New Hope
By Ethril Dragon
Chapter 1
By Ethril Dragon
Chapter 1
A sigh escaped her lips as the school bus trundled down the road towards her bus stop. It was already springtime and Sarah couldn’t wait until school was finally done and over with. She honestly didn’t know if she could take much more when it came to school. PE was horrid, she even started to think her teacher didn’t like her because she wasn’t physically acclimated like the others. She was a swimmer, not a runner. English was ok; at least the teacher was nice. Math though, math was a different story. She knew, KNEW her teacher hated her in math. Why else would he ignore her questions during class, seat her in a far corner where she couldn’t see the board, and yell at her for things she never did?
Yes, she couldn’t wait for school to finally come to an end. ‘Just one more year,’ she thought idly to herself as the bus pulled up to her street and let her off. ‘Just one more year and I can go to a college! It’ll be a faster learning environment, I can take classes I like, and my teachers won’t notify my mother if something is wrong,’ yup, she couldn’t wait. She loved her mom, but she wanted to be able to make mistakes on her own and figure out how to fix them on her own.
Sarah really didn’t pay attention to her short five-minute walk back to her house; she had walked the path so often she could walk with her eyes closed. Her steps led her to her garage door before she even realized what she was doing. She lifted the keypad cover and pressed in the code, her eyes half lidded and her attention and mind wandering to her room where she intended to take a nap. “Mom, I’m home,” She announced as she dropped her bag by the family room desk. Her head slumped and she looked at her bag in dismay. She knew she had homework, but she didn’t want to work on it just then.
“Sarah, could you come into the living room please?” Sarah heard her mother say. She rolled her eyes. ‘If she wants me to try and organize her stuff again I’m going to go nuts,’ she thought as she rubbed her head and put on a fake smile.
“Yeah, coming,” she said softly. She didn’t want to get angry with her mother for no reason, but whenever she got home, even if she had her own things to do, her mother always interrupted and demanded things from her.
She paused suddenly, her feet stopping and her mind coming to a halt from the rant she had started internally. There were two men in her living room next to her mom. Her mom was sitting, her eyes bloodshot and upset. An older looking guy was sitting in one of the chairs across from her mom; he had on sunglasses and was holding a folder in his lap. The third guy was the one that caught her attention. He was standing by the window, his hands in his pockets and his head bowed slightly. He was wearing sunglasses and a black suit like the older one sitting down. But there was something about the standing one. He had dark red hair and a black bandana wrapped around his forehead. Sarah frowned and looked from one guy to the other. To her, they looked like government agents or something. Things didn’t feel right to her.
“Mom…what’s going on?” She asked, one hand pressed against her chest in a tight fist and the other clenched at her side. She didn’t like how the older guy was looking at her.
“Why don’t you sit down Sarah,” her mother whispered, patting the seat next to her. Sarah didn’t move, preferring to stand as far away from the two weirdo’s as possible.
“It’s best if you sit Miss. Rumery,” the older guy said. He didn’t move, but Sarah could have sworn she felt something trying to push her towards the chair. Her eyes darted to the guy standing.
“I would rather not,” she said, her voice wavering slightly even though she tried to sound strong. She didn’t feel like sitting. In the back of her mind she pushed at the thing that was trying to get her to sit. She didn’t realize she had done it, just that the pressure stopped. The red head looked up sharply and then nodded to his partner.
“What’s going on?” Sarah asked again, taking a step backwards; heading back into the family room.
“My name is Mr. Miller,” the old guy said finally standing. “This is Seth. We’re here to talk to you about something very important.” He said, he removed his sunglasses and watched the girl closely.
Sarah frowned and shook her head. ‘Well duh there here to talk about something; why else would they be here, to take me away?’ she thought idly as she leaned against the door frame. “So, what are you going to talk to me about?” She asked with a bored expression. She was honestly exhausted from school and she wanted to get a snack and head to bed. Her head hurt and she still had to practice and get her homework done.
Miller sighed and waved towards the empty chair again. “You should sit down. What I have to say won’t be easy for you to except,” what he had to say was never easy to except. His hand twitched over the folder in his lap.
Sarah’s eyes glanced at the chair and then at Miller. She was stubborn and she hated to do what most people told her to do, especially people she had just met. “Fine, but this better be good,” She mumbled as she took the seat, edging slightly away from her mom. Her mom, tried to reach out to grasp Sarah’s hand, but Sarah pulled away. She shivered, something wasn’t right here. She wanted the two guys to leave and fast. “So, start talking,” she said, her arms crossed over her chest and her right leg folded over her left knee.
Miller sighed and opened the folder in his lap. “In 1971, a group of leading astronomers were studying the sun and its activities when the stumbled upon a revelation. They found a pattern within the suns activities and what the discovered led them to make a horrifying prediction. They predicted that in 2021, the sun would go Super Nova,” Miller pulled out the first page in the folder and passed it over to Sarah. It was a summary of the finds from the scientists in 1971.
Sarah took the paper hesitantly and looked over it. How could the sun go nova? From what she had learned in school, something of that magnitude shouldn’t be happening so soon.
“Using the parts from crashed alien crafts, structures called “Bases” were created. These bases will act like colony ships that will head out past our solar system to go to inhabitable planets that were discovered by the Voyager 1 satellite.” He pulled out a blue print of one of the bases as well as charts and transmissions that had been sent by Voyager. Sarah took these pages as well and scanned through them. Miller stayed silent as Sarah looked over them. He waited for the usual question that would come up.
“What does this have to do with me?” Sarah asked with a shaky voice. Most of her disbelieved what she was being told. She felt like she had been dragged into a really bad science fiction movie. Her mind was racing with the things the Miller guy had told her. Alien crafts, colony bases, the sun going nova, all this was too much.
Miller sighed and pulled out one last sheet. This one was a full profile on Sarah herself. “The bases are high tech, state of the art. They run with technology that humans were able to scavenge from alien parts. The thing is, the technology can only be operated by certain kinds of people,” he handed her the profile. It had the normal information. Her name, birth date, physical features, health record, school record, anything and everything about her. She flipped over the sheet and at the bottom of the second page was something she quite didn’t understand. There was a note that stated “Possible matrix, detected traces, testing required, review next page.” She frowned slightly.
“Ok, what kind of people? I doubt I fit the mold,” she stated covering the papers with her folded hands. She highly doubted she was the kind of person that was needed to run one of stupid bases, if it was really real.
Miller sighed. If he hadn’t already known or seen with his own eyes, he himself wouldn’t believe the next thing he said. “The base is run by psychics,” He stated simply. “And only psychics.”
That was it, the breaking point. Sarah laughed, grabbed her head and laughed. Now she knew this was a bad joked set up by her mom. “Psychics? You have got to be kidding! This is the worst sci-fi joke that has ever been played on me!” she wasn’t kidding, she was a sci-fi genre kind of person and people joked about it all the time. She chuckled and then shook from suppressed laughter.
Miller looked up at Seth and then back at Sarah. She was reacting better then most people usually did. “We’re not joking. Everything we have told you is 100 percent fact,” he closed the folder and watched as the girl slowly calmed down.
Sarah took several deep breaths, her smirk fading and her eyes widening slightly. Before she said anything, her eyes narrowed and she looked from Miller to Seth and back to Miller. “So, if all this is real…” words failed her suddenly.
Miller nodded slowly and stood. “It is believed you have psychic powers. We are here to inform you to pack your most prized possessions and to come with us to one of the bases,” He picked up the papers that had fallen out of Sarah’s lap while she had been laughing. He placed them back into his folder and sat back down.
“Sarah, there are bags for you in your room.” Sarah’s mom said softly. It was obvious she was holding back tears as Sarah stood slowly and walked back to her room in a stunned silence. Her mom watched her sadly and looked at Miller and Seth angrily. “You do anything, and I mean anything to hurt her I will make sure you both will never have another day of peace.” She stated before she stood up and walked to Sarah’s room to help her pack.
Seth let out the breath he had been holding during most of the explanation. “That went better then planned,” he murmured more to himself them Miller. He had expected Sarah to get angry and loose control of herself. He had even imagined Sarah trying to run away from him and Miller.
Miller nodded and sighed. It had taken hours to convince her mother to let them take Sarah to the base to be tested. “What do you think Seth? Is there anything in her?” Miller asked softly enough that only Seth would be able to hear him.
Seth nodded minutely. “When I tried to push her towards the chair, I felt her push back. I don’t think she understands or realizes what it is she can do yet. I would suggest we move quickly and carefully with her,” he hesitated before continuing. “There’s something else. I tried to probe her mind, but all I met with were heavy barriers. I think, she subconsciously built the barriers.”
Miller frowned and then smiled sadly. If she was able to create mental barriers against intruders before she was even trained, then maybe she was the one they had been looking for. “Right, I’ll be outside by the car. I need to make a few phone calls,” he muttered softly as he turned and left through the front door.
Seth watched him go, but his eyes were unfocused as he intently listened to what was going on in the girl’s room.
Sarah was still too stunned to really think about what she was doing. She grabbed her more precious dragon statues and wrapped them in several of her favorite costumes. She grabbed some of her poster off her walls and rolled them up. The last thing she would pack would be clothes. She set everything into a pile where her mom was packing. After she had pretty much picked out her favorite objects around her room she pulled open the drawers of her dressers.
It wasn’t long until she had most of her things packed and ready to go. Sarah had so much extra stuff that she had never really realized her collection of things had grown so large. “Do you think I should take some of my books?” She asked softly.
“Books won’t be necessary,” A voice said from her door. Sarah spun around to face the tall red headed Seth. Sarah cursed mentally and folded her arms across her chest. “If you forget something, we can always send someone to retrieve it,” Seth added as he leaned against the door frame.
“Is that so? Well, is there anything I shouldn’t be taking other then books?” Sarah asked sarcastically as she leaned her weight onto on foot. She wanted to take her books. “And why shouldn’t I take my books?” She had a rather large collection of books in her private library.
Seth sighed. “There is a rather large library on base that has every piece of literature ever written. Most of it is on disc files, although there are still regular books to be found.” Seth looked at the two bulging bags that were on her bed. Her mom had started to pack the third. “You can order clothes on base, but I guess you can pack some of your favorite clothes if you desire. It is suggested you only pack the things you would miss the most.”
Sarah huffed and glared at Seth. “Fine, could you go away now! I want to be alone with my mom,” she said, turning her back on him.
Seth sighed and went back into the living room to wait. He had only wanted to help, and Miller had forgotten to mention what to pack and what not to pack.
Sarah stood silently for a moment before turning towards her mom. In part of her mind, she denied any of this was really happening. “Mom…tell me this is all some horrible joke,” she whispered as she sat down next to her mother on her bed. She fingered the folded up fairy blanket she had just picked up.
Sarah’s mom reached over and pulled her daughter into a tight hug. “I wish I could sweet heart. I wish I could. None of this really makes sense right now, but it will soon,” her mother said with a forced smile.
Sarah saw the hurt in her mother’s eyes and buried her face into her mother’s shoulder. All this wasn’t right. It didn’t feel right and it didn’t make any sense to her. “I’m not a psychic mom. After I get tested they’ll realize that and I will come home again,” she whispered comfortingly.
“If that’s the case honey, then when you come back, we’ll go on a long vacation. We’ll spend as much fun time together as possible,” her mom smiled lovingly and pushed her gently off of the bed. “We better finish packing though.”
Sarah sighed frustrated. “I’m not a psychic! I’ll be home tomorrow, I promise,” she said with a big smile. There was no way she was psychic. She had never been able to move things, hear people’s thoughts, or predict the future. In fact, she had never been able to really do anything at all when it came to science fiction phenomenon.
Her mom shook her head and watched as Sarah pulled out a few of her favorite shirts and pants. They had packed a few of her plushies, most if not all of her jewelry, her dragon and fairy statues, her favorite costumes, her wall posters, and her fairy blanket. All that was left was her clothes and her personal entertainment items. “I’ll put my sketch pad and gameboy and stuff in my backpack,” She mumbled to herself. She passed her clothes over to her mom who placed them carefully into the large suitcase.
Sarah looked around her room before leaving to grab her backpack. She walked past Seth, sending him a death glare before grabbing her bag and hurrying back to her room. She didn’t want to be anywhere near that creep.
Seth could feel the tension and anger radiate off Sarah as she passed him to grab her backpack. It wasn’t hard, it felt like she was trying to project those feelings at him to try and scare him away. ‘Well,’ he thought with a huff. ‘Seems like she’s using more of her powers then she thinks.’
Back in Sarah’s room, Sarah and her mother were doing final rounds to look for anything they had missed. They were going slowly, using as much time as they could. An hour later found them sitting on Sarah’s bed again talking quietly about things, things Sarah’s mother would have told her later in Sarah’s life.
Miller reentered the house, it had been an hour and a half already and he was getting anxious to head back. “Is Sarah ready yet?” He asked softly to Seth.
Seth nodded slightly but grabbed Miller’s shoulder before he could head back to the girl’s room. “I would leave them alone, their still talking to each other,” Seth said, his eyes focused on nothing. It looked like he was looking at the wall in front of him.
Miller sighed and nodded, sitting down and waved his hand tiredly. “Are you sure you sense nothing in her mother?” Miller asked for the hundredth time that night.
Seth sighed and nodded. “There is nothing in her. No powers to speak of, now, would you stop asking?” Seth asked exasperatedly.
Miller sighed as well. It was so much easier to get people to go to the base when they could include their family. The only problem was the fact that only people with psychic powers were allowed on base. It had been decided by all the governments involved that the only way for the human race to survive, was to save the humans part of the “next generation”. ‘Things would be so much easier if we weren’t running out of time,’ Miller thought as Sarah and her mother appeared with her 4 suitcases and her backpack.
Sarah refused to look at Miller and Seth, she hated the idea of leaving her mom behind. To think, when she was coming home from school she was looking forward to a little independence. Now all she wanted was to be with her mom as long as possible. “Are you guys sure I’m one of your psychics?”
Miller nodded and Seth took two of the suitcases from Sarah’s mother. “We’re positive,” he didn’t add the fact that he was positive because Sarah had been watched for several years. “If you are ready, we had better head out. We have a 3 hour drive ahead of us.”
Sarah nodded, not really in the mood to ask where they were going. “Can I have a minute alone with my mom?” She asked, her eyes avoiding Miller’s and Seth’s.
Seth rolled his eyes slightly and carried the suitcases out to the car. He didn’t quite understand why she was being so hesitant on leaving. He had never really known his family. He had been discovered early on when he was a child. Miller on the other hand frowned but nodded. He walked out the front door and waited on the front steps.
Sarah dropped her backpack and wrapped her arms around her mother, even though she didn’t want to admit it, she felt that perhaps this really was going to be the last time they saw each other. “I don’t want to leave mom,” she said, her voice chocking from held back tears.
“I know honey, but you need to go. If there was a way to save you at least, you know I would take it,” her mother said, rubbing the small of Sarah’s back. She held her daughter in silence for a moment more before letting go and pushing her daughter towards the front door. “You better go sweet heart. That Seth looked rather impatient to be off.”
“Forget him! I don’t want to leave you behind,” She cried out in anger and misery. She would have done anything at that moment to stay behind, to tell Seth and Miller no. “Why can’t I refuse mom? Can’t I refuse? It’s a free country still,” Sarah said desperately.
Her mother shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry dear, but it was my choice. You’re still a minor and they had to ask me first. I want what is best for you and I want you to be able to live out your life, to grow up,” Her mother cupped Sarah’s cheek with her hand. “Besides, Miller told me that even if I had refused, they would have taken you away. At least this way, we can have a proper good bye.”
Sarah shook her head and closed her eyes feeling tears roll down her cheeks. “It’s not fair though! Why couldn’t they have given us a few days to be together at least?” she couldn’t help but argue, this wasn’t the way she had planned on leaving her mom. Her plan included college and starting her own life and her own career.
“Be strong, Mr. Miller said you can call whenever you want. I’m sure they’ll let you visit once in awhile. Now, be good and do what you’re told,” her mom lifted Sarah’s chin and wiped away the tears. “I love you Sarah.”
“I love you too mom,” Sarah said as she gave her mother one last hug and turned away. As she walked towards the black car that Seth was standing next to, her mind went numb and her head hung on her neck. Her eyes were down cast and she didn’t even thank Seth when he opened her door for her. If she couldn’t stay with her mom, then she wanted to leave fast so she didn’t change her mind. “Bye mom,” she whispered softly to herself. And she knew that that good bye would probably be her last good bye to her mother she would ever say.
