Star Wars

1977
Hill Valley, California

“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”

The movie had finally started. As the Star Wars theme song played in the background, the cinema had become noticeably quieter than it had a few minutes before, the silence interrupted only by the sound of viewers munching popcorn.

Somewhere near the back of the cinema, 8 and a half year old Marty McFly was sitting totally engrossed in what was going on in the big screen, unlike his two siblings, David and Linda, who found the popcorn much more interesting. His father, George McFly, looked at him and smiled.

“He’ll be a Star Wars fan one day,” he thought, seeing his son’s eyes glued to the screen.

And then he heard it. ‘Darth Vader’. The name carried along with it a sense of vague familiarity and terror, and George knew that it was not just the brilliant work of the movie producers. He had heard that name before… but where and when, he could not exactly tell. And yet, he could not have. It was a brand new movie, and he was watching it for the first time.

“It must have been an advert or something,” he told himself, but was still unable to shake off that nagging feeling throughout the whole show. He KNEW that he had heard the name before somewhere.

Walking out of the cinema amidst the cries of David McFly begging his younger brother to “pass over the popcorn”, George suddenly got it. He remembered that strange creature which had appeared in front of his bed during the wee hours of the morning one day in 1955. The creature who claimed to be Darth Vader. Who threatened to melt his brain if he didn’t go to the dance with Lorraine.

He remembered. But at the same time, he knew that it just couldn’t have been possible. The mere idea of an actual alien doing what the so-called Darth Vader had done was ridiculous.

Therefore he reasoned that it must have been a dream. Which could only mean one thing…

“Cool,” George thought, a small grin spreading out over his face, “I can predict the future.”

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