Scene 1:

       Out of every class I have in my school schedule, I think that my English class has got to be the worst of them all. Usually, it’s just boring, but today is even worse: two kids were caught knocking over the bookshelf yesterday, and Mrs. Poltava punished everybody in the class. So thanks to Daniel and Emilio, the entire class now has to do a nine-page packet of “Performance Task” essays before Thursday (today is Tuesday). As for me, I take one look at the packet, and duck under my desk to scroll on my phone aimlessly. I know it’s bad for me; but what else do you want me to do? If there’s anything the virus outbreak and online school taught us, it’s that we can get away with anything as long as we’re sneaky enough. But then that leads me to actually thinking about this world we’re living in: the outside environment is getting worse, nobody (not even me) can live without spending eight hours a day on a smartphone, there’s a new virus every week, there are 3-year-olds who are using iPads - and the list goes on. 

     As for the environment, I remember we had a heatwave last week, and it was about 145 degrees outside. All the school buses went up in flames that week because it was just too hot outside, and it was a hefty financial loss for the school - we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars down the drain here. As for technology, my little sister has been an iPad kid since she was only three, and she’ll never come off the screen. In fact, she’s probably on Discord right now talking to some forty-year-old basement-dweller pretending to be a six-year-old boy - either that or she’s watching some weird 18+ Minecraft video on YouTube Kids.

     After a few minutes of scrolling while in deep thought, I come across this one video titled “High School Life in the 1980s (NOSTALGIA WARNING).” I usually just ignore these types of posts because I know they’re all coming from little K-Pop stan 12-year-old girls; but this time, I’m actually interested to know more. The video shows various photographs of random high school kids going to the mall, and to the arcade, and having parties; they’re doing basic stuff, but they’re all seeming to have better lives than we do now. ‘Imagine if I was a kid living in the 1980s,’ I think to myself. ‘My life would be so much better than it is now.’

     When I get home, I ask my parents what their childhoods were like, since they grew up in the 1980s. Then they start to go on about all their tacky leg warmers, and crazy outfits, and their high-rise jeans and things like that.  “Certainly better than what you kids wear these days,” my dad says, getting flashbacks to my school dance. He was a supervisor there, and he saw some of the kids being, well, really… promiscuous to say the least. After that, he vowed to never volunteer at any high school event ever again. “So, is there anything else you guys remember other than your tacky outfits?” I ask them. 

     “Well, yeah!” my mom starts talking. “I’d get to go to the skating rink all the time, and to the mall, and it felt like you could buy anything in the world with just your pocket money… and we actually played outside, unlike you kids now.” 

“And there certainly wasn’t streaming back then,” my dad butts in. “So we had to watch all of our shows right when they premiered on the bulky box television, or hope that we could record them onto a VHS.”

     All of these things may sound ancient, but my parents have a point; recording a show on tape 

meant you didn’t have to worry about it auto-deleting from the storage space running out. Don’t get too heated at me for being that one kid who thinks they were “born in the wrong generation”, but I really think I would have had better opportunities if I were born years earlier than I ended up being. In my world, I can’t even spend five minutes doing my homework without going to scroll on my phone to “just check my apps” - for what ends up being a three-hour-long break, before getting back to my work. 

     That night, as I finish my three-hour break of scrolling to get back to my essay on comparing the speeches of president John Adams and president James Madison (neither of which I can understand at all because the language is just so dated), I get a message from some girl who goes to my school, but of whom I've never talked to before. Being really excited and all, I immediately message her back. Although a few minutes into the conversation, something very bad happens.

So we´re talking about this other girl who she´s friends with, and I call her by ¨she¨. Then, the girl I'm talking to goes on this long, long rant about how ¨HER PRONOUNS ARE THEY/THEM YOU CAN'T JUST ASSUME SOMEBODY´S PRONOUNS YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A HOMOPHOBIC BASTARD AND I HOPE YOU BURN IN FIERY HELL…¨ Seven paragraphs later and then she immediately blocks me. 

     You’ve fumbled again, Jason, I think to myself. But you see, this is why I can’t trust anybody nowadays; they’re always gonna get triggered from the tiniest things, because they’re terminally online and never go outside. Now I just hope she doesn’t post anything about this online, because I don’t want to wake up to 79 different death threats from Twitter tomorrow. 

So after I cool off from all the drama, I head to the attic to see if my parents still have anything from their childhood - ever since the video I watched this morning, I’ve been so interested in learning more about the past. Five minutes into my expedition, though, I start to feel drowsy. Then I make a little deal with myself: I’m just gonna rest my eyes for a few minutes, and then get back to digging around…

Scene 2:

     I wake up at 6:30am - not to the harp sounds from my shiny ePhone, but to the beeping and bouncing of an ancient alarm clock. As I wake up, I look around me to find a bedroom completely different from the one I fell asleep in. Right behind my bed, I find a large Footloose poster on the wall, before looking to my right and finding a shelf lined with some Ninja Turtles and Transformers. Then as I get up from bed and look in front of me, I find a … BOX TV that’s gotta be at least two feet thick; and underneath, a cabinet full of assorted VHS tapes. As I examine my surroundings, I get more and more confused on what’s going on - 

     Am I dreaming? I think to myself.

     Did someone kidnap me in the middle of the night and take me here? 

     Did my dad take the family on a trip to his childhood home without telling us beforehand? 

     Things only get even weirder when I see a stack of homework papers next to the TV - and I find that all of them have my name written on them - Jason Stump. I then look in the mirror and find that I still look completely the same - even my pajamas are still intact, except the fact that they’re now dated 1986 instead of 2021; but there’s now gum stuck in one part of my hair that wasn’t there before. I then look at the calendar posted a few feet away, and it’s dated April 3, 1987. Yep - somehow I’m in 1987. And the gum in my head was an April Fools “present”.

     As I walk outside my room, I open my door to much younger versions of my grandparents - and even a younger version of my dad. Does this mean that these younger versions of my grandparents are my parents in this universe? And I’ll have my dad as my … older brother? I quietly slip back into my room to try to process all of this. My dad - I mean, older brother - has a MULLET in this universe. My grandparents - I mean, my parents - are dressed in hippie clothing. But as I try to calm myself down, my “mom” says,

     “You boys are gonna miss the bus if you don’t hurry up!”

So I quickly get my act together for school; but as I walk out the door to head to the bus, I slip on the Welcome mat and nearly fall to my death - I could barely make it five minutes into the 1987 without something bad happening. When I regain my balance, I flip over the mat and find some slippery ooze on the bottom, with a note that says:

     ‘Happy late April Fools, Dork! - Signed, Antony Robb. 

I’m all in for vintage charm, so I just chuckled it off. Then my dad, who is now my brother in this timeline, also heads out the door.  If I’m going to be in a world where my dad is my older brother - then things are going to get really weird.

Scene 3:

     The school looks completely different from how it does in my time period. Chalkboards take the place of the dry-erase boards; the only social media you’ll ever find is the community board stapled to a wall; the most advanced technology within each classroom is either a wired telephone, or a box computer that’s only good use for an electronic typewriter. But I also find that the classroom infrastructure itself doesn’t look too different from the one I know; the walls still sport their bleak white color, and the floors are still made of white-blue marble. As I head into my first class (Physics Regular), I find that I already have a bunch of friends in this universe - so my social life is already, for the most part, dealt with. Still, it feels so alien to be in a world where computers are still primitive and where no one has a phone in their hands. As far as work goes, instead of whipping out a bunch of Chromebooks, we have to use pen-and-paper to do our work. Later, during a test review assignment, something interesting happens: a girl passes a tiny sheet of paper to me with a message inside. As I open it, I read what she has to say:

     “Jason, wanna hang out on April 6? I think you’re cute” - and she drew a heart right beside it. 

     I’m only a couple hours into this new fantasyland and I’m already pulling girls left and right! But as I write down my response to pass it back, the teacher walks by my desk, sees the note, and grabs it, and starts reading it out loud. That was embarrassing.

Scene 4:

     The news of the letter spread faster than I thought it would; right now I’m walking to my fifth class, and on my way there I find the community board piled with fan-art and drawings of me and this girl I just met. 

     So then school finally gets out, and me and my guys head to the nearest arcade to celebrate my victory. The place is far smaller than the Dave & Buster’s in my timeline - by about five times. Yet the walls are still lined to the brim with small gaming machines. Most of the ceiling lights are dim, and the neon decor and the machines help to light up the room. Games like Pac Man, Frogger, Space Invaders, and even Donkey Kong can be found throughout the arcade - along with other games that people still won’t shut up about even 35 years into the future. With exactly 10 dollars worth of quarters in our pockets, we first head to the Pac Man game machine. Randy, one of my 80’s timeline friends, then tries to prove to the group that he can beat the high score posted on the screen; he doesn’t even make it past Level 2. After about an hour, we all head out and hang out at my house - thanks to my parents’ permission - but of course I almost call them Grandma and Grandpa whenever I talk to them. Weird dynamics aside, I’m having the best Friday night I’ve had in years just hanging out with these new guys. As someone who barely gets more than 3 messages a day back at my own world, I’m completely fine not checking my phone all day. 

We all then head to my room, and turn on the box TV, before switching the station to NBC, where we’re just in time for this show called The A-Team. I’ve never watched the show before, but I might as well try it out. My dad/brother (whose name is Melvin by the way) uses some of his part-time job savings to buy us all a pizza, and it should arrive in about 40 minutes.

Scene 5:

     By 7 the next morning, I wake up to the sound of my old alarm clock, to immediately scourge the house for the TV guide booklet - this is the time when they usually start all those Saturday Morning Cartoons that I’ve heard so much about! So I head into the living room, which is adorned with some tacky brown-and-white diamond-patterned wallpaper - with a rusty and kind of tiny leather sofa lined on the wall, and a run-of-the-mill coffee table, complete with a daily crossword puzzle and newspaper held to the table by a coffee mug. I glance at the newspaper, and find a headline saying this:

FORMERLY BEAUTIFUL LOCAL PARK NOW WRECKED BY POLLUTION WITHIN ONLY TWO YEARS.

     I didn’t know there were gonna be real problems in 1987 - but I’ll let that newspaper slide for now. I eventually find the TV guide in a handbasket on the side table, and I immediately flip to the date 4/4/87 - most of the hype shows like He-Man are already gone by now, but that won’t stop me from watching whatever else they have on the lineup. 

By 8am, I’m turning on ABC to watch whatever they have on. About 90 minutes of flicking through all the “Big 3” networks (ABC, NBC, and FOX), I realize that most of these old cartoons are kind of, well, garbage. The animation is so limited, the ideas are super cheap (like, who thought it’d be a smart idea to make a cartoon about a Rubik’s Cube?), and many shows are either made only to sell toys, or they’re there to rip off some other better show. But I still prefer watching live TV over a boring-old streaming app; live TV just gives a nice retro feeling to watching a show. 

     After watching all the shows they have for the day, I decide to go outside and try to play with the kids in the neighborhood. It starts out great, before I run into some menacing kids about a half-hour in. Apparently they also know about the note from yesterday, and they’re mad jealous about me going out with that girl next Monday. By the time I get home, I have two big bruises on my arms and legs - and all my “parents” can tell me is to “walk it off”. 

Scene 6:

     Monday, April 6 - Today’s the big day, because I get to go out with the girl who asked me out a few days ago. I meet up with her before class starts; her name is Carrie, by the way - and we arrange plans to head down to a mall in Tampa since it’s not too far away from town. As our parents would totally freak if they found out their children were going on a date, we decide to tell them false stories about where we’re going tonight. I tell my parents that I’ll be out studying with Randy and some other kid named Blake; and Carrie tells her parents that she’ll be out with her cousin buying birthday presents for her aunt. By 7pm that night, we’re both out of the house and we meet at the side of the road, where Carrie’s older brother Robbie arrives to pick the both of us up. After a 20-minute drive, we arrive at Tampa. 

     “Smell you lovebugs later,” Robbie says as he drops us off. 

     “Not if I smell you first, loser,” Carrie responds. 

     As we walk through Tampa, we realize how beautiful this place is - and it’s not even crowded since it’s Monday, which makes things even better. The population isn’t nearly as big in 1987 as it is in my world. As we walk through the area together, I figure it would be the right time to ask her the big question - 

“So, how come you decided to ask me out anyway?” 

     As Carrie tries to respond, something terrible happens. All of a sudden, a crowd of people in the distance show up, holding angry signs and shouting things - we see them from afar, smashing windows and looting things. It’s happening - we’re caught up in a riot. Then I get flashbacks to the time me and my family got caught up in a riot back in my timeline two years ago. 

Scene 8:

     It was the first time we had really left the house since the virus outbreak from a few months before. We went to a shopping mall to get some dinner and to buy some new things, since my parents felt that me and my younger sister deserved something special. As we were walking over to the Build-a-Bear on the first floor, a group of rioters showed up out of nowhere with angry signs and baseball bats - and even some with fire torches. They started throwing things, robbing stores, and smashing windows; and we were caught up right in the middle of it. It was during the time of the Black Lives Matter protests, and many people were taking advantage of the situation to loot and riot stores everywhere. The Build-a-Bear was completely wrecked by the end of everything, leaving my younger sister traumatized. 

Scene 9:

     As I snap back into the 1987 world I’m in right now, I see Carrie, my date, still standing next to me, shocked about everything going on as the riot unfolds. A few seconds go by, and I look up to the sky to find a portal formed in thin air, hovering several feet above me. 

     “Hold my hand. We’re getting out of here”, I tell Carrie. 

Holding her hand, I jump into the sky and reach for the portal above me, unsure of where it’s going to take us. 

Scene 10:

     All of a sudden, I find myself back in my room, under my bed sheets - but not the room I have in 1987. This time, it’s my original room - complete with my shiny ePhone, my SkyPods, and all the other modern wonders I can usually find in my room. However, as I look around my room, I realize that Carrie never made it back with me. 

     Was it all a dream? I think to myself.

     Was I in a VR machine?

     I guess I’ll never know. But all of those things that have happened definitely do feel vivid and real to me; surrealism, maybe? After I finish processing everything, I decide to get to work - that is, getting to work on building a better life for myself. I’m not letting the world’s problems push me around anymore. I’m taking control of my life now; I’m going to ramp up my social skills, and I’m going to get my grades up. But now, I also have a new mission - I might develop a new novel about a guy traveling into different timelines, or where he experiences alternate universes and what his life would be like if he made different decisions. Then when I look out my window, I see a girl walking by - a girl who looks oddly familiar. A girl who looks like the one I dated in my 1987 world. Carrie.