The sun performed its daily job of peeking over the eastern horizon for Friday morning.
In Abby's bedroom, her alarm clock blared at six-fifteen that morning.
Abby stirred in the sleeping bag. She reached over and turned off her clock.
She sat up, stretched out her arms while she yawned.
She got up and headed out of her bedroom.
A little while later, Abby was dressed in her work clothes and finished her breakfast and her first cup of coffee.
She leaned against one of her kitchen counters while she reached in her purse. She removed her cell phone and made a call.
"Hello, doc. Listen, I will be a few minutes late this morning. I need to run by the hospital to check up on my neighbor. He was taken away by ambulance last night, and I want to check up on him. I'll stay late to make up time. Thanks and I'll see you shortly," Abby said while she left a message on Dr. Bowman's work phone.
Abby dropped her cell phone into her purse then walked out of the kitchen.
A little while later, Abby walked down a hallway of the Heartfelt Care Hospital.
She walked farther down the hallway and stopped at Room 480. She hesitated for a few seconds while she got a little nervous. She took a deep breath, then opened the door.
Abby stepped inside Room 480 and closed the door. She stood there and saw Michael while he lay in bed with an oxygen hose up his nose and other hoses stuck in his arms. A monitor monitored his vital signs. They appeared to be good at the moment.
Michael saw Abby standing by the door, and he smiled.
His smile broke the ice. "Hi, remember me? I'm Abby, your new neighbor," she said while she walked over to his bed.
Michael's smile grew broader when Abby walked closer to his bed.
"The nurse told me you had a heart attack. How are you feeling?"
"A little better," he replied and sounded a little groggy.
Abby hesitated for a few seconds. "Did you leave that photo album at my house?"
Michael nodded, "yes."
"Why?"
Michael opened his mouth to respond, but he looked to be in pain all of a sudden.
Michael's monitor started beeping louder.
Michaels's eyes welled up while he looked at Abby. "I love and miss you, Jennifer," he said in a voice filled with pain.
"I'm Abby Austin," she replied a little confused with what he said and wondered why he said that.
"I was trying to come back to save you," he said while tears ran down his cheek
Abby was bewildered and speechless while she tried to understand his comment.
Michael cringed in pain. His monitor started peeping, and his heart rate started showing signs of stress.
Michael's body suddenly arched up in extreme pain. His body went limp. The monitor flat lined and started beeping.
Abby stood there, stunned and clueless on what to do. She looked around the room in a bit of a panic, as she figured this was not a good sign.
Nurse Carrie slammed open the door and ran into the room.
"You need to leave now," she told Abby while she ran up to Michael's bed.
Abby walked to the door and was met by Dr. Snyder, who opened the door and rushed into the room.
Abby stood in the doorway and watched while Nurse Carrie and Dr. Peabody frantically checked Michael out.
She left the room looking worried.
Abby walked down the hallway and headed back to the nurse's station. She was in a bit of shock with what she just witnessed.
Abby paced back and forth in front of the nurse's station, not sure what she should do at this moment. She silently prayed that Michael was okay, as she wanted him to remain her neighbor.
A few minutes passed, and she noticed Dr. Snyder and Nurse Carrie walk out of Michael's room. They looked saddened.
Dr. Snyder walked off down the hallway in another direction.
Nurse Carrie headed back to the nurse's station.
Abby ran down the hallway up to Nurse Carrie.
"Is Mister Osborne okay?" she said the second she arrived at the nurse.
Nurse Carrie hesitated for a few seconds to respond. "I'm sorry, he didn't make it. It appears he had another heart attack," she said then walked back to the nurse's station.
Abby felt heartbroken for some strange reason.
Her eyes welled up while she walked away down the hallway.
She walked past the nurse's station, where Nurse Carrie was talking on the phone to the morgue downstairs.
Abby got inside her car in the hospital parking lot. She started up her car then immediately turned off the radio. Abby usually always had the radio on when she drove. She had it turned off the day her boyfriend Rich died, and now she felt like turning it off since Michael died.
She drove off down the parking lot.
Thirty minutes passed, and Abby was back at her desk. She stared at her monitor and could not believe a man she just met last night died right before eyes this morning.
Dr. Bowman walked into the office area with his old leather attaché tucked under his right arm. He returned from teaching a class.
"Is your neighbor okay?" he asked while he walked over to her desk.
"He died right in front of my eyes at the hospital," she replied and looked like she wanted to start sobbing.
Dr. Bowman felt terrible for her. "I'm sorry to hear that," he replied while he stood by her desk.
"The strange thing is that last night before they took him away in the ambulance, he left a photo album by my back sliding glass door."
"A photo album? Of what?"
"An album with photos of his life. But the strangest part is that when I looked at the photos, the strangest déjà-fu feelings came over me. Powerful warm déjà-vu feelings."
Dr. Bowman looked interested in her last comment. "And you just met this man?"
Abby nodded that she did.
"I have this strange feeling to learn more about this man. His name is Michael Osborne."
Dr. Bowman's ears perked up. "Did you say, Michael Osborne?"
Abby nodded, it was.
"Did you buy your house on Dorothy Avenue?"
Abby nodded, "yes."
"I knew your neighbor. He was a professor here at the college. Physics professor. He retired about ten years ago."
Abby found that exciting and looked curious. "What was he like?"
"I first met him in nineteen fifty-eight when he started teaching here. He was a great guy, but turned into a loner in the summer of sixty-one."
"A loner. How sad. Why?"
"Well, he was supposed to get married in May of sixty-one, but his fiancé was killed that morning before she made it to the altar. So maybe that's why he withdrew from people."
"Killed? How?"
"I think she drowned."
"Drowned?" she asked, recalling her nightmare last night.
"Yes, drowned," he replied, then thought for a few seconds. "Then Professor Osborne had this strange obsession with time travel. It was rumored he was building a time machine. I don't know if that's true. I've never seen it."
"He was building a time machine?" she asked, not sure she heard him correctly.
"That was the rumor around campus for years. Anyway, I'm sorry to hear he died."
Dr. Bowman walked away and headed into his office.
Abby got really curious with what Dr. Bowman said while she stared at her computer.
She opened up Safari and typed in "Time Travel" in the search block.
She looked at the list of results. She started clicking on some of them.
After work was over, Abby bought a six-inch tuna Subway sandwich for dinner tonight. Since she stayed late at the college, she was not in the mood for cooking tonight.
Darkness fell upon Barbourville, and Abby sat on her back porch, drinking a glass of red wine.
While she sipped on the wine, she kept on glancing over at Michael's garage. Then she recalled Dr. Bowman's comment on how Michael was obsessed with time travel.
Her curiosity got the best of her again.
She gulped down her wine then placed the empty glass down on the concrete.
She stood up and looked to her left then looked to her right. The coast was clear of any neighbors out and about in their backyards.
Abby walked off her porch and snuck through her grass toward Michael's garage.
She snuck over to the left side of the garage and snuck over to the window.
She peeked in the window. It was dark inside the garage, but she saw the hint of that contraption she saw last night. But it was too dark to see exactly what it was, so she snuck around to the front.
She snuck over to the two doors of the garage.
She pulled on the left door handle and was surprised when it swung open. Michael forgot to lock it yesterday.
She stepped inside the garage.
She looked around the garage and saw the silhouette of that large contraption.
She looked to her left and saw the lighted switch off the light switch. She flicked the switch, and the overhead lights of the garage came on.
She saw the contraption that Michael worked on the other night. Now that she got a closer look, it resembled a 1950s flying saucer. She thought it looked cool.
She turned around and closed the garage door so none of the neighbors would see what she saw.
She walked over to the front of the oval-shaped shiny silver contraption. She tapped on the metal, and it felt like aluminum.
The front contained a sloped window that looked like a windshield.
Tubes and wires ran from the roof, down the sides of the sloped front windshield to numerous small ports on the front hood.
Also at the front hood, she got a closer look at the front two of the four landing struts with small ski's that rested on the floor.
She looked at the roof that had many tubes and wires that were connected to from numerous small ports to other multiple small ports.
She looked at the right side and saw a door with a window.
She walked over to the sloped rear end and saw that more significant connection port located in the middle. This was the starting point of all those tubes that ran to the smaller connection ports on the roof and then to the sloped front hood of the contraption.
She glanced over at the wall where the window was located that she peeked in from last night.
She saw a workbench under the window.
She walked around over to the left side of the contraption and saw some bookshelves that hung on the wall.
Abby glanced at shelves and saw numerous books about traveling through time. She looked back at the contraption and got extremely curious.
She rushed back over to the right side and headed to that door.
Abby pulled up on the door handle. It was a gull-wing, so the door swung upward with a whishing sound. Her curiosity got the best of her, and she could not resist the temptation.
She sat inside the machine on the plush black leather bench seat. It was up against the back and side walls that were done up in black tuck and roll leather.
She looked at the console aluminum plate dashboard that was had fife toggle switches, a gauge, and two analog devices.
On the console, she saw a "Power" toggle switch with "Powered Down" at the switch down position and "Powered Up" in the switch up position markings. Above it was a round green lens.
Below that switch was a round "Engine" gauge with a white "Engine Warming Up" arc, green "Engine Ready" arc and red "Engine in Danger" arc and a needle.
Next to the "Power" toggle switch was a "Now" toggle switch.
There was a dial for the month, a dial for the day. Dial for the year. Dial for the time in 24-Hour clock time. This was the date and time when you left for your time-traveling adventure.
Next to the "Now" toggle switch was a "Destination" toggle switch. Above it was a round green lens.
Below that switch was a panel that had four dials. There was a dial for the month. Dial for the day, a dial for the year. Dial for the time in 24-Hour clock time. This was the date and time when you wanted to be your destination for time travel.
Next to the "Destination" toggle switch was a "Pick-up" toggle switch. Above it was a round green lens.
Below that switch was a panel that had four dials. There was a dial for the month. Dial for the day, a dial for the year. Dial for the time in 24-Hour clock time. This was the date and time when you wanted the time machine to come to pick up at your destination. This was used when it would be deemed impossible to hide the time machine while you time traveled. If the machine got in the wrong hands, one could be stuck in that time forever.
Next to the time toggle switch was a "Door" toggle switch. Above it was a round green lens.
Next to the door toggle switch was a "Travel" toggle switch. Above it was a round green lens.
All of the toggle switches were in the down position. The needle in the engine gauge was at the beginning of the white arch. The contraption was quiet, and all of the lenses were not illuminated.
"Did he actually build a time machine?" she wondered while she glanced at the console and the switches, gauge, and displays.
Something caught her eye. She glanced down at the floorboard and saw a rolled-up old and faded newspaper. She reached down and picked it up. It was an old, Barbourville Times.
She unrolled the paper and saw a front-page article titled "Local Woman Shot and Drowned In Brandywine Lake" was dated May 22, 1961.
She glanced back at the console and got a hair-brained idea. She rolled up the newspaper and got out of the time machine.
She closed the time machine door, and it closed with a whishing sound and a click when the door locked.
She rushed over to the garage door.
She flicked off the light, then stepped outside.
She closed the garage door. She paused for a few seconds while she stared at the standard hasp. She looked a little concerned.
She stepped back and stepped on something in the grass.
She bent down and found a Master padlock with the key still inside. She realized that Michael must have dropped it when he had his heart attack.
She picked up the lock and locked the garage doors. She shoved the key into her jeans pocket.
She rushed off to her house, satisfied that the time machine would not fall into the hands of anybody else.
Once she stepped inside her kitchen, she placed the key to the padlock in an empty drawer under the counter.
She walked out of the kitchen.
Later that night, Abby sat on her sleeping bag with her back leaned up against the wall.
She sipped on a glass of wine while she read that old article about Jennifer's death.
Her eyes welled up for a reason she could not explain.
She read that article numerous times then drifted off to sleep with the newspaper on her chest.