There was never a me without Lauren, Ally, and Reagan. We have been best friends since birth and also happened to live on the same street. 18 years and not a day has gone by without seeing at least one of them at a time. I think the way we truly connected was through our mothers. They were all divorced women who moved to get their kids into a better neighborhood and just needed someone who would listen. Eventually, their Sunday dinners became our playdates and we grew up walking to each other's houses every weekend. Until my mom stopped going and started acting differently. I didn’t truly understand the change in attitude until the Monday night blowout. The details are unimportant but the ending resulted in me packing my bags and taking my car with me. I had nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to besides Lauren, Ally, and Reagan. My first instinct was to text in the group chat by saying pack your bags, I am picking you guys up in 5 minutes. See, this is where I knew that I truly had the best friends. All their responses were the same: coming! 

I picked up Lauren first, then Reagan, then Ally who was last on the street. Once they were all in the car I explained the situation to them. They bombarded me with so many questions but most prominently “Why?”. I didn’t have many answers and it appeared to just be easier to stare at the highway in front of me. We drove for hours just listening to whatever music Lauren felt like playing. They never once asked where we were going, but I already knew. We have been aspiring for this for years. I was going to drive us around the country and see all the sights we have been yearning to see. The first place was primarily for Ally. We headed to New York City to see the lights for Christmas. We had seen pictures and videos, but none of us had been, and as the skyscrapers grew into appearance you could practically feel the electric energy radiating off the car. Everything seemed normal until we took a step outside. The streets were packed, music was playing, and cars were zooming. Only they weren’t normal cars, they were cars I’ve only seen before in The Great Gatsby. My friends were equally in awe as we wandered the side of the street looking for anything that resembled present times. I turned around to put something back in the car and it was gone! Our car had disappeared and we were lost in a place that did not look like the New York City we had seen. I yelled to Reagan to find a paper and see where we were and why our car might have disappeared. It wasn’t until Reagan came back, looking as pale as a ghost, that I realized what had happened.

“This date says 1922, Alex,” She whispered so softly I couldn’t hear over the hustle and bustle of the New York streets.

“What?” I screamed back. trying to make sense of this whole situation.

“THE DATE IS 1922!” She yelled which warranted an immediate turn of the head by all three of us. This is where I believe I minorly blacked out from shock, but we kind of just stood there looking at each other, no one knowing what to say. 

“Well…what do we do?” Ally imputed attempting to be helpful, but truthfully none of us knew what to do at this moment. I mean, I didn’t even know where the car was so how was I supposed to get us out of this mess? The situation could not have been worse until the next five minutes happened. Before we knew it Lauren was snatched by a big, loud, black car, and there was nothing we could do to stop it. Ally screamed as we tried to look around for remnants of this car, but nothing could be seen. We didn’t know what to do, it all happened so fast, we were in a place we didn’t know, and even in a period we didn’t know. Ally, Reagan, and I entered the first shop we saw, and sure enough, it was a jazz bar with people just beginning their night. We drank and we danced because we didn’t know what else to do. Our friend was gone and we knew no one else in town. Until I met him. He was strong-looking with a little stubble of a beard, he had green eyes and a buzzcut which created a sense of uneasiness around him. Again, our brains were mush and he invited us to an afterparty at this CEO’s house that he claimed to know. Now, my mom always told me to not talk to strangers, but what other bad things could happen that night? He loaded us up into a nice black car and took us to the tallest building at that time. We rode the elevator up to the very top floor and the elevator doors revealed the suite. There was black granite everywhere and it had a very sterile feel to it, quite the opposite of home. Across a big plaque on the wall, it said “William McCoy” which sounded very familiar but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. 

We joined him on the deck where we heard the music flowing. In the middle of the dancefloor, we finally saw her, the sight bringing tears to our eyes. Lauren was there with a drink in her hand and her arms wrapped around an old man who must've been the alleged William McCoy. 

“I know that man, I have to know him. His name just sounds so familiar,” Reagan kept murmuring under her breath. If anyone was going to figure it out, I knew it would be her. We hadn’t even fully understood the scene in front of us before the sounds of crashing glass and screaming filled the room. We immediately grabbed each other and headed straight for Lauren. By the time we got to her, she was covered in blood and the body of William McCoy was hanging off her shoulder. He landed with a thud as we grabbed Lauren’s arm and pulled her to the elevator. I didn’t know where we were going, but it was far from here.

“I know who that man is! That’s the lead smuggler of alcohol during the Prohibition era. Lauren, you just killed a man the newly established government was looking for! In a way, you are a hero!” Ally exclaimed, even though none of us had the proper reaction after considering the events we had just witnessed. Almost like that was the point of bringing us here, our car appeared in front of the building.

“Oh my god, it’s our car!” I yelled as we all packed in and I started it up. Something about the safety of this car made us relax just a little as we saw the skyscrapers get smaller behind us. Lauren was silent the whole rest of the ride and the rest of us started to wonder what had happened to us. 

“There's no explanation!”

“How is that even possible?”

“How did we get the car back?” We all rapid-fired questions that truly had no answer. 

“I-I wanna go home,” was the only sentence that Lauren spoke the whole time. 

“We can’t Lauren, Alex needs us right now and she can’t go home,” Reagan spoke back with a hint of sadness in her voice. I can’t believe I just put us through all that. There was only one option: to continue forward and to our next location. Next was off to Boston since Reagan always loved the history behind it. We drove for 4 hours before we reached the city we had to believe was Boston. 

“Wait, this doesn’t look like Boston. The houses are shorter and there is less technology all around us. I mean where are the stores and food places that we would know?” We got out of the car, shut the door, and almost got hit by a horse and carriage! Lauren was the only one to notice the abnormality.

“There are no horses and carriages in the present time,” she exclaimed. Before we could say another word Ally was running for a local paper. 

“There's no way, there's no way,” Ally presented with her voice getting quieter with each word.

“What you just have to tell us!” I yelled, getting uncomfortable with the uncertainty.

“It’s currently March of 1770…” Ally said, looking towards Lauren who started to tear up.

“Well, since we are here we might as well look around!” Reagan exclaimed. She always tended to look on the bright side, but I was not getting that same vibe. We decided to split up and meet back at this spot in an hour. How any of us had a way to track time I did not know, but I trusted them to make it back. I decided to wander into different stores looking for food when I met you. You were tall with blue eyes and long brown hair that flopped when you walked. You could hear your banter from across the room before I could sense that you had come up behind me. You immediately asked for my name, then told me it was lovely. I didn’t think anything was wrong until I looked down at your clothes. You were wearing your red uniform and carrying a long gun that I had only seen in history books. You offered me an apple and we went outside to sit down. This was my first time meeting a real redcoat and I had to take advantage of the opportunity that you gave me. I asked all about your history, and you were glad to tell me. We talked for what seemed like hours and I developed a new perspective that only you could provide me. I asked you what time it was and you claimed we had been talking for about an hour. You kissed me goodbye when I said I had to leave and said,

“Wait, you have to find me again so I can hear your story!” 

“You will. Someday,” I called back as I ran in the direction that I came. I went back to the spot where we had first arrived and found Ally, Lauren, and Reagan waiting for me.

“Something is about to happen, Alex, we have to go now!” Reagan yelled as the other girls started to look for the car. As we were searching I saw a plain guy winding up to throw a snowball at one of the redcoats.

“Hey! I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” I yelled which caused him to drop the snowball and walk away. 

“Why isn’t it happening?” Ally exclaimed as she frantically kept looking for the car. I explained to her the scene I just saw and stopped which caused her to look at me with eyes wide.

“You did it Alex, you stopped the beginning of the Boston Massacre!” Ally yelled and a thump could be heard behind us. We turned around and our car delighted our vision as we all ran to get inside. 

“Guys, I think we just have to go home,” I expressed to the other girls. I was met with quiet nods of approval as I started the road I believed would lead to home.

We finally pulled into our street, but our houses looked very different. They were modernized with kids playing with toys trickling across the front yard. I dropped each of the girls off and we went to our front doors. I knocked and some strange man answered the door. 

“Hi I am looking for Mrs. Miracoci, she’s my mother,” I relayed to the man. My mouth fell open as he repeated his response to me. I was too late and all these houses went for sale ten years ago when all their daughters went missing. Ever since then I never saw my best friends, as we all tried to establish new lives and forget the horrors my car took us through. I sold the car and bought a small house, which is where I am writing this from. You once said you wanted to hear about my life and well… here it is. It might not be glamorous, might not be as interesting as yours, but it is my story. 

I hope you are doing well and maybe I can see you soon, 

Alex