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Grade
7

“Lora! Tell me a story! Please!”

 

Lora looked behind her in the small metal room barely lit with fading lights.

 

“Calix! You’re supposed to be asleep.”

 

“Mom says you have to tell me a story! Lora! Pease!” 

 

Lora could hear the desperation in his voice, trying to be allowed to stay awake a little longer. 

 

“Really?” Lora asked skeptically.

 

“Yes Lora, tell him story”. Lora laughed; Calix’s imitation of their mom’s voice was nowhere near how it really sounded like. She patted down a spot on her hard mattress. Calix immediately jumped down on that spot before Lora could change her mind.

 

“Sure mom.” Lora responded sarcastically, playfully glaring at Calix, who had already snuggled up beside her. Calix giggled guiltily in confirmation. Lora started the story that she had heard from the old woman next door when she was little. Lora had been enamored with the story so much, that every free time she had, Lora ran over to the old woman's house, and begged her to repeat her impossibilities again and again. Lora took a deep breath and began to recite the old woman's exact words.

 

There is a place, where if you were to look at it, it would look blue and green with swirls of white. It looks almost magical. But the real magic happens beneath the surface.”

 

“Ooh it’s about giant robots and rockets and magical flying unicorns? Right?” Calix interrupted.

 

“Nope, but it’s a true story, unlike yours, now let me finish first” Lora replied.

 

 

“But magical flying unicorns are real!” Calix argued

“Do you want to hear the story or not?”

 

 Lora closed her eyes, visualizing as she continued. “They say, giant beasts trod the ground, with giant tusks and long trunks. They say there is an animal capable of running so fast, that it’s just a blur of orange with spotted black dots. And a majestic creature with paper thin wings decorated with the most intricate patterns.

 

They say that there were trees, billions of acres of trees, so many that they made the planet look green. There were trees and plants wherever you look. They aren’t the scrawny ones that you see now. There were ones that grew so large, that it looked like it was shooting up into the sky. 

 

They say that a long time ago, under the azure blue sea were animals in abundance. Some small with bright colored patterns, and translucent fins. Some vicious, with aggressive eyes and sharp teeth. Some graceful, with a glowing body and long tentacles.

 

And in the sky, was a wonderful sight. Fluffy white blobs on a glowing blue sky. And every so often, an animal with feathered wings of all colors would fly past, singing a lovely tune. It was like a whole different world, anywhere you go. 

 

 Lora looked down, it seemed impossible that Calix could endure such a long period without a single question. Calix had become a snoring little ball in her blankets. Lora closed her eyes too, curling into a ball next to Calix, as the steady, almost inaudible hum drove her to sleep.

 

Lora was in an elevator. She knew this elevator, how it smelled of motor oil and creaked along like a metal beast. She had stepped into it countless times. This was the only elevator that took people to the library, it was where she found proof that the old woman’s story was real.  

Lora tentatively stepped out of the elevator and entered the hallway. As Lora walked along, she could see through the glass window that enclosed the lab. Inside there were many small saplings of scientists regrowing trees. With thin branches and not much leaves. It was progress, but they still looked so fragile compared to the green giants in the story.

 

She stopped briefly at the carved wooden door of the library and entered. Lora slowly walked around the library, there were many old papers on the walls, each was full of diagrams of forgotten animals. The flurry of orange and black spots was a Cheetah, the mighty beast that towered above was an Elephant and there many, many more animals. Each with their own shape and colors, jumping out at Lora in her dream as she walked along the library. 

 

There was a large glass dome onto the ceiling, From the staircase leading up to the glass, Lora could see the landscape. It was nothing compared to the stories about what Earth used to be. There was no green grass and towering trees. There was none of the never-ending buzz of life. There was no turquoise water rippling in the wind. Lora let her mind wander back to the old woman's tale.

 

“They say there was a substance that is strong and sturdy and never disappear for a very long time, that we called plastic. We threw all of it into the sea, choking and killing all these beautiful creatures and stealing the teal blue hue from the sea, and turning it into a brown and muddy soup. They tell stories about how factories pump thick gray black smoke in never-ending plumes into the sky and air, turning everything smoky and black. They say we’d chop down trees, these towering green giants that we treasure so much now, leaving burning black stumps and animals without a home. They say that the snow and ice fell and melted in billions of tonnes, sending floods that obliterated our cities.

 

She had sat down on a comfy chair, contently reading a book when the library collapsed from tonnes and tonnes of ice crashing on the walls with tremendous pressure making the concrete walls seem fragile and weak. The impact sent books and bookshelves flying, wood and glass bits shot everywhere.

 

When it all settled down again, Lora was left in the darkness. Suddenly she was standing in an unknown road with strangers. The air smelled musty and dirty. Sounds after sounds filled her ear. People were screaming, children were crying, as homes after homes collapsed to the persevering waves of water rushing into the city.

 

As the water went above Lora’s head. She reappeared at a lab, bodies of starved out animals and humans filled the tables for autopsy. Gaunt bodies of unrecognizable animals were being wheeled past. She reappeared in another city. People were coughing in the smoky air. Children with sunken cheeks were begging for food. People begging for drinkable water. Scenes of despair and destruction fluttered through. Until Lora couldn't stand it anymore. Lora willed herself awake with every last ounce of strength left in her body.

 

Her eyes fluttered open as she lay half-awake in a pool of sweat. Lora slowly and pulled herself up. A shining, neon-green clock shone 8:48. Lora sat up immediately. School was starting in 12 minutes. She poked around the bed. Calix must have left during the night. For the next few minutes, Lora was a flurry of movement, getting ready, retrieving food from government-issued cans for breakfast. It was only until she had put on her gas mask and was out the door did she wander back to the dream. “Only a dream, only a dream” Lora thought as she tried to convince herself. But as she walked through the garbage filled, drabby street, staring at the public news screen with more unpleasant reports on floods, landslides and deaths , She was reminded that “it isn’t a dream if it’s happening”.