A Landscape of Consequences

Submitted into Contest #53 in response to: Write a story about summer love — the quarantine edition.... view prompt

17 comments

Romance Fantasy

Laboratories will remain closed for now. Please let all your material in the respective incubators/refrigerators and we'll be contacting you soon with more information. Be strong.

Kind regards,

Doctor Anya Sánchez-Jones.

The sign was stuck to the door of their lab.

Ale heard whispers around her.

Some of the undergraduates were cursing under their breath. Summer was essential for them to process their samples and graduates were much the same.

Alejandra was one of these graduates. She had come from the other side of the world to finish higher education a few months earlier.

She took her samples and stored them safely in place. She murmured a prayer for them (she wasn't religious but who knew what kind of dangers her beloved cells would have to go through if left unattended; she shuddered just to think of it). She was the last one to leave. Her resolve not to find any of her colleagues there had to do with their behavior. Few seemed to understand she had no time to waste.

Bad luck followed her around; she was a magnet of misfortune and as such, she avoided getting involved with people as much as she could. It was the third month of the year and she was already regretting coming so far from home.

The labs are closed earlier than expected. The news of the outbreak of the virus had reached them about three months earlier but little was done to stop economic activity in their state.

That meant malls, parks, and schools, as well as banks, and all public entities, were vulnerable to the virus jumping from host to host.

People were the hosts.

After a few months, she created a new routine. She would wake up, read the papers, read some articles, and then she would start journaling. What this Earth was like, what they were missing from her own, and how she thought she could achieve it.

By then all symptoms were disclosed. People not only had started to develop strange fevers and difficulty to breathe among other symptoms but the mortality rates started to be linked to diseases too. Time seemed to pass both too slow and too fast. The news started to relate the events with the country instead of relating it with a foreign continent.

People complained.

Store clerks, teachers, and health workers had to deal with people complaining.

The rants, the mismanagement, and chaos seemed to reign.

A few nations felt the weight of it on their shoulders; their lives had changed. Others kept going with the same inertia all victims of trauma had: that sensation of not being able to notice what has been done to you.

What they kept doing to everyone.

Panic was palpable. It was around her like some kind of atmosphere that wouldn't leave her. Her accelerated heart rate was beginning to give her more anxiety than she had.

She took a shaky step to her desk and stared at the computer for what felt like the umpteenth time. All those years of civilization and both worlds hadn't mastered the art of erasing anxiety.

She was supposed to be running a gel to add to her matrix of experiments but, with her luck, she had gotten the news that non-essential experiments wouldn’t be conducted.

If only they knew how essential those experiments where, they wouldn't be making such claims!

In other words, her experiments were non-essential as they did not bring money to the university.

Cursing her lack of luck, she growled. It figured that once she was finally ever to return to her education something like this would happen.

Anxiety trickled in her mind slowly and she welcomed it like an old friend.

Instead of wishing it away, she decided to do something proactive. It’d been a while since she surfed the net for something fun to do. All her friends were scattered around the globe and it was past midnight on their time zones. No one would be awake. The twenties had taken a toll on their already worn bodies.

She typed 'coral reef' almost without giving it thought. It was one of the first ecosystems that got her interested in science.

The forum was a pretty thing. It was littered with posts of coral reefs and people explaining in detail what they would require to restore them.

She clicked in one of the recent posts.

Posted by humansoftomorrow 15 minutes ago

Can’t come up with anything to do in quarantine, so here’s a thread of coral pictures

Posted by daughterofthesea 9 minutes ago

Look at these proud boys, I already feel better by seeing them swim around the sea with such ease.

Can't you believe how happy they look?

Posted by guywithacomputerandakeyboard11

Hello. I happen to be the one who took those pictures. They did seem happy when they were swimming by the camera.

Posted by green-diaries

No way! Tell us more about it!

True to his word, the user posted a series of pictures where he's making a peace sign.

She swallowed.

She thought she knew who the person was and yet...It didn't make any sense to find him there of all places.

She sent him a private message.

Hi, I don't know if you remember me but we met a few days ago at Samir's reunion. You had the best pictures of the corals and I'd like to make a collage for my presentation.

Kindly,

Ale.

She hit send.

Coral reefs have always been fascinating to her although she didn’t work with them on a daily basis.

There isn’t much to do but wait around—there doesn’t seems to be anything else to do anymore. The summer is hot so she took a long bath before she opened the chat again.

In the shower, she thought. She reflected on the internal and external chaos of a city that gave up long before she came to the world and how that changed her outlook on everything.

She tried not to think too much of what she left behind.

If she was honest with herself, she has been isolated for quite some time now. It felt as if the rest of the world was only catching up with her until the self-imposed quarantine started.

It pained her.

The small notification appeared and the laptop pinged. The sound reverberated across the room.

I'll have to buy a new one eventually, she thought.

She looked at it with uncertainty. It is strange for one of your posts to receive any comments at all.

It was him.

Sure. I think you'll like the ones I sent you now. I love pink corals. They seem magical.

Oh, if he knew what magic was like. Magic was all-or-nothing.

She agreed.

"Can I have your number?" he said.

She sighed.

Numbers were, by the definition, verboten for empaths. It was like willingly opening a channel to other people to hurt you. No one had preservation instincts that low where she came from.

But she sent it anyway. She was, after all, the Guardian of this chaos. What else could happen to her if she gave in?

Speaking was magical. It could make you forget that, sometimes, even at your lowest, you can be someone's

Another soul has reached you through the clutter of the city. The synaptic connection is there. Palpable. Real.

He seemed to smile at her through the chat. She should know better, but all she smiled back anyway.

On a whim, she texted him. It is a good thing technology and magic don't clash anymore. Otherwise, she could have ended up burned from all the energy spent in communicating and keeping wavelengths below their threshold.

“Hi,” she typed, adding a smile emoji for good measure.

She hoped not to be too forward. Communication skills weren’t her forte. It'd been too many years since she spoke with anyone that wasn't a magic-user.

Although they had met before there was something about him that shone brighter than a thousand suns in Tailea.

“Hi!!!” he typed. “I’m Ryan. Twenty-five and unsure of what life means anymore.”

Her heart sped up. She wasn't human, what was she supposed to type?

That was the part of the conversation when people bring up their age. But she doesn't, it might make things awkward if she started lying so soon.

“Hi, I’m Alejandra.”

“I remember. Cute name., beautiful woman.”

She almost closed the chat.

But she has gone through worse things than that conversation.

“Things aren’t great here,” he said. “It seems university won’t start again and it is my only job.”

She sigh. It was also her only job. In the non-magical world, anyway. She guessed she has even less of a chance to perpetuate her education now that she had to guard the Earth against this threat by doing nothing. Living in the city wasn't going to open many doors to her, but there was nothing else she could do.

She took a glimpse at her room. She loved the sea, it made her feel just like she did back at home.

It was either jump ship and start anew or remain there in the ruins of what used to be a dream.

Food, water, medicine shortages were still fully ongoing. Their world was the same as hers, only a few moments in the past. And she is the last one in a long line of fighters and apprentices.

“I know,” she typed although it was far from the way she thought. “I look like that always.”

He replied with smile emojis.

He doesn't have to be nearby, for her to know that he is happy to have found her. Whether there is a reason or not (and she firmly believes there isn’t) she was still there, walking this Ancient Earth that was unknown to her.

During that moment the connection with the world felt less slow. A sliver of something she thought had died a hundred years before sparked alive.

“When do you think this will be over?” he typed.

“I don’t know,” she typed back.

Before she could regret anything else, she picked up the phone.

She had no way to know if the world she had jumped from could be started again, but at that moment she felt like she was going to make it happen.

August 08, 2020 02:39

You must sign up or log in to submit a comment.

17 comments

Amany Sayed
17:43 Aug 08, 2020

Wonderful story! Though it was a little confusing at times, I really enjoyed it. I would recommend doing something to indicate that she's texting and not speaking. Maybe add a few typos, and make it more realistic texting. Instead of putting the texts into dialogue, I would put them in a sort of texting format, like, for example: "Ryan:Hiii! Ryan: I’m Ryan. Twenty-five and unsure of what life means anymore. " It would just make it more clear that it's texting. Other than that, it was really great, though I didn't understand the ending pa...

Reply

María Barrios
20:00 Aug 08, 2020

Thank you for reading my story and taking the time to comment. This story is about Alejandra, a female scientist who is doing some research into coral reefs. Then COVID happens and she goes back to her apartment where she lives alone. She sees Ryan's post on an online forum and she remembers him from a party she went to a couple of months earlier. I call it summer love the quarantine edition. That's where the real-life events stop. Then comes the fantasy subplot: she is an empath and the last heir of a long line of creatures in a lost plane...

Reply

Amany Sayed
20:03 Aug 08, 2020

Ah, that definitely clears things up. No problem, I enjoyed it! Definitely do!

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Elliot Thomas
13:35 Sep 15, 2020

I'm sorry I took so long to comment, but here I am! This was an interesting read. The format was a little confusing, but this was a very original take on the prompt. What are alien empaths exactly? Are they anything like human empaths? Can they detect thoughts or feelings or both? I would love to see this continued. The main character feels ages old yet youthful. I can "sea" why she would love coral reefs. They are beautiful. The usernames you picked for the forum were creative. "guywithacomputerandakeyboard11" made me laugh because that is ...

Reply

María Barrios
14:38 Sep 16, 2020

Hi no problem at all. I've been rather absent myself. Maybe next week I'll be posting again. I don't see her as an alien but rather the last one in a long line of magical creatures. She comes from a "water world" and she can feel people's feelings and sometimes catch one glimpse of their thoughts. She's on a mission to study "our world" to see if there's anything in it that can help hers. Something in the water. But that's pretty much it in terms of science. The rest is mostly fantasy. So this is either soft sci-fi or science fantasy. Can ...

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Pragya Rathore
14:42 Aug 23, 2020

I really loved this one, Maria! Captivatingly descriptive and wonderfully written. Beautiful! You integrated COVID-19 into the story effortlessly. Great job! Please check out my stories too, if you get the time :)

Reply

María Barrios
03:13 Aug 24, 2020

Hi Pragya! Thank you for reading my story and commenting. I read yours and loved it, it brought me to tears because of the subject matter. It moved me. I have already left a comment there but honestly, I think you deserve a shower of comments on that one. Now, about my story, I'm glad you liked the writing. You know, sometimes I feel like we're selling an idea to readers and sometimes I fail. That's when I don't post here or don't submit anywhere, the point is that I'm still working on making my words shine, and getting feedback is an ama...

Reply

Pragya Rathore
03:17 Aug 24, 2020

You're most welcome! And thanks :) You're right; when I see someone reading my story and telling me what they thought of it, it fills me with unprecedented joy! It's an amazing feeling :p

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Yolanda Wu
05:29 Aug 14, 2020

Ooh, this was a really interesting story, and I love how it incorporated what's currently happening, and the texting was a good touch, made it feel a lot more realistic. Amazing job! Would love to read more from you. :)

Reply

María Barrios
02:49 Aug 24, 2020

Thank you Yolanda. It's so nice of you to comment on my story and of course. I'll be posting again this week if work and the internet permit it. I hope you're having a great day!

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Avery G.
00:20 Aug 09, 2020

Cute story! I love how it relates to what's happening right now. It is quarantine edition, anyhow. Great job!

Reply

María Barrios
03:04 Aug 24, 2020

Thank you Avery! I'm sorry for the late reply, where I live the internet isn't great but I could finally access the comment section. I'm glad you liked it :)

Reply

Avery G.
18:56 Aug 24, 2020

You're welcome! It's okay!

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Phebe Emmanuel
03:40 Aug 10, 2020

You asked me to read, so I did! This is a really good story! I loved how the beginning whizzed by and the description was entertaining. Great read!

Reply

María Barrios
19:11 Aug 10, 2020

Thank you for commenting Phebe :) I'm glad I could entertain you. I'm working on making my stories better and having people read them makes me happy. I'm in love with Reedsy.

Reply

Phebe Emmanuel
20:24 Aug 10, 2020

I am too! I've always looked for a place like this, but never found anything new until recently. Your stories are great!

Reply

Show 0 replies
Phebe Emmanuel
20:24 Aug 10, 2020

I am too! I've always looked for a place like this but never found anything new until recently. Your stories are great!

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 2 replies
Show 1 reply
RBE | We made a writing app for you (photo) | 2023-02

We made a writing app for you

Yes, you! Write. Format. Export for ebook and print. 100% free, always.