“Tyler, hurry up!” Brandon shouted across the schoolyard to his best friend. Brandon was a handsome boy for his age of 14. He had golden hair that perfectly framed his childish face. His sky blue eyes made him look innocent, no matter what he did. He was average height and had a slender figure from his busy sports schedule.

“I’m coming,” a tall dark haired boy said as he ran to meet his best friend. Tyler was exceptionally tall for his age and his hair was as dark as his eyes. He was muscular, and had a bulky build that people kept telling him he would grow into. Most people were intimidated when in competition with Tyler, but he had been friends with Brandon ever since kindergarten.

“Hey, you wanna stop at the museum on the way home?” Brandon asked casually. Although he was athletic, he secretly loved science, and they were opening a new exhibit on time and space in the museum down the street from his house.

“Sure,” Tyler said as he caught his breath from sprinting to meet Brandon. Tyler may be strong, but running wasn’t one of his strengths.

“Cool.” And the boys were off. They talked animatedly about girls, sports and their classes until they reached the looming building that was the Science and History Museum. “Let’s check out the new exhibit,” Brandon said, still trying to act like he really didn’t care. But he couldn’t wait.

When they got to the new exhibit, they were disappointed to see that it was roped off. The sign read:

EMPLOYEES ONLY
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Unwilling to be disappointed, Brandon silently slid under the caution tape, looking as if he was allowed to be there. Tyler followed, complaining quietly, but was glad that they had broken the rules.


Standing in front of the boys was what looked like a rocket ship. The glittering steel made them stare as they examined the towering wonder. But when they looked closer, they were surprised to see that this was supposedly the world’s first working time machine. When Brandon looked at the label, he did a double take. Working? Could this thing really bring us back in time? Brandon looked at Tyler, curiosity evident on his face. Tyler was still staring in amazement at the time machine.


“Come on,” Brandon said as he made up his mind. He was more curious than afraid as he pulled his friend to the open door of the time machine. “I wonder how this works.” Brandon mumbled, more to himself than Tyler.


Then, at the same moment, the friends started pushing buttons, trying to make this complex contraption work. When they were about to give up, Tyler pressed a green button and the ground started shaking. “Hey! I found it,” Tyler said excitedly taking a seat in one of the big chairs in the middle of the small space.


As the time machine started to shake, both the boys sat down and looked around nervously. “D…Do you think this really works? Or do you think that it’s just a trick, a way for the museum to make money?” Brandon sighed when Tyler didn’t answer and spent a couple minutes watching the ‘date’ dial change. It didn’t read May 5, 2008. It was slowly moving up; the years skipping every once in a while.


Tyler on the other hand was taking his time to examine the small space they were sitting in. There was a large shelf jutting out of the wall surrounding them, only stopping at the door. The desk was filled with buttons. Big, small, round, square, the buttons were every size and shape imaginable, all different colors. Under the ‘desk’ there were multiple drawers. Probably for storing futuristic things, Tyler thought to himself.


“What the…?” Brandon said suddenly as the time machine stopped shaking. He glanced at the time dial and was shocked to see that it read May 5, 2128. They’d traveled one hundred years in a matter of five minutes! Brandon quickly looked at the fuel dial and realized that it was pointing to E for empty. Great, we’re stuck here. But Brandon’s worry was soon put aside when he stepped out side. “Come on!” He shouted as he jumped out of the time machine, his feet gently hitting the ground. Tyler followed, but he wasn’t quite as graceful as Brandon as he stumbled out.


The boys froze looking around. It was like a scene from the movies; there were slick silver buildings taller than skyscrapers in every direction you looked. They looked up to see cars whizzing around, feet above where they stood. There were no streets because the cars didn’t need them. But they stood on a footpath, crowded with people starting to gather, interested in the sudden appearance of the giant metal time machine. But the crowd soon disappeared, this was obviously common in this century and Brandon and Tyler set off. They had decided to just roam around, taking in the sights. There was a purple sky over them, even though it was in the middle of the day. They passed people with mutated animals. One woman was walking a dog with no heads, but two tails. Why would anyone want a dog that had two back ends? Tyler and Brandon thought. They passed a museum that look much like the one they came from, but a little sturdier, and you could tell that the brick was painted on; the actual building was made of steel. The flowers and grass everywhere seemed exotic, even the air seemed thicker to the boys.


“I’m hungry,” Tyler said as Brandon’s stomach began to growl.


“Me too, but how do we get food with no money.”


“We could see if that museum we passed will buy our 21st century money, I mean, it is over one hundred years old and in perfect condition.”


“Okay,” Brandon said turning around to find the museum. The museum was easy to find, they had only passed it a couple blocks back when they had decided to turn around. They walked in and started looking for someone that worked there.


“Ow!” Tyler said as he rammed into Brandon. Brandon had suddenly stopped and seemed to be standing stock-still. It wasn’t until Tyler had stepped around him when he realized what had made Brandon stop in his tracks. “Wow,” was all he could muster as he looked into a life size statue of himself and Brandon. They were standing in the grass, with a model of the time machine soaring over them. He glanced down at the plaque in front of the exhibit and read:



Time Travelers
Two boys at the age of only 14 are the first known time travelers. Brandon Johnson and Tyler Szlenk will be forever remembered for their accomplishments. The boys claim that it was just a fluke when they landed themselves in the year 2128.”We were just wondering around the museum when we noticed the new exhibit, we were curious, and we ended up in a whole different century!” Brandon says during an interview after their discovery. The boys had been at a loss when they needed fuel to get back home. They quickly found what they were looking for, oil, and were on their way, but not after finding out some interesting things about the future. Brandon then became a doctor and Tyler pursued his interest in space when offered a job at N.A.S.A.


“Wow,” Brandon said, and they both tore themselves away and went to find someone who works at the museum. They ended up selling $10.50 of twenty first century money for $500 of this century’s money.


“Now let’s go get some food!” Brandon said as they looked for a restaurant. They stopped at the first place they found and went to eat. They seated themselves and looked over the menu that was waiting for them. Brandon sighed, “Tarimaka juice? Titaki? Sushima? Is this stuff food?”


“I think so…” Tyler said as his stomach grumbled. “I’ll probably get the Tarimaka juice and the sushima. That sounds like a kind of fish.”


“Yeah, I’ll get the same.” Suddenly, plates appeared in front of them.

“Two Sushimas and two glasses of Tarimaka juice,” a kind voice said. It seemed like it came from inside the table.

“Here goes nothing,” Tyler said taking a hesitant bite of his food. “Wow, this doesn’t taste half bad.”

Brandon stared at his friend in disgust. He wasn’t planning on touching the food in front of him. The meal looked kind of like a fish, but he couldn’t be sure. “So, where do you think we can get oil?” He decided to try to start a conversation, that was the easiest way to get his mind off his hunger.

“I dunno,” Tyler said his mouth still filled with food. He finished chewing and swallowed, “Let’s ask someone.” But before Brandon could respond, Tyler was calling over a girl passing by.

“Yes?” She asked. Wow, she’s beautiful. Brandon thought to himself as he watched the girl look at them. The confused smile looked natural on her face. Her smile touched her eyes, making her light blue eyes bright. Her long blonde hair reached her waist, curling elegantly around her face.

“I’m Tyler, and this is Brandon,” Tyler said gesturing in Brandon’s direction when he said his name.

“I’m Rose,” the girl said. Her voice was as beautiful as her face. Brandon thought. “Anyway, what do you two need?”

“W…well, we w…were w…wondering if…if you knew where we could find oil,” Brandon stuttered. He always started to stutter pretty badly when he was nervous.

“Sorry about Brandon, I guess he’s nervous,” Tyler said kicking Brandon under the table.

“It’s okay,” Rose said. Her cheeks were starting to turn pink and she was trying hard to suppress her giggles; she thought that Brandon was adorable. “And I know where you can get some oil. If you guys are done, you can come over to my house and I can get you some.”

Tyler and Brandon looked at each other excited, Tyler was excited that they were going to get home and Brandon was glad he was being invited into Rose’s house. “We’re done,” they both said at the same time, quickly getting up to follow Rose. Brandon threw a couple dollars on the table and they were gone. They walked down the street silently, everyone lost in their own thoughts.

“Here,” Rose said indicating a huge blue house. They all walked in silently. “Hold on.” Brandon and Tyler nodded and Rose ran off to get what they needed. “Here ya go,” she said as she handed them each a container of oil.

“Thanks.”

“Well, we should probably go,” Tyler said ushering Brandon out the door.

“Okay,” Rose’s voice held a hint of regret as she let the boys leave. But before they had reached the end of her long driveway, she shouted for them to come back.

“What’s up?” Brandon asked confused.

“Well I was wondering what you guys are doing with all that oil?” She said. She was interested in what they were up to, but she really wanted to talk to Brandon a little more.

“Can I tell her?” Brandon asked Tyler.

“Fine,” Tyler said with a sigh. So the boys started to explain where they were from and how they got there. Rose listened obediently, not interrupting once. When they finished they both looked at her expectantly.

“Wow,” she looked at them with a blank expression on her face, “Can…Can I come with you guys?”

“What?” The boys said in unison. They were both caught totally off guard by her question.

“Yeah, I wanna go back with you guys, I live by myself and it would be fun to live in your century! I’ve always been interested in that time period.”

“I don’t mind, but you would have to go to school and everything. You wouldn’t be able to come back. You could probably live with my family. My mom would be willing if you said that we found you on the street,” Brandon said with an amused expression on his face as he started talking about how they would have to make it look like she was an orphan living on the streets.

“I know, it’s all fine with me,” Rose said with a twinkle in her eye. She was excited. She had always dreamed of going back to the twenty first century; and to live there would be a dream come true.

“Well then, let’s go,” Tyler said leading the way to the time machine. They filled it with oil when they found the fuel tank. Brandon typed in the date that they wanted to go back to while Tyler figured out how to start it again. Soon the time machine was shaking again and the three of them were on their way back to May 5, 2008. This time the threesome talked throughout the whole ride. Rose went on about how excited she was and the boys answered her never-ending stream of questions. They stepped back into the museum and hurried into where they were permitted to be.


“Wow,” Rose said looking around. “This is insane!”


“What?” Brandon and Tyler were confused, but they soon realized that this was like ancient history. Rose was living in a completely different century and she was probably as amazed by the things around her as they were when they first landed in her time.

When Brandon asked his parents if Rose could move in and be his adopted sister, they stubbornly said no. Tyler was happy to ask his parents and, since they had already been planning on adopting a child, they were happy to take Rose in. Rose and Tyler became best friends and Rose fell madly in love with Brandon.

The three of them won an award for being the 1st time travelers ever. Rose was said to be another friend of Tyler and Brandon that had been with them when they had traveled to the future. This was said so that no one would know that she was actually from the future. (Who knows what kind of stuff they would do to someone from the future!)

Brandon and Rose have been together ever since and now have 4 children, three boys and 1 girl. Tyler found his dream girl in college and too had children. Brandon went to medical school with the help of his friends’ donations. Tyler followed his dream of becoming a rocket scientist for N.A.S.A.

Brandon founded many new medicines and cured cancer. Tyler created a spaceship that was capable of sending astronauts to Pluto and beyond. Rose also became a doctor, but mostly worked with Brandon. The three friends became famous and are still very close.

No one ever found out that Rose was from the future and she quickly adapted to her new life style. In her own time, Rose wasn’t missed because she was mostly a loner in her own town, but she was popular with tons of friends in this new time period.

The friends are inseparable and will always be together. They couldn’t be happier and now they know that dreams really do come true.