TIME PART 2
Part 2
Elizabeth darted out of the bathroom as quickly as she could. The lights were flickering and flashing throughout the entire building. She ran down the hall to her office, but it was empty. “That’s odd,” she thought to herself. The lights were making cracking noises again. Then…darkness. All she could see was the unnerving crimson glow of the emergency lights. “What is happening and where is everyone?” In fact, no one was there. Elizabeth checked her watch, “8:30am.” She looked at the clock on the wall, “7:30pm??!! What is going on?!!!” She quickly grabbed her things and took off.
What should have been daytime was now dark as night and the wind blew in a sudden chill in the air. Frightened and bewildered, Elizabeth sprinted to her car. She ran so fast that the fallen autumn leaves were dancing all around her with each footstep. She kept looking over her shoulder for the old spooky woman who seemed to be stalking her every move. She jumped in her car and locked the door. Tears began to fill her brown eyes. “What happened to the day? What is happening to me?” Elizabeth sobbed. Suddenly, “bang, bang, bang, bang,” Elizabeth looked up…it was that scary woman, banging on her car window! This time, her eyes lit up like fire and her teeth were bigger and sharper. She had a crooked grin on her face as she shrilled, “What time is it, dear? Hehehehahaha?!!! Don’t you know?!” Elizabeth screamed and her eyesight began to fade. Colors flickered in her eyes as they rolled back in her head. Elizabeth had fainted.
“Home, home again. I like to be here when I can.” Elizabeth’s eyes slowly opened as her ears awakened to the ominous song on her car radio. “When I come home, cold and tired. It’s good to warm my bones beside the fire.” Startled, she jumped up from her driver’s seat and looked around. The scary woman was no where to be seen. Elizabeth recognized the tree next to her driveway. “Whew, I am home, but I don’t remember driving. That is scary.” Her home was dark except the one window upstairs where she left her mother that morning. The window still glowed and seeing that window gave Elizabeth comfort, and she felt safe.
As soon as she stepped into her home, the foyer was dimly lit, and Elizabeth could smell coffee and bacon. They were the smells of a typical morning at the King household. She looked up at her mother who was vacuuming on the second floor, just as she had left her that morning. “Lizzie, you are going to be late,” Elizabeth’s mother yelled from the second floor hallway, “again!” Elizabeth was scared and confused. Had she really lost concept of time? She was having the same conversation with her mother from that very morning. “Mom, what day is it?” “Honey, you don’t have time…” Her mother’s voice trailed off because all Elizabeth could focus on was the hissing sound that came from behind her mother. Suddenly, long bony fingers crawled over her mother’s shoulder like a spider. Then sunken eyes appeared, glowing with fire. And that same crooked grin with the narrow, pointy teeth was right behind her mother as soon as she said the word ‘time.’
“Mom!” Elizabeth cried, “Behind you!”
Elizabeth’s mother turned around, but there was nothing there. “Lizzie, you don’t have time to be playing pranks on me!” The two bronze sconces in the upstairs hallway suddenly flickered and crackled. The scary woman appeared out of thin air, but this time at the top of the stairs, when her mother, again, said ‘time.’ Twisted and contorted, she grinned and hummed the same song from the office restroom. A crimson red light now glowed from the bronze sconces.
“Do you not see the scary lady standing at the top of the stairs?” Elizabeth cried and crouched down, covering her head with her hands.
“Elizabeth Ann King, I have no idea what you are talking about. I don’t see anyone! There is no one in this house but you and me!” Elizabeth looked up the staircase. The woman was gone. “Is she a figment of my imagination?” She thought intently. “It seems like she only appears when I am late, or when there is talk of me being late.”
“Mom, this is going to sound crazy, but what day is it?” She asked her mother again. Her mother looked at Elizabeth, confused. “Honey, it’s October 27, 2005. Are you okay?”
“Mom what time is it?”
At this point, Elizabeth’s mother could tell that she was distressed. This wasn’t a prank. She walked over to the top of the stairs and answered, “It’s 6:35am. Honey, do you want me to take you to work? You need to leave in 5 minutes.” Stunned, Elizabeth sat down at the bottom of the stairs, processing, “This is the same day all over again…a do-over.”
The five minutes were almost up. Elizabeth walked up the stairs to her mother and hugged her. Her mother was not expecting it and stalled briefly when hugging her back. “Mom, I love you and I want to make you proud of me.” Her mother, fighting back tears said softly, “Oh Lizzie you make me proud everyday. Have a great day at work! I love you!”
Elizabeth walked to her car. She stopped right up to the driver’s side door and turned to look back at her house, a traditional two-story, built in the 1970’s. All the windows facing the front were dark, except the one window upstairs where her mother was cleaning. The window gleamed a golden light, in contrast with the eerie morning sky, as if symbolic. She smiled and turned around to get into her car. She put the keys in the ignition while checking her wavy brown hair and a bit of makeup in the mirror, then zoomed out of the driveway, onto the street. Off to work!
It was 6:40am. This time, Elizabeth would get to work, not on time, but early. This time, Elizabeth drove at a normal speed. She turned on her radio and the perfect song sang to her, “Time is on my side, yes it is. Time is on my side, yes it is.” She smiled again and looked back in the rear view mirror. Elizabeth could see a figure in the middle of the road about 50 feet back…waving.
The End.
