Time travel: A chapter book by Ananya

Time Travel

The gist: 3 friends, Shruti, Rhea, and Shreya open

a newly bought board game. One of the board games has a

device attached to it. They press one of the buttons on the

device and accidentally travel through time.

INDEX

1. A Sleepover turns into an adventure.

2. Visiting the Baby Earth

3. Getting Saved by A Volcanic Eruption

4. Ending up in jail

5. Getting Ancient Entertainment

6. Making Babur Win the Battle

7. Saving people’s lives

8. Home Sweet Home

CHAPTER 1: A Sleepover turns into an adventure

“Come to my house tomorrow at 9 pm for a sleepover. We will have lots of fun!”, typed Rhea to Shreya and Shruti. “Sure!” replied Shreya. “I can’t wait!”, exclaimed Shruti. Rhea had been waiting for this sleepover eagerly. She had all the activities planned in her mind. She went into the kitchen and decided to cook some finger-licking snacks. She made cupcakes with scrumptious strawberry flavoured frosting. She also made crispy nachos with a creamy dip. She made popcorn to eat while watching a movie. She ordered two boardgames to play during the sleepover. After all the arrangements, she decided to get some sleep for the long day ahead. She lay down on her bed and could hear the crickets singing in distance. She closed her eyes and slept.

“8:59!” Rhea squealed in exhilaration. “It is finally 9:00!” she shrieked again. “Rhea, they won’t arrive exactly at 9:00. They will take some time to arrive.”, said Rhea’s mother. “Right.”, said Rhea in disappointment. After two minutes, the doorbell rang. Rhea sprinted towards the door in full speed and unlocked it. Shreya and Shruti were standing outside the door. Rhea squeezed her friends and let them in when a man said, “Madam, your package.” “Oh, these might be the boardgames!”, screemed Rhea. She took the package inside and placed it on the dining table. Rhea then served her friends the cupcakes and nachos she made the previous night. Then, they watched ‘Annabelle comes home’. They got terrified during the movie, so they decided to pause it and do another activity.

“Can we please read books?”, requested Shreya. “Seriously?”, said Shruti with a hint of antipathy. “Or why don’t we just play boardgames?”, suggested Rhea. They got the packages to Rhea’s room. They unpacked the first boardgame which was ‘Apples to Apples’. That boardgame was so fun that they played it for one hour. “Let’s play the other boardgame now.”, said Shruti. “Sure!”, said Rhea. When they opened the other package, they saw a device with three keys attached to the boardgame. The device said, “You can only use this device one time.” “What is that?”, asked Shreya. “It might just be a part of the board game that wasn’t put in.”, said Shruti. Rhea fiddled with the keys and they all vanished into thin air!

CHAPTER 2: Visiting the Baby Earth

They all landed on a firm, black surface with faults all over it. Between the faults there was lava. “Where are we?”, enquired Rhea. All of their eyes looked as if they were going to burst. “You should know. You were the one who pressed one of the keys.”, said Shruti. “Guys, this might be a virtual reality machine.”, said Shreya. Rhea and Shruti both nodded to that. “I think we are on the Earth when it was first shaped.”, said Shreya. “If that is the case, then let us have some fun.” Said Rhea. They leaped from one rock to another rock until they found a lady generating plants.

“Who are you? Did Prometheus already start creating humans?”, said the lady. “Who are you and who is this Prometheus?”, questioned Shruti. “I am Gaia, the goddess of Earth. Prometheus is the Titan who will create mankind.”, said Gaia. “Humans, I am creating these plants for you, so you better assist me.”, demanded Gaia. “No, we won’t assist you.”, said Shruti as she assumed it was just virtual reality. “You egotistical humans have no esteem for gods!”, Gaia snarled angrily. She continued, “Now I am going to abolish one of you!” She tossed a green glass orb on Shruti. When the glass orb hit Shruti, she blacked out and collapsed on the floor.

“Let’s go hide behind this pillar until the track is clear.”, said Rhea as she was dragging Shruti. They glanced behind the pillar and noticed many monstrous-looking Titans locomoting from one place to another. “If this is virtual reality, how did Gaia harm Shruti?”, asked Rhea. “Maybe this is not virtual reality; we might be time-traveling!”, said Shreya enthusiastically. “No, I don’t agree.”, said Rhea in disbelief. Suddenly, they heard a lurid noise behind them. They glanced behind and saw a sturdy, treacherous looking man glaring at them in rage. “Who are you?”, asked Rhea. “I am Hyperion the lad of Gaia. I am also the Titan of light. I think you are the selfish humans who escaped from Mother Gaia.”, said Hyperion. He continued, “I have to finish you now!” He threw a fire orb on them. Luckily, Rhea pressed one of the keys on the device even though she didn’t know where they would end up.

CHAPTER 3: Getting Saved by A Volcanic Eruption

They all touched down on top of something spiky. They were on a great elevation. They looked around and saw a dense jungle surrounding them. Rhea said, “You were correct, Shreya. I think we are time traveling.” She continued, “But we better get Shruti back to usual.” They decided to go to a river. When they were leaving the high surface, Shreya sensed a liquid slither down her shirt. She looked behind and saw a gigantic dinosaur glaring at them as if it had found a juicy meal. Shreya shrieked in horror. Rhea looked behind to see what the problem was and saw the same dinosaur. She was terrified. They tried to run at full speed to escape from the dinosaur. Strangely enough, after a while, the dinosaur stopped chasing them. They looked forward and noticed a river. But the problem was that there were many dangerous stegosauruses waiting for them.

They crept slowly towards the stream so that the stegosauruses wouldn’t notice them. They successfully made it to the banks of the river. Rhea put down Shruti on the grass. She sprinkled some water on Shruti’s face. She got up and said, “Where on Earth are we?” Shreya and Rhea clarified everything to Shruti. Shruti was astonished but believed everything. They started moving out of the riverbank again. Unintentionally, Rhea stepped on a dry bark that caught the dinosaurs’ attention.

The stegosauruses bared their teeth towards them. They all scuttled at full speed as the stegosauruses hunted them. They ran for 10 minutes when, strangely, the stegosauruses too stopped chasing them. They looked at the other side to see what the problem was. Instead of a dinosaur, the saw a gigantic mass of lava whooshing towards them. “Guys, a volcano is erupting!” cried Shreya in horror. They ran for their lives. An idea popped into Rhea’s mind. She shoved one of the keys of the time machine and hoped they would land somewhere safer this time.

CHAPTER 4: Ending up in jail

They all landed in front of a massive temple that had 24 inner columns. “Where are we now?”, asked Shruti. “I think we are in the Egyptian civilization and right now, we are standing in front of the Luxor temple.”, said Shreya. “Cool!”, said Rhea. She continued, “So, what are we waiting for? Let’s go inside and check this ancient temple out.” They proceeded inside. When they reached inside, they saw many priests worshipping a statue. “Guys, this is their god, Amun, who is the king of gods and goddesses.”, said Shreya. “You’re such a nerd, Shreya.”, teased Shruti. “Thanks, Shruti.”, joked Shreya. They all chuckled. When they stopped laughing, they noticed many frustrated priests glaring at them.

All the priests started screaming in an unfamiliar language. They kept shouting for ten minutes. The three friends found the language hilarious and laughed again. The friends could spot the furious faces of the priests. They screamed more now. The friends knew that they were angry at them because they had disturbed them while they were praying. They fled away from the screaming priests and thought that they were secure. Unfortunately, they saw another furious man giving an I-will-kill-you look waiting for them outside the temple.

The man started chasing them. They started running at their top speed. They were so focused on running that they didn’t even notice the beautiful streets. Unfortunately, the man caught them. The man’s hands were placed firmly on their hands. They tried to wriggle out of the man’s steel grip but couldn't. The man led them into a palace. The palace had rectangular structures that consisted of high walls topped with towers. The tops of the towers were decorated with panels. They went inside and saw a pharaoh sitting on his enormous throne. The pharaoh gave an order to the man. The man led them into a huge dark room with many pits. The man threw them harshly into one of the pits. When the man went out of the room, Shruti said, “Now, how do we escape?” “There is only one way out.”, smiled Rhea. She pressed one of the buttons and they vanished from the darkroom.

CHAPTER 5: Getting Ancient Entertainment

They landed in front of an enormous ancient stadium with many people crowded. “I don’t know where we are this time, but let’s sit down and get some entertainment.”, said Shreya. The other two nodded in agreement. They sat down on a wooden bench. In the middle of the stadium, there was a huge ground with two nets on each side. Everyone was settling down on their wooden benches. When everyone settled down, two teams arrived in the middle of the stadium. There was a loud noise from a trumpet. When everyone heard the noise, the game started.

“Oh, I know this game!”, said Shreya in excitement. She continued, “This game is called Pitz. This game was played during the Mayan civilization. It is played with a rubber ball ranging in size from that of a softball to a soccer ball. The players would attempt to bounce the ball without using their hands through stone hoops attached to the sides of the ball court. The team that loses will be given a punishment, that is, death.” “Wow, that is harsh.”, said Shruti. They continued to watch the game. In the game, one of the teams was losing poorly. In some time, the losing team caught up with the winning team. In minutes, the losing team became the winning team. Everyone was cheering pompously. Now, it was time for the execution.

When the execution was going to take place, Rhea rushed towards the middle of the stadium bravely. She knew sign language. In sign language she said, “Why are you executing them?” One of the men said, “Rules are rules.” “But you are killing a person for a senseless reason!”, roared Rhea angrily. “Sorry, you are too late.”, said the man. When the man was going to kill the lost team, Rhea sprinted towards the players. She grabbed their hands and ran towards her friends. “We have to send these men to the next era so that they stay safe and sound there.”, said Rhea in determination. Her friends agreed. They held the men’s hands and pressed one of the keys. Everyone vanished from the stadium.

CHAPTER 6: Making Babur Win the Battle

They all landed amidst a battlefield. They were standing between two warriors and their armies. The two kings looked very annoyed. “Who are you? You have no right to interfere with a war!”, hissed one of the kings. “First tell me who are you?”, asked Shruti. “I am king Babur.”, said one of the kings in pride. “I am King Ibrahim Lodi.”, said the other king. “Can you see that jungle there?”, Rhea said to the people of the team. She continued, “You guys will be safe there.” The team fled away towards the jungle for safety. 

“This is the war between Babur and Ibrahim Lodi.”, whispered Shreya to Shruti and Rhea. “So why have you people interrupted our war?”, asked Babur in a deep and frightening tone. Rhea thought for a while and said, “We have a message for king Babur.” Shruti gave Rhea her classic what- is- wrong-with-you look. “I will tell Babur about Ibrahim Lodi’s war tactics that we learned in history class the other day.”, whispered Rhea. She continued, “Then, hopefully Babur will be content with us and won’t speak in that creepy tone again.”

She approached Babur and explained the war tactics of Ibrahim Lodi. Babur glanced at Rhea proudly and said, “You are a really brave child. You deserve to be paid a hundred gold coins.” Babur’s eyes were sparkling with happiness. Rhea thanked him for giving her the gold coins. “I told you he won’t talk in that creepy tone.”, smiled Rhea. The three friends walked towards the jungle and decided to give the gold coins to the players of the Mayan era. They the Mayan team quickly. They happily gave them the gold coins. “What next?”, asked Shruti dully. “How about we travel to the next era?”, suggested Rhea. The other two agreed on that. “Hopefully, we land somewhere war-free.”, muttered Rhea to herself.

CHAPTER 7: Saving people’s lives

All three of them landed in a war- scene again. There were many lifeless and injured men lying down in the pool of their own blood. There were also many women and kids crying helplessly for their family members. Many women were getting medicines from tents and applying it on the injured men. There were also people carrying dead bodies on white mattresses. One of the dead men had lost his eyes and legs. “I think we are in the World War two era”, said Shreya in dispair.

“The WW-II was fought between the Axis powers, Germany, Italy, and Japan and the Allies, France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union.”, said Shreya. She continued, “Approximately 75 million people lost their lives in this war.” “That is so horrifying.”, said Rhea. “Let us apply the medicine on the deeply wounded ones. That is the least thing we can do.”, said Shruti. They went inside the tent and spotted varieties of medicines kept on a table covered with a fresh white cloth. Shruti took the medicines in her hand and said, “So, what are we waiting for? Let’s get going!”

Rhea was staring in horror at the blood dripping from the deeply cut wound of a young man. She took the fluid from the green bottle, applied it on a clean piece of cloth, and pressed it on the wound gently. She tied the cloth around the wound and let it rest. “It’s so sad that they didn’t have bandages to put around their hurts in the 1940s”, said Shruti while she was tying a cloth-piece around a soldier’s hand. “Ya, they just had cloth and these liquids that time.”, replied Shreya while she was holding a blue bottle. The battlefield was crowded with nurses, doctors, and men carrying dead bodies. When the battlefield was almost clear, Rhea said, “I think it is time to go to the next era.” “Where do you think we will end up next?”, asked Shreya. “We will see.”, said Shruti.

CHAPTER 8: Home Sweet Home

“What!”, exclaimed Shruti in disbelief. She said, “I thought we would land somewhere else!” “Me too!”, said Rhea in disappointment. “Guys, we shouldn’t be disappointed, we should be thankful for this 9-hour ancient voyage.”, said Shreya. The other two agreed on that. “Guys, don’t you feel hungry after this dangerous but exciting voyage?”, asked Shruti. “Yup. We can eat the leftover nachos and cupcakes.”, smiled Rhea.

“Rhea, Shreya’s and Shruti’s moms are going to pick them up in half an hour. Start winding up.”, informed Rhea’s mom. “So, should we keep this time machine a secret or not?”, asked Shruti. “Secret.”, replied Rhea. “Fine.”, agreed Shreya. Shruti and Shreya started wrapping up their stuff. “Ting-Tong”, chimed the bell.  “I think your moms have arrived.”, said Rhea in disappointment. The three friends approached the door and opened it. Rhea was right. Their moms had arrived. Rhea was very upset as she thought that all the fun was over. When Shruti saw Rhea’s disappointed face, she said, “How about we all meet in the garden tomorrow at 5 pm? We can have a small get together.” Rhea looked up at Shruti. She was smiling now. “Sure.”, said Rhea in delight.

The three of them met up. “Yesterday’s journey was so amusing. I just hope we have another day like that.”, said Rhea. She continued, “But we can’t travel through the time machine anymore.” “Why can’t we?”, asked Shruti. “Remember what was written on the device? We can only use the time machine once.” There was a strange silence for a few moments. Shreya broke the silence as she said, “We should be grateful for the person who gave us this time machine.” “You always talk about gratefulness.”, said Shruti in irritation. “Guys, stop fighting. Don’t you ever wonder about the source of the time machine? We still don’t know who gifted this machine to us.”, said Rhea in confusion. That was one secret they could never solve.

Written by: Ananya Vashishth

Edited by: Aanchal Agrawal