Writing Challenge Winner: A Summer In Time by Kerrigan Thompson

Kerrigan Thompson is a twelve-year old writer who participated and completed the summer 2024 Hero’s Journey Writing Challenge. Kerrigan’s hilarious and adventure-filled short story, “A Summer in Time,” is filled with twists and turns.

Read Kerrigan’s epic short story below:

Chapter 1

Summers were the most boring time of the year in Bellville. Most all of the town’s small population left on camping trips or vacations; you get the picture. If the town had known what would happen during the summer, I’m certain that they would have stayed for the summer. Well, it’s time for me to tell you what actually happened during last summer in Bellville . . .

Lydia Dick was probably one of the few people from Bellville that actually stayed summer. All of the shops were closed, because the owners had left for the summer. Most houses sat dark and empty. Ghost Town describes what Bellville is during the summer.

I sat on a bench, alone in Bellville’s one and only park. Not even my best friend was still in town. Heidi had gone away to stay with her aunt for the summer. Heidi doesn’t even keep in touch. While she is having the time of her life, I’m sitting here in boring Bellville. What even made Mom want to move here? Oh, right, I forgot: ‘Small town vibes are the perfect place for you to grow up’ She actually said that. And now, we’ve been here for five months! Is she trying to torture me? Let me tell you something; Mom always gets her way. Sure, I love her and all- but can she try to cut down on all of the bossing around and persistence? Because of her bossiness, I’m sitting in an abandoned park! She told me that she wanted me to leave the house so that she could do some ‘summer cleaning’, when there is like nothing even open in town! Now that I’m kicked out of the house, I’m bored. My thoughts wander. Hmmmmm, I hope Mom knows that it’s summer not spring- wait, what am I even thinking about? Okay, now I really need some- thing to do since I’m thinking about seasons.

I get up from the bench, and walk towards the exit of the park. It only takes me about 9 seconds to get out of the park (it’s that small). Small towns come with smaller things like parks, I start to realize. I sigh loudly, as I walk onto main street. All of the shops have signs that say something like: Closed for the summer, come back on August 15th. What a bore. Now I’m considering making a movie on my phone about a ghost town. I guess I would need more actors. . . but it is a ghost town, so I could be the only one here. Just for fun(and so I don’t die of boredom), I think as I pull out my phone and tap the camera app. I click on video, and go to find the right place for the first scene.

I pick to shoot the first scene by a street sign. After I find the perfect angle, I prop up my phone. Then I hit record, and ran to take my place. I can cut that part out later. I walk over to the sign and read the street name.

“Main street,” I read. “Must be in the right place. I can’t wait to meet all of the people!”

I walk up, and then sneak back over to end the video. The second scene involves my character looking for people, and then trying to find something to do- so pretty much how my life has been lately. The next seven scenes are of my character trying to entertain herself, but failing. The final scene is me dying of boredom. Yes, I die at the end- from boredom.

After I edited it and put it into one video/movie, I sent it to Heidi. I also decide to also text:

Lydia: This is what the summer is like in Bellville.

Then I look at the time. 12:36AM, Uh, seriously! I only managed to kill twenty-five minutes. Is time working against me? I’m actually starting to think. Then my phone pings with a text. It’s probably Heidi, I think. I checked it.

Mom: You can come home in half an hour!

“Wait, what is that emoji? Soap-no one uses the soap emoji-come on Mom!” I murmured out loud as read the text, since it wasn’t like there was anyone around to hear me. I sigh as I send her a smiley face, which normal people actually use. Some people just never learn.

I decide to wander the streets to look for any sign of life. Zero activity happening. This place is truly dead. Even the squirrels aren’t hanging around! Only 15 minutes left before I need to be home. Since I had enough time, I could go the long route. I zig-zag through different neighborhoods (all deserted). My phone pings, and I stop on the sidewalk to read the text.

Heidi: I’ll watch it tomorrow or at some point. I’m having so much fun!!! Need to get back to my friends

Some best friend. She didn’t even say ‘my other best friends’. It was as if she didn’t even consider me her friend at all. I shove my phone in my pocket. I’m so done with texts today. I’m about to keep walking, but I swear I saw a figure in one of the windows of the little gray house I was standing in front of. Creepy.

I study the house suspiciously. I’ve never seen any people inside. I had thought it was just an abandoned house. The bushes out front were sticking out in all directions, the grass was severely overgrown, and there were weeds all over the place.

Just then, the door squeaks open and a arm appears. It throws a paper airplane that flies over to me. The door shuts. Okay, now I really need to get out of here. I’m about to step over the plane, when I realize it says: Read Me

I grab it and run, reading it on my way.

Come back here tomorrow at 9:00AM sharp; I need your help!

Chapter 2

I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t scared after reading the message written on the paper airplane. First the figure in the window, and then the message on the paper airplane. What is happening to my life? Creepy notes – check. Strange figures – check. Probably haunted house – check. All that is left to happen is some murderer that is hiding in that house or something. Okay, my life has gone from totally boring to creepy and unexplainable events in a matter of minutes. I’m tempted to message Heidi but then remember that she’s busy with her ‘best friends’,which don’t include me.

I’m only a few houses away from my own, which is a relief. As I walk up the driveway, I throw the crumpled up paper airplane in our garbage can. It would only remind me of where I have to go tomorrow at 9:00 AM sharp. It’s going to be a early morning tomorrow. Between the facts that I hate waking up early, and my wild thoughts of what might get done to me (or what I have to do/help with), I am not looking forward to any part of tomorrow.

When I open the front door and walk inside, I immediately have an major coughing ft. Mom wasn’t kidding about the summer cleaning; the house reeks of the smell of chemicals and cleaning supplies. My family would have to wear gas masks to even be able to survive this insanity. Even though all of the windows are wide open, the smell doesn’t go anywhere. My family is no where, but whatever. I need to get outside. The sliding door is also open, and I go through it. My family is over by the fence; the location farthest from the house. I’ve soon reached their location. I hear what they are talking about.

“Come on, Everleigh, don’t be dramatic,” Mom is saying to my older sister.

“Seriously, we have to camp outside if we want to live to see tomorrow!” shouts Everleigh, who was totally overdoing it. The smell isn’t going to kill us, but I would rather sleep outside. It’s still seriously unbelievable that she didn’t even notice the smell as she kept on doing her summer cleaning.

After they finally agreed (on staying outside for the day), they made a game plan.

“You go get our old camping gear, and then start putting the tents together,” Mom instructed Everleigh as she walked inside. “As for you, please locate the sleeping bags for tonight.” My younger brother, Waylon, had been leaning against the fence. I rolled my eyes along with Waylon, about our Mom always being prepared. My mission/ assignment was to get food for the rest of the day. I think Mom was getting entertainment for the rest of our day. As I entered the house, I gagged. I still couldn’t get over how bad it really actually was.

Once in the kitchen, I looked in the pantry and then also in the fridge. I grabbed a box of crackers, some cheese, and some other snacks. Since that was all that I could carry, I went back outside to my family (and room-mates). Only one of our tents had taken shape. . . but it didn’t look like a tent at all. Everleigh must have been the one to put that one together, sort of. There were random poles that stuck through the tent’s outside material, and the ceiling wasn’t even, so it was taller on one side and shorter on the other(there was also the fact that it looked like it could topple over if the wind hit it). I wasn’t the only one doubting her skills – Waylon was also. I felt bad for the kid; he had to go inside to lay out all four sleeping bags.

Worst case scenario, the tent would collapse the minute he got inside. A pole would come crashing down, and would bang the top of his head. He would black out and end up with a concussion. My mom, my sister, and me would hold onto hope that he wouldn’t die. Okay, here’s a important life lesson; don’t let you’re thoughts wander too much because you’re thoughts can scare you. You don’t need as many problems as I have.

A few hours later, both tents have been put up correctly. We had lunch and then we played Uno. Waylon won. It was now 8:00PM, and Mom had confirmed that the odor was gone. I’m not sure why Mom decided to have us put up the tents, when it wasn’t like we were going to have to sleep in them. Now we had to take them down.

As I worked on un-assembling my tent I thought (once again) about that little gray house. I had to talk to someone about it. When my work was complete, I went inside and knocked on Everleigh’s door. I knew she could keep secrets and that Everleigh was a good listener so she was my only option.

“Come in,” Everleigh said, muffed through the door. I saw that she was reading a magazine as I walked inside her room. It wasn’t surprising that her room was clean, considering Mom’s cleaning spree.

“I’m in need of advice,” I say. Everleigh nodded seriously. “So you know Heidi? She called me earlier and she told me about getting a weird invitation to a creepy house. Do you think I should tell her to go or not?”

Of course this was a lie, but I needed someone else’s thoughts about if I should go through with it.

“I think that she should go through with it because she might miss out on a awesome party or making a new friend. But if she doesn’t feel comfortable going, then she shouldn’t,” she told me after she had a moment of thought. I pretended to text Heidi, but I was actually setting my alarm. Then I went to bed.

Chapter 3

The next day I walked up to the little gray house. Getting out of the house early without suspicion was easier than I had expected. They probably thought that I was just getting away from the faint lingering smell of chemicals and cleaning supplies. I had kind of hoped that they would have caught me sneaking out or stopped me, but there was no such luck. Going inside the creepy gray house definitely wasn’t on my bucket list. It would be more likely to be on my Top Ten Fears list.

So here I was, standing in front of a place I didn’t want to be at 8:59PM. Uncomfortable was an under – statement. If I hadn’t been invited I wouldn’t ever have gone anywhere near this house. Why couldn’t it have been abandoned? My problems would never have started. Uh, why did I even show up here. I wouldn’t even care if that mystery person thought I was a coward.

Since I was collecting my many thoughts, I didn’t realize that someone had opened the front door. But it had, and I was only just starting to realize that some guy (that I’d never seen before in my entire life) was waving at me as he stood on the front porch. Believe me, I was trying my hardest not to let my (major) shock show, but it was physically impossible. How in the fve whole months that I’ve walked past this house I’ve never once seen him (except for yesterday- but that was only his arm). Okay, Lydia, I’m completely positive that I’m not blind, otherwise I wouldn’t have seen him today, obviously.

So I did the nicest thing I could think of;I waved and smiled like I was some happy neighbor of his. I made my way slowly up the front walk. The guy was studying his yard like it was his first time seeing it.

“I didn’t realize my yard was getting to be such a mess,” he says, except he says it like it’s a very deep and private mind-blowing confession. Okay, that was pretty rude of me for even thinking that.

“It’s not that bad,” I say, even as my leg gets whacked by a majorly overgrown weed. I didn’t even know that weeds could grow to be so big when left unattended (for over five months I presume. This guy must not realize that there is such a thing called yard work). He looked around the neighborhood like it was his first time seeing it.

Since I was the only person (besides that man ) in the neighborhood no one else could see this man. Even if I had decided to tell anyone (which I for sure would not) no one would believe me. Someone in Bellville would turn my story about the man leaving his house for the first time in months to a ghost emerging outside and chasing me away. It’s not like I would just secretly take a picture of him with my phone without him even noticing. Even though I conveniently brought my phone, it doesn’t mean that I planned to take as many pictures as possible, but I only brought it so I can easily call for backup.

Suddenly the guy is calling me inside. So, um, no introductions? I’m seriously going into a stranger’s house without even knowing his name! If I want to find out why he invited me here I have to go inside. So I do.

I was very surprised when I saw that the inside is completely clean. It actually looks pretty normal. Yeah, a little outdated, but it’s not surprising. Next he leads me down a hallway and into a room.

He sits down, and so do I.

“I just want to ask you a few questions to determine whether you can help me or not,” he says. I nod, very confused, but can you blame me?

“What’s your name?” he asks me.

“Lydia,” I reply

“I’m Julian. How old are you?”

“Thirteen,”

“Are you into engineering or anything like that?”

“Ummm not totally,”

“Would you be comfortable coming here on a regular basis?” “Well if I’m not ‘helping’ with anything dangerous, then yes,”

“Ok, what I’m about to show you is a secret. You are not to tell anyone of its existence EVER!!!”

Then he gets up and leaves the room. I have no choice but to follow. Julian unlocks a different door and then opens it. We both enter.

There is this shiny contraption with levers and buttons. I can tell it’s hollow, with just enough space for a person to ft inside.

“What is that?” I breathe, still in shock.

“It’s a time machine, and I would like you to try it out for me,” Julian says so simply, I have to register what he just said. After a moment of thought I say yes. Who can blame me?

“Okay I’m going to have you go inside. You have to press the green button on the wall. Once you are in the future, I need you to find a calendar and take a picture of the year. Then press this button when you are done,” he hands me the button. And then I go inside. I press the first button I see.

And just like that I’m no longer where I used to be. This is not the future, it’s the past. I’m in 19-something. I do not wish to tell you about my surroundings because I’m way too embarrassed. I couldn’t find a calendar, so I in – stead recorded myself asking a person what year it was.

I exit and play my recording. I was in 1999.

“I pressed the past button,” I say truthfully. He looks at me before saying:

“I want you to come back tomorrow. Your eagerness and your truthfulness is what I’ve been looking for. I would appreciate your assistance,”

“Thanks,” is all I can sputter.

What happened???

Chapter 4

So he had apparently wanted me to come back because I was honest and willing to help (or something like that). Julian seemed really lonely and I wasn’t about to give up the offer of trying out his time machine again. Obviously I agreed.

After that I left his house and I’m now back in my bedroom. No one was really suspected anything. I told them I was at some secret hide out, but they didn’t even seem to care. Waylon must have been playing with some toys or something, and Everleigh was sulking over her computer as she scrolled through her friends’ new posts.

As for Mom? She was looking through her files. Mom definitely isn’t sorting them, because she would only scan them for certain information and then put them back. I had no idea what was up with that, so I went into my room and plopped on my bed. My phone dinged. I saw that I had five missed messages.

Heidi: watched ur video last nite

Yesterday

Heidi: like y r u even home during the summer?

Yesterday

Heidi: y r u not answering my texts? did you already die from boredom?

Yesterday

Heidi: its not like u have better things to do

Yesterday

Heidi: guess what??? my cool uncle took us to a coffee shop and actually let us order coffee!!!

Today

Wow, so now she texts me. And she thinks that getting coffee is cool. If she only knew that I time traveled.

I don’t even care enough to answer her texts. And those rude comments – uh. I’m starting to think that the day that

I block her texts is very soon.

Not much happened the rest of the day. Mom kept digging through files until she had to make dinner. Everleigh complained about all of the fun that her friends were having and ‘why did we have to stay in this ghost town during the summer.’ Waylon straight up left the table once he was finished eating to avoid all of what he called ‘girl drama.’ I was jealous of the kid. He was just small enough to leave the room unnoticed, but I didn’t have any issues because they were caught up in their argument.

Then it was the next morning. I sneaked out fairly early and I noticed that Everleigh and Mom weren’t talking. But that wasn’t my problem. If I didn’t show up on time then Julian would figure that I didn’t want to come back.

Now I’m in front of his house. It’s not long before I get let in. Julian has something planned. Once we reach the room he tells me it.

“I’m going to teach you how to work it,” Julian says. Then the instructions come. First you have to choose the place that you want to go, the time period, and there are many levers and buttons. After an hour of this, Julian wants me to do it for real. I can go wherever I want. I start off with the map. I’ve wanted to know what Bellville was like a few years ago. Were the summers always this boring and empty? I find Bellville on the map and click on it.

Thirteen is my lucky number, so I choose thirteen years in the past. Then I pull and press buttons and the machine starts. I got inside. Julian makes no comments, so I can only guess that I’ve programmed it correctly.

Then I’m in the past.

Bellville looks the same. The old buildings. And it’s also abandoned. Even though it’s a bust, I still decide to wander around. There are less houses in the neighborhoods, but otherwise it’s the same.

I hear music coming from the street behind the one I’m on. Maybe there is a party. I soon reach the street with the music. It’s Julian’s street. And the lights are on in Julian’s house. Has Julian lived here for that long?

I can tell that the music is coming from the backyard. Also the yard isn’t overgrown at all. Weird. Maybe it isn’t Julian who is living here. Even so, I creep over to the fence gate and look through. The sight confuses me.

Julian is standing in the backyard alone. But then a young Everleigh comes outside through Julian’s back door. Everleigh stands there waiting for someone. Then Mom comes out with a baby me in her arms. What???????

Then I’m more confused. Everleigh looks behind her and then screams “Grandpa!” Mom just smiles. That’s all I can take. I press the button to go back. When I’m inside, I just stare at a wall.

Can this be possible? Does Julian even know? Either way, I need to just come out and say something. So I do. I stare at the ground and then at Julian.

“You’re my grandpa?” I ask. He seems shocked. But then realization strikes. I can’t handle it, so I run out of the room and out the front door.

I’m soon home. I find my Mom and then ask her why she didn’t tell us about Julian living here.

“How do you know about him?” Mom asks, confused.

“I’ve been meeting with him since yesterday. I he why we moved here?” I ask.

“Yes. Years ago we lost touch. As you know, we don’t have any other family. I decided to move here. Since we’ve moved here I’ve forgotten his address. This town has grown over the years. Recently, I’ve been searching for where I wrote down his address. . . but you’ve met him? You know where he lives?” Mom says. I nod.

“Are you going to tell Everleigh and Waylon?” I ask. I don’t think I could keep such a secret. Mom nods and then calls them into the room, and I leave. I go into my room and fop on my bed.

I can’t say I’m not happy!

Chapter 5

Over the rest of the summer, things couldn’t have been different. I wasn’t the only one heading to Julian’s everyday. My siblings were shocked at both the fact that we have a grandpa and the whole time machine existence thing. Waylon was more confused about Julian than Everleigh because she could still recall a faint memory of him. But I can say that Waylon had been a big fan of the time machine. Julian was able to teach Waylon the reins of it in a short amount of time. I’d never known how good at machinery Waylon was. Waylon had the creative touch as him and he even looked like him. Mom and Everleigh even went to the past and or future.

Now the summer was over. Most of the town had returned. It was much harder to get to Julian’s house un-noticed, so eventually we had to stop going. We couldn’t risk any of Bellevile’s getting suspicious, investigating, and finding out about his secret. But that wasn’t what ended up happening that exposing Julian’s secret . . .

Me, Everleigh, Waylon, and Mom were at the grocery store. The place was packed, being that everyone had just came back from their vacation and needing to restock their fridge. All shelves were emptying very quickly. We had been lucky to get here earlier to find our groceries. Even though, we were still stuck in a long line. Very boring. There was only one employee that was checking everyone out. It must have been exhausting. Everleigh was texting her friends to make plans to meet up. Waylon looked bored out of his mind. He glanced at the six people in front of us and then said to Mom: “I would rather be at Julian’s; his time machine is fun,”

A few of the ladies in front of us turned and stared. First the phones were whipped out. Then the whispers started. But they were completely audible.

“Isn’t Julian that guy with the overgrown yard?”

“I thought that Julian had moved away years ago!”

“A time machine?!”

“You heard it too?”

“Is it true??”

“It must be! I’ve heard clanking in that house!!”

Mom slapped her face, and then looked at Waylon. He looked just as shocked as the others.

“Let’s get out of here,” Mom said. She abandons her cart and then we dash out.

“We need to tell Julian that the secret’s out,”

We get in the car and get on our way. At least Everleigh is off her phone. . .

I still can’t get over what Waylon did. I’m not sure whether to be mad or glad. The secret would have gotten out at some point. This was better than some random teenager sneaking into the (haunted) house and then finding the time machine.

We soon arrive at Julian’s house. Mom is the first person out of the car and is now banging on his door.

Waylon is sobbing on the lower half of Everleigh’s shirt. It’s a mess, is all I can say.

Julian shows no visual expression when my Mom tells him what happened. Our family goes inside and just sit in the living room. No one moves. No one says anything. Everyone chooses this time to remain silent. Even Waylon has quieted after his meltdown outside. This goes on for two hours.

Then Everleigh gets up and goes into the kitchen for a snack.

“How do you get your groceries when you never leave the house?” she asks as she scans his fridge.

“I get them delivered to my doorstep,” Waylon says, still not moving from his spot on the rocking chair. Everleigh grabs a bottled water, closes the fridge and then gets a handful of crackers from the pantry. As

she opens the water some leaks out. She goes over to the sink and wipes the water with a dishtowel. Everleigh put the dish towel back, but then paused to stare out the window.

“Uhhhh, half of the town is on the front lawn,” Everleigh says, glancing back at us. Everyone stares back at her, eyes wide. Then all at once, we jump up and crowd in front of the nearest window to see for yourself. It’s true.

“Okay, are you guys to stand here gawking for another two hours just like earlier?” Everleigh asks and then continued crunching on her crackers. Except everyone (except for me) just looked at all of those people. Most were arguing loudly or were sharing what they had heard. Either way, that didn’t stop me from marching out the door.

Yeah, I didn’t totally work out my plan. Now I’m standing in front of most of town. Just defend Julian, is all I can think of.

“Why are you all here?” I ask them. Of course know why they are here, but I still need to find out what part they think they have with the time machine.

“THE TIME MACHINE!” they yell. Noisy, are we?

“What point did you want to prove by gathering here?”

“For years, Julian was building a secret time machine. He hid it from us! We had the right to know!!!!!” one lady said, and the rest agreed.

“Let me tell you something. Why do you think that Julian hid the time machine? Judgement? No! He had to keep it a secret because he knew that all of you would be jealous and try to steal it for themself. You all are what is called self-centered. Over all of those years, you showed no interest in Julian. You didn’t care about anything that he did. But then when he had something you wanted, now you show interest in him? WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ARE YOU??? Just go home and forget this ever happened. Maybe then, Julian will forgive you,” I say. Then I leave . . . and they do to. And then everything was fine.

So that’s is what went down in Bellville, that one summer. I’m sure no one will forget it.

And in case you were wondering; the time machine is now open to the whole town. But let me tell you – our story wasn’t over; because things aren’t always perfect. Even with a time machine the future can change.

The End