It was a time machine. Joan knew it for what it was as soon as the door opened. It looked just like the one in the movie. Sitting in the center of the basement floor with ancient cobwebs covering it, she could tell that no one had been down here in a very long time. A single bare bulb swung from the center of the room casting it's yellow light back and forth. The metal parts of the machine gleamed dully through a layer of old grime and dust. How her uncle Rob had acquired such a famous movie prop, Joan had no idea.

As Joan carefully made her way down the creaky wooden stairs, she could see that her great uncle had been quite a movie buff. Assorted movie souvenirs stood stacked around the room along with old posters pinned to the walls. When Joan turned to look around she was startled for a moment by a hideous face glaring at her from a dark corner. Looking closer, she saw that it was only an old classic poster of "The Wolfman". As she stepped closer to the machine, Joan wiped cobwebs away and then noticed a white envelope propped against it's seat. "To Whom It May Concern" was written boldly across the front in black ink. "How odd!" Joan thought to herself at this unexpected find.

Picking up the letter Joan turned and headed back up the stairs. Her curiosity required more light than what the gloomy basement offered. A creepy feeling of being watched made her scurry up the steps a little faster than normal.

Three weeks ago Joan had received a phone call by her uncle's attorney Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith had informed her that her great uncle Rob had died of natural causes having passed away in his sleep earlier that week. As she was his sole heir, the house and all of it's contents were hers along with a sizeable amount of cash. Joan had not known her uncle very well but was quite glad of the monetary windfall. She had only gotten an occasional birthday card once in awhile from him through the years. Often the postcards he'd sent had wrong dates written on them. The one he'd sent last year was dated January 1972. Thirty-five years off! When noticing the strange date Joan had just dismissed it as her uncles "eccentricity".

She had some vacation time coming to her from work so she'd decided to come stay in the house and sort through some of her uncle's belongings. The house itself was an ornate victorian built in the early 1900s and filled with souvenirs from her uncle's travels. Exotic rugs, figurines, paintings, and a stuffed antelope head adorned the living room. The big library was stuffed with old books, papers, and photo albums that Joan would eventually have to browse through. Already she could see that the old man had loved travel, books and old classic movies. Her uncle had probably been an interesting character during his lifetime. It was towards the latter half of his life that he'd become a recluse. Joan thought it was too bad that she'd never had a chance to know him better. But at least she had an inheritance from him that would soon make her own life alot more pleasurable.

After making herself a cup of instant coffee to ward off the chill of the October evening, Joan sat down at the old oak table in the kitchen. Carefully opening the envelope with a silver letter opener she'd found in a drawer, she scanned down to the letter's signature and saw that it was indeed from uncle Rob.

""To Whom It May Concern, This machine is to be used carefully. I've left more explicit instructions in the library.
Sincerely Rob Garnett"


Joan laughed out loud upon reading the short note. Surely her deceased uncle must've had a weird sense of humor or somethng? Still chuckling to herself, Joan folded the note and put it back into it's envelope. Maybe her uncle Rob had been getting senile towards the end. He had been almost ninety when he'd passed away in his sleep. Or did her uncle mean that it was simply a "real" movie prop? Surely he did'nt think it could transport you through time? And the "instructions in the library" part? Joan thought she'd go into the library and look for these "instructions" sometime or another. She dismissed the note as the writing of a lonely, perhaps slightly crazy old man and and put the note into a drawer with the letter opener.

There were five bedrooms in the house and Joan had chosen one of the smaller ones to sleep in. Earlier in the day she had dusted the long unused room and put fresh linens on the antique four poster bed. Now she lay under the covers and listened to the big grandfather clock in the hallway strike the hour. It was hard to sleep in such a big house. Joan was used to the coziness of a small apartment in the city not all these strange sounds and big spaces. Not to mention the draftiness of the old house! Joan was planning on putting the place up for sale as soon as she got everything cleared out and packed up. As a single woman without children, she had no need of such a large house. Nor did she care to take on the tedious job of trying to renovate it. "Besides, it IS a little creepy", she thought.

Snuggling down into the covers Joan gradually drifted off to sleep only to awaken to a tugging at the comforter from somewhere down at the bottom of the bed. "What's that"? She muttered half asleep. "Joan!" A voice whispered back at her in a deep masculine voice. In a moment she was fully awake and scrambling to get up. Scared out of her wits, she tripped and went down on the hard floor. Stunned she lay there paralyzed by fear and pain. Her hearted pounded so loud that she could bearly hear the humming sound that started to fill the room. The sound grew louder in intensity with each beat of her heart. She could feel the vibrations of it in the floor beneath her. Pictures rattled and fell from the walls around her.

A softly glowing light from near the open door of the closet then drew her eye as an almost perfectly round orb of tightly condensed blue gray smoke hovered in the air. It then rose and passed through the ceiling. Now she could hear footsteps. A stomping back and forth in the library above. The sounds of papers being shuffled and books being thrown against the walls. And then... an enraged blood curdling scream steadily rose and echoed for what seemed like an eternity. "JOAN!" the voice roared. She covered her ears with her hands as she tried to convince herself that none of this was real. That could'nt be her dead uncle's voice!

Then she saw something in the closet turn and focus it's alien insect-like gaze at her. Joan's tortured mind instantly calmed itself as she gazed into eyes of dark liquid pools. Her body relaxed and her heart gradually slowed. There was no more fear. She could'nt even remember why she'd even been frightened to begin with.

From out of the closet a pale being with large, opaque almond shaped eyes peered at her and pondered on the emotional weakness of these silly humans. The old man had been easy to deal with because of his obsession with all things "Hollywood". Disguising the spacecraft as something from the famous H.G. Wells inspired movie had been easy. Now moving towards the mesmerized woman he prepared to use the brain-washing method that it's kind had perfected. In the morning the female human would be totally convinced that her uncle's tortured spirit wished her to live in the house forever. A wish that Joan would fulfill. After a little more hynosis, she would soon come to believe that the "time machine" could take her to the past or future any time she wished. Other humans would soon think that Joan was the "weird", "eccentric" and "paranoid" one. The "machine" would again be safely hidden for another number of years.

The next night a strange light rose into the sky above the house going higher and higher until it looked like one of the many other twinkling stars in the milkyway.

[edit on 6-10-2007 by elaine]

[edit on 6-10-2007 by elaine]

Unexpected twists and turns, had me on the edge! Loved it...

Thanks antar. I'm just an amateur amongst you guys but it's fun giving it
it a try.

Cool story!! I really enjoy all my research on time travle! Just in the last couple days its been the green beans on my research plate
You make great twists and turns!! And as another amature writter I can say you have some talent there Keep it up!

[edit on 7-10-2007 by zysin5]

Nice one elaine, that was an unexpected twist. Good to see some new faces joining in the fun!!

mojo

Thanks y'all.
I'm still reading my way through everyone's entries here. I love how everyone has their own style.

[edit on 10-10-2007 by elaine]

WOW! elaine that was fantastic. Your descriptions left no guessing. I could easily see myself in that house. Something tells me your're no amateur.
Great Story thank-you.

LOL. Thanks MountainStar but I'm very much an amateur writer. But I have been an avid reader since I was kid.

avid readers makes great writers. Great story, you definitely set the mood, but to be brutally honest I would have loved a little more description of the alien and his evil intentions before you ended the story.