Room 13
Title: Room 13
Author: not_a_reptile
Rating: PG
Genre: Scif-Fi
Authors Note: Not a Doctor Who story but similar to Doctor Who. One shot.
It was a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon when her parents and little brother Jack took Patricia to what was supposed to be her new home for the next four years, The Norton Preparatory Academy for Girls.
Patricia could not contain her excitement as her dad parked their shiny new Impala in front of the dormitory. “I can't wait to see my room!” Patricia squealed with delight. “I wonder who my roommate will be! We can do each others hair and share our clothes with each other!” “Why” Jack remarked, “You've brought enough clothing for ten semesters!”
“Now, Jack” her father scolded. “Be supportive of your sister.” “A girl has lots of necessities a boy doesn't” mom added. “You'll see when it's your turn to go off to school” Patricia snapped. “Although I'll bet it's reform school for you.”
With luggage in hand the family entered the lobby of the dormitory which was filled with other girls sitting and chatting with one another on ivory colored sofas.
Patricia and her family were met by a short gray haired woman in a bright green dress. “Welcome to Norton!” she said eagerly. “I'm Miss Thackery. What is your name, girl?”
“Patricia Brown” she said.
“Nice to meet you Miss Brown” the lady answered. “May I say you have such beautiful hair.” Patricia's hair was an auburn color and was teased into a bouffant according to the style of the time. She wore a pale pink blouse and skirt and on her arm she held a matching purse. “Thank you, mam” Jack remarked. “She meant ME, obviously” an annoyed sister shot back.
The family followed Miss Thackery to a sturdy wooden desk facing the doorway. She pulled a key out of a drawer in the desk and handed it to Patricia. “Here's your room key. It's room thirteen.” Patricia examined the metal tag attached to the key with the number 13 stamped into it. “It's the only room available so I hope you're not superstitious.”
“No, not at all.” Patricia said.
“Plus, you have it all to yourself!” the old lady added.
“Did you hear that? I get my own room!” Patricia rejoiced.
“Oh that's wonderful!” mom cheered. “You'll have some privacy.”
“And the other side of the room you can fill up with all your clothes,” Jack joked.
As they hauled her belongings down an adjacent hallway to Patricia's room she thought to herself that she would remember this day for the rest of her life; August 28, 1966. She would, but not for the reasons she expected.
She unlocked the door to room 13 and saw her room for the first time. The blinds were closed making the room dark. When she turned the light on she saw an empty room with stark white walls and two small beds with no sheets on the mattress. Under the window was a radiator and in the corner two small wooden desks in each corner each with a chair.
It wasn't a beautiful sight but she didn't care. She had the room all to herself and after her parents left she spent hours unpacking her clothes, which she hung in both closets. “Good thing I have my own room,” she thought. “I could never get all these clothes into one of these tiny closets!”
When she finished hanging up her clothes and making her bed she took a glance at her alarm clock which she had set on the radiator. It was fifteen minutes past seven. She decided to get a quick bite to eat from the dining hall and finish redecorating later.
She opened the door and went down the hall to the lounge area where she found a strange looking group of girls on the sofas watching TV. They were all dressed in too short skirts that barely covered their thighs. They wore knee-length boots and clothing in garishly bright colors. They wore their hair long, too long, and brushed strait not teased.
Patricia stopped Miss Thackery as she was passing by.
“Isn't there some kind of dress code here?” she asked. “Oh, yes,” Miss Thackery said. “Clothing is required at all times. Strictly enforced.”
Patricia was stunned.
“By the way you have such beautiful hair,” she added.
“Yes you told me that before” Patricia replied.
“Do I know you?” the confused woman answered.
“You met me an hour ago. Remember? Patricia?”
“Oh, dear. I'm afraid my mind isn't what it once was.”
Patricia took a good look at Miss Thackery. She looked different. She wore a dark orange dress, not unlike the one she wore before. Also, her hair was whiter and had less… fullness?
Patricia walked out the doors, grabbing a student paper from a stack near the exit. To her surprise it was still afternoon. She had left her watch in her room so she assumed that her clock must be off.
As she scanned the front of the paper she saw headlines that made no sense to her. “Watergate scandal growing, tapes subpoenaed” and “End the war now” Then she checked the date in the top corner of the paper.
August 26, 1973
“Is this real?” she thought. “Is this a trick? Who would play a trick like this?”
She went back inside and called out to the girls on the sofas.
“What day is it?”
“It's Tuesday!” one of the girls answered.
“What year is it?” she demanded.
“It's 1973! What are you? Stupid?”
Patricia went to find Miss Thackery. She knocked on her door until she answered.
“Can I help you?” she answered.
“Those girls are telling me it's the year 1973,” Patricia said.
“Is that a crime?” the old woman asked.
“You and I both know that it's really 1966.”
Miss Thackery gave Patricia a puzzled look.
“Are you taking one of those acid trips?” she asked.
“No!” Patricia protested. “I don't even know what that means.”
“Go back to your room and lie down for a bit and everything will start making sense again,” she advised.
Not knowing what else to do Patricia went back to her room. Her room was exactly as she found it. She looked out the window at the strange looking cars parked on the street. Such large and smooth and in such unusual colors. “Lie down” she thought. “That was her advise.”
Patricia laid down on her bed but she couldn't sleep. She couldn't rest. Soon she got up again.
“This is ridiculous!” she said out loud.
When she opened the door she noticed that the carpet was different. It had been a bright green, like Miss Thackery's dress. Her first dress. Now it was dark brown. She went back to the lobby, expecting to see the three strangely dressed girls. No one was there but the sofas had been replaced. Someone had taken away the ivory colored sofas and replaced them with ugly dark brown sofas.
She went to see Miss Thackery again. She knocked on the door until it opened. A large woman with brown hair answered. “Where is Miss Thackery?” Patricia asked.
“Miss Thackery retired years ago.” she said. “Is there something I can help you with?”
Patricia was beginning to understand what was happening to her.
“No, thanks.” she said.
She searched for a student paper, which she found on a coffee table in front of the sofas.
The headlines “Boycott of Olympics unfair to athletes” and “Students oppose bombing Iran” caught her eye. Then she read the date.
August 24, 1980
She went outside and looked around. Cars looked different again. Boxier, she thought, and darker colors.
She noticed a guy on a skateboard coming toward her on the sidewalk. He was wearing a white helmet with red and blue stripes, a red and blue striped polo shirt, and white canvas shoes.
“Stop!” she shouted to the boy. “Can I ask you something?”
The boy stopped and removed his helmet, revealing long locks of dark brown hair.
“You've got a lot of hair for a boy,” she remarked.
“Yeah, I guess,” he answered.
“I'm Patricia,” she said.
“Jamie,” he answered. “Well, James, but everyone calls me 'Jamie'”
“I just moved in to the dorm,” she began, “but every time I come out of my room it's seven years later.”
Jamie gave her a puzzled look.
“No one believes me.”
“That is pretty hard to believe,” he replied.
“I've got an idea,” he began. “Let's both go in your room and if we come out seven years later you've got a witness.”
Patricia agreed and they entered the dorm.
As they approached the hallway they were stopped by an obnoxious girl.
“Where do you think you're going?”
“To my room” Patricia answered.
“This is a girls dormitory. No boys allowed.”
“Sorry, I was just leaving” Jamie said and hurried away.
“I haven't seen you before,” the girl said.
“I'm new here. My name is Patricia.”
“Debbie” the girl said. “I'm the RA on this floor.”
“RA?”
“Residence Assistant,” Debbie explained. “It's a big responsibility. Which room are you in?”
“13”
Debbie gave her a skeptical look.
“There's no one in 13” she said.
“Why?”
“Because the last girl who moved in to that room disappeared. It's unlucky.”
“I have the key right here,” Patricia said, showing her the key. “Come with me I'll show you.”
The two of them walked to the end of the hallway to room 13 and Patricia unlocked the door. She found her room exactly as she left it.
“Come in,” she said.
“No thanks” Debbie answered.
“But, there's a bug! I saw a bug in here!”
Debbie came in and looked around the room. Patricia shut the door.
“A-ha!” Patricia shouted.
“What are you doing?” Debbie asked.
“Now you'll see,” Patricia said as she opened the door.
“That's it I'm leaving” Debbie said.
Patricia followed Debbie out the door and down the hall to the lobby. To her surprise she found everything the same. The carpet, the sofas, the school paper, everything.
“Everything is the same now,” Patricia remarked.
“What were you expecting?” Debbie asked.
“Maybe the curse is broken and the time change has stopped” Patricia said to herself aloud.
“You're crazy!” Debbie said as she took a seat behind the desk. “No wonder they put you in 13.”
Patricia went back to her room and laid down on the bed to think.
“Bringing another person in the room stops the room from taking me seven years into the future” she thought. “But how do I get back to 1966? Maybe I need to find an adult who was my age in 1966 and bring them in the room. Then maybe the room will take me back to 1966.”
She went back to the lobby and noticed a girl sitting at the desk talking on the phone.
“Excuse me,” Patricia said.
The girl who looked Patricia up and down.
“Miss Yvonne? Isn't it a little early for Halloween?”
“My name is Patricia.”
“That's a strange name”
“What's your name?”
“Kathy.”
Patricia examined Kathy's wardrobe. She wore a green rugby shirt, tight blue jeans, and a shiny gold necklace. She also wore gold hoop earrings and had fluffy curly hair. Patricia wasn't sure if she had gone forward in time or if she was still in 1980.
“Can I use to phone? I need to call my parents.”
“Sorry, local calls only.”
“I need to call my parents!” she pleaded.
“There's a pay phone outside” she said, pointing Patricia to door.
On her way out a glance at a student paper confirmed that she was now in the year 1987.
“Please deposit twenty-five cents” chimed the recorded voice on the pay phone.
Patricia pulled a quarter out of her purse, which the pay phone rejected.
“Why won't this work” she chagrined.
She found another quarter in her purse which the pay phone accepted. She dialed her home phone number and heard the ring once, then twice.
“Hello” spoke a familiar voice on the other end. It was Patricia's mother.
“Mom?”
There was a pause.
“Who is this?”
“This is Patricia! I'm your daughter!”
There was another pause.
“My only daughter disappeared twenty-one years ago.”
“It's me! It's really me!” she pleaded. “I'm at the dorm!”
“Please deposit twenty-five cents” chimed the recorded voice operator.
“Is this a prank call?”
“No! Please! Don't hang up!”
The connection went dead and all Patricia could hear was a dial tone. She started to cry. For a long time she cried. She cried until she couldn't cry anymore. Then she began to think.
“If there is a room that goes forward in time, there must be a room that goes back in time. I just have to find it.”
She went back into the dorm and knocked on the doors. If someone answered she asked them for the time. If no one answered she tried to open the door. She did this for the first six rooms. The seventh room had a sign on the door that read Storage.
“Of course, room seven!” she thought. “Bad luck, good luck, seven years, it makes sense!”
She found the door to be locked, but she tried her key and it opened.
The room was filled with old beds, broken desk chairs and Christmas decorations.
Cautiously she entered the storage room and held the door knob.
“Here I come 1966” she thought. “Or 1776. Who knows?”
Slowly she shut the door.
She opened the door again to find that the brown carpet had been replaced by blue carpet.
“Blue carpet!” she thought aloud. “Where am I now? What did I do?”
She entered the lobby to find new furniture and the latest edition of the student paper.
August 27, 2000
“Room 13 goes forward in time 7 years, and room 7 goes forward in time 13 years.”
Patricia had another idea. “I'm in the year 2000. Surely someone has invented a time machine by now. I have to find someone who has a time machine and get them to take me back to 1966.”
She walked across town asking strangers if they to tell her how to get to a time machine. Everyone thought she was crazy. She went back to the dorm and hatched a new plan. She decided that she would keep going forward in time 13 years at a time until the year someone invents a time machine.
She returned to the storage room and closed the door. When she opened the door the hallway was dark. All the lights were out and the hallway was littered with trash. “What happened here?” she thought. With the light from the window of the storage room lighting the way she worked her way carefully down the darkened hall.
All the furniture had been removed from the lounge. The windows were boarded up and the door was blocked. She managed to get out of the building through an emergency exit but couldn't get back in after the door closed. “No matter,” she thought. “I can break in if I have to.”
She soon discovered that no time machine had been invented in 2013 either so she went back to the now vacant dormitory.
What she discovered when she returned stunned her. The building was gone. Only a pile of bricks remained. No more room 13. No more room 7.
Next to the remains of the old dorm was the crane with a wrecking ball that demolished her only hope of maybe returning to her own time.
(original ending)
There's a young lady you may have seen with tangled auburn hair pushing a shopping cart down the street. Under a dirty trench coat she wears a pink dress. People think she's crazy but she's not and she's much older than she looks. She answers to the name Patricia.
(happy ending)
Out of a flash a bright light appeared a strange silver sports car. Patricia had never seen anything like it in any time. The door opened she saw a man in a silver jumpsuit emerged. He had a very familiar face.
“Jamie!” she shouted.
“Agent James Filleree of the Department of Time” Jamie said flashing a badge at Patricia. “I've been tracking this wormhole for decades. You led me right to it.”
He took a ray gun from the trunk of the car and fired it at the rubble. A dark vortex appeared, then disappeared.
“Now that that's taken care of, can I give you a lift?” he asked.
“What?” Patricia asked.
“This isn't just a car, it's a time machine. I believe you need a ride to August 28, 1966.”
Patricia and Jamie got in the car which disappeared in a flash of light.
The end.
Author: not_a_reptile
Rating: PG
Genre: Scif-Fi
Authors Note: Not a Doctor Who story but similar to Doctor Who. One shot.
It was a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon when her parents and little brother Jack took Patricia to what was supposed to be her new home for the next four years, The Norton Preparatory Academy for Girls.
Patricia could not contain her excitement as her dad parked their shiny new Impala in front of the dormitory. “I can't wait to see my room!” Patricia squealed with delight. “I wonder who my roommate will be! We can do each others hair and share our clothes with each other!” “Why” Jack remarked, “You've brought enough clothing for ten semesters!”
“Now, Jack” her father scolded. “Be supportive of your sister.” “A girl has lots of necessities a boy doesn't” mom added. “You'll see when it's your turn to go off to school” Patricia snapped. “Although I'll bet it's reform school for you.”
With luggage in hand the family entered the lobby of the dormitory which was filled with other girls sitting and chatting with one another on ivory colored sofas.
Patricia and her family were met by a short gray haired woman in a bright green dress. “Welcome to Norton!” she said eagerly. “I'm Miss Thackery. What is your name, girl?”
“Patricia Brown” she said.
“Nice to meet you Miss Brown” the lady answered. “May I say you have such beautiful hair.” Patricia's hair was an auburn color and was teased into a bouffant according to the style of the time. She wore a pale pink blouse and skirt and on her arm she held a matching purse. “Thank you, mam” Jack remarked. “She meant ME, obviously” an annoyed sister shot back.
The family followed Miss Thackery to a sturdy wooden desk facing the doorway. She pulled a key out of a drawer in the desk and handed it to Patricia. “Here's your room key. It's room thirteen.” Patricia examined the metal tag attached to the key with the number 13 stamped into it. “It's the only room available so I hope you're not superstitious.”
“No, not at all.” Patricia said.
“Plus, you have it all to yourself!” the old lady added.
“Did you hear that? I get my own room!” Patricia rejoiced.
“Oh that's wonderful!” mom cheered. “You'll have some privacy.”
“And the other side of the room you can fill up with all your clothes,” Jack joked.
As they hauled her belongings down an adjacent hallway to Patricia's room she thought to herself that she would remember this day for the rest of her life; August 28, 1966. She would, but not for the reasons she expected.
She unlocked the door to room 13 and saw her room for the first time. The blinds were closed making the room dark. When she turned the light on she saw an empty room with stark white walls and two small beds with no sheets on the mattress. Under the window was a radiator and in the corner two small wooden desks in each corner each with a chair.
It wasn't a beautiful sight but she didn't care. She had the room all to herself and after her parents left she spent hours unpacking her clothes, which she hung in both closets. “Good thing I have my own room,” she thought. “I could never get all these clothes into one of these tiny closets!”
When she finished hanging up her clothes and making her bed she took a glance at her alarm clock which she had set on the radiator. It was fifteen minutes past seven. She decided to get a quick bite to eat from the dining hall and finish redecorating later.
She opened the door and went down the hall to the lounge area where she found a strange looking group of girls on the sofas watching TV. They were all dressed in too short skirts that barely covered their thighs. They wore knee-length boots and clothing in garishly bright colors. They wore their hair long, too long, and brushed strait not teased.
Patricia stopped Miss Thackery as she was passing by.
“Isn't there some kind of dress code here?” she asked. “Oh, yes,” Miss Thackery said. “Clothing is required at all times. Strictly enforced.”
Patricia was stunned.
“By the way you have such beautiful hair,” she added.
“Yes you told me that before” Patricia replied.
“Do I know you?” the confused woman answered.
“You met me an hour ago. Remember? Patricia?”
“Oh, dear. I'm afraid my mind isn't what it once was.”
Patricia took a good look at Miss Thackery. She looked different. She wore a dark orange dress, not unlike the one she wore before. Also, her hair was whiter and had less… fullness?
Patricia walked out the doors, grabbing a student paper from a stack near the exit. To her surprise it was still afternoon. She had left her watch in her room so she assumed that her clock must be off.
As she scanned the front of the paper she saw headlines that made no sense to her. “Watergate scandal growing, tapes subpoenaed” and “End the war now” Then she checked the date in the top corner of the paper.
August 26, 1973
“Is this real?” she thought. “Is this a trick? Who would play a trick like this?”
She went back inside and called out to the girls on the sofas.
“What day is it?”
“It's Tuesday!” one of the girls answered.
“What year is it?” she demanded.
“It's 1973! What are you? Stupid?”
Patricia went to find Miss Thackery. She knocked on her door until she answered.
“Can I help you?” she answered.
“Those girls are telling me it's the year 1973,” Patricia said.
“Is that a crime?” the old woman asked.
“You and I both know that it's really 1966.”
Miss Thackery gave Patricia a puzzled look.
“Are you taking one of those acid trips?” she asked.
“No!” Patricia protested. “I don't even know what that means.”
“Go back to your room and lie down for a bit and everything will start making sense again,” she advised.
Not knowing what else to do Patricia went back to her room. Her room was exactly as she found it. She looked out the window at the strange looking cars parked on the street. Such large and smooth and in such unusual colors. “Lie down” she thought. “That was her advise.”
Patricia laid down on her bed but she couldn't sleep. She couldn't rest. Soon she got up again.
“This is ridiculous!” she said out loud.
When she opened the door she noticed that the carpet was different. It had been a bright green, like Miss Thackery's dress. Her first dress. Now it was dark brown. She went back to the lobby, expecting to see the three strangely dressed girls. No one was there but the sofas had been replaced. Someone had taken away the ivory colored sofas and replaced them with ugly dark brown sofas.
She went to see Miss Thackery again. She knocked on the door until it opened. A large woman with brown hair answered. “Where is Miss Thackery?” Patricia asked.
“Miss Thackery retired years ago.” she said. “Is there something I can help you with?”
Patricia was beginning to understand what was happening to her.
“No, thanks.” she said.
She searched for a student paper, which she found on a coffee table in front of the sofas.
The headlines “Boycott of Olympics unfair to athletes” and “Students oppose bombing Iran” caught her eye. Then she read the date.
August 24, 1980
She went outside and looked around. Cars looked different again. Boxier, she thought, and darker colors.
She noticed a guy on a skateboard coming toward her on the sidewalk. He was wearing a white helmet with red and blue stripes, a red and blue striped polo shirt, and white canvas shoes.
“Stop!” she shouted to the boy. “Can I ask you something?”
The boy stopped and removed his helmet, revealing long locks of dark brown hair.
“You've got a lot of hair for a boy,” she remarked.
“Yeah, I guess,” he answered.
“I'm Patricia,” she said.
“Jamie,” he answered. “Well, James, but everyone calls me 'Jamie'”
“I just moved in to the dorm,” she began, “but every time I come out of my room it's seven years later.”
Jamie gave her a puzzled look.
“No one believes me.”
“That is pretty hard to believe,” he replied.
“I've got an idea,” he began. “Let's both go in your room and if we come out seven years later you've got a witness.”
Patricia agreed and they entered the dorm.
As they approached the hallway they were stopped by an obnoxious girl.
“Where do you think you're going?”
“To my room” Patricia answered.
“This is a girls dormitory. No boys allowed.”
“Sorry, I was just leaving” Jamie said and hurried away.
“I haven't seen you before,” the girl said.
“I'm new here. My name is Patricia.”
“Debbie” the girl said. “I'm the RA on this floor.”
“RA?”
“Residence Assistant,” Debbie explained. “It's a big responsibility. Which room are you in?”
“13”
Debbie gave her a skeptical look.
“There's no one in 13” she said.
“Why?”
“Because the last girl who moved in to that room disappeared. It's unlucky.”
“I have the key right here,” Patricia said, showing her the key. “Come with me I'll show you.”
The two of them walked to the end of the hallway to room 13 and Patricia unlocked the door. She found her room exactly as she left it.
“Come in,” she said.
“No thanks” Debbie answered.
“But, there's a bug! I saw a bug in here!”
Debbie came in and looked around the room. Patricia shut the door.
“A-ha!” Patricia shouted.
“What are you doing?” Debbie asked.
“Now you'll see,” Patricia said as she opened the door.
“That's it I'm leaving” Debbie said.
Patricia followed Debbie out the door and down the hall to the lobby. To her surprise she found everything the same. The carpet, the sofas, the school paper, everything.
“Everything is the same now,” Patricia remarked.
“What were you expecting?” Debbie asked.
“Maybe the curse is broken and the time change has stopped” Patricia said to herself aloud.
“You're crazy!” Debbie said as she took a seat behind the desk. “No wonder they put you in 13.”
Patricia went back to her room and laid down on the bed to think.
“Bringing another person in the room stops the room from taking me seven years into the future” she thought. “But how do I get back to 1966? Maybe I need to find an adult who was my age in 1966 and bring them in the room. Then maybe the room will take me back to 1966.”
She went back to the lobby and noticed a girl sitting at the desk talking on the phone.
“Excuse me,” Patricia said.
The girl who looked Patricia up and down.
“Miss Yvonne? Isn't it a little early for Halloween?”
“My name is Patricia.”
“That's a strange name”
“What's your name?”
“Kathy.”
Patricia examined Kathy's wardrobe. She wore a green rugby shirt, tight blue jeans, and a shiny gold necklace. She also wore gold hoop earrings and had fluffy curly hair. Patricia wasn't sure if she had gone forward in time or if she was still in 1980.
“Can I use to phone? I need to call my parents.”
“Sorry, local calls only.”
“I need to call my parents!” she pleaded.
“There's a pay phone outside” she said, pointing Patricia to door.
On her way out a glance at a student paper confirmed that she was now in the year 1987.
“Please deposit twenty-five cents” chimed the recorded voice on the pay phone.
Patricia pulled a quarter out of her purse, which the pay phone rejected.
“Why won't this work” she chagrined.
She found another quarter in her purse which the pay phone accepted. She dialed her home phone number and heard the ring once, then twice.
“Hello” spoke a familiar voice on the other end. It was Patricia's mother.
“Mom?”
There was a pause.
“Who is this?”
“This is Patricia! I'm your daughter!”
There was another pause.
“My only daughter disappeared twenty-one years ago.”
“It's me! It's really me!” she pleaded. “I'm at the dorm!”
“Please deposit twenty-five cents” chimed the recorded voice operator.
“Is this a prank call?”
“No! Please! Don't hang up!”
The connection went dead and all Patricia could hear was a dial tone. She started to cry. For a long time she cried. She cried until she couldn't cry anymore. Then she began to think.
“If there is a room that goes forward in time, there must be a room that goes back in time. I just have to find it.”
She went back into the dorm and knocked on the doors. If someone answered she asked them for the time. If no one answered she tried to open the door. She did this for the first six rooms. The seventh room had a sign on the door that read Storage.
“Of course, room seven!” she thought. “Bad luck, good luck, seven years, it makes sense!”
She found the door to be locked, but she tried her key and it opened.
The room was filled with old beds, broken desk chairs and Christmas decorations.
Cautiously she entered the storage room and held the door knob.
“Here I come 1966” she thought. “Or 1776. Who knows?”
Slowly she shut the door.
She opened the door again to find that the brown carpet had been replaced by blue carpet.
“Blue carpet!” she thought aloud. “Where am I now? What did I do?”
She entered the lobby to find new furniture and the latest edition of the student paper.
August 27, 2000
“Room 13 goes forward in time 7 years, and room 7 goes forward in time 13 years.”
Patricia had another idea. “I'm in the year 2000. Surely someone has invented a time machine by now. I have to find someone who has a time machine and get them to take me back to 1966.”
She walked across town asking strangers if they to tell her how to get to a time machine. Everyone thought she was crazy. She went back to the dorm and hatched a new plan. She decided that she would keep going forward in time 13 years at a time until the year someone invents a time machine.
She returned to the storage room and closed the door. When she opened the door the hallway was dark. All the lights were out and the hallway was littered with trash. “What happened here?” she thought. With the light from the window of the storage room lighting the way she worked her way carefully down the darkened hall.
All the furniture had been removed from the lounge. The windows were boarded up and the door was blocked. She managed to get out of the building through an emergency exit but couldn't get back in after the door closed. “No matter,” she thought. “I can break in if I have to.”
She soon discovered that no time machine had been invented in 2013 either so she went back to the now vacant dormitory.
What she discovered when she returned stunned her. The building was gone. Only a pile of bricks remained. No more room 13. No more room 7.
Next to the remains of the old dorm was the crane with a wrecking ball that demolished her only hope of maybe returning to her own time.
(original ending)
There's a young lady you may have seen with tangled auburn hair pushing a shopping cart down the street. Under a dirty trench coat she wears a pink dress. People think she's crazy but she's not and she's much older than she looks. She answers to the name Patricia.
(happy ending)
Out of a flash a bright light appeared a strange silver sports car. Patricia had never seen anything like it in any time. The door opened she saw a man in a silver jumpsuit emerged. He had a very familiar face.
“Jamie!” she shouted.
“Agent James Filleree of the Department of Time” Jamie said flashing a badge at Patricia. “I've been tracking this wormhole for decades. You led me right to it.”
He took a ray gun from the trunk of the car and fired it at the rubble. A dark vortex appeared, then disappeared.
“Now that that's taken care of, can I give you a lift?” he asked.
“What?” Patricia asked.
“This isn't just a car, it's a time machine. I believe you need a ride to August 28, 1966.”
Patricia and Jamie got in the car which disappeared in a flash of light.
The end.