100 Years From Now...

    When I wake, the first thing that registers in my head is the sound of rain, drumming against the roof of our house. I stretch and sit up, yawning. I get up and head towards the door. I like seeing the rainfall, at least when I’m sheltered. 

My sister, Lilac thinks it’s weird. We’re twins. Our names don’t rhyme or sound too similar. Simple. Lilli and Lilac. My real name is Lillian, and my nickname is Lilli.

It’s not spelled ‘Lily’ because the way ‘Lily’ is spelled just reminds me of those fancy girls way back, who wore those ridiculously frilly dresses everywhere they went.

I go back inside and change. I get back to our room and fall back onto the bed. I fall on something hard. I slide out of the bed and pull the blankets down. A small creature is lying under it.

“Watch it!” the thing yells in a small, squeaky voice. I let out an audible shriek.

“Someone attacking you, Lilli?” Lilac asks sleepily from the bed on the other side of the room.

“N-no. Go back to sleep.” I stutter, looking at the little thing.

“Why’d you yell?” She mumbles.

“No reason. Er- bad dream.” Soft breathing from her bed tells me she’s fallen asleep.

The thing on my bed is saying something that I can’t hear. Gritting my teeth, I take a shirt and pick the creature up. Heading outside, I dump it on the steps. Hesitantly, I sit down.

“Um- what are you?” Not what I meant to say, but nevertheless important.

Suddenly, I can’t see. Everything is black. I claw at my eyes, which are open. Have I gone blind?

And then it’s gone. As quickly as it came, it leaves. I glance around. The creature is still there, but next to it is a boy my age.

“Who are you?” I ask sharply.

“You’re fine. This stupid Narankai found the wrong person.” He runs his fingers through his hair and picks up the little creature- Narankai.

“What’s a Narankai?” I ask, bewildered.

“It’s a machine. It’s used to send messages. I have a friend who lives around here. But Narankai aren’t exactly what you would call reliable.”

“Okay… What’s your name?”

“Noah,” he says grimly.

“Where are you from?”

“The future.”

“The future. A kindergartener wouldn’t buy that.” I say sarcastically.

“No. I’m telling the truth.”

“Won’t believe it until I see it,” I say, folding my arms. Wonderful. Now I sound like a kindergartener.

“‘Kay. Great. I don’t care. What’s your name?”

“Lilli.”

“Okay. Come on, Lilli. I need to find someone. You’re gonna help me.”

“What makes you say that?”

“You want to see where I come from?” He asks.

“Mmm. The future?” I ask, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Yes,” he says.

“Show me first.” I wait for Noah to give up and say it’s not real.

“Okay. Fine. C’mere.”

He steers me forward. We reach a small field, and he drums a rhythm on the grass. A platform appears in the grass and I jump backward. He steps on it and holds out a hand. I take it, and he pulls me up.

Suddenly, everything is gone. I open my eyes and see that Noah’s on the grass again.

We’re in the same place! I feel like an idiot. I look up, but my words fade at the sight.

Tall multi colored buildings in all shapes and sizes grow around us. Noah beckons for me to follow him, and I do. Wishing I had a thousand more eyes, I glance around, trying to take everything in. 

Robots are working in the place of construction workers. Metal ‘people’ work in shops.

We walk past a small machine, and Noah presses his thumb on it. A cake pop comes out. He hands it to me and I laugh. We continue walking down the streets. I throw the stick from the cake pop away in a small trash can.

There is a shoe store with a robot at the counter. I gaze in, and Noah tells me to hurry up.

Suddenly Noah pulls me back. A large car floats down and lands where I was a second ago. I gape at the car, earning myself a reproving glare from the driver.

“Careful!” Noah says. I don’t pay attention.

“There are flying cars here?” I ask in disbelief.

“Of course!” Noah says, surprised. “You expect us to keep those dumpy little machines in your time? No offense.”

“None taken.” I say briskly, and continue walking.

He hurries up and walks next to me. We pass a brightly colored house and a large, flying object comes up above me. It drops a box in front of the house, and a lady comes out and grabs it.

I look closer at the object. Noah seems to see my confusion and tells me, “That’s a drone.” 

“Ohh, that’s awesome.” I say. I want to keep looking at it, but Noah takes my hand and continues dragging me along the streets.

I stare around me and see a small staircase leading underground.

I point to it. “What’s that?”

At this Noah grins. “You want to know? Okay. Tell me any place that you’ve always wanted to go. It has to be in North America, though.”

“Umm, New York.” I say.

He leads me down the staircase and we get to a place that looks remotely like a train station. But instead of trains, there are small plastic seats, with a thick layer of glass around it. The glass slides up, and people sit down. It closes again, and as soon as I blink, they’re gone.

A man on a desk loads the next two people on.

“What-where’d they go?” I ask, bewildered.

“It’s a pod. In your time, it would take you around 10 hours to get to Albany. At least on a plane. Here we have pods. They go really fast and it’ll take you less than a quarter of that time to get there.”

He tugs on my hand and pulls me forward. He talks to the guy sitting on the desk, while I marvel at the underground station.

They really did make it beautiful. A glass chandelier hangs from the ceiling, and it’s not dark at all. There are cushions and plush sofas for people to wait on.

“Lilli. Lilli.” Noah’s voice breaks into my thoughts. He motions for me to follow him. He gets into the next pod and waits for me.

I hesitate for a second. He gives me a reassuring smile and I cautiously get in. The second the glass closes, we’re going so fast, everything around me is a blur.

I close my eyes tightly and clutch the handles. I glance at Noah through half closed eyelids.

He looks like he’s having the time of his life. 

I grip Noah’s hand so tightly I think I’m gonna stop the blood flowing in his arm. He squeezes my hand and I relax slightly, wondering if I’ll survive the next few hours.

Noah did say that in a pod, it takes half the time then in an airplane. I drift off, lulled to sleep by the steady motions of the pod.

A few hours later I jerk awake to the pod slowing down. Noah’s asleep. I sit up and brush my hair out of my eyes. We stop and I shake Noah awake, excited to go out.

“Easy.” He mumbles when he wakes. He glances at the look on my face. “Excited?” He asks me.

“Very. Come on!” I jump out when the glass opens and run outside into the sunlight.

New York looks nothing like I imagined. Or maybe it does. Except we’re in the future.

He comes out, squinting in the light.

I drag him around, getting lost a few times, but still having the most fun I have ever had.

Noah pulls out some money and asks me, “Where do you want to go for lunch?”

I gaze at the money, not hearing his question. “Can I see that?”

He shrugs and hands me the money. I look at it. It’s blue, with a person in the middle. 

“This doesn’t look like George Washington,” I say, perplexed.

“Who’s that? Oh, you mean that guy? Nope, this is Maya Morne.”

“Who on Earth is that?” I ask him.

“The lady who founded this place. Enough questions now. Come on.”

This time I follow him, and he leads me around this place. We eat lunch, and continue on.

“Maybe we should head back now,” I say, looking longingly at this place one last time.

“Maybe,” he agrees, looking disappointed. But then his eyes light up.

“What?” I’m confused.

“I want to show you one more thing. Let’s go back to the pods. We need to head to Georgia. Be by the water.”

“Georgia is landlocked. You mean Florida, right?”

“Florida? No way. That was submerged by the ocean ages ago.” He exaggerates.

“Really? That’s cool! Well it’s sad, because I have family there.” Then the realization hits me. I shriek.

“What?!? You almost gave a heart attack.” He says weakly.

“Did everyone who lived in Florida get out?” I ask.

“94.6% of them did.” He looks at me cautiously.

“Okay. Let’s go!”

We head to the station, and we get into a pod. I brace myself for the ride, but I know what to expect, so it’s not that bad this time.

We get out a few hours later, and I get hit with sunlight. We head to the bay, where Florida and Georgia used to meet.

“Put this on.” He hands me a mask attached to a small tank.

“How?” I ask. He takes it and helps me put it on.

“I keep forgetting you live in a boring town.” He smirks at me.

“I live in the same place as you do, except for the fact that you live in the future.” I snap back.

“Okay, okay. You ready?”

“3...2...1…” He counts down.

“Why are you coun-” I scream at the same time he yells “ZERO!”

He jumps into the water, pulling me with him. I gasp as we float down.

“I can talk in these masks! Wait, if we go too deep we’ll get crushed by the pressure.”

“This is the future,” he says in a singsong voice, swimming downward.

“That doesn’t explain how we won’t get smooshed.”  

I follow him, and squint as a shape emerges in the water. I see a palace, and tunnels, pathways and underwater gardens.

Noah motions to me, and I follow him down. He reaches a set of doors.

He pulls it open, and we go in, water flooding in. He shuts the door, and waits for the water to flush out through the pipes, and then opens the next set of doors.

He takes off the mask, and I follow his lead. We walk through the tunnels, me, saucer eyed, looking at everything.

We enter the palace and I gasp loudly.

“Welcome to Atlantis.” Noah says grandly, and I gaze around in shock.

I hurry forward, and he follows me this time.

“You really are stubborn.” He mumbles. I throw him a dirty look.

He holds his hands up in surrender. After I get a tour of the whole palace, I say, “I should get back now.”

“Okay.” He leads me to a small box. I stand in it, and he gets in after me.

There’s a flash, and everything is a blur, and finally, I’m at the field where we started. Rain is falling, and looking up, I see the boring, rectangular, gray Seattle buildings.

I sigh and blow a strand of hair out of my face. “Back to normal.” 

“What about my favor?”

“Huh?” With all the excitement, I had forgotten he needed help. “What do you need?”

“Where does George Likonedale” I look around the neighborhood, and point to the dark grey house. He and my mom are friends, and he makes us cookies sometimes.

I turn and hug Noah. “Thank you. It was great.” I spare him a genuine smile, and he gets back on the teleporter. I give a small wave, and he disappears into a flash of light.

I head back to my house, and yell, “Mom! Lilac! I’m back!”

I look at the time and see that it is 8:45 pm.

I cringe as I hear my mom yell. “Lillian Martinez! Where have you been!”

If only she knew.