Lost And Found

By Suhani Sunil Siyal

As the cold winter wind blew across the town of Melody, Florence cuddled herself in her thick blanket, which weighed more than her. Like a bear in hibernation Florence just laid there barely moving a muscle. Christmas break had finally begun, magical snow fell from the heavens and she was finally free again. All ultimately felt right in the world. Or so she thought.

As the afternoon rolled in Florence's eyes finally began fluttering open. her sister Katie was at a sleepover at her friend's place, so she was able to relax. Florence and Katie's parents traveled a lot for work and since Katie was only 10 Florence was in charge of taking care of her. And that wasn't always an easy job. Katie was quite a handful. Katie was quite young but she was also quite a genius. She was already in her third year of college where she was getting her second Ph.D. She loved science, everyone in town called her the walking encyclopedia. But after all, she was still a kid, Florence believed she still needed to have fun. So Florence made sure she led a normal life, or at least as normal it gets for a child prodigy. Which led to her absurd experiments that made absurder messes. Not only was it messy but dangerous when cleaning all that biohazardous waste. She was your everyday doctor Frankenstein.

Florence glanced across the room to clock and jumped out of bed. It was already 12 and Florence was supposed to come and pick up Katie by 1:00 p.m after their brunch. In 1 hour she dashed around the house doing laundry, washing dishes, and sweeping the floor. She practically became the flash. Once she finished the house chores she got ready at lightning speed and left. As soon as Katie was in the car she started rambling about her adventures during the sleepover. how they did a movie marathon and ate a dangerous amount of candy, and their snow sledding voyages, as well the snowman they made named Frosta. She went on and on and listening to her just filled Florence up with joy. She was finally having a normal childhood and she was happier than she had been in a long time. just as they pulled the car into the driveway loud noises from every edge shot toward her ears.

Bullets firing into the sky, soldiers shooting cannons shooting as high as possible. BOOM...KABAM…Hellfire came falling from the sky. Everyone's head faced toward the sky and misshaped objects came crashing down, everyone thought it was just asteroids and took cover. they looked like asteroids at least until they landed, that's when they opened. mist covered the rocks all they could see were shadows emerging, with every step they took Florence and Katie's heartbeats grew louder. When the mist finally cleared they revealed almost human-like creatures but they had pointy ears and only four fingers. The whole neighborhood froze for a second, humans and aliens alike processing what just happened. that was till the creatures started dashing around, they had super speed, that's when the panic set in. THE ALIENS HAD INVADED. Florence's heart-pounding, she swiftly grabbed Katie's arm and ran. Like a ninja, she avoided the lasers and ran them to safety. Looking Katie dead in the eyes she said, ”Stay here I'll get the others then we can figure a way out of here.” Kaite nodded back in agreement and then gave Florence the biggest hug. As Florence ran to get the others, Katie couldn't just sit there and watch as her older sister risked her life to help anyone who was left.

After almost an hour Florence gathered everyone and came back to the hideout where she left Katie, but she was gone. Unable to accept that she was gone. Florence spent days turned to weeks to over a month but she refused to give up, she knew her sister was out there. but there was a whole community that was looking up to her now, she had to take care of them too. Thankfully her good friend Wally was always paranoid about aliens and the end of the world and led them all to his bunker where they set camp. The bunker was filled with supplies, but that wouldn't last forever. Everything was set in a day, Florence got a good night's rest because she was going to need it to find her sister. Florence made a vow to herself to find her sister and bring her home. Every day at 10:45 p.m she snuck out of the bunker with a small backpack filled with weapons and a bit of food. She would search every nook and cranny of the battlefields and day by day she covered more ground. But she was alone and she couldn't venture far. After almost a year of searching her hope started to flicker and over time it diminished completely. she couldn't believe she lost her sister.

The invasion continued for many years, Florence was one of the few people left after it all. She started an alliance called the shark attack. Groups would go out every week and bring back whatever food they could find, groups would take a watch of the tower in shifts and others would help any way they could. At some point instead of fighting, they were just surviving or trying at least. That's when the demands came. they were outrageous and would have destroyed what little they had left. Refusing to bow down to them, Florence took a couple of soldiers and tried invading one of the spaceships..but they got caught. Instead of tying their arms like hostages, they got stamps. puzzled they questioned it and tried escaping...but they were paralyzed. unable to move a muscle. Finally, they were dragged to some dark room and locked in. That's when they heard the voice saying mysteriously, "Did you know that you could sneak aboard our ships without us knowing? You naive humans don't understand you can't defeat us... but, for your poor attempt, I sentence you to death by the pit!!"

“It was my fault they're here, let them live and I'll face your leader, no need to kill the innocent” Florence said bravely.

“ No, we came here with our free will. If we go down then we go down together” replied one of the soldiers.

“ Don’t be stupid go back to the base and help the other there's no reason to lose more of us than needed” Said Florence stubbornly.

After they escorted the others out they put a sack over Florence's head and took her the cauldron. They tossed her in a cube over a large ocean of lava. Florence could feel her skin lighting on fire, but to her, it was worth it because she saved the lives of her troops and all she could think was she'd finally be reunited with Katie. Accepting her death Florence lost all hope and said a prayer for her loved ones. Suddenly there was a marching band. Confused, Florence looked through the little window of her cell and their leader was coming through. Bewildered Florence just stood there watching and thinking. “ STOP THIS AT ONCE” the leader shouted. Filled with shock Florence stuttered under her breath ‘ t th that voice… I know that voice” just as she said that their leader removed her hood… and said “ hey big sis”

By Suhani Sunil Siyal