Shay stood in the common area of an apartment that was not hers wearing clothes that were not hers… but were. She was sleeping in a bed that was meant to be hers, but that she had never seen until a few days earlier when she had, for the second time, shifted from the life that was hers in 1880 to 2024, to the life of a different Shay.
The people around her were nice; she felt unnaturally close to them, especially Emma who had been born in 1861 before having shifted to 2024 on July 4. Emma had taken on the task of seeing that Shay was as comfortable as possible. Had they first met in 1880, Shay wondered if they would have even spoken; they were born on opposite ends of wealth.
Emma explained how she had managed to settle into 2024. “Ever’thing is different. I just watched ever’body and played along like it was normal.”
Emma told her about a trip to Miami and wearing a bikini swimming suit. “I felt necked, but near ‘bout ever’body else wore one, an’ nobody even seemed to notice.”
Shay had looked at Emma’s pictures, finding it hard to imagine.
As different as 2024 was, it was equally pleasant. Buildings were warm or cool as desired. There were devices for anything she could imagine. Horses were replaced by machines.
Electricity… Shay could scarcely believe what she was seeing, yet it was commonplace and normal to everyone else.
Despite everything, Shay genuinely felt connected to the others who called themselves time travelers. Emma had told her that something about it all seemed to forge a bond of some sort between those that shifted from one time to another.
“An’ spending time together makes it stronger,” Emma said.
Shay thought time together might explain why she felt most fond of, next to Emma, Devon, Emma’s beau.
Still, the nice people notwithstanding, Shay felt utterly lost. Everyone expected that she would shift back to 1880, but no one knew when. Shay thought if it happened, she would be relieved. And if it didn’t happen, she would figure things out like Emma did.
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