Lost In Time

“Riya!” Riya’s mother was calling her from downstairs.

“Coming mom,” Riya shouted from her bedroom while playing. She went downstairs, her silky black hair following her.

“Yes??” she asked her mother and saw four strangers in the room.

“Riya, these are the Rosens. They are new to London." Riya had heard about the Rosens, they were going to be her new neighbours.

“Hi!” Riya said with a wide smile on her face.

“Hello,” said a girl. She looked the same age as her but having brown hair and yellow eyes.

“Hey!” said the other. He was a boy who looked a year older than Riya. He looked 13. Are they family or not? Riya asked herself in her head as the boy and Mr Rosen had the same eyes and hair and the girl and Mrs Rosen looked similar.

“Maybe it is the time where you three kids can get to know each other well,” said Mrs Rosen trying to bring the three kids together.

“Yes,” said Mr Rosen and Riya’s mother nodded in agreement.

The three went upstairs to Riya’s room and made themselves comfortable on her bed.

“Hi! I am Riya. Riya Patil. And you must be..." She said looking at the two.

“Hello. I am Sarah. I am half Indian so I can understand Hindi." She said it with a wide smile on her face. Riya smiled back as she did not have a lot of Indian friends and was happy to get one.

“Hello!” said the other. “My name is Nick. English. “But she is half-” Riya started asking a question but Nick continued saying “I know she is half Indian and I am not. That is because I am her step elder brother." He added hesitantly.

“Oh, that explains why you look different and have different eyes”. Riya said and realised that it was rude.

Before she could apologize Sarah said: “No, it's okay. It’s been a year since my mother married my stepfather and we became step-siblings. She added calmly.

There was a moment of silence. Hours felt like minutes and Riya had already found two best friends. The three had a lot of similarities and one of them was cooking. Mrs Patil and the Rosens were calling them. When the Rosens were leaving, Nick ensured that Sarah was not listening and pulled Riya towards him.

“Thanks”. He whispered.

“Why?” Riya asked and Nick replied saying, “Thanks as I got a best friend and also as I actually have never bonded well with Sarah before." He smiled and Riya smiled back.

It had been two months since the Rosens had moved to London. Riya had told the two a lot about the neighbourhood including about Aunt Mable. Aunt Mable was an old widow living in the neighbourhood. She had lost her husband 6 months ago and did not like to talk about him a lot. Although she was strange enough to scare someone, she was close to the Patil’s as they helped her in doing daily chores. Once Riya’s mother told Riya to water Aunt Mable’s plants as she was out of town. Sarah and Nick accompanied her.

“I always wanted to see that strange lady’s house,” Nick said in an excited tone.

“Nick, we are only going there to water her plants”. Sarah said.

“Whatever,” Nick replied. They had reached in front of her house. Riya opened the door with keys that her mother had given her. Riya and Sarah started watering the plants.

“Sarah, where is Nick?” Riya asked Sarah with a bit of suspicion. Before Sarah could answer, they heard Nick screaming their names on top of his voice. They ran towards the voice which was coming from a small bedroom near the kitchen downstairs.

“What happened?” Riya asked Nick half scared and half anxious.

“Oh nothing, just found these old papers and this mysterious box,” Nick said.

“IDIOT, YOU SCARED THE SOUL OUT OF ME,” Sarah said looking furious than ever.

“I’m sorry,” Nick said while Riya was calming Sarah.

“Nick, you should not go through someone’s personal things”. Riya looked concerned.

“No, this is different, please”. Nick said looking at both of them. Riya and Sarah came closer to him. There were two old papers kept on the box. Riya read the first one aloud.

               

         FIND THE LOST, 

          AT ANY COST.

          SAY THE YEAR,

         AND NEVER FEAR.

             But Remember…

          TIME HEALS,

          BUT ALSO STEALS.

The next paper was not the same as the first one. It was a list. Nick read the list aloud...

 "Apple Vinegar

 Storm seeds 

 Kokam

 Semit fins

Water 

 Orange peels" 

                                               

“Nick, this is nothing but a stupid joke,” Sarah said in a scared voice.

“No, it is not a joke,” said Nick.

“There is no such thing like storm seeds or semit fins,” said Riya who looked at the papers suspiciously. Before they could argue, Nick quickly opened the small dusty box. The box had the same ingredients which were there in the list.

“WE ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING,” Sarah told Nick as she knew his plans.

“We actually ARE doing this.” Nick corrected.

“Fine,” said Riya who could not argue more. “Let’s go to my house. There is no one home. Mum and dad are not coming home before evening."

“So we have 7 hours for whatever we are doing”. Nick said in an excited voice.

Sarah looked horrified and thought that Riya would take her side which did not happen. They locked the house and took the paper and the box with them. They ran into Riya’s house and went to her room.

“Why are we here? Let's cook”. Nick said.

“No Nick, we have to solve the riddle first.” Sarah corrected Nick.

“FIND THE LOST AT ANY COST, ” Riya repeated. “Meaning we can find the things or people we have lost in the past”. Riya had cleared the first part of the riddle.

“SAY THE YEAR AND NEVER FEAR. Meaning we just have to say the year of the past and we will go back in time on the same date”. Cleared Sarah. “But we also have to remember something,” she added.

“TIME HEALS BUT ALSO STEALS. Meaning we may not find the thing we went to find,” said Nick but Riya and Sarah were not sure about the meaning of the 3rd part.

They went downstairs to make the potion. They made it and the potion had a nasty shade of orange.

“Let's not go really back in time”. Sarah said.

“We agree,” said Nick.

“How about last year, 2019?” Riya said looking at both of them. They nodded in agreement.

“2019,” they said all together.

There was a white flash of light. The three were standing in the same position as before.

“See, I told you this is a stupid joke,” Sarah said looking slightly disappointed.

“Hello kids!” said a voice behind them. “Seems like you have got friends Riya”. It was Mrs.Patil.

“Mom what are you talking about?” Riya asked who looked confused.

Before Riya’s mom could speak Nick asked: “What is the year?”

Riya’s mother looked suspiciously at all of them and said, “2019 but, what kind of question was that?”

The three had a scared smile on their face.

“Yes mom, I have got friends, that too best friends". Riya told her mother with a wide smile on her face.

“Oh great kids, you can go out if you want to”. Mrs Patil said; she was still suspicious with the question Nick had asked her. The three kids ran out of the house.

“Wait, we can't live like this forever.” Sarah said and continued, “We have to find a way out because if we are really in 2019 then we actually never moved in this neighbourhood and where were you?" She asked Riya.

“How am I supposed to remember where I was a year ago?” Riya questioned back.

“Mom!” Nick whispered.

“Nick, mom is not here. We never moved to this neighbourhood.” Sarah said who was worried about everything.

“No not that, My birth mom. I can meet her.” Nick said and started running.

“Nick wait!” Sarah said a bit hurt by Nick’s last words. Riya had realized. Realized the last part of the riddle.

“Sarah!!” she shouted. “The last part..." She said really scared... "The last part said that time heals but also steals, meaning you can find your birth father so that it will heal your family problem, your parents will never divorce but it will steal you and Nick away from me!!” she said and had tears in her eyes for what she had done. It was the time where they had realised that they had messed up.

“NICK COME BACK HERE, NOW”. Sarah shouted with tears in her eyes.

Nick froze for a second and then turned back to them. They told him everything. He too felt sad but knew that as a best friend and an elder brother he should not cry in front of them.

“Let’s go to the park and decide what to do next”. He said fiercely.

They stopped crying and went to the park. When they sat on a bench they saw Aunt Mable from far away.

“Aunt Mable,” Riya repeated. “We took the ingredients and the paper from her house. She must be knowing the way out!” Riya said as it was the only way she could think of. The other two agreed and they all went to her house. They rang the doorbell in a hurry.

Aunt Mable opened the door and said, “Hello”. Aunt Mable did not look strange at all! She was a white woman who looked like any other person.

“Hello, aunt Mable. We need your help,” said Nick.

“Sure, come in," she said but did not recognize Sarah and Nick.

The three went inside and saw an old man sitting on a rocking chair and reading a book upside down. Riya recognized him as Uncle Mark who was the husband of Aunt Mable who had passed away 6 months ago in the present. Sarah and Nick introduced themselves and the three of them started narrating what happened except for the fact that Uncle Mark had died in the present. As they started narrating Uncle Mark started showing more and more interest and Aunt Mable was scared and surprised at the same time.

“It worked Mable! It worked!” Uncle Mark said excitedly.

“I know Mark, but what about these three? They can't live in the past forever!” Nick, Sarah, Riya and Aunt Mable looked at Uncle Mark for an answer.

“If this can work, Why not the other one?" He asked Aunt Mable.

“We can try but we cannot be sure”.

“I have no clue what you are talking about and a thousand questions in my mind,” said Riya who looked really confused.

“You can surely ask all of them, my child."

“Okay then, spit it out”. Aunt Mable said looking at the three.

“Question 1... What drink are you talking about now?” Nick asked.

“The drink that we are talking about is the drink we made with the potion that you used to come back in time. It is a possibility that if the first one worked the other will work too,” said Aunt Mable.

“Question 2… What are we supposed to do if this does not work?” Sarah asked who looked really worried.

“We can always keep hope,” said Uncle Mark in an old voice.

“Question 3… How did you make all these potions?” Riya asked who was surprised by all the sudden changes that were happening in a day. “Well, you see, Me and Mark always seemed strange to the neighbourhood for our inventions that we made by our own theories”. Aunt Mable said.

“Till now we made in total 5 potions. The other 3 did not work and we lost hope on the other two and never tried them,” added Uncle Mark. "The one that you saw was one of the potions we never tried."

The three had answers to all the mysterious things that were happening to them. They looked relieved. The 5 people started making the potion. It was too written on a small piece of paper. It was a list again...

          1 NEON PEARLS

          2 WHITE SPARKLING WATER

          3 SORGOL STEMS 

          4 ORANGE PEELS

                      

They had made the potion and gave a hug to the couple. “2020,” they said together and there was a flash of red light.

“Riya, Sarah and Nick where were you three?!" It was Mr.Patil. They were surprisingly in Mrs Mable’s kitchen. The three got really excited as they had made it to the present. Mrs Patil and the Rosens gave the three a hug.

“Don’t get lost ever again," Mr.Patil told the three.

They went back to their house.

The next day when they met each other they were not sure what they wanted to talk about.

“Wait, but why didn't we see the coming into the future potion? It would have made things a lot easier!” said Sara who was confused. “Because we had already used it stupid”. Nick said and they all laughed together and had a happy time ever after with Aunt Mable!