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Chamaeleōn rarely, and I mean rarely use mirrors. Not that it's a luxury, but as many mammals, as many animals in general, are afraid and scared of mirrors. Simply, because they cannot comprehend that the reflection in front of them, is not some other animal.

So you have to understand why in Brown's residence there were little to no mirrors, in the best case - Clara's pocket mirror and a mirror in the guest room. In a guest room where Marty stays, one could call it Marty's room. It does not matter how the room is called, but the mirror must be covered, if Marty is out of the room. And the teen does not question it, he assumes it's something superstitious. But by docs word, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Only once was the mirror not covered, and only once was it left without supervision. That time happens to be when the kids were playing hide and seek. However, they could not agree on who should be the seeker. But a thing they agreed on was that the nearest adult -Emmett in this case- would be one. Emmett does not object, and plays along, how could he say no?

A couple of rounds later, Emmett is still the seeker. This time, however, it took much longer to find Verne. It was not unusual for him to be found last, but unusual for him to not be found for so long.

Meanwhile, Verne is sneaking around the house, looking for a good hiding spot. But all his good hiding places were known to everyone: the cabinet in the kitchen, under the sink, and even behind the TV. But there was a place where no one hid yet - Marty's room. Verne saw an opportunity to hide there and he took it.

Verne ran to the room. Then the kid slammed the door shut and locked it giggling. The giggling quickly turned into a terrified scream when Verne saw the mirror in the corner. Instead of a reflection, he saw an alien, a monster. With Antennas, a spiky tail.
The creature seemed to have seen Verne too, since its bright blue skin turned dark. It began to back down as soon as Verne did. The kid collapsed onto the floor and tried getting away from the creature. Lucky to Verne, the monster did not come after him.

All this commotion was heard by his father, who obviously ran to the room, bumping into the locked door. What happened next seemed like a blur, Emmett was not sure how did he manage to get the door unlocked, did he punch the and kick the lockout? Or did he unlock it with a pin, or even went to get a key? Nonetheless, it was on pure instinct, if you can call that.

The sight was sad as you can imagine. Verne, in the corner of the room, curled up hiding from the creature he saw. Emmett saw the cloth that was supposed to cover the mirror, and threw it while heading towards the boy. Who in return stared at him, with quite a relief that his father wasn't an alien. Instead, the kid hugged the man.

To be fair, the following days Verne clung to doc, thinking if alien would come, he would be protected. But Emmett thinks it's the time to come clean about the paranormal things.

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The Browns garage sale of 1986 is going to an end. Both friends headed back inside. after all, Marty must get a break after spending nearly a week not in his own time. While he has said to the doctor about the Alternate version of himself to an extent, he stayed silent on some parts.
Marty brushes off his best friend's worries.

The teen sat on the couch in the garage, with a pile of stuff he decided to keep for himself -he's sentimental-. A week spent with his best friends' alternate version, made him see many similarities, even if they are minor. Minor as in speaking manners and stubbornness. Especially on all the wrong things...

"Now that I think about it, Marty. What were you doing outside of the expo?"

Emmett's question was heard across the small garage room. And that was the exact detail Marty left out. Even if it was not exactly his best friend who got run over and who died. It still hurt, he still looked like his buddy. So was it bad when he felt like tearing up?

When Marty noticed that he was about to cry, he wiped a tear away, not finding the right words as to why he would cry.
"Uh... Weather was nice" The teen tried lying to no avail. The scientist knew something was off, but he did not want to push it.

But the image of his friend disappearing did not leave Marty's head. He did not even realize when he started sobbing remembering how many times has his friend scared him like that. A thousand thoughts rushed through his head, he did not even realize when the scientist sat down to comfort him.

Marty tried explaining why he is crying, and even if it did not make sense Emmett listened. Honestly, he did not understand anything, but he knew one thing - the teen must get a break from time travel. And it must be more than 3 months.

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1983, Winter. For a couple of days, Marty was not feeling the best. He is probably sick. Today he got his physics test results, and he passed! However, while skateboarding home it had started to snow. Lessons are over and he skateboards home, just to find out he has been locked out. There were no parents home, or his siblings.

Marty tried waiting for an hour, two, even three. But realizing that no one will come home anytime soon. Now He could go to Jennifers, but she too was out of town with her family for a vacation. So there is no other place to turn other than docs. There is no way he is away right?

The teen knew he was right when he saw the old man's garage with lights on. He felt relieved and cold -Okay, mostly cold-. But the kid could not just knock and expect to be let in, so he stood there and thought for a while. But honestly, he already knows Doc would not do that. He was right On that. Because as soon as he knocked on the garage door he was pulled in by the scientist and questioned.

"How long have you been out there?"

"Why didn't you knock?"

"Are you cold?" These were the questions Emmett asked the kid and shut the door. The last question seemed dumb when he saw Marty. It does not take a genius to realize that Marty in deed was cold. Not just cold, but stiff and confused. Now that's Hypothermia.

Moments later Marty was covered in blankets and with hot chocolate.

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The Browns, including Marty of course, decide to go out and spend a day in nature. Marty was overjoyed. He liked camping, especially with a family like this.

At first, things seemed okay, they saw an old and approved campsite and got everything set up there. Of course, Emmett turned everything into a lesson or a fun fact: From how to set up a tent, or how to start a campfire. Clara suggested a lighter start to the campfire, but Emmett insisted on doing it the old-fashioned way - with rocks.

While there were a few branches, but not enough to start a fire. So Marty volunteered to look for more and insisted on getting alone to not bother anyone. Doc being a doc, insisted to go too. Of course, the older man's stubbornness won and they went to look for branches together.

They searched for perfect fallen branches for a while. Marty became tired. But when they found the branches Marty was overjoyed, finally being able to rest. They grabbed more than a handful. Both grabbed enough to block off their view. Of course, they won't need that much, maybe the next campers will need them.

On their way back Marty was so tired he slipped down a small hill, hit his head on the tree, and of course, to his luck landed in stinging nettles. Since he landed with his arm, his whole left arm was covered in a rash. This is what prognosis Emmett made when he slipped down dropping the branches to help Marty. Little to their luck Marty looked confused and barely conscious when he was moved aside from the stinging nettles. To test that Emmett asked:

"How many fingers am I holding up?" as he held up three. Marty looked at the fingers and scrunched his eyebrows as if he was thinking. With as much confidence as he could, he declared "Six!" To this response, Emmett blinked unexpectedly.

In this condition, Marty surely will not be able to return on his own, but they also needed to bring the branches to the rest of the family members.

Emmett's first plan was to give Marty the branches and drag Marty by the leg back to the Campsite, it was his first taught since he was not sure if he could pick up Marty with the branches. But as soon as he saw the way back, with even more stinging nettles he decided against the idea. Then another idea came to mind, just wait till Marty became fully conscious, it would take time and it was already starting to get dark, so scrap that idea.

He did not want to leave Marty, he could not. The conclusion is simple. And so Emmett gave Marty few branches, not much so that he could easily pick them up with his other hand. And then The doctor picked up Marty. He did it!

Well, he knew he could pick up Marty. Emmett is old, but not that old.
It took longer to come back to the campsite, but when everything was settled down, Marty was fully conscious They started to talk and finally - spend time with each other in front of the campfire. While they were eating Marty attempted to scrap his left arm, to which Emmett just slapped his hand away from the arm not even looking. It happened a couple more times, but Marty is even sure it is a fatherly instinct.

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2015 - A wonderful year, especially for Jules. He could not ask for a better life! He has adopted a kid, and has a niece and a nephew, even both of his parents are around! Making one of his parents -the scientist- 100 years old. Even though he did not physically age, rejuvenation clinics did wonders, it really did.

Even if Jules does not want to admit it, he thinks his father should retire from being a scientist. He could pull a blind eye and ignore how more and more of his father's experiments fail, and sometimes even explode. While it might be just Jules's paranoia, there's no hiding the fact that it is becoming dangerous.

The straw that broke a patient and paranoiac camel's back was a trip to the hospital. One of Emmett's inventions blew up in his face, destroying nearly half of the garage. This event caused everyone to question Emmett's mortality. But it had left him with a broken arm and many open wounds.

The hospital room was pretty silent, except for Emmett rambling about how he must, he just must redo his experiment, and how he will have to fix the garage too. His family members looked at each other, It was advised to him to take a break from inventing, but Emmett being Emmett, after a couple of days, even with fresh and bandaged wounds, a broken arm (it was even an option to amputate it) but also with burnt hair, got to work on another invention. "Nothing can hold a good scientist down"

Maybe it would not make a difference to Jules if he did not know, but now he is visiting his parents, and he just can't bear to look at him like that, knowing things like that can be prevented.

Inventions mostly always failed, it was a common occurrence back then, but it would be silly: a small malfunction. Back in the day, it would not have caused harm. Even now it does not -most of the time-, but Jules still feels the need to express his worries.

He happened to strike up the conversation when he was helping his father clean out the junk from the garage. 4 hands are more than 2 -even if one is broken-.

First Jules finds old invention, stamps with written dates, which are used to sent an object trouth time. But either way, Jules strikes up a conversation about the very old Brain wave analyzer invention of docs he found in the junk pile.

Now it brings Emmett fond and funny memories, about the time he nearly retired from science - he could not think of doing that now! To Jules on the other hand, the memories of that day are not great, it was possibly caused by guilt -after all, that day's events were caused by his doing-, or it was the simple explanation that his father was missing for more than a day. It does not matter which one was it, but that day stuck with him.

The conversation carried to the point of the older scientist joking:

"I do not think other manual labor would work for me"

"Why not? It could not have been that bad." Jules tried arguing and took a heavier box from Doc. But for the younger one, it calmed him down having the box - Emmett's arm will heal faster if he won't lift the heavier things. Doc Brown just scoffed in return:

"Who would hire me for anything? I could not sit and not do anything!" The older joked again and went to get a broom. But before he could leave Jules did not think he could say it

"I think you should retire"

A simple sentence, but it hurt to say. To say to someone to quit their passion? Jules would not even do it if someone asked. But Emmett seemed to be calm, and in return just asked:

"Why?"

Why!? "Well, let's say the latest hospital visit, it was lucky timing that you did not pass! Even doctors advised you to retire" Jules stated. But then mumbled. "I too, think that you should consider that"

Emmett looked at Jules and frowned. It was the last thing he thought Jules would say. It hurt. The older man sighed, tilted his head to one side, another...

"Alright," The old scientist said with a sheepish smile.

'That's it? No arguing, no excuses no anything?' Jules doubted knowing his father's stubbornness. So he asked his father being unsure of his response:

"Don't lie to me, is it actually alright?"

Emmett nodded still with that sheepish smile, as if to convince Jules who is still doubtfull. But he was glad he and his father agree on something and so he returned a smile.

The discussion went smoothly, too smoothly even. Jules is glad he won't have to worry again. He is wrong, deathly wrong.

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Footsteps of a running person were heard with heavy, early calm footsteps behind were heard. The runner was no other than some kid. He does not know from who he is running, but he knows he must get out of here, fast. The kid took sharp corners to get away from the madman following him. This five-year-old does not understand where he is running.

However, he ran past a table and ran into an old hollow bookcase. He stumbled into the said case and it opened. Inside there was a white corridor once again, this time with some blood splatters, nonetheless, he ran as much as his legs could.

The seeker was not far behind. The man grabbed a dart gun with a couple of tranquilizer darts. Would it be that he sees the kid as some prey? No one could answer that.

Nonetheless, the kid saw some sort of spaceship with an open door. When he jumped in to hide, the door shut behind him. But inside the said spaceship looked like a car, everything is glowing. To the kid's surprise, the car is turned on. It did not take long for the kid to remember being taught by his uncle how to drive or sort of be taught. Even if he could not reach the pedals the kid jumped on them for the spaceship just sped away.

Only when the spaceship got out of the building, only then did the kid notice the different times set beside the wheel, one specifically set as 2015. It was too late to turn back, he noticed it as the spaceship reached 88 miles per hour...

...

The man stood in front of the big clock window, the courthouse is much bigger than in the past. The man stared at the car and disappeared into thin air. He did not give up. He just knows, that soon, very soon may I add - the kid will return. It does not matter if he will want to or not, maybe he will bring some companions. The man once again checked the clock as if to check the time. It was no surprise when it did not move. but what moved was his personal timer, he is running out of time.

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Ever since the day that you went away
You've been sending flowers to me
Send me no flowers today
Instead of sending flowers come back to me
And hold me in your arms again.

(from: "Send me no flowers today")

Peaceful morning air had been distraught by chaos in the garage. While the chaos was always comforting, this morning was different. Things were torn, and blood was shed. But now it is silent, with no alarms, or even surprises.

That's why Clara woke up and felt like she had a good night's rest, it is quiet now. She looked beside her and saw that her husband was not there. It is nothing out of the ordinary, he is an early bird. What was a surprise was that it was complete silence. Not a buzz.

When Clara finally walked downstairs and knocked on the garage door. But when no one answered she opened the door. A sight she saw made her heart drop to her stomach. Splatters of Blood on the walls. Not a significant amount, but enough that it was clear that whoever blood was that, they surely passed out. Then Clara noticed how many of the tools are missing or dropped on the floor. Surprisingly the Delorean is there, but not Emmett.

Not even hours later, after hearing this news, their sons have come to visit. Or more to support each other. Verne came with his kids.

They waited for a couple of hours, maybe Emmett will return - he didn't. The same day the missing person's report was put out. To no one's surprise not even the police cared.

Then twins went out and did not return, then Verne...Marty Junior and Senior were called.

....

When the Browns, or now Jules, Clara, and both Martys, realized Verne will not return - they were not sure how to react. After Verne, no one left the house.

Clara has been strong for days, she did not break down in front of anyone. Only in the darkness of the night she did. The track record will change when she will receive flowers at the doorstep.

Not just any flowers, Camellia pinks. Or more handmade flowers from dyed metal. At first sight, she could not have guessed those flowers are not real, she did not even notice a time-traveling post stamp.
To: 2015, October 21st. However, from where? From who? Not written.

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1942 winter evening. Kid Tannen and his gang are discussing beside the forest. Discussing business, politics, and anything that came to mind. While it was getting chilly they decided to light up a cigar. They neither noticed nor Cared about the passing of Comet Kahooey. Or even that the comet intervened with a ship, causing it to crash.

The gangs' attention from their topics was broken when they heard a huge crash in the woods. Of course, now they are interested, in what could that be. Did the comet hit the Earth? They will quickly realize that is not the case when they see blue smoke.

As they approached they saw a spaceship, a non-functional with an open door. When one of the colleges of Tannen checked the inside of the ship, no one - or nothing- was there, but he was fascinated by the futuristic technology.

The gang heard branches breaking and they pulled out their guns to point in that direction. Tannen nearly dropped his at what he saw: An alien. While his gang ran off, he tried stepping backward, but it was too late - the creature saw him. Its glowing white eyes seemed to pierce through Tannen's soul. The alien straightened up, but in return dislocated its arms and head, making it turn unnaturally. For the first time it seemed Tannen felt sick to his stomach, his face whiter than the alien's eyes.

When Alien let out an earsplitting screech, Kid Tannen ran. He ran like there was no tomorrow, even if for him at that moment it seemed like it. Only while running to Hill Valley Kid heard the disgusting sound of bones cracking, and breaking - it was clear it was coming from the alien. The sound was so sickening and nauseous it made Tannen nearly throw up.

People saw him running out of the forest. For the upcoming years' rumors and gossip spread of the only thing Tannens are scared of is in the very same forest.

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Jules felt huge relief when his father agreed to retire. No more worries or anything. But when he said his father should retire from science he did not mean he should retire from being Chief Inventive Officer or even founder of the Institute Of Future Technology. Now Jules understands, the whole institute is based out of inventing. Of course, then Emmett must retire from being the head of the institute. Nonetheless, a retirement party was held. Emmett tried going away silently, but of course, his colleagues could not let him do that. While all of this did not seem like a reality to Jules. But now, who will continue the Erhardt Brown scholarship program? Who will look after the Brown interprises? Jules will, of course, he volunteered. For as long as he could remember he always volunteered to help. But now to be in charge of all of this seemed surreal.

Once Jules went to his father to ask about the scholarship. But he did not expect to see his father working on some invention. He thought he had retired!? It was clear Emmett did not care about retiring, or his safety. Was Emmett blinded? Or did he just not notice the invention going haywire? Or did he just chose to not care?

Jules could not let it slide. He unplugged the invention before it could end with a tragedy. Emmett defended himself saying his last invention -which landed him in the hospital and caused this chain reaction- was incomplete, and so it failed, but if only he got to complete it... "Are you nuts!?"

Jules statement escaped his lips without even thinking. Even that's what came to mind at the time of the explanation, that was not what he meant. But the invention was the same, just now upgraded. From Emmett's bruised hands it was clear the invention had been worked on for a while. And for that exact while, Jules could just imagine what could have happened. While Emmett says "It's not that big of a deal" it is, it is for Jules.

Neither of the men wanted to push this topic further, but neither one of them will give up. One will continue inventing, other will continue to worry. And with this, there is no clear answer, should Emmett just give up and retire, or even Jules worries are just paranoia?

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1885 September 5th. Beautiful evening at the Hill Valley square. The music flies through the air. Everyone's moods are as great as they could be. People danced, sang, and even ate. And of course, Emmett and Clara are both dancing, having the time of their lives.

The music was loud, and people laughing...All of it drowned out everything happening outside of the dance floor. It also drowned out the steps of a strange man in the bushes with a gun. The gun, that will bring this dreamy night to an end. The gun that will bury a bullet in Emmetts' back. It did not take long to find its place.

A gunshot stopped the music. Everyone froze. Except for one. The blacksmith fell. Clara tried catching him, making him sit down, telling him to stay calm. Telling him how he is doing great, comforting him. However, Clara was panicking, yelling, and asking for anyone's help. Yet no one does, everyone's faces are distorted. But when she saw the face in the bushes she froze.

Clara woke up in cold sweat, in the middle of panic. She shot her head to one side and checked the time on the watch. It is in the middle of the night. She snaped her head to the other side, to the other side of the bed. But no one was there.

Her heart sank.

Suddenly she heard snoring. Clara crawled to the other side of the bed where the snoring came from. Long and behold, that was her husband. With a blanket, in the most uncomfortable position. He always had back problems when he woke up, but this time it will be much worse.

But it somehow calmed Clara down.

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As a founder of the Institute Of Future Technology, Emmett could not retire silently. His acquaintances would not let him. And so all of them threw a party - Even if a week late. Being 100 and doing so much good for the Hill Valleys, or even the entire world's future, Emmett did not want to retire. Not in the slightest. It also was a strange time to retire, September. The start of a brand new work year.

However, the younger scientist, Jules, is a paranoiac. After an incident involving Emmett and a new invention of his - the younger suggested retirement from science. While he did not mean the retirement from the Institute, he sees how it could have seemed that way.

Jules suggested it nonetheless, thinking that would help Emmett. Not like he can invent now - from the incident his arm was broken, leaving the other hand sore.

Colleagues always joked about Emmett being immortal. But today they were wondering what this science-obsessed person do, after retiring.

"So, what are the plans?" A colleague asked Emmett. He was also not that far from retirement.

"Oh, fishing maybe. If I don't die from a heart attack or a stroke first" Emmett answered with a laugh. The acquaintance found it hilarious too. Maybe that is how old people joke. But Jules did not like the joke.


And so Emmett does not want to retire, but he already has plans. Emmett is stubborn.

But if he was stubborn, Jules was even more so. Being 36, Jules had already been working as a scientist for a while.

But what happened next took place right after Emmett's retirement party. Right after Jules and his father got home. Jules was ready to go back to his own house back to the outside of town, but for a while, he was visiting his parents.

Verne with his kids were there too, they just got there. They and Clara were out for errands. And while Jules loves his niece and nephew, he gets migraines because of the way they speak so loudly. So he was glad they would be away for at least a good couple of hours.

When Jules and his father returned from that party. Emmett asked Jules if he wanted to help him finish up cleaning out old inventions, but Jules said he had things to do too. And so they parted ways to go to separate rooms: Jules went to the guest room where he stayed and Doc went back to the garage.

Jules had recently bought a new lab coat for himself. It was heavy, yet purely white. He looked professional even. After all that time of working as a scientist you may think he already had a lab coat, well he did, but it ripped. And this one fits him perfectly.

While checking out the lab coat in the mirror Jules notices how silent the house is. The home he grew up in was never this silent. Not under any circumstances. Not even at night it was so quiet - Jules thought he had gone deaf.

Yet the silence was ripped apart by a crash sound followed by something falling - something heavy falling. Jules does not like jumping to conclusions, but it has startled him. 'Maybe something fell?' 'Maybe a shelf gave out?' These options are as likely as his worst gut feeling.

Jules popped his head into the hallway. "Father?"

Silence followed, the same uncomfortable uncanny one, the one where you can hear your heartbeat. But this time, it was more worrying.

As silent and eery as a silence before a storm.

A storm that was about to change everything.

Jules cautiously went down the hallway. The only sound was the wooden floors screeching under his feet. Not a single other abnormality, not even a breath. Other than Jules's own.

No other breath?

The man ran downstairs nearly stumbling over the inconveniently placed shoes at the end. Stumbling to the garage door caused even more worries. The garage door was closed but not locked. All his life Jules had been raised to knock, but today he will break that rule.

He crept the door a bit to just see the usual table where Doc works. But before he could see the table -what he expected- the stretch of machinery oil and some sort of metal smell hit his nose. Since this place is also a laboratory, it is expected to smell that. But metal has no smell.

While this inner worry lasted a few seconds when he finally saw the table. Or to be exact the remains of the table. It was burned. Broken. And now even unrecognizable. That was when he swung the door fully open.

The sight he saw will haunt him for the remainder of his life. There lay his father. Seemingly without any traces of life.

Only when Jules got to his father did he feel him breathing, see his eyes move. There was no time to let out a sigh of relief for Jules. Only when his eyes cleared up he saw the motor oil all over Emmett and on the ground. Oil, that seemed to burn the wooden floor under them.

Jules thanks God that he had his phone on him. He called for paramedics. But when the operator finally picked up - till then Jules thought he was calm. But he was in hysterics.

Thankfully, the operator listened to him and tried to calm him down. When he could get the words out of his mouth he could only tell the address. To that, the lady responded with an advice of not to end the call. But with blood rushing to Jules's ears he did not hear anything.

Jules helped his father to sit up. While Jules could not register much, or even understand, he could hear both: the operator and his father speaking. Or in Emmett's case - incoherent mumbling. Though it was not all incoherent, Jules could understand some parts.

"I made a mistake" was heard most clearly from Emmett.

As much as Jules wanted to say 'Yes, you did', he could not bring himself to do it. Instead, Jules tried changing the subject. About anything and everything only to get Emmett talking.

Would it be about science, joking, but not inventing? All topics Jules knows Doc loves talking about. Even with the best jokes, Jules received radio silence.

Maybe Doc did not understand Jules, his voice was shaking. He only assumed that since he had not hung up on the operator yet, and she was trying to calm him down. He also assumed that since he could not hear due to his ears ringing.

It was quiet and surreal. Jules tried wiping the access oil off of Emmett with his lab coat sleeves. In the room's dim lighting, blood was confused with burning oil.

Jules is not sure how long they sat like that, the operator made sure to confirm every couple of minutes with them. But this time the silence had been there for way too long. That's why when Jules heard the ambulance sirens he jumped. As it approached, Jules's worries washed away.

Even if it were for mere seconds.

When the help was here, Jules did not hear. instead, one of the paramedics turned the garage light on.

Everything went white and blurry for a moment. When finally Jules's vision returned to somewhat normal -or enough to make out shapes- the paramedics and his father were gone. Well, 2 paramedics stayed. Making sure Jules was okay due to how pale he was.

How can he not be pale? Now he might be afraid of blood.

Time did not seem real. Everything went either too fast, or too slow. Jules cannot pinpoint. But the paramedics are now gone. And he is left alone. And alone he felt.

It seemed like an eternity Jules sat like that. Was it an hour? Was it a couple of minutes? He cannot tell. But what he could tell is that it's the time to stand up.

That said and done Jules heads out of the garage, maybe later he will clean it up. But before heading out he stops and grabs his father's glasses from the table. Once everything is settled they will come in handy!

Maybe Jules forgot to lock the house door, but he did not care. He got the car keys and that is what matters.

The car ride was long. The anxiety rising made it unbearable. Even if the town was small, it felt like the hospital was in a completely different state.

Heavy after-work traffic did not help either. Everyone rushed home to their families. If Jules could, he would have broken a law or two of driving, but there was no space to do so. While the traffic was painfully slow the hospital was just over the horizon.

Everything came and went in a blur. Jules only remembers the ride to the hospital and the waiting room. But what happened in the middle was rushed and he could not make out what happened.

But now, Jules sat in the waiting room staring at the clock on the wall. The longer he stared, the more numbers on the clock switched places. For a moment the wall even changed colors.

When Jules attempted to rub his eyes - he realized how numb and tense his hands were. That was unusual, but what was more unusual was that that had caused him to breathe more frequently and shortly. That had made him sweat and his heartbeat rise. The inability to breathe had caused Jules to become nauseous. Meanwhile, the vision went dark.

For a second, Jules could swear he could hear the blood and oil from his sleeves drip onto the floor. He could swear he could hear everyone in the room breathing.

Even if his vision is blurred he could see people staring at him, even a small kid that was sitting beside him moving away from him. And so he straightened up and started taking deep breaths.

Someone must know where they are. So with a shaky hand, Jules dialed Marty's number on his phone. It took a minute to get it ringing. When finally the voice of Marty answered.

"Hey, Jules!" Even if it sounded cheerful, for Marty it was unusual that Jules was calling.

"Hey, Martin," Jules said after a minute. "Are you doing anything right now?" He tried to sound as natural as possible, even if deep down he felt his voice shaking, even if in the depths of his stomach, he felt like he would throw up.

A moment passed before Marty answered. But that moment seemed like an eternity. "No, not at all, why?"

"We are at the hospital again," Jules said in a rushed sentence swallowing back a sob.

Maybe it was a good thing Jules could not see Marty's expression right now, but he got hung up on. Even if the call was short, it had drained out Jules, so he had texted his mother. He knows it's the worst thing to do, but he does not want to worry her more about the state he himself is in.

Jules was afraid to look at the clock, but people and time came and gone. It did not take a while for Marty to come rushing to Jules. Not many words were exchanged. What could you say in a predicament such as this?

The older man stood for a minute. The silent minute it was. Jules glanced and was about to pat a seat next to him, but he was afraid to cover it with blood. Marty sat beside Jules and asked:

"Whose?" Motioned at the sleeves of the lab coat.

After a pause, Jules mumbled "Not mine"

Marty was in shock. What could have happened that caused this much blood? Was it a good time to ask? Probably not, seeing how pale Jules is.

But Marty had no time to think when a doctor came up to them. Marty took the lead in talking to him. All Jules could understand was that, for now, everything is fine.

How could it be for now? That was what worried Jules

But Marty did not seem to care for the play of words and followed the doctor to a hospital room.

While walking doctor mentioned something about low equipment and something about going to another hospital just in case. Jules did not hear much, blood filled his ears.

When they entered the room, it was purely white. The only thing that stuck out was the bleeding bandages on Emmett's head. But he seemed fine. He talked and moved and joked. Jules let Marty sit down, even if he was not that older. Everything had seemed to calm Marty down.

Not long after, Verne and Clara rushed in. Verne stayed in the doorway when he had closed the door. The man was distraught. The reality had sunk in much faster for Verne than it did for Jules.

"Traffic?" Jules asked when he walked to Verne. Seeing how Verne was pale, Jules did not want to talk about the obvious subject at hand and at first.

But Verne shook his head. How could there not be traffic? It's after work hours! But Jules looked at his watch. Strange, it's 11 pm. Was he at the hospital that long?

Nonetheless, Jules stayed close to Verne, in fear of him passing out in any second.

Meanwhile, Clara sat by docs left. At first, she cried, then she laughed. And then she scolded Emmett. And then cried again. Her emotions were all over the place and unpredictable.

After a moment she calmed herself down, seeing how everything was okay now. Doc was looking at her with love-struck eyes.

Then Clara asked, how could Emmett let this happen?

"Well, science is unpredictable" Emmett smiled.

Jules laughed at what seemed an inappropriate moment. "That does not-" the man cut himself off.

"All of this" The standing man not gesturing at anything in particular: at the IV, or red-eyed Marty, or at distraught Verne, or at crying Clara. Or even at docs burns "should not be held to the same standard as a bruise". Jules's hand finally chose a direction to point at - Emmett's bleeding head bandages.

"But where is the point of inventing then?" Emmett asked incoherently and with a sheepish smile. It was not a full smile, the left side of the face was numb. So was his left hand which Clara was holding.

Jules's panic rose again. He did not want to show it so instead he excused himself for a moment. While looking for a doctor, he tried remembering if any of the medicines had that sort of effect. But he cannot remember.

Well yeah, those were stroke symptoms. But there is no way that is happening. No one jumps to that conclusion. Sometimes hand goes numb, sometimes you mumble out a sentence.

But Jules is paranoid, and now the doctor confirmed his suspicion. Everyone was out of the hospital room with an explanation.

And they all sat in silence. Panic rose with each minute passing. Hiccups and silent sobs grew louder. It went on like that for what seemed forever. But it was a bit more than an hour.

Marty was by Clara's side. Jules was asking Verne over and over if he needed water. He was pale but held up. Well, until the doctor came, and broke the news of the death like a robot.

"Time of death, September 7th, 1:33 am"

"Cause of death?" Verne lifted his head.

"Hemorrhagic stroke" Doctor lowered his. 

Jules nearly broke his father's glasses he was holding.

For the second time today, Jules felt the earth pull a rug under his feet. He spiraled into numbness, and for the rest of the stay at the hospital went in a flash. He does not recall anything. But one thing is sure: he did not cry.

The ride home was a long one. Everyone had different things on their minds. All different, yet the same. What will they do now? How will they do it now?

No one slept that night. But also everyone barely talked. All they could was tell Verne's kids what happened. Jennifer came over to help Clara to calm down. Marty was distraught, he was used to changing the past and the doctor's death, to the point where the current situation seemed surreal. But all cries of children and adults alike were washed away since Jules was in the bathroom.

He dropped the bloody lab coat into the water. it dropped with a heavy thud. Jules was trying to wash away the blood with the soap, but instead, it went everywhere. Especially on his shirt sleeves. Why can't he get the blood away? What kind of curse is that?

By this time Jules's ears were ringing. He stood up to get hydrogen peroxide only to stumble and drop it. He cussed and kicked it. And the commotion was heard by his younger brother.

"Jules!? What are you doing in there?!" Verne yelled knocking on the door. Even when he usually never asked that. Today is different from many days. "I swear if you are doing something stupid!"

Ah, so that is why he is scared.

"N- No! Not at all!" Jules stuttered and straightened up himself. But Verne had already swung the door open.

The site may be misleading. Sleeves are bloody and the bathtub is too.

"Whose!?" Verne motioned at the blood on the sleeves.

And Jules cannot keep it inside anymore. Jules only teared up at first, but when the silence was too uncanny and yet familiar, he started to sob.

"Not mine" Jules responded between sobs. He held it in all day, yet finally, it all came out. Verne was taken back and held up his brother from falling. Yet, he cried too.

Both of them stood there crying, not saying anything. What was there to say? They can finally relate to something.

After all, they lost a father. Marty lost a mentor and his best friend, and well, Clara was left a widow.

Chapter Text

December 5th, 1992

 Colleagues advised me to keep a journal, as in "When it gets tough". What can there be tough? I mean, I am new to all of this science business. But I will use this for researching the abnormalities.

I am Clyde. And recently I got a job at a laboratory. I love my job. Today was like every other. But we got a call, with suspicions of an alien in the town. 

I thought there was no way, these people were joking. Nope. There was an alien. I saw him with my own two eyes. He was taller than the average human, not by much. He was teal colored, though it was hard to see due to it being evening. What stuck out was the long tail, reminiscent of a chameleon tail, and antennas.  A magnificent creature indeed. 

 And I kid you not, his wife, yes she is human, threatened to shoot us with a police gun. It wouldn't have done anything, but the point stands. And she looked like she was gonna do it. 

December 10th, 1992

Alien (Or as documents say: Emmett Brown) is adjusting. Fighting, yes, but is willing to cooperate. I think it's in hopes of getting away. An unlikely scenario. 

We did a couple of X-rays of the alien. His bones glow under UV light. Like a chameleon. Now that I think about it, they have a lot of similarities:

1. I saw a couple of times the alien getting his food and bringing it closer to himself with his tongue. It was long and sticky, the plate stuck to it, and so did the food.
2. The tail. Colleges observed his behavior and concluded the tail was for stability and balance. I suspect it's used for climbing too. 
3.  Alien changes colors. He tried blending in with the padded room.

December 17th, 1992

The alien is very cooperative. At least we think so, he is talking -or trying to in a serious tone. We do not understand what he says, he doesn't speak English. For all we know he might be telling us to fuck off with a straight face.

I would not be surprised, but others are hopeful to discover about space travel. I know at least human Emmett was sort of a prankster. Both I and my father went to high school where he taught physics. He was not an alien then. Weird, yes, but not an alien.  It is weird to think someone who you know turns out to be an alien

December 21st, 1992

The whole day I felt nauseous. My stomach was killing me. Yet, I still went to work, but I kept away from the alien to not infect it. We have plenty of humans and only one alien to research. 

You can argue that the alien has kids, but the wife had documents to prove the kids are not his. But I swear the younger kid blinked vertically at least once. 

Case in point, I noticed the alien's antennas only move after he moves his ears. I made a noise, he moved his ears in the direction of mine, and then his antennas, to completely different sides. Or, he makes a sound himself. I personally believe it's some sort of 6th sense, having something to do with echolocation. 

 Others have not noticed anything about it, I'll have to mention it at the next meeting, after the holidays. 

December 26th, 1992 

After the holidays with my family, I returned to work. The vacation was great, and me and my wife had a great time. I returned relaxed and fresh, and so did my many colleagues. Even if I still felt weird in the stomach.

Meanwhile during the holidays alien was left alone, so it's no wonder he was not talkative and even aggressive to an extent. 

January 2nd, 1993.

 Happy New Year! Except here, the atmosphere could be happier. The alien bit my colleague (Mathiew) when he tried injecting him. 

The injection was of soothing drug since the alien was showing symptoms of stress, panic, and even insanity. He began hitting his head, pulling his hair, and even attacking people when they got close. The differences from the start of last month and now are clear as day. So we put him in a straitjacket. 

We suspect the species are underdeveloped.

The bitten college has noticed swelling and itchiness in the bitten area. But nothing with that much concern, so now we will be more careful. 

January 7th, 1993

More and more colleagues are getting sick, Mathiew did not show up today, claiming the area of the bite was peeling. That's strange. 

Today I had a one-on-one conversation with the alien, but it did not react to me. I tried talking, but it just stared at me. That glare was inhumane of course. It was concentrated and even with a tint of anger, it lacked the natural shine and looked like glass. Now that I sit down, think, and read back previous notes, I said that his skin is teal colored, and now it was some sort of bright blue. 

About the antennas, I told my colleagues and scheduled surgery for the alien. I have no idea what. Shouldn't we analyze the characteristics of it? The date of the surgery will be January 11th.

January 9th, 1993

May Mathiew rest in peace. Today we got the news of his death. He died from radiation poisoning. But from where? Every radioactive material in the building is secured and kept safe.  He does not even work in that sector. The cause of death was predicted by the doctors, but his symptoms were unusual.

We were told his skin peeled back, he felt like he was poisoned, he had troubled breathing, had a dry mouth, and his stomach was shutting down. 

The event was unfortunate and a surprise. it shook everyone to the core. And we all realized we felt similar symptoms. Maybe there is a radioactive leakage?

January 13th, 1993

The alien surgery was a success since we used pliers. To an extent. I do not see why we did it, but we have done it, and there is no turning back. The Alien is left without antennas. 

It has a hard time adjusting. It sits in the corner in the fetal position. Only lifting its head when food is brought. I forgot to mention, that we give him canned human food. But I suspect it needs more than that in neutreons. 

We also started to notice burns on his arms and the strait jacket. Acidic burns. 

January 15th, 1993.

The Alien lost its tail. He also has stopped eating, and hissing when we get close. 

We are afraid of being bit, but we can see his body is shutting down. 

Maybe their species is less advanced than us? Maybe soothing drugs will help it.

January 17th, 1993.

May God have mercy on us all. 

We killed the alien. The soothing drug ended it.