One Rotation

A Shocking Surprise

I am woken by Ally, and my throat has stopped burning.  I slip into my dress pants, and my dress top.  I put my black heals on, and brush out my hair.  Everyone is dressed in the same outfit, and we all look scared.  We leave the room, and I go knock on the boy’s door.  They open the door, and walk out.  We all file in a line behind a trainer, and walk in silence.  We are led to a door, and he holds it open for us. We file through, and the door closes behind us.  The room is dark, but I hear many people breathing.  Someone turns the lights on, and I am temporarily blinded. Mr. Nostra is standing on a stage, and we are right by the stairs.  To our right, across from the stage, is a room full of NASA scientists. Mr. Nostra holds a microphone to his mouth, and starts to talk.  “Hello everyone.  You are here because it is time to choose the people for Mission Zero.  Our decision is made, and we want you all here to witness it.  There are five spots on the ship for NASA agents, and twelve competitors.  Those competitors, in no specific order are: Beth, Carly, Jim, Sydney, Sean, Ava, Nick, Gabe, Jake, Molly, Olivia, and Ryan.”   We walk onto the stage, and stand in a single file line next to Mr. Nostra. 

Mr. Nostra continues to talk, and I can tell how nervous everyone is. “Now these people have been observed for the last few days, and we thought that we shouldn’t make them wait any longer to see who made it.  The final list is in this order: twelve place is Sydney!” Sydney walks up to him, and shakes his hand.  She walks back to us, and nods to us.  She starts to walk off of the stage, when Mr. Nostra stops her.  “Wait,” he says, “I need everyone who doesn’t make the team so stay on the stage, and stand on the other side of me.”  She nods, and walks to the other side of him.  She wipes a tear away, and stands tall. “Tenth place is Beth, and Tenth is Carly.” I hear Mr. Nostra say.  They both walk over to him, and shake his hand.  They stand next to Sydney, and the list continues.  Mr. Nostra continues to talk, and we turn our attention back to him.  “Ninth place is Gabe, and eighth is Jim.”  They do the same, and stand with the others.  That was the first person who didn’t make it from our original group.  Mr. Nostra continues on talking, and doesn’t seem to care that he just crushed the spirits of multiple people.  “Jake and Sean are the last two people who didn’t make the team, and I would like to thank everyone who tried for this.”  Jake and Sean walk up to Mr. Nostra, and shake his hand. They walk around him, and stand by the others who didn’t make it. Mr. Nostra starts to talk again, but his voice is much more excited now.  “This means that your five astronauts are Molly, Ryan, Ava, Olivia, and Nick!”

We walk forwards, and shake his hand.  He squeezes my hand, and smiles at me.  I am excited that four of the original five has made it.  We walk back to where we were standing before, and everyone claps for us.  Mr. Nostra then turns his attention to the seven people who didn’t make the team.  “Now we all know that we cannot trust anyone with the secrets of this mission.  We can only trust you scientists, and the people who will be executing the mission.  This means that we can no longer trust you seven people, and therefore you must be um… taken care of.  Mr. Nostra nods to someone who is offstage, and that person presses a button.  The floor where the seven people were standing drops out and everyone buy Jim falls in.  We hear screams and a loud sizzling noise as they fall in. Jim was standing to the side, so he didn’t fall in.  We look at Mr. Nostra in shock, and he looks at Jim.  Jim backs up, and looks around wildly.  Mr. Nostra hits a button on his microphone, and the ceiling above him opens.  A small wall of lava falls from the ceiling, and drips down on him.  The lava hisses when it hits his body, and Jim slides to the ground.  The lava stops pouring down, and runs into the pit in the ground where the other people died.  We run over to Jim, and his body almost looks normal.   He is lying on his side, so we only see the part of his body that wasn’t hit by the lava.  Ryan gently grabs his shoulder and turns him over.  When we see the other side of his body I take a step back, and Ava screams.  The flesh on this side of his body is gone, all the way to the bone.  You can see the bone on his face, neck, and his arm.  His chest and legs are bleeding heavily, and his skin flakes away as he tries to move.  We look to see why he is bleeding so heavily, and Ryan finds the source of the bleeding.  His torso is connected to his legs, by only a small strip of muscle. Mr. Nostra tells us to step back, and we reluctantly do.  He presses the button again, and the ceiling opens again.  The lava pours down once again, and covers Jim.  The last we hear of Jim is a loud scream, as the wall of lava covered him.  Mr. Nostra turns the lava off, and it drains into the pit.  Now where Jim was, there is only a pile of bones.  I scream out, and try to run to him.   I feel Ryan’s hand grab my wrist, and hold me back.  He keeps ahold of my wrist until he knows that I will not run to Jim anymore.   Two men walk onto the stage with brooms, and clean up the bones.  Mr. Nostra turns his attention back to us, and starts to talk again.  “We all know that a team like this needs a leader, so we decided that the most fit person for this roll is Molly.” He says, and I look at him.  I walk forward in a daze, and shake his hand.  When I walk back to my spot I wipe my hand off on my shirt.  His hands are stained with the blood of seven of the competitors, and I can’t believe it.  They are added to the list of people I have seen die, and I push it out of my head.  “Their training is now complete, and they will be leaving in two months times.” I hear Mr. Nostra say.  “You may leave, but be careful, and you can stay here if you wish.”  We are dismissed, and we walk out of the gym in shock.  It is currently May eighth, and we need to be back here by July first.  I tell my new friends goodbye, with a few tears still wetting my cheeks. I tell them that I am going to my high school reunion, and that I will be back soon.  The reunion is tomorrow, and I should be back by the twentieth. Ava, Olivia, and Ally hug me, and I walk out of the building.

I walk to the main road next to the NASA compound, and hail a cab.  I tell the cabbie my address, and we start the commute to my house.  I check the clock in the cab, and notice that it is a little after noon.  I will have to make the stop at my apartment a quick one if I want to make my flight. I sit in silence, and we arrive at twelve twenty.  He pulls up next to my house, and I tell the man to wait a moment so I can get my money.  I look around carefully, and run into my house.  I grab my purse off of the chair by the door, and run back to the cab.  I pay the man, and thank him.  He drives away, and I look around.  I walk up to my new door, which was replaced after the FBI agents kicked it down. I open the door again, and walk inside.  The door is the only thing that has been moved, or changed.  Papers are thrown everywhere, and there are bullet holes in my table.  I look around my house, and make sure there is no one there.  The blood is still on the carpet, and I walk to my room.  I look for an outfit, and open my closet.  I slip on a nice black dress, which goes all the way to the floor.  I slip on a tall pair of black heels, and teeter on them for a moment.  I slip on a white cardigan, and make my way into my bathroom.  I quickly brush my hair out, and put it in a French braid.  I quickly get my makeup out, and try to fix the way my face looks.  I put some foundation on my sponge, and cover my wounds.  I cover the scab on my forehead, from when Parker attacked me.  I dab more makeup on my neck, to mute the bruises from Jake.  I then apply a lot of makeup to my eye, to make the black eye not as noticeable.  I walk out of my room, and think of one more thing that I need.  I walk over to the table, and bend down.  I pick up my gun, and check the bullets.  There are still a few left, so I decide to take it.  I need to have it, incase anything happens with Mike Sherling and his gang.  He may be in prison, but his entire group isn’t, and I cannot be too safe.  I put the gun in its holster, and attach the holster belt around my waist.  I then go to my purse, and grab my NASA, and my FBI badge.  The people there will know who I am, but I should take the badge just to be safe.  I grab one last thing, and leave my apartment.  I grab my earpiece from NASA, and push it into my ear. 

I go back to the main road, and hail a cab.  People on the street know that I am going to be an astronaut, so I get a cab fairly quickly.  I go into the cab, and tell the cabbie that I need to get to the airport.  He takes me there, and I get out.  I grab a couple dollars out of my cardigan, and pay him.  He thanks me, and I walk into the airport.  I get in line to go through security, and I see that people are looking my direction.  Security was a blur, and not a single officer stopped me after I showed them my badges and told them who I am.  I get my ticket out, and walk to my terminal.  I sit by myself, and wait for my plane to board.  I asked one of the people from NASA to get me a ticket to Juneville Maine, and they spoiled me.  They booked me a first class ticket, and I stand up when the plane lands.  They call for all first class people to come forward, and I walk forward.  I give them my ticket, and they say that I can make my way to the plane.  I nod, and walk onto the plane.  I sit down in my seat, and watch the other people get on. I get a few looks, but most people don’t look back.  The plane fills up, and we get ready for takeoff.  We takeoff a moment later, and soon we are soaring through the air.  The plane ride is a blur, and we soon land in Juneville Maine.  It is ten at night, and I make my way out of the airport.  The NASA scientist had also gotten me a hotel reservation, and I hail a cab.  I tell him the address, and he drives me to a large hotel.  I get out, and pay him.  I walk into the hotel, and tell them my name.  I get my room key, and I make my way to my room.  I open the door, and I am in a huge suit.  I roll my eyes, and close the door behind me.  I take my gun out of the holster, and set it on the table.  I take the belt off, and slip my heels off.  I take my cardigan and my dress off, and lay it on the table.  I go into the bathroom, and quickly take a shower.  The water is scalding, and it feels great.  I turn the shower off, and grab a fuzzy towel.  I wrap the towel around my body, and make my way to the large bed.  I take the decorative pillows off of it, and slip in.  I take the towel off, and throw it on the ground next to the bed.  I pull the blanket up to my chin, and lay my head down.  Tomorrow I will be meeting my high school friends, and I hope that they approve of me. I fall asleep with the vision of Jim dying embedded in my memory.