Thunderstorm

Chapter 1

Part I

Jennifer woke up.

Where am I? she thought.

It took her a while to realize what had happened. Then she remembered the asteroid.

Did I- die? No, if I did, I probably wouldn’t feel sick to my stomach. she thought.

Her head was pounding. She looked around. The room she was in looked like a hospital. She quickly tried to get up, only to have the tubes suspending her body to the bed pull her back down. She noticed a console that had a button on it that could disconnect the tubes. She reached towards it, but could only touch the top of it, then get pulled back. She sighed, then reached harder towards the button and managed to press it, disconnecting the tubes. However, she forgot that she was no longer on the hospital bed, and fell down to the floor.

After a few minutes, Jennifer got up, feeling lightheaded. She walked towards the window. Outside, she could see what looked like cars zooming past her.

Except they weren’t on the road. They were in the air.

Jennifer shook her head and walked towards the door, which was surprisingly unlocked, and opened it. As she walked outside, she saw hundreds of people walking around. She saw a group of girls who looked like they were in their mid-teens who seemed to be saying strange acronyms to each other. They were also carrying phones that had screens on both sides.

“T-L-S-C!” one of the girls exclaimed. “D-U-R when you went out with John and he had that R-C-D?”

One of the other girls groaned. “I-H-T-G.”

They all nodded in agreement.

Shaking her head in confusion, Jennifer looked around at the others around her. There was also a group of men in their 40’s complaining about “the prices to travel to Mars nowadays”.

She continued walking down the street, and went into what looked like an airport. She sat down on a bench, trying to remember what happened. However, every time she tried to recall her past, she heard a ringing tone in her ears, and she got a headache.

A man sat down next to her. He looked like he was around 30 years old.

“Where are you headed?” he asked.

“Nowhere, I’m just trying to figure out where I am.” Jennifer responded.

“Oh. I’m trying to book a flight to Mars, but the prices here are so unreasonable! I’d go to the Moon, but it’s so rocky there! I feel bad for the people who have to go there on business trips.”

The only response Jennifer could give was “Oh.”

“You know, people from Mars are so irritable,” the man continued. “They keep complaining about how it’s ‘so cold here’ and how ‘there’s almost no sand here’. Are you from Mars?”

“No.”

“Well, then, you’re lucky. They have barely any technology there.”

Jennifer stood up. “I have to go now.” she said.

“See you!” the man said.

“….okay, then.”

Jennifer walked out of the space station. As she was walking back to the streets, she heard someone call her name.

“Jennifer?”

She turned around. The man who had called her name looked around her age. She could hear the dull ringing sound again.

“It’s me, Ben!” the man said.

She didn’t recognize him.