Room 132

It was the end of third quarter. An average sixteen year old girl, Ally, needed straight A’s on her report card in order to go to Hawaii for spring break with her mom and dad. It was “the day” that everyone was freaking about, the day that report cards came in the mail. She knew that she wasn’t allowed to open the letter without her parent’s permission, but she couldn’t stand the wait. Quickly, she raced down the winding squeaky hardwood floor stair steps, heading to the front door. When she was about two steps from the bottom, she leaped to the main floor. She had to make this quick because her mom would be home any minute. Avoiding rocks and dirt, because she only had socks on, Ally hoped from step-stone to step-stone. Pulling down the rusty old opening to the mailbox, she yanked out a long white envelope. This was it. She said a quick prayer asking for the best, then tore the thing open like there was no tomorrow. Carefully and meticulously, she opened the letter. In it, it read
Report Card:
Language Arts: d
World History: c
Art: b
Math: d
Band: e
Spanish: d

Her mouth dropped open, practically to the ground. Ally couldn’t believe her eyes! Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her parents couldn’t know! They would not at all stand for it. She wouldn’t let them know. She dashed inside her house, and sluggishly climbed up the stairwell, until she reached her final destination, her bedroom. Ally decided to hide her report card. She stuffed it in her laundry hamper. “Knock knock knock”. Somebody was at the door. She peaked out the window to discover that it was only her mother. She let her mom inside and helped her put away the groceries. Later that evening, her mother Lisa was doing laundry when she found Ally’s report card. Furious at her daughters’ grades, and at the fact that she tried to hide them from her, Lisa shouted to her daughter, “Young lady you are NOT, I repeat NOT going to Hawaii with your father and I for spring vacation. I am SO disappointed that you got these terrible grades and that you attempted to keep them secret from me!”

That night seemed like forever for Ally. She sulked alone in her room. She cried for hours. This trip was supposed to be amazing! Sandy beaches, tropical weather, suntans, surfing, hotel rooms, swimming, fruity drinks, the smell of suntan lotion, pools, and the ocean! She couldn’t have asked for a better vacation! But now it was all gone. No beaches, no tan, no surfing, nothing! She was so mad at her parents for not allowing her to come on the family trip.

Hours of loneliness and sadness went by and before she knew it, it was Saturday morning. The young teenager woke up to the great smell of sausage and eggs. She ate breakfast as quick as possible, trying as hard as she could to avoid an annoying conversation with her parents about how they “expect more from her” and that she’s “such a smart girl”.

“We are leaving now for the airport. Well see you in a week”, said her dad. Both her mother and father offered her a parting hug but all she did was shake them off.
Later that day, Ally was walking around her house, she was not really sure of what she should do…just trying to kill some time. Or find something to take her from her extreme boredom.
She wandered right into her parent’s room. While poking around through things, she stumbled across a remote control. At first, she thought it must have been for their TV, but then realized that it only had one button. It didn’t actually look like a normal clicker. The gadget was small and bright blue. Not sure of what it would do, Ally pressed the shiny silver button down. Flashing lights were all around her. The girl couldn’t see anything but different colored lights and weird noises. After a little while, she woke up to find herself in a dark tunnel. It looked as if it could be a sewer. There was shallow water covering the bottom. The smell was not all that pleasant either. This tunnel wasn’t your average ordinary tunnel. It seemed as if it went on forever. Ally saw a bright white light shining from the end of it. But the end was so far away. Slithering like a snake, she made her way to the opening of the tunnel. There was a small cage-like door, but she managed to push the cage open, and crawled out onto solid ground. There were small groups of 5-6 people scattered everywhere.

All around she heard whispers and people were staring at her. “WHAT!?!?!” she shouted. Nobody said a word. “I AM SERIOUS, WHAT ARE YOU WHISPERING ABOUT??” she shouted once again. “Look lady. . . . It’s just that your hair is really weird and so are your clothes, where are you from, Mars???” said a young boy who was about seven or eight years old. “Jeez, sorry, I didn’t know complete strangers felt so strongly about what kind of clothes I wear and my hairstyles!” Ally said in a nasty tone of voice, as she glared at the little boy. “No, don’t be upset with me! Just, everybody in Seattle dresses like you do. We all wear the same clothes and have our hair cut the same way” said the little boy. “Ha-ha that’s funny, I could have sworn you said we were in Seattle” she said. “I did” he replied. “No no little boy, you’re wrong, this is not Seattle. I don’t know where we are or what year we are in” she said in a shaky voice. “Lady, it’s the year 3,000 and we are in Seattle” the child said, but now in a more angry voice. “Oh. I understand. Thank you” she said to him. She looked around there was no trace of any coffee shops, beaches, grocery stores, malls, houses, colorful flags, or restaurants anywhere to be seen. What kind of world was this?

The only thing that she saw was thousands of gray skyscrapers lined up, going on for miles on end. The streets were spotless; women all had the same haircut, clothes, weight, and basically the same features. Men had the same haircut and color, and clothes. So many things rushed through her head at that exact moment. Why is everything so gray and perfect? Why the people are all dressed the same and act the same? What kind of technology do they have? What kind of food do they eat? Are medical treatments better? Who is the president or the leader? Or for that matter, is there any authority at all? Who rules this terrible twisted place? When did things in the world start to go downhill? And what caused it?

Endless thoughts filled her mind. She spotted a young girl that looked like she was about her own age, sixteen. “Hello! Excuse me?” Ally called out to the girl. “Hi, my name is Ally Pangello and I know this may sound odd, but I’m from the past. Year 2006 to be exact” she told the girl. “Oh hey . . . we get “wanderers” like you all the time! My name is Lauren” said the girl. “It’s nice to meet you Lauren. I am not trying to be a bother, or rude, but could you direct me to the time portal so I can go back home?” She said. “Yea sure I can! Just follow me” Lauren told Ally. Lauren ran down the street. Faster then Ally had seen anybody run in her life! Ally turned to Lauren, “wow you’re good at running!” suddenly Ally ran right into a huge street pole and hit her head. She saw tons of colorful flashing lights again and then blacked out.

When she woke up this time, she found herself in her own room in her bed. She wondered . . . was this all just a dream? No. it couldn’t have been a dream because she clearly remembered pressing the remote control button and blacking out. She still had so many questions about the future. She was not sure what happened, and frankly, didn’t give a darn. She was still so very disappointed about her parents being on vacation and her not! For the rest of break, she thought a lot about the future. Break was boring, but she survived. A few weeks went by, and still she couldn’t get the future out of her head! Why was this? She had to go back to her parents’ room and get the remote, if it was even still there. Surprisingly, it was! Again, she pressed the button, and BAM! In a flash, Ally was somewhere unfamiliar. But this time it didn’t look like the future. “WHERE AM I???”

The End

~alex