Young Writers Society

"So.. you think you can time travel?"

Iris Rainsfell had made that line famous throughout her three years as a gameshow host. She had started in 2034, right after the time machine had become more available. It still wasn't available to the common person, but they had enough so that the game show could have one.

For three years in a row, "So.. You Think You Can Time Travel?" had had the highest ratings of any TV show ever. Something about seeing everyday folks, picked at random, experiencing a random year from 1900-2020 for a week, fascinated the public. Yet.. ratings dropped when a rival show, "Ages With Atticus," introduced more than just time travel, and, instead, put the "game" in "game show" into action.

So.. You Think You Can Time Travel? couldn't compete with their current structure and decided to add another aspect to their show: a scavenger hunt. It would be like their other shows but with an objective, a cash prize of $500,000, a shorter time limit, and the choice to be in teams. They agreed to give each contestant a day to find each item, except for the final fifth item, which they allotted two days to.

You were chosen from a group of millions of people to compete. You’re extremely fortunate for the oppurtunity and gratefully accept it almost immediately. Despite your plans to abide by the rules, you start to have thoughts of sabotaging other teams or, even, altering history while you’re in the past.

What will you do? Will you follow the rules and try to win the cash prize? Or will you break the rules and irreversibly alter history forever?

The studio erupted in applause as Iris Rainsfell walked onto the stage. She lived for this moment. Every week, she walked onto the stage, and, every week, there was applause. The people in the studio were only a fraction of those watching, as there were millions of people watching at home. 167,343,741 viewers, to be exact. Iris had been briefed on it before she entered the stage. There were usually around a hundred million viewers, which was still astonishing, but today was special. Today was the start of a new era.

"Hello my friends!" Iris exclaimed, stretching her arms out wide. The sleeve of her brand-new dress, which was dark blue with sparkles, so that it shimmered like the night sky, slipped a little, so she adjusted it.

Iris waiting for the second round of applause to die down before she continued, "Welcome to So.. You Think You Can Time Travel?! As you know, today is a very special day, as, not only do we enter a new season, but we are also introducing several new components into our show!"

A small gasp escaped from some members of the crowd. Behind the scenes, the producers high-fived each other, celebrating that the revamp had come as a surprise. The contestants hadn't leaked any information.

"Don't worry!" Iris chuckled, "We aren't taking the time travel out of the show! We just thought we'd make it a bit more.. interesting."

That was a lie. The show was changing after three rather successful seasons because of another show, called Ages With Atticus that was taking away their audience, not to "make it more interesting."

"Instead of following our contestants as they experience the past for the week, we have given it a twist!" Iris said, "There will be five objects that our contestants will have to find in the past in five different years. They will have a base of 24 hours to find the first object and bring it back, and the time they did not use can be put towards finding their second item, and so forth. The fifth and final object will be a secret until the very end and they can use any remaining time they have plus two days to find it. The winner receives half a million dollars! That sounds fun, right?!"

The audience applauded again as Iris stood there awkwardly. They weren't supposed to applaud that long at that.

"Alright, everyone!" Iris said and they were quiet within a few seconds, "Are you ready to meet our brave new contestants?"

The crowd screamed its approval. Viewers at home were on the edge of their seats. Who would be the guinea pigs for the new season? They couldn't wait to find out.

"OK! Let's meet the contestants!" Iris said, motioning with one arm behind her. The lights across from the teleporter turned on, illuminating the contestants. The competition had begun.

Iris motioned to the group of people behind her. They were lined up along the left side of the studio, across from the time machine. The crowd cheered as Iris wandered over to the first contestant.

"So," Iris waited a moment for the crowd to quiet, "you're Francine Joyce Bird, from Boston, Massachusetts?"

"Yup! That's me, although, I've lived in many different places." the girl responded with a wide smile on her face. If Iris was just going off of her face, this might have been the happiest day of Francine's life.

"Really? I didn't know that." Iris said, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, if you had read my application, you would," Francine responded, laughing a little at the end. Some members of the crowd joined her.

"Uh-huh," Iris said. There were always contestants like this, trying to set themselves apart from the others by saying what they think and, in the process, putting Iris in an awkward position. Well, that's what you get for hosting a "real", unscripted television show. Iris cleared her throat, "I should have known! You used to live in.."

"Philadelphia," a voice hissed into her ear. Thank God for hidden earpieces.

"..Philadelphia!" Iris continued, a fake smile plastered on her face, "That's a lovely city, isn't it?"

"It really was! The only thing is that people think of the Pirates instead of the Phillies-"

"The baseball teams."

"-even though Philadelphia's the capitol!"

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Iris said, "Anyways, Francine, you work as a fashion designer, right?"

"Of sorts, yeah!" Francine responded, eager to talk about herself.

"What do you mean 'of sorts'?"

"I mostly design shirts and jackets for my friend's small business! We o-, well, she owns a little store on Main Street that sells nice, fashionable, and affordable clothes!"

"Affordability's key," Iris said, "Would the $500,000 grand prize help with the business?"

"Oh, absolutely!"

"Great!" Even though it looked like she had more to say, Iris cut Francine off. It was time to move onto the next contestant, "Thank you for telling everyone so much about yourself, Francine! Now, may I introduce our next contestant.."