dollars in it or-” he said ecstatically, ”-or a map that shows where pirates hid their buried treasure!”
“Honey, the old owners left this house because the rent was too much,” their mum Amy said “And Charlie, the chair is for sitting on, NOT standing on,” Cassie and her dad roared with laughter.
The family had only moved to Brackendale a week ago, and Cathleen, the oldest who was sixteen years old, was not with them, she was staying with her best friend while she said goodbye to all her other friends from school. Cassie and Charlie had been exploring the house all week and today they had started in the attic and the basement.
“Next week,” Amy said glaring at the two to stop them laughing “We're going back to school shopping.”
“Really? Ugh.” groaned Charlie and Cassie.
“Dessert’s ready!” Called Amy as the oven alarm rang, She disappeared into the next room. Cassie breathed in the lovely aroma coming from the apple pie as it was placed on the table.
“I really don’t know how you do it,” smiled John. “All I can say is this: Dig in!”
Charlie immediately started putting big slices of pie on his plate.
Cassie had almost forgotten about the mysterious box until her brother gave it back right before bed when they were passing each other in the hallway. When Cassie got into her room she placed it on her bedside table to try in the morning- maybe she could get her penknife into it.
A few hours later Cassie woke up. She noticed a strange light vibrating through the room. Probably just my imagination, the girl thought to herself. But the longer she stayed awake, the more she realised it wasn’t her imagination.
Cassie Baker got out of her bed and turned on the light so she could investigate the phenomenon. Her room had turquoise walls and her loft bed made her small room seem so much bigger. Her idols stared down at her from posters lining the walls; Marta Vieira da Silva, Homare Sawa and Christine Sinclair were on the biggest posters. Cassie walked over to her bedside table where the light seemed to be coming from, on her table the old metal box was wide open and something was in it!
2090 August 22nd 11:20 am
“Captain Burn! Captain Burn!” A burly man with broad shoulders wearing a red and white tracksuit with many badges gleaming on his chest turned around to face his lieutenant; a man in his thirties and not so broad-shouldered but more athletic wearing a red and blue tracksuit.
“What is it, lieutenant?” The Captain asked sternly, glaring at the man.
“We have recently got information that the time turner has been stolen,” the man reported.
“What?” The captain tried to maintain his emotions.
“I’m afraid so, sir,” The lieutenant confirmed.
“Lieutenant, go to the computer base and locate what time it turned to,” commanded Captain Burn.
“Sir, yes, Sir!'' The lieutenant rushed off back down the hall he had come from.
The Captain wiped his brow and pondered why he had even kept the time turner in the first place and not destroyed it. What if the person had gone back in time to change is real? The Captain on the outside was stoic but on the inside, he was frantic as he tried to think of anyone who disliked him, sadly a lot of people came to mind.
The captain was the boss of the Land Control Centre firm that ran everything from who went to jail to who hadn’t gone to work on Thursday. Everyone wore different coloured tracksuits to show their rank; red and white was for Captain Burn only, and red and blue was for the lieutenant. The red and green were for the technicians, dark blue and gold were for the police officers, and a lot more from interns in grey and white to human resources managers in dark green tracksuits.
“Sir!” Called a voice down the hallway.
“What, lieutenant?” the Captain said, not turning around.
“I am not your lieutenant, I am Commander Glen,” corrected the Commander.
The captain turned around in surprise.
“Captain Burn, I have come from the NSDPC. We have some news.” He was a big man with a pure red suit that looked like a NASA uniform. He had badges all over his shoulders. NSDPC stands for the National Space Development Program of Canada.
“I heard about the fires moving quickly from Europe,” replied Burn.
“Yes, captain, it is very worrying. I have talked with NASA and all the other space programs and we have all agreed that it is time.”
“Are you sure your team is ready?”
“No, and I don’t think we will ever be, but climate change and the fires are way out of control we need to act before the new year.”
The captain was about to ask how they were going to do it so soon, when the lieutenant came back and he was running really fast.
“What have you learned, lieutenant?” Burn barked at the man. The lieutenant stood for a moment to pretend to catch his breath but to actually figure out how to tell the captain the bad news.
“Come on lieutenant,” spat the captain.
“Th-the time turner was taken back to the year… 2019.”
“Oh my sainted aunt!”