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Chapter 1: It's like I'm Inside a Boring Documentary Movie CHAPTER 1: It's like I'm inside a boring documentary movie The local jail is the last thing I want to go but then here I am, sitting behind the bars for something stupid. I mean, this isn't my first time to be here and I don't miss this damn place not even a little bit. I smelled my clothes. Jeez, I totally reek of alcohol and cigarettes. I couldn't even collect my memories on why I ended up here. I just know that I did something stupid but I can't recall why. Joshua went inside the local jail. He looked so concern to see her old friend behind bars. We locked in each other's eyes until I looked away. I somehow felt embarrassed of what I did. Joshua Miguel Espinosa will always be my life saver. He would do anything to save me from self-destruction. Even though he doesn't want to admit it, but I know he has feelings for me. I am very well aware. "I'm here to bail Maria Lana Baldivia." Joshua said. He talked to the police officer who caught me. They were talking for a solid ten minutes. "Hey, you can go now." The police officer said. "That isn't locked." She chuckled. "Really..." I scoffed. "You find this amusing?" I looked at the police office. She looked so amused. I can't believe that I am behind bars for five hours and it wasn't even locked. "Let's go, Lana." Joshua said. I followed behind him. "Hey..." I looked at Joshua. He really looked so pissed at me that it's making me feel bad for calling him at 6 am. He's the only person that I can rely on. "Thank you for bailing me." "No more fights, okay?" Joshua said. He messed my already messy hair and I lightly punched his arm. "Don't test me, Josh." I warned him but he just laughed at me. Joshua and I went out from the horrible local jail and I saw Jay standing beside his old Honda car. "I told you not to call Jay!" I told Joshua. "I had to call her, Lana." Joshua calmly said. "He's your brother after all... Regardless of how reckless he can be." Jay is my twin brother. We are both a disgrace in our family and I can never rely on him. He tends to tell my parents about all the stupid things I do thus getting me into trouble. It brings joy to Jay's life that I get scolded for doing stupid things. "Hey, sis." Jay grinned. "What did you do this time?" "She punched a woman at a bar and to Lana's surprise, she owns the bar." Joshua said. I was flirting with a guy and I didn't know that he's married. His wife approached me and poured tequila all over my clothes before I can even explain. So, I punched her. I am not going down without a fight. "Ooh... You're so violent, sister." Jay said. "Are you going to tell mom about what I did, Jay?" I annoyingly said. "I have more important things to do than tell mom about the stupid shit that you did." Jay crossed his arms. "We have to go to our grandma's house right now." Right... I forgot about that. Our grandma recently passed away and it's about damn time for our family to properly store her valuables. Our mom volunteered us to do it since we don't have things to do with our lives. I mean, Jay is repeating his fourth year in college for the third time and I just recently got fired from my job. "Our birth giver is expecting us to be at grandma's house at 7:30 am. So, we better go now." Jay said. "Hey, Josh..." I approached Joshua and I hugged him. "Thanks again." *** Grandma's heritage house is located in Carcar city. It's a two hour drive from Cebu City. Alas, after two hours and thirty minutes (thanks to traffic), we finally arrived to our destination. Mom welcomed us by pinching our ears. We both groaned in pain. "Stop it, birth-giver!" Jay pleaded. "Don't call me birth giver, Juanito!" Mom scolded him. Despite our mom's wrath, I couldn't help but laugh every time mom calls him Juanito. I mean, it is his name but he despised it. "And you reek of alcohol, Maria Lana!" "I had a few drinks with my college friends, ma!" I lied. I was drinking alone because being an adult sucks when you're fired. She finally let go of our ears. Jay and I are both relief because our ears didn't fall off. "You two start packing your grandma's things." Mom said. Our mom couldn't wait for grandma's things to be stored in the bodega so that she can proudly display her stuff. Our parents' annulment was recently finalized and they bid each other good riddance. Dad decided that he'll give my grandmother's heritage house to my mom as a goodbye present to their twenty five years of (failed) marriage. Nobody wants my grandmother's heritage house anyway. Where's our dad? He's probably with his mistress but he'll never admit it. After eating our breakfast, Jay and I started packing grandma's stuff. All of her stuff are artifacts and probably costs a fortune if we try to sell it. "Maybe I can sell this worth fifty thousand pesos?" Jay showed me a painted picture of our grandparents. "I mean, this is considered as an artifact, right?" I glared at him. "Why would you even sell a picture?" I stared at my grandfather's portrait. Does he really look like this in real life? "It can be historical evidence?" Jay asked. I rolled my eyes at him. He's such a dumb ass. Jay and I worked our asses off for three long hours while our beloved mother is busy gossiping to her new neighbor. We both sat down in relief. The house is pretty much empty now except for one room. Grandpa's room. It has been locked since the 80's and grandma warned us not to go inside the room if we don't want to end up like him. "You know, I always wondered what's inside that room." Jay said. I looked at him. I guess I'm not the only one who's curious. "Grandma rarely mentioned our grandfather and yet she didn't throw his stuff away. All his stuff is on that room." "Are we going to pack all the things in that room?" I asked. Jay and I looked at one another. We didn't really bother including grandpa's room until now. "I mean, mom did say that we should pack all the things in here." "You're just curious aren't you?" Jay asked. "Well aren't you curious too?" "Hell yeah I am." He enthusiastically said. Jay and I are now standing in front of the locked door. He brought a screw driver to unscrew the door knob. I let him do his thing and in just two minutes, the door knob fell off. "Well... that was easy." Jay said. "Now you go inside the room, sis." "Why does it have to be me?!" I said. I am not going inside that room alone. "I unscrewed the door knob, Lana and you absolutely did nothing." Jay nonchalantly said. "Now prove to me how bad ass you are and go inside that damn room." Before I can even protest, Jay grabbed my wrist and he pushed me inside the room. "Jay!" I shouted. "Don't be a pussy, Lana. I'll follow you after I return the screw driver from my car." "You better be!" "Pussy." He muttered and left. I turned on the flashlight on my phone. I looked around my grandpa's room and his stuff is filled with cob webs. I looked at the certificate hanging on the wall. Prof. Juanito Baldivia Now I know why Jay is named Juanito. There were a lot of files and cables around his room. Grandpa's table is filled with formulas and computations. Most of them were marked 'X' A note that was taped on the wall caught my attention. It wasn't just a note that has algorithms and formulas on it. Grandpa wrote more than that. Is time travel really possible? I shook my head. He must have turned insane in between computing this brain frying computations. I mean... Time travel? That's impossible. I ignored the note and I continue to look around grandpa's room. It's a big room to my surprise. I looked at my watch. It's been seven minutes and Jay didn't follow me here. I took a peek from the window and I saw him flirting with some random girl in the street. I rolled my eyes at him. Thanks for forgetting me, brother. I was about to leave the room until I saw a thing that was covered with white cloth. I looked at the floor and the cables led to this thing. I wonder what it is. I grabbed the white cloth and it fell down the floor. My eyes widen as I saw the thing that was behind the white cloth. A PAC-MAN ARCADE MACHINE! I haven't played this game. I always wanted to play it but the arcade places in Cebu don't have PAC-Man. Oh, man... Jay will totally freak out once I tell him that grandpa has PAC-Man. I have to play this game! Now where's the outlet plug? I looked around the outlet plug until I saw it. I plugged the socket plug in and the screen brightened. Where's the PAC-Man logo? The screen is just white. I think this thing is broken. I kicked on the arcade machine and its screen turned black. Suddenly, the blackness started to fade away and the empty screen started to have colors. "What the hell?" I looked at the screen. Grandpa's room appeared in it. The room wasn't filled with cob webs and I am certain that it wasn't abandoned. It was the exact opposite of this room. Out of my curiosity, I touched the screen and I instantly regret it. The screen started to suck me in. I tried my best to pull myself away but the force is too strong. "Jay! Mom! Help!" I cried for help. My right hand is already sucked in and my face is about to go next. I closed my eyes and started to accept that I am probably going to die because of my curiosity. I will haunt Jay. *** I opened my eyes and I started to breath heavily. Did I just die? Is this the afterlife? I looked around the surroundings. This is the place I just saw on the screen before I got sucked in. Hold on a minute.... Why grandpa's room is suddenly all cleaned up? Realization suddenly hit me. Am I inside the arcade machine?! I stood up but I felt dizzy. "You should rest for a bit." I looked around and I saw an old man sitting at the corner of the room. "Time travel can be very tiring." "What is going on?" I looked at the window and my eyes widened. Where is Jay?! Why is there a lot kalesa?! Why are the women in the street wearing baro't saya?! It's like I'm Inside a Boring Documentary Movie! I looked at the old man and I pointed at him. "Who are you and what have you done to this place?!" "I should be asking the questions, child." He grabbed his cane and he stood up. "Clearly you aren't from this time. Now, tell me, who are you and how did you found about my time machine?" "Time machine?" Realization suddenly hit me. The arcade machine wasn't just an arcade machine. It was a freaking time machine! "What year am I in?" "1898." What the actual fu-