The Traversing Book I

Chapter 1

Wednesday, May 11, 2168

Connecticut

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Spring in Connecticut has finally arrived. New England is such a pretty place to live, but we had so much snow this past winter, I couldn’t wait for the green lawns and sweet, fresh breeze. I live in Bridgeport, and have my whole life. It is comfort to me. As you look around, the skyline of Bridgeport is very flat, with the exception of some forest of trees that surround the schools and along the highways. To make things seem more normal I guess. There are strict city codes in Connecticut, and I’m thinking every state, that there cannot be any buildings or trees in rural areas above a certain height because everyone now relies on solar energy to run everything, and there can be no blockage of the sun’s powerful rays.

I find myself looking down at my house and all the flowers out front, all carefully manicured, looking bright and pretty. A cute square sign that says MORROW on it was sticking from a post in the dirt by the front steps. Just like how Mom left it. I think I must be dreaming, and I never want to wake up. I feel a gentle tug, and realize my mother is leading me across the street into the wildflower fields. We are running and laughing, and one of my pink flip-flops slips off and goes flying behind me. I instantly feel the soft dewiness of the grass between my toes. We both stop suddenly, breathless, and fall down dramatically on the ground and laugh. I lay there in the grass and look over to my mother. Her dark hair is spilling over her shoulders, her dark brown eyes scanning the sky.

I love you, I say to her and smile. She looks over to me and grabs a piece of my dark red hair in her fingers. I love you too, Kokia.

All of a sudden I am jolted awake by a loud blaring sound, and I realize it is my alarm clock beeping, telling me to get up out of my warm bed. I swing my feet around, and end up throwing my soft pink comforter across the floor in protest. I got up from my bed, my feet stepping on my clothes from yesterday, and I kick them with my foot. My room is not in the best of shape, I admit it, and I have never been accused of being neat. I turn around to look at my reflection in the mirror, and instantly wished I hadn’t. I looked haggard and sleep deprived. I turn away from the mirror and walked over to my closet and opened the door. Before me was a disheveled mess. There were more clothes on the floor than on hangers, and I honestly didn’t know which ones were clean or dirty. I just grabbed some jeans from one of the piles and then plucked my favorite bright red short sleeved shirt off of a hanger. I got dressed in a hurry and went out to the kitchen to see my 8 year old little sister, Sepa, sitting at the breakfast nook eating a bowl of cereal. Our father was already at the table reading his newspaper, which he intermittently folded down so he could drink his coffee.

Hey Kokia, my Dad said to me, his smiling eyes peeking at me from behind the paper.

My Dad was so easy going and has done so well with Sepa and I after our mother died. There were some dark times, but Dad always made us feel secure as a family and did the best he could as a single father. But the missing her never goes away.

Welcome to the land of the living, my Dad joked with me as he got up from his chair, tossing the newspaper on the table. Looks like rain girls, so I am going to go out early to try and beat it. Have a good day! he says as he looks at the incoming gray skies through the window. He grabs his briefcase that was leaning against the table and takes one last swig of his coffee before putting it in the sink of dirty dishes. Love you! he yells to us as he opens the door and walks down the steps and quickly gets in his car.

Bye Daddy! I say to him right before he is out of earshot. Sepa turned her head and looked at me with a big frown. She liked us to spend a little time together before school, and I have been neglectful of that lately. Especially since I started dating Trast. I run into the bathroom and pick up my squishy blue brush and pull it through my tangled hair. I had to tug to pull through the knots that I allowed to happen last night. I toss and turn a lot in bed, unable to sleep sometimes since my mother’s death. We were never really told why or how she died. She worked for American intelligence, and everything is secret and not available to anyone, not even family.

I take a final look at myself and decide to put on some eyeliner and mascara and then run out in the kitchen with the brush and walk over to Sepa and smile. She is so pretty. I walk behind her and start brushing her hair, dark brown and silky; like a horse’s mane. I tug and pull it up in a ponytail and give her a kiss on the cheek. She jumps down off the stool, still not smiling, and we both walk over to the hooks by the door and get our backpacks and step outside. I turn slightly and say please shut off the lights and lock this door to the door, which responds Yes, have a good day Kokia.

I grab Sepa’s hand and head down the steps to the walkway. The dark skies didn’t lighten, and there still was a cool breeze. A sudden gust of wind whipped past me, gently tugging my hair and making it airborne, some strands getting stuck briefly on my lips. I look over to Sepa walking next to me. She hated school, poor thing. It was hard to see her so sad like this. Luckily the high school was close enough for me to walk to, but the elementary and middle school children had to ride the bus to the other side of town.

I bent down and hugged Sepa goodbye and told her to have a good day and smiled at her. I took my hand and fixed a piece of her hair that had gotten loose, curling it behind her ear. Love you, Sepa, I whisper as I see the bus approach. She just stood there, looking at me walk away. Then she mouthed Love you too. She hated goodbyes. Staring at her every day sent a stab of pain through my heart. She did look like our mother so very much, from the dark hair and dark brown eyes. What I wouldn’t give to make her smile.

I look up periodically to the sky as I start walking toward school, kicking up some dirt over my shoes, and notice some kid was taking his Airshot to school despite the weather. An Airshot is a small flying machine; kinda looks like a covered boat, all run by solar and charged electrical units. They are only allowed to fly about 20 feet off the ground, and have to use regular highway routes. There weren’t that many of them around town, but some people like them to avoid the highway gridlock and slow drivers. Or so I am told. I haven’t yet gotten my license, but hoped to approach my father about it this summer.  I hear to my right a gentle whirring sound, and I already know it is a Supervisor; driverless police vehicles that patrol the streets. There are also smaller drones called Skins. There was so much surveillance going on, it was a sort of creepy feeling.

I shift my backpack on my other shoulder and hopped up the stairs of the school, pushing the door with my shoulder. My locker was not far from the doors, which was good because my backpack was unhealthily heavy. I take some books out of my backpack that I don’t need right away and stick them in my locker. I had so much crap in there; old tests, notes, highlighters and lip gloss. I shoved my history book in there and shut the locker door fast, trapping the mess. As I turn around, I see my boyfriend Trast come toward me, sporting a big grin. God he was so cute! He was walking slowly, and I could feel the anticipation of him rising in my chest.  I feel lucky to be his girlfriend. He has small freckles on his nose that I found myself staring at sometimes. He was just perfect to me. We had chemistry class last semester and got assigned as lab partners. I tried to concentrate on the formulas and not blow up the lab, and when I snuck a quick glance at him, I found that he was staring at me too. At first I was awkward around him, trying not to make mistakes, but of course that made me make twice as many. But eventually we sort of got close, and one day he asked me out, and I have been happy ever since. I don’t want him to ever leave my side.

Hey baby girl, he said to me right before he bent down to give me a soft kiss. I could tell right away that he was chewing gum as the mint flavor lingered on my lips and made them tingle.

Hey back, I say softly, my eyes rising to meet his. He still makes me get butterflies in my stomach. That longing to touch him is still there, and I reach down and take his hand, rubbing my thumb over the top of his hand softly.

Trast bent over and leaned into me, Want to hang out at my place tonight? I’m having Thad and Lolly over. Lolly said she wants to do that new dancing game that she downloaded, he said, rolling his eyes. He takes his other hand, and with his thumb caresses my cheek, sending electric waves through my body.

You know I’m a terrible dancer! I say, making my face into a frown. But OK, I guess we can do it, it might actually be fun. Anything is fun with you, I say with a side smile. Trast winks at me just as the bell rings and heads down the hall, still holding my hand until it slips from his and he turns around to run to class. I stand there just staring at him running away, then decide that I must, too, head to class.

I walk down to the end of the hall, then take the catwalk toward room 5B which was calculus class.  I look up and glance at the many prom posters on the walls, and signup sheets for summer sports. I was glad the school year was almost over, I just wanted to sit by the ocean and think. Think about my mother.

I slung my backpack over my right shoulder and started to walk really fast, hoping I wouldn’t be late. I hate that class so bad. Maybe because I wasn’t very good at it. The teacher, Mrs. Quinn, had this old, monotone voice that almost lulls me to sleep, and it takes her forever to write something on the board.

We all took our seats and she immediately started handing out the chapter test which I completely forgot about. My heart is racing, and I suddenly feel nauseous. Mrs. Quinn looked at me with a scowl, like she despised children and sincerely hated teaching. I’m sure when you are close to retirement, you just want to get done. I set my backpack down under my desk and quickly glance at my cell phone to see if anyone messaged me, but the angle wasn’t right, and I couldn’t see the screen.

Mrs. Quinn turned around to face us. Keep the tests face down until I give my OK, she practically screamed. And put all electronic devices away. Kokia! That means you!

I shoot my head up and look at her, and she is pointing at my backpack. I quickly stuff it in and grab the stack of tests from her and turn around to pass it to the person behind me, which happened to be Magzi Sullivan. She is, I guess you would say, Ms. Popular. She had embarrassed me so much when I tried out for cheering it instilled in me a secret hatred of her. She would toss her curly blond hair over her shoulder and all the boys in the class turned their heads at the same time to watch her.

Magzi looked at me and gave me a fake smile, taking the tests from me with only two fingers, like she didn’t want to touch my hand or something. I turned back around in my desk and unconsciously started tapping my pencil on top of the test. I had so much on my mind. Sepa was starting to ask more questions about our mother, as Sepa was a baby when she died and I always didn’t have the answers. I was thinking of approaching Dad and telling him that maybe Sepa needs to talk to someone; you know, to let out all her feelings.

I continued to sit there, my pencil tapping away, waiting for the teacher to give her magical OK sign for us to turn it over and start. My pencil was going faster and faster, when it suddenly slipped from my fingers and I watched, almost in slow motion, as it flew through the air and spiraled to the floor resting just by my feet. Embarrassed, I sighed and bent down to pick up the pencil, looking briefly over to Magzi who made a face, waving her pencil in the air, like she was superior to me. I return the hostile stare and then turn away from her and sit back in my chair, making myself slouch a little. What was the teacher waiting for? I look out the window and noticed that it looks all foggy out, like we were by a lake or something. All of a sudden the lights abruptly go out and the emergency beams and siren started blaring. Oh my God, I thought. What is going on?

The sound was so loud, I could almost feel my teeth vibrate, and I immediately put my hands over my ears. Everyone in the class looks at each other, and beads of sweat start to form on my forehead. I look around and see a few of the boys in the back giving each other high fives and laughing at the prospect of getting out of the test. I had a sense of foreboding about this, like I knew that this was not a normal fire alarm drill. I turn around and look at Magzi who let out a big dramatic sigh and stood up clumsily, her purse getting stuck on the corner of the chair, and she gives it a big yank and then looks over at me, not too happy about being stared at.

Mrs. Quinn didn’t seem concerned, she just told us it was a drill and to form a line and go outside according to our emergency procedures. She started waving her hands back and forth to usher us out, which we all did like obedient puppets. I was almost to the door when I glanced back in the classroom and saw that I forgot to grab my backpack. I look over at Mrs. Quinn who seemed distracted talking to another teacher, so I get out of line and ran back to my desk to grab the strap of my worn purple backpack that was sticking out and flung it on my back in one swift motion.

Mrs. Quinn shot a glance to me and screamed for me to get back in line. She just didn’t understand that somehow I knew we wouldn’t be back. That I knew I would never sit in that classroom again. I could almost hear my mother’s voice, singing in my ear, lulling me to the wet grass outside.

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I want to show you something! my mother said as I got off the bus from school. She practically dragged me into the house and toward the bathroom. I thought maybe I did something bad that I didn’t remember? Did I not pick up my towels on the bathroom floor?

What’s going on? I said, and I started to cry softly.

My mother then spun me around and smiled wide. She bent over and grabbed this thing from the side of the sink and flung it in my face.

What is it? I ask. At 8, I had no idea what the long pink thing was.

Then she blurted out, hopping up and down, This means I am going to have a baby!

Oh my God, I think, this was the answer to my prayers!

I started screaming out loud, For real, mumma? For real?

For real, sweet pea, for real.

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Kokia! Mrs. Quinn blasted my name, directly in my face. Her breath smelled absolutely horrible.

I sprinted outside with the rest of the school, and run to my best friend Lolly’s side. I stand on my tiptoes to see if I can Trast anywhere, but kids were not in groups, everyone was everywhere.

Have you seen Trast? I ask her, looking all around, but see that there didn’t seem to be any sort of organization, even though I thought there should be.

No, I don’t see him Kokia. Do you know what is going on? It doesn’t look like the school is on fire, she says to me, and I begin to see fear in her eyes. She felt it too.

I don’t know what this is. It just doesn’t make sense, I say, then hold my breath as I look to my right and see some trucks in the distance heading straight for us. It was hard to see at first because of the wind whipping up some loose sand in the field. I pause for a second. This looks so strange. I look up ahead again, and see these vehicles just appear out of the storm of dust and pebbles like in a movie or something. I noticed right away that they were military jeeps, and they were completely enveloping us. There were two men standing on the backs of each vehicle and then my eyes focus on their hands, each clutching a large black gun. They didn’t speak and appeared to be scanning the field. Eight, Ten jeeps I count, each one barreling toward us full speed.

Lolly, I think they are going to run us down, I say in a hushed tone.

Kokia, don’t be silly! They aren’t.... Lolly’s voice trailed off, and I noticed that her voice was trembling. I looked over at her and I could see tears starting to form in her eyes. I quickly look back at the field and see the jeeps keeping their