The Time Machine

Remy was running from his younger brother as they played “Catch” in the hallways of their family mansion. They were only ever here during breaks. Remy glanced back towards the other end of the hallway and promptly ran into a wall. But before Remy could do anything, the wall flipped.

Remy straightened and glanced around the room. The room was dark and dusty. Right in the middle of the floor was an old faded picture. The woman in the picture looked faintly like his great-grandmother. A birthmark on her neck resembled that in an old portrait. She was wearing a white dress and laughing as an ape smiled at her. Remy was confused. His great-grandma had been this young in the early 1900s. Cameras were pretty rare and pretty bad back then. How did his great-grandma and the ape exist in the same photograph when a photo took forever to develop? More importantly, why was the photo in a musty room hidden behind a section of wall? Even more importantly, how was he going to get back?!

He ran towards the wall and tried slamming into it the same way he had on the other side but to no avail. He cast his mind to the various mystery novels he had read; there was always a switch somewhere. He ran his hand all over. Finally, his roaming fingers caught onto an uneven section of the left wall. He poked and prodded at the switch until it gave and the door opened again. He dashed out, pocketing the photograph.

Throughout dinner Remy’s thoughts kept drifting back to the vintage photograph. As he laid down in bed, he wondered about the existence of various other secret rooms. Eventually, his curiosity overcame him and he grabbed a flashlight and left the room.

Remy crept down hallways, running his hands along the walls, eyes searching. He didn’t even know what he was looking for. He kicked a wall in frustration and promptly fell through the floor.

Another secret room. In this one, a huge object stood in the center of the room. Remy cautiously approached it and tugged off the sheet covering it. It was a metal monstrosity with large words painted on the side.

“Time Machine”