Goldie's POV
April 1966

Ever since Mom found out about us and we found out about her, we seemed to have gotten closer. She seemed much more relaxed, giggly, and funny. However, around the boys, she usually stayed out of their bubbles and hung around the sidelines. She was going by the, "don't speak unless spoken to" rule.

All three of us started going with Mom on little trips to the secluded grass field she arrived in. It was outside of the heart of town, only a single road traveling through it, but from the amount of time we were there we never saw another car pass by.

Mom told us that her Time Machine was ripped apart by animals, and it needed every single piece in order to work. Our job was to help her find every little screw and nut that originally was on the Machine. Once we collected as much as we could, then we would put it in a bag and bring it home where she would try to repair the Time Machine, which was hidden under Dad's bed. It never worked, so we knew there were more parts in the field we needed to find.

We would all disappear for hours at a time, and the guys started to notice. They would always ask us where we were going, but Mom always found some excuse that didn't provoke anymore questions.

April rolled around again, around the same time when we traveled here in the first place. I can't believe be its been a year already. I wondered if I could age while being here. Probably, but it would be hanging if I didn't age until 2038 came organically. A lot of people would kirk out though.

We were scavenging through the dirt and patches of long grass when the wind started to pick up. The wind also picked up some dust so we were rubbing our eyes from the stinging. The wind was blowing more and more, and started to blow in a circle.

"Is this a tornado?" Red asked.

"No," Mom said, but she was clearly confused herself of what was happening.

A bright white light flashed and made us all cover our eyes and turn away. The light went away as fast as it came, but when I opened them my vision was blocked by floating colored dots.

"What was that?" Candy asked.

We turned back and Mom gasped. We suddenly saw a young girl sitting in the grass. She was holding what looked like our time machine with a metal band around her head and the "T" shaped bar between her legs. The girl was tan, blonde, and looked about our age.

"Who's that?" Red whispered.

"Lillian?!" Mom dropped everything she was holding.

"Bri!" The girl shouted and the two ran towards each other and slammed into a hug.

"Who's that?" Red asked as we stood there awkwardly.

"I missed you so much." Mom sounded like she was going to cry. I couldn't tell if they were tears of joy, or of sadness.

"I can't believe it worked. I found you," Lillian said. "But it's only been a few days."

Lillian looked up and saw me and my siblings. Her smile faded into concern and she pulled away from Mom.

"Who's that?" She asked, pointing at us. "They just saw me."

"They are from the future too," Mom reassured, "this is Goldie, Red, and Candy."

"Hi," Red greeted with a big friendly smile.

"Oh, right. I read about you guys. How did you know they were telling the truth?" Lillian asked.

"I can tell you about some movies or musicians," Red suggested.

Lillian thought for a moment then said, "go for it."

"Avatar is the highest grossing film of all time," Red stated like the little film-nerd he is. "That was released in 2009... End Game and Titanic have been right up there with it for decades."

"Oh, I love Titanic," Mom said dreamily.

"What's End Game?" Lillian asked.

I cleared my throat nervously. "You'll find out."

"What about music?" Lillian asked, like she wasn't convinced yet.

"There's Elvis, and he dies in the late 70s. There's Michael Jackson who becomes a huge name in music, and the Beatles break up at the end of the decade. Oh, and the Beatles release a song in 2023 called Now and Then... but I guess that's a little out of your time," I stated.

"Is it a good song?" Mom asked.

"I mean, you really like it," I stated. "You play it all the time."

"Okay, I believe them," Lillian said but she still eyed us wearily.

"And you'll never guess what I found out—" Mom started to say.

"Is it about your future?"

"Yeah—"

"No one should know too much about their future," Lillian snapped at her. She seemed kind of bossy.

"Well, what's the difference if I already know and just tell you? It has nothing to do with you."

"That's true..." she tapped her chin in thought. "Tell me later."

"Anyways, I've been trying to get home for the past year. I just can't figure out how to fix the Time Machine," Mom said.

"That's what I figured when you didn't come back right away. I used my original plans and created another Time Machine to bring you back home."

"Does that mean that if I never figured out the Time Machine, I never would have made it back?" Mom asked her softly.

Lillian shook her head slowly. "No, I don't think so."

Lillian pointed to us and asked, "they got here with a Time Machine, right? Where is it?"

"We buried it so no one would find it," I said.

"So? Go unbury it," Lillian said.

"That's the thing, we don't remember where we buried it," Candy said quietly.

"You don't remember where you buried it?!" Lillian nearly shouted. She took a breath before calmly asking, "do you think anyone can find it?"

"We buried it in an empty space." I tried to remember since it was a year ago. "And pretty deep. I don't think anyone will find it any time soon."

"Good, that's good. Because if the Time Machine gets into the wrong hands—"

"It'll be catastrophic, we know," Mom said. She grabbed Lillian's hand and they swung the knot playfully. "I have so much to tell you."

"You don't need to tell me. I've read it all," Lillian said in a happy voice.

"What?" Mom asked, stopping the hand swing.

"Bri! I was using the book to keep tabs on you!"

"What do you mean?" Mom asked.

"What book?" Red asked.

"They don't know about the book?" Lillian asked.

Mom turned to us and explained that Uncle Ponyboy will write a paper for school about his experiences with the Socs, being up in the church, and just all the events from the past year. She said that before she was zapped to 1965, the book was about the gang, Johnny killing Bob, them going up to the church, the church collapsing and Johnny dying. The end was Dally getting shot and killed by the cops. Much darker. I knew that Ponyboy grew up to be a writer, but I obviously didn't know about this book.

Honestly, finding out that Dally was technically supposed to be dead makes a lot of sense. It's horrible, I know, but I wasn't surprised.

"The book. When you left, it changed. You caused such an impact that you changed the entire plot of the book."

"There is still a book?" Mom asked.

"It's pretty different. But also the same."

"I'm in it?"

"Hell yeah! These guys are in it too." Lillian nodded to us. "It's incredible. I still can't believe you took Johnny's spot and saved those kids from the burning church. Maybe some things will change or be added when we get back home," she said.

"I honestly never even thought about it," Mom said.

"I don't know if you remember but you said that Mr. Kenner came by and gave you a letter to give to me. I opened it after you left and it was from you! I never stopped working on another Time Machine once you didn't come back."

"Who is Mr. Kenner?" Candy asked.

"One of our teachers in high school," Mom answered, "I found him as a kid and told him to deliver that note to Lillian in 2017. I can't believe he actually did it!"

Lillian took out a worn out piece of paper and handed it to mom. Mom said, "this is the note," and handed it to us to look at.

The paper was ripped some at the edges, and the once white page was now a yellow-beige color. The writing was greatly smudged, but I could see that this was her handwriting. It had obviously aged from the past few decades.

"I don't think I've seen him since I delivered the note to him," Mom stated. "It must have been horrible déjà vu for him to see me in his class years later."

"I didn't even think about that!"

"How long did it take you to build that?" Mom pointed to the Time Machine that Lillian came in on.

"Not too long. Since I had the plans from the first time. I just needed to get the equipment."

"Why did you choose this date?" I asked. "It's been a year for us but only a couple days for you. What gives?"

"I couldn't remember what date Bri chose, so it was my best guess. I guess I got the year wrong," Lillian said. She picked up the Time Machine and held it to her chest. "Y'all ready to go?"

"You mean we can go? Just like that?" Candy asked.

"Just like that," Lillian chuckled.

"I've got some clothes at the Curtis house that I wanna snag," Mom said. "We should go."

"Yeah, let's go," Lillian agreed.

Mom waved us over and all five of us piled into Mom's car. The three of us squished in the back and we buckled our seatbelts.

"By the way, those are cute jeans," Lillian pointed out to Mom.

"Thank you." Mom beamed. I sat up straighter and tried to look at her jeans, because I just didn't notice them before. I think what makes them different is that the bottom half of them are dark denim while the top half are light. Then Mom said to Lillian, "you're cute jeans."

Lillian started laughing uncontrollably, and Mom giggled right along with her. I cocked my eyebrow up in confusion. I don't get it.

"What does that mean?" Candy whispered.

"I have no idea," I stated. Maybe it's some sort of inside joke? Or a joke from their time? No clue.

Mom drove us to the Curtis house, but I didn't see any cars in the driveway besides mine.

"Is anyone home?" Candy asked.

"I don't think so. That's strange," Mom said as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Who's car is that?" Lillian pointed to mine.

"Mine," I said.

"You think there's someone inside?" Lillian asked.

"Maybe," Mom said.

"Who knows. People come and go all the time," I added.

"That's true," Candy said.

We all hopped out of the car, and Lillian left the Time Machine in the car seat. Mom started to fiddle with her car keys, which had a key to the house. She said that she's never had to use it, because they never lock the door but Darry gave it to her just in case of an emergency. He never gave me a key.

"Hello?" Mom called out when she walked in, "guys?"

The only response was the sound of the old house settling.

"I wonder where they are," Mom wondered out loud. "I don't remember anyone telling me where they were off to. Do you remember?"

"No," I said, and Red and Candy shook their heads.

"That'll make leaving a little easier," Lillian stated.

Mom looked over her shoulder at Lillian. In a tone tainted in disappointment, she said, "yeah... you're right."

"Candy, will you grab some bags from the garage?" I asked. She ran off, but I made Red stay with me.

If we didn't tell Mom that we were from the future as well, I wonder what would have happened if she left with Lillian without us. Would we have been stuck here for forever?

Candy came back with the bags and we went into the room we were staying in. We packed all our clothes, and things we bought during our time here. Mom did the same. Lillian was getting impatient with us and she started packing Mom's car with the bags.

"Ready to go?" Lillian asked when we were all outside.

"Almost." Mom turned to us and said, "you guys wait in the car. I'll be out in a second." She tossed us the keys, which Lillian caught, and she ran back inside.

We piled into the car and Lillian was in the passenger seat and started the ignition. We cranked the windows down to get some air flow, otherwise it was way too hot.

"What's your story?" Lillian asked us as she turned back to look at us. "How did you guys get stuck here?"

"We were cleaning out the attic in our house." Candy recalled. "We found it, messed with it, and before we knew it we were in some guy's apartment."

"What year are you guys from?" Lillian asked.

"2038," I answered.

"2038?!" She repeated, shocked. Her jaw dropped too.

"And we came in the Time Machine that you invented," I told her.

"How did you get it?" She asked.

I shrugged, wishing I knew the answer. "It was in our attic."

Before Lillian could ask something else, Mom came back. Her nose sniffled a few times and her face was red. It's so hard to see your mom cry, or try not to cry.

Lillian asked, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just sad to be leaving."

"It'll be okay, I promise."

"What should we do with our cars?" Mom asked.

"What did you guys have in mind?" Lillian asked.

"We can just leave mine here," I said. "The keys are inside and maybe Soda can have it or something."

"We can either sell mine, or drive it into a cave or something and get it in 2017," Mom suggested.

"Sell it."

"Alrighty," Mom stated unenthusiastically.

"We can take the cash with us back to 2017," Lillian said to Mom.

"Yeah, that's a good point," Mom reluctantly agreed.

"A cave would be cool," I mumbled.

We drove the car dealership, and Mom sweet-talked her way into selling her car for the full price of what she paid for. However, the deal fell through when they refused to pay with straight cash. Mom argued with them, but they didn't budge.

Mom explained the situation to us through her rightful annoyance. She talked to a Lillian about it, and they figured that it was probably for the best. They decided to just ditch the car and someone would deal with it later.

"Driving might be better anyways," Mom said as she peeled out of the parking lot. "Otherwise we would have to carry everything."

"Yeah, that would suck," I agreed.

Mom drove us through town while Lillian was commenting about how different everything looked. She should see 2038, it doesn't even feel like the same city anymore. I think it would be cool if we could see Mom and Lillian's time and if they could come see ours. Lillian seems like a stickler though, I don't think she would like that idea.

We stopped at a stop light and I thought I heard someone's stomach growling. Then, Mom said, "you know, Dairy Queen here is better than Dairy Queen back in our time."

"It is?" Lillian asked.

"Yeah. Wanna try it?"

"No, we should probably just get home."

"Come on, please. It'll be the last time. What damage can we do that I wouldn't have already done?"

"I'm hungry too," Red stated.

I piped up, "so am I."

"Me too," Candy added.

Mom looked at Lillian with big puppy eyes. "Come on. You won't make the children starve, will you?"

Lillian looked back at us and jokingly rolled her eyes, followed by a smile. "Fine, I guess it's okay. We should be quick though."

Even though I just met her, I did like Lillian. She seems nice and my mom obviously likes her a lot, considering they're best friends. Maybe it feels off-putting because we don't know her in 2038 but she's kind of bossy. I know that she's just anxious about this time-travel stuff, but why is she the one calling all the shots here?

When the light turned green we zoomed into the parking lot and had to drive in a couple of circles before we found an empty space. All five of us got out of the car and headed inside. There was a big line, and I was nervous that Lillian would get annoyed and tell us just to go back to the car.

We got in line and I studied the small menu to see what I wanted as a last-supper before we went back home. Lillian wouldn't stop talking about the prices, which I was still having a tough time wrapping my head around it as well. Seventy-two years is a long time for inflation to rise. It would be the same difference if they left 2017 and went to 1945.

Just as promised, the food was made fast and Mom's name was called. Mom and Candy both grabbed all the bags while Red went around to try to find us an empty table. He spotted a booth in the back corner, so we all met there and took our food out of the bags and passed them around.

"So, where did you guys come from?" Mom asked as she bit off half of a greasy fry.

"2038," Candy responded.

"No, I mean where were you when you got here?" She rephrased.

"Oh, in some guy's apartment," I responded.

Her face dropped. "The inside of an apartment?"

"Yeah," I said and took a bite of my cheeseburger.

"You guys live in an apartment?" Lillian asked while covering her mouth since she was in the middle of chewing.

"No, we live in a house. We were up in the attic before we got here. We were on the second or third floor of that apartment complex," I stated.

"Maybe the apartment complex gets taken down and homes are built there," Lillian suggested.

"Probably. I can look into it when we get back. Not that it'll help you guys for a while," I chuckled.

Mom and Lillian laughed together while eating fries. Mom responded, "we probably won't care by then."

While chewing on her burger, Lillian turned to me with her blue eyes squinting as if she saw me at a grocery store and was trying to figure out how she knew me. "You know, you look like someone but I just can't put my finger on it."

"Who?" I cluelessly asked.

"Soda?" Mom suggested.

"I don't know. Maybe," Lillian stated. "I'd have to look at him first."

"Wait, look at this." Mom took her dinosaur phone out of her pocket and made sure no one was looking before she showed Lillian a picture. I assume she was showing her a picture of my old man.

"Holy hell..." she looked at the old-school screen then me. Then she looked at me, and then the screen. "Literally twins."

"What did you show her?" I asked.

"This." Mom showed me the picture of her and Dad and Steve hanging out at the DX. Judging by their work shirts, I assume they were all on the clock. "We took this a while ago, so I got a picture of the picture."

"Hanging." I nodded and shoved the rest of my burger into my mouth. Seeing old pictures of my dad is so weird. We do look a lot a like.

"I think the plan is to take you guys to 2038, then we might have to come back to 1966 to go over to the field," Lillian said as if she was thinking out loud.

"You think so?" Mom asked and took a sip of her soda. All of us were nearly done with our food but she was eating slow. I could tell that she didn't want to leave. I don't think she was ready.

"I mean, my house will probably still be there and it'll be occupied by someone else's family. You really want to break in?" Lillian asked, bringing up a good point.

"Maybe it's you," Mom said.

"And risk seeing my other self?" Lillian asked.

"Yeah, you're right," Mom said. "That won't be so bad, we can just drive to the field."

"Exactly."

When Mom was finally done eating, we all tossed our garbage away and headed toward the exit at the front of the restaurant.

"It's crazy, I never thought that being here would be so—"

Mom interrupted Lillian by whispering, "hide" and grabbed her and yanked her down to hide behind the garbage can by the door.