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          “Agatha! Stop running carelessly around the mines! You’re going to get hurt!” 

“Evelyn! Stop being so bossy! I’m not going to stop until I-” 

Thump. 

“Ouch!” Agatha bumped onto the stone wall entrance of the mine. The two sisters, Agatha and Evelyn, live in the countryside town called Scarville, with an ancient mine beside their house. Their original home in the city was destroyed due to a sudden earthquake 100 years ago. It was said that the earthquake resulted in almost the whole world’s collapse, and the cause was still unknown. 

“Told you! Come back to the house instantly, or you’ll be late for school!” Agatha signed and picked up her school bag unwillingly. Today is September 1, 2060. It’s Agatha’s first day of elementary school. Evelyn, on the other hand, starts high school in 3 days. 

“I can’t believe I’m a teenager!” exclaimed Agatha. 

“Elementary students are not teenagers yet, Agatha, behave well in class; your flying saucer will take you to Scarlett Academy.” 

Scarlett Academy is one of the most prominent academics in Scarville. In the academy, students can decide on their classes and develop their interests. There are teachers for every subject, even rare ones like puppetry or classic Sanskrit. 

“Bye Agatha! Have fun!” Evelyn watched as the flying saucer flew away. She didn’t know whether to be sad or happy. Sending her annoying sister out was her dream since Agatha was born, but today, with her dream finally coming true, it seemed a bit sad. 

Well, for Agatha, everything’s different. As she flew over the woods, a whole new world was revealed in front of her. She first saw a castle-like brick building standing in front of the other minor structures. In the middle was a huge grass field with a few benches. There was a big banner, "WELCOME FIRST GRADERS” hung by drones in front of the main building, and she knew that school days had finally come. 

Agatha walked anxiously to the entrance where a few students with fancy clothes were standing. She saw a kid waving at her, so she quickly ran in the kid’s direction. 

“Hi! Are you also new here? My name is Jessica, and I’m your classmate.” Jessica wore an elegant dress with a high bow tie on her hair. Her voice was sweet but steady, unusual for her age. “Hey your backpack is quite cute, where did you buy it?” 

Agatha’s eyes immediately lit up, they clicked and became best friends within minutes. Jessica was telling her how big and gorgeous her mansion was when Agatha suddenly thought of inviting her to her house. It had been so long since anyone had visited their cottage, and having a companion to play with was very exciting. 

The day of Jessica’s visit came. It was about 10 am when Jessica came and rang the doorbell at Agatha's house. 

“Hi, Jessica!! Welcome to my house!! We don’t have that many robots helping us because we prefer doing the hard work.” Agatha grinned as she opened the door for Jessica. They had a great time playing and cooking together. Just as Jessica was about to leave, she spotted a pile of rocks not far away from the cottage and asked Agatha about it. 

“Hey Agatha, what’s that pile doing there?” 

“Oh, those are the mines. I like to spend time there, but my sister Evelyn always stops me from even trying to go into the mines. Hey, do you want to have an adventure inside the mines? It would be thrilling!” Jessica nodded in agreement, and they headed down to the mines. 

Without any preparations and equipment except flashlights, the innocent two walked inside and nervously tried to figure out where to go. Just as they headed back, Agatha accidentally kicked on something. 

“Ouch! What is that? Is it a box?” Agatha picked up the box lying on the ground and wiped off its dust. 

“Why would there be a box here? Isn’t this an ancient mine?” Jessica was as confused as Agatha. How did this mysterious box get here? 

With curiosity surrounding the children, they did not think twice and used all their might to open the box. Just as the box burst open, the two children were hit by a vast force, and everything became quiet. 

“Where are we? Jessica? Where are you?”

“I’m here, Agatha! What happened?” 

“I don’t know! Let’s get out of this place first!” 

As they walked out, the scene in front of them petrified them. All they saw were half-torn houses, trees, and roads. They stumbled across some fallen branches and finally got to the cottage. The house now looks like a slaughterhouse, with metal scraps around the outside and a half-exposed roof. Agatha carefully opened the door, and she saw a crippled old woman curled against the wall.

“Excuse me, can you tell me what happened here and where I am?” asked Agatha.

“Did you not feel the earthquake? Everything is gone. Everything is gone!” yelled the old woman. “I knew this day would come. Death is upon us.” 

The two girls didn’t believe what the old woman was saying at first. They gently picked up some dusty books laying on the floor and inadvertently caught a glimpse of a suspicious calendar. 

It dated May 22, 1960. 

Wait. 

Wasn’t this the day of the enormous earthquake that caused the world to collapse? After a few hours of collecting evidence, they finally convinced themselves that they had time-traveled to 100 years ago, right after the catastrophic earthquake. But why? 

“How did we time travel back? Is it because of the box we found in the mines? We should go back and check on it.” Jessica firmly believed the cause was the mysterious box, so they walked back into the mines. After an inch-by-inch search, they realized that the box no longer existed. 

“Oh No! Are we stuck in 1969 forever? But..but I still need to say goodbye to Evelyn! Jessica, we MUST find a way to go back to 2060!” Agatha was on the verge of bursting into tears. 

“Agatha, your panic won’t help us. I’ve heard before that every time travel has a reason. We might be holding the lives of future people, so we must figure out a way to end this chaos.” Jessica was trying to stay calm. She has been taught to remain composed in a serious situation. She untied her hair, took off her ribbon and tied it on Agatha’s hair. “Hey, don’t lose hope. We are going to find our way out, I promise.” 

They walked for hours and hours, unstopping, trying to find help. However, the only companion they had was endless dust and fallen buildings. 

             After a few days, they finally saw a person sitting on a bench in the middle of the road. He was holding a book, smiling. 

“Hello, my friends. I knew you would come here one day. I know everything about the future, and I understand your feelings right now.” the man talked as he opened the book in front of them. “You can’t do anything to save the current situation, but you can travel back to your time to tell people that this isn’t just any earthquake. You guys are the cause.” 

“What? How are WE the cause? We just traveled here, not knowing when or what this place is.” Agatha was furious. Can the man please just make sense? 

“The box you opened was Pandora’s box. When you opened the box without hesitation, a link between the two time periods was formed, and an “earthquake” happened here due to your traveling.” 

  “Wait. So if we didn’t go into the mines and didn’t coincidentally open the box, none of this would have happened?” Jessica was a bit stumped. The mysterious cause of the earthquake wasn’t mysterious anymore. They should have known that THEY were the ones who initiated this disastrous event. 

Meanwhile, at the other side of the wall, a pair of familiar eyes was staring at them. 

They belonged to Evelyn.