Vintage Crush - Chapter 1
I suppose to post this on Mibba, but since I always change the plot so I put a trial first here to see if I'm satisfied with my writings. It's not a fanfiction, it's an original fiction. Simply a hobby out of my complex mind and ideas. Happy reading.
Title: Vintage Crush
Type: Original Fiction
Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Rating: R
Pairing: OC/OC (Jonah/Chloe, Lucy/Henry, Lucy/Richard)
Chapter 1
Chloe studied the frail old woman that lay on the hospital bed next to her. She was a woman in the Autumn of her life. Her silvery hair was thinning and framing her wrinkly unhealthy face, while her pale skin was like a wrinkled paper bag. The sudden jolt on her weak body brought her awake as her breath turned uneven.
“Grams? What’s wrong? Should I get you the nurse?” Chloe rubbed her grandmother’s hand softly as her blue eyes connected to the dull eyes of her grandmother's. Lucy Birdwell only coughed and smiled at her granddaughter.
“I’m fine, child. I was only seeing my Henry… Oh, Henry…” Lucy croaked a voice from her chapped dry lips.
Chloe watched the twinkle on Lucy’s eyes when she mentioned about Henry. Latter, Chloe heard about Henry, he was the very first love of Lucy Birdwell before she met Chloe’s grandfather. As Chloe had been told, Lucy began to date Henry after she graduated from high school. She was deeply in love with Henry when Henry left without saying anything and theb afterwards, Lucy met Richard-Chloe’s grandfather.
Sometimes, Chloe would find her grandmother cried silently when she mentioned Henry. It was evident that Henry was the love of her life. It was an unsaid thing that Lucy loved Henry more than he loved Richard. Somehow, after Richard died, Lucy always mentioned about Henry. Lucy longed for Henry and wished she could meet him before she died.
“Mom?” Chloe called for her mom who sat on the waiting room when she was conversing with her brother, Uncle Mark. Both perked up their ears and turned to Chloe. “She’s asking for Henry again and then she fell asleep.”
It’s been a month since Lucy Birdwell had been hospitalized. In her early eighties, she got complications with her lungs and needed to be taken care of. In her state, Lucy rarely complained about the pains she found, yet she kept asking about Henry like it was the only pain she felt.
“I think we should find this Henry, Jen. I mean, I’m sure Henry is the only one who she wants to see right now,” Mark summarized and stared at Chloe’s mother with hopeful eyes. "I want to make her the happiest woman."
Chloe’s mother only sighed and clicked her tongue. “Like it’s an easy-peasy thing to find an old man in his eighties named Henry Anderson in the country. He probably has died long time ago, Mark.” Jen had her point as Chloe agreed, it’s impossible. But Mark had a better idea, if he could find an old man and paid him for pretending being Henry Anderson, it would be great. As long as his mother was happy, anything he would do.
Leaving the adults with their ideas about Henry, Chloe bid her farewell. She needed to get back to her university the first time in the next morning.
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Sporadically, Chloe found herself awaken by the noise in the middle of the night. Her bedroom’s windows were facing the backyard of Mallory’s house. The Mallorys were her next door neighbor, she sometimes found colorful lights formed from their backyard. Chloe told this to her parents, but her parents never heard or saw anything as Chloe experienced. They convinced Chloe that she’s only dreaming. Chloe bought that for years until she left her home to university.
That night, Chloe woke up once again and upon opening her eyes she saw colorful lights seeping through the light curtains. She rubbed her eyes, wanting to sleep more yet she got up from the bed after she pushed the covers to the side. She was sure she wasn't dreaming because she remembered that she left her packed bags neatly next to her door. Walking toward the windows, she peeked through her curtains and found Jonah Mallory’s car parked behind the house. The venicle produced some bright lights as if it was lit by fire. Quickly putting her old sweater on, Chloe scurried out from her house to see if there was a fire on Mallory’s backyard. She knew she had to inform the owners as soon as possible yet she ran toward Mallory’s backyard, jumping out the fences and seeing the 1967 black Mustang that Jonah owned letting out some colorful sparks and lights from its exhaust.
There was no fire, and the car was turned on and was still in a good condition. As she examined the car, it was designed with monitors and keyboards, the wheel was rounded by numbers and codes, the car gear had several buttons, there were wires everywhere and digital numbers were displayed on the dashboard. How did Jonah drive this odd car? The car was not like usual Mustang she’d ever seen.
Chloe slid into the Mustang and decided it’s the best thing if she turned the thing off or else the fire could be really happened but it wasn’t like the usual Mustang. Jonah probably customized his car because she didn’t find the car keys.
The back door was opened as Jonah and Mrs. Mallory came out. Jonah Mallory was standing in front of his mother as Mrs. Mallory gave him a motherly hug. Chloe accidentally pushed the horn and made the two jolted on their spot. Hearing the loud horn near him, Jonah turned his head and found Chloe was watching him with solemn wonder on her eyes. Jonah’s attire was weird like he just came home from costume party. A bowler hat was neatly sat on his head, his checkered jacket engulfed his body as he was unbuttoning his leather gloves, his costume resembled with the fashion in World War I era.
Jonah who’s aware of Chloe’s presence sped to his car and was beyond surprised to see Chloe was sitting on the driver’s seat.
“Get out!” was the simple respond came from Jonah.
“I’m sorry, I thought your car was on fire…” Chloe replied, “I couldn’t find the car key though..”
“I said get out. Get out from my car. Now!” Jonah’s voice was growing irked as Chloe silently climbed out from the odd Mustang.
“H-how.. h-ow do you wake up?” Jonah was stuttering and swallowing hard as he put down his bowler head to reveal his gelled hair. Chloe frowned at Jonah as if he grew another head, of course she woke up because of the noise his Mustang made.
“Aside from your car made some weird noises and lit my bedroom with colorful lights? Duh. I don’t know.” Chloe rolled her eyes. Chloe’s eyes were back to the Mustang, she was still curious about the car. The design was weird enough let alone driving it, it’s like Jonah got himself into Pimp My Ride on MTV.
“But you’re not supposed to wake up!” Jonah exclaimed in frustration as he slammed the roof of his car.
Mrs. Mallory skipped to where Chloe and Jonah were standing, she stared at Chloe and sighed. With her all-knowing eyes she turned to her son and said, “I think you’re running late, Jonah. Why don’t you just go while I’ll explain things to Chloe?”
“But the device, mom! The device should have let her sleep…” Jonah explained and saw his mom sent him a message look. Defeated, he groaned, slid into his Mustang and drove away from his backyard until he was out from Chloe and his mother’s sight.
“Where is he going with that costume and his weirdo of a car?” Chloe asked and Mrs. Mallory let her inside to her house. Mrs. Mallory let Chloe to sit on the dining chair in her kitchen. “I’m really sorry, Mrs. M, I didn’t mean to disturb your night, I really thought the car was on fire, I did check it and there were sparks and lights…” Chloe trailed off meanwhile Mrs. Mallory just put the kettle on and prepared cups of tea for two.
Grabbing a dining chair in front of Chloe, Mrs. Mallory cleared her throat. “I want to tell you something but I want you to promise things. Because the matters I’m going to elaborate isn’t supposed to pass on. I want you to promise not to tell any souls about this thing. I want you to keep it private, I’m sure you’re a good and smart person and won’t do anything stupid about this.”
Chloe nodded while she gave her ears to Mrs. Mallory. She’s actually had no idea what’s so crucial about Jonah’s weird Mustang.
“Have you ever heard of time-travelling?” Mrs. Mallory started and made Chloe to knit her eyebrows together.
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Chloe had known The Mallorys since she was a kid, Katy Mallory was a single mother to Jonah and she hardly dated anyone. Just like any other neighbor, The Mallorys were completely normal, as Chloe thought.
Katy began to tell Chloe that she once was visited by a weird gentleman that dressed up anciently, his name was Anthony Peters and he claimed that he was from 1850. He also admitted that he was Jonah’s great-great-great-grandfather which was beyond to understand but he really was Jonah’s ancestor. Katy revealed she never thought that the guy she used to date and suddenly disappeared was a time-traveller. Jonah's father was a time-traveller, he had the gene from his ancestors, Mr. Peters being one of his ancestors. The time-travelling gift was derived, so Anthony came to visit to inform that Jonah had the gift and he needed to do time-travelling because it’s a responsibility.
The time-traveller was gifted to build their own time-machine and the Mustang that Jonah owned was a time-travelling machine he built by himself. Jonah dressed up like a loony because he’s about to travel to 1940s where his mission was located. The Mustang he owned was designed to move the traveller back and forth on the time line where Jonah would warp into time-space and create a tunnel connecting the past, the present, and the future. To disguise the time-travelling process every time Jonah travelled, Jonah also invented a device that he installed around his neighborhood so people would stay asleep and witness nothing but the only one who’s not endured the effect was Chloe.
“I truly am sorry, Ma’am. That was a wonderful story, but I think… I’m gonna get back to sleep,” Chloe said as she politely got off from her seat. “Thank you though for the tea… I’m sorry…” Katy Mallory must have taken her pills too much because she’s beginning to imagine things, that’s what Chloe thought. Jonah probably just got high on some costume party and he let his mother to believe his time-travelling shit. Katy only smiled as she saw Chloe beetled out but she was stopped when Jonah appeared on the door, soaked.
“What happened to you?” Mrs. Mallory asked as Jonah got inside and the water dripped from his clothing.
“Flood in Orson Brook, so I got back and need to reschedule.” Jonah explained and turned to Chloe who was digesting what he’s saying. Orson Brook couldn’t be overflowed, or else her neighborhood would have been flooded by now. “Why is she still here?” he said in judgmental tone.
“I’m leaving.” Chloe said curtly and inwardly shouted “psycho” at Jonah. As she was about to leave, she heard Jonah was whining about the device.
“The device should have let her sleep because the last time I checked, the device worked perfectly.” Jonah clarified and she heard a creek sound from the dining chair was dragged. “Henry Anderson was one hell of a man. He’s like an eel, I found him but he easily escaped.”
Overhearing the name of Henry Anderson perked up Chloe’s ears and made her heart beat violently. Did he mean, he really time-travelled and met Henry Anderson? Was it the same Henry Anderson that her grandmother mentioned?
“I am sorry, Mrs. Mallory.” All of a sudden, Chloe stormed back into the Mallorys’ kitchen and shot a look to Jonah, “Jonah, were you really going back in time?” Chloe swallowed hard and Jonah was silent. He whispered to his mom for a help and Mrs. Mallory grinned.
“I know there must be something about you, Chloe, because the device didn’t work out on you. This happened for a reason.” Mrs. Mallory spun her head to her son and squeezed Jonah’s hand. “Chloe, would you like to go back in time with Jonah?”
Stunned by the words, Chloe was still on her debate whether to believe that Jonah Mallory was really a time-traveller or just plain a party animal who liked to lie to his mom. Instead of answering Mrs. Mallory, Chloe exhaled a long breath “Who is this Henry Anderson?”
Jonah nervously stared at Chloe and cursed under his breath, “he’s someone important from the past. I travelled back to 1948 to meet him.” 1948 as Chloe calculated on her head, in that year her grandmother was eighteen years old, means that she met Henry Anderson in that time, but was it the same Henry?
“Can I go with you?” Chloe asked.
Jonah exchanged looks with his mother, “Erm… I don’t know.”
“Please let me go with you, Jonah. I want to meet this Henry person as well. Please let me go time-travelling with you.” Chloe said in optimistic tone as she shot a hopeful smile to Jonah.
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