Summer Reading Essay By Brei R

While walking around one day, David stumbled upon what looked to be an ordinary cardboard box on the side of the road. At first he thought nothing of it, until he saw the words, “time machine” scribbled across the side in black marker. He figured it was nothing, maybe something a small child was using for a game one day, but still, he couldn’t help but wonder. He decided to try it, because he was so tired of his mother, and everything else around him, he was desperate to go somewhere, anywhere, as long as it was far from here. He crawled into the box, and made himself into a small ball. There was words on the inside as well that read: past, present, future.
David decided he wanted to go back to the past, to see what things were like. He didn’t want to spoil the future, for he loved surprises. He wasn’t exactly sure how he was going to work this so called time machine. He finally decided that he would say where he wanted to go aloud. He closed his eyes, and whispered, “past. I want to go to the past.” He had no specific time in mind, just anywhere was fine with him, he loved adventures. For a time, nothing happened. He was about to give up when he felt a jolt, and got a free-falling sensation that made him feel nauseous, and then he felt himself hit the floor of the box. All was still, so he snuck a peek outside of the box. Everything looked so dark and bleak, and there was not a soul to be seen. He seemed to be a little ways into a forest, but not too deep into it that it was all he could see. In the distance, he spotted a small house. He was getting hungry, and thought maybe the owner of this house would be kind enough to give him something to eat. He slowly climbed out of the box, being careful not to rip it, and started walking towards the house.
It seemed like just seconds when he was out of the forest, and right in front of the house. It was a cozy looking house, not too large, not too small. The lights were on, and dimmed to a warm yellow color. He could hear voices from inside, there was more than one person home, he assumed. He could hear some little, excited voices, and one older voice, that sounded wise and patient. He knocked on the door lightly, trying not to disturb what was going on inside. Moments later, an old woman came to the door. “may I help you?” she asked in a very kind voice. David looked at her, debating what he should say.
“Hello, um, I am from the future, and I’m lost and hungry and-”
“slow down child.” She interrupted him, putting up a hand to silence him. “come inside, and tell me the whole story.” David nodded and followed her inside. The house smelled like ham, and it made his mouth water. As if she could read his mind, she got a plate and put a generous helping of ham on it, and held it out to David. “thank you ma’am.” He said, and she smiled. She lead him into a room, where three little girls sat on the floor, looking irritated that their story time had been interrupted. “sorry girls, we have an unexpected visitor. I’m going to have to cut snow white short for tonight. Remember where I left off, and we’ll continue tomorrow, deal?” she questioned.
“Gemma!” all three complained in unison. She silenced them with just a look, and walked into another room that had a few old chairs, and a table in the middle. David had already cleaned his plate by the time they sat down.
“so, I think we should start off formally. My name is Rose, and you?”
“David.”
“Well that’s a handsome name. I certainly like it. So, David, you say you’re from the future? How exactly does this work.”
“well Rose, I was going for a walk, and I found a box on the side of the road that said time machine. I didn’t think it was actually going to work, but I gave it a try. All I had to do was say I wanted to go to the past, and it brought me here.”
“that’s rather interesting. Why did you want to time travel?”
“that’s a long story”
“well, we have time.” Rose said, glancing at the clock. It was only 4 pm. They sat there for a few moments in silence, until David finally spoke.
“well, my mother, she isn’t very nice to me. She beats me and does very cruel things to me, and I just wanted to get away. You wouldn’t understand.”
“I might understand more than you think.” She looked at him, and he raised his eyebrows. He was curious to know how this old woman could have anything in common with him.
“You’re lucky your little time machine didn’t land you somewhere 50 years before now. I was in a concentration camp. It was torture beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I was the only woman to survive.” She said, and you could see her eyes starting to get shiny, she was struggling to hold in tears. David could tell it must have been hell, for her to remember so many years later.
They continued to talk about how horrible the conditions were, and David explained how he was abused by his mother, and they compared the two. Surprisingly, Rose and David had a lot in common.
“It’s getting pretty late, I think it’s about time you head back to your time period.” Rose suggested. David got up and walked towards the door, and waved goodbye as he departed. He got back into the time machine, and told it to take him back to the present. He was happy that he was able to make this journey, and learn so much more about that past, and also see that he was not alone, and he could also survive the harsh beatings of his mother. He was able to go to bed that night and sleep very peacefully, for what seemed like the first time in his life.