A/N- Hey there you are probably going to notice that these are the same exact names that I used in Know You and you are probably thinking, creep, well I wrote this well before know you so yeah. Please share some short of emotion through review. Thanks!
"When I put on my contacts"
It all started the day when I turned ten. That was the day they put my contacts in. In this day and age instead of having to change your contacts everyday they just sew them in over your eyes as soon as you need them. My mom picked me up from school on Wednesday, which only happens two weeks a month and drove me to the surgeon. I can still remember my mom's smile when she told me that we were going today. She looked as if she had won the beauty award of 2075. When we arrived at the surgeon's office no one was there so I got in right away. The operation room was dark and it had that creepy kind of look to it. The surgeon came in and a tray rose out of the ground with all types of cutting tools. She was scary to me but I was also jittery from excitement. Finally I would have contacts like all of my other friends and I wouldn't have to squint just to see across the room to see the board. The surgeon gave me a quick smile then left sealing the door behind her. I laid there for about a minute in the dark wondering what was happening when I started to smell something sweet and I dozed off. When I woke up it was already Thursday morning. And the only thing I could remember was a wilted rose.
Now I am sitting here in a hospital room with my friends Samantha and John and one of them is gravely ill. My best friend Sam is the president's daughter and she never got the contacts. Right now a bunch of her family members are huddled over her and John and I are just sitting in the back waiting for our turn. There's an epidemic going around the entire New Country spreading around like wildfire. Doctors and scientist didn't realize what was causing it until it was too late. The illness is caused by something called pollen and since no one has seen it in over fifty years it is deadly. The reason that it is so rare is because it can only get in through the eye and since most people have the contact only those who don't can get it. That very small percentile sadly included Sam.
I looked up from my lap to realize that John was already over visiting Sam. I reached down for my worn old bottomless backpack and scurried towards the bed. I nearly lost my balance once I made it over but luckily both John and Sam were ready to catch me.
"Thanks," I mumbled as I stared down at the white figure that was now Sam. She was thinner than could be healthy and her usually full blue eyes look empty and vague. Her perfect silky smooth blond hair is now frizzed up and obviously the least of anybody's worry. If I took a picture on the holography camera Sam would kill me.
"How ya feeling?" John asked Sam as she watched us carefully.
"Fine," she replied in a scratchy voice that resembled Sam in no way at all. She looked up into my eyes and I felt a gut wrenching pain fill my body. She looked as though she had been hit by a bus and then just sat there crumpled up waiting for someone to come. She saw the grieving expression in my face and quickly forced the fakest smile I have ever seen.
"At least you get to miss History class," I said trying to ease the tension, "They just keep on talking about time during the War of the World 16. Boring stuff."
"Yeah and how they actually ate breakfast and brushed their teeth instead of the pills," John added. I could tell that he was trying to help but his approach might not be working. I glanced over at the door to see that the next group was arriving.
John and I said our goodbyes as the next group walked in. The door slid open on request for us and we started down the hall. About half way down, John stopped and turned to me.
"I wish there was something that we could do, you know for Sam." His eyes were full of sorrow.
"Yeah me too, I wish," I mumbled softly. I felt a soft draft fill the hallway. I looked at the door to check if someone left it open but it was closed. I turned around to find a tall, skinny man with a moustache staring down at me. I backed up slowly because his facial expression was intimidating me.
"Hello," He said in a deep voice," I am Dr. Martinez and I know how you can help your friend."
Both John and I looked at the man suspiciously. Now his face had softened and he looked more kind than scary.
"There is no way! The doctors said so themselves, only the medicine can help her," John stated after a long silence. He was right, the doctors did say but just for a moment I hoped that the mysterious man might be right.
"Well what is your solution?" I questioned the doctor with a hint of hope I my voice.
"The Golden Rose," he answered not changing his emotion at all. Just then my heart sank a few inches into my chest.
"Haha very funny," John laughed, "And I suppose it's magical healing powers will save Sam right?"
"Yes." The doctor said with a very grave voice. With this John and I both stopped laughing and saw the man pulling something from his pocket. We stepped back but he pulled out a flat thing with letters on it. It looked so delicate and it was white unlike lots of things here. The doctor realized John and mine confusion and smiled, "It's paper. The Ancestors use to write on it. Read it." He said handing the paper to John. John then handed it to me because I was the better reader.
Where your leader sleeps
There is a tree that your people keep
Into the hole you will go
Where you will end up only you will know
From there find the golden rose
Listen up because who knows
When the next message will appear
And oh yes
Do not get caught in a burning bubble mess
I read it over several times trying to understand it when John took it from me and read it out loud.
"This is nuts," He said," There are no trees with holes. That was when I remembered.
"Yes there are," I said without realizing it," Back when we were little Sam and I would always play in the backyard of the President House and there was a tree back there. It was big and I think that there was this thing in the middle like a giant hole. We would usually stay away from it but sometimes we would dare each other to touch it." I looked up from the paper and John was staring at me. I looked for the man but he was gone.
"You remember all of that?"
"Yeah and we have no time to waste."
We ran over to the president's house and snuck around to the back. I took John further in as we looked for a real tree. A few steps before it came into view I knew it was there. It was huge with brown rough bark and thin white squiggles all over the branches.
I jumped up and started climbing the tree to reach the hole in the middle. "Come on what are you waiting for?"
John started climbing and he was much faster than I was. He made it up in about half the time.
"Hey are you sure about this?" he questioned.
"Of course I am it's the only way."
He looked down into the hole and squinted his eyes. " I'm going down first ok." With that he jumped. I made it up and mumbled to myself here goes nothing and I jumped. The sensation was unbelievable. All of my insides flew up while I flew down. My stomach felt like it almost came up out of my thought. I think that I tried to scream but nothing came out. I fell of about 5 minutes until I saw light approaching. That was when I started to panic. I started flailing around but it was too late. Luckily John was ready open armed and he caught me just inches above the ground.
"Thanks," I mumbled regaining my balance on a tree stump. My eyes took about three seconds to adjust before I saw where I had landed. All around m were flowers, all different shapes, sizes, and colors. It smelled like sweet perfume in the air.
"You think one of these are it?" his voice brought me back to reality. I looked around and realized that not a single one of these flowers was a rose.
"Nope no roses." I looked over and saw the disappointment on his face. "But we'll find it." Right then shiny bubbles started to appear from the sky. Big ones and small ones all forming one mass. A few strayed from the pack towards us. I reached out my hand when a horrible thought occurred. Burning Bubble Mess. We were about to get caught in a burning bubble mess. John reached his hand out and I shouted no but too late. I heard a sizzle and he withdrew his hand immediately with a look of pain.
"The burning bubble, this is what they mean," I said and looked around. More bubbles were circulating just about a yard away from us. I was about to suggest that we run the other way when I heard a sound. It was sweet and melodic. I knew what it was, the next clue. Only one problem. It was coming from inside the bubble storm.
"We have to go inside the bubbles."
"What are you nuts?" John said with a confused and angry look on his face.
"The next clue, listen."
"I hear it lets go." We dove through the bubble shielding our faces with our arms hoping for the best. The song was growing louder and I could hear it clearly know.
You have made it this far
Go to where the trees are
Travel through the rocks as nice as they may seem
But watch out the forest will make you scream
Talk to the Oak tree
Make it let you to the sea
Then my friend we will see
If you are fit to seek the rose of gold
The keepers like to play their game
The rose will only come for your friend's name
"I got it now let's run towards out of here." I broke through the last few bubbles to see a forest in front of me. I ran to it as fast as I could. An Earthy smell surrounded me as I ran deeper into the forest. My eyes were tearing up due to the pain that spread throughout my body. But I kept on running.
"Amy, stop!" John yelled from a distance back. I slowed down and knelt to the ground. There were several of pink patches on my skin that looked like they had been sown on. John finally showed up and I assessed that he had damage to. " Are you ok?"
"Yeah." I looked up at the sky and saw a big orange sun setting in the sky. "It's getting late maybe we should find a hotel to stay in."
"Amy I don't that that there are hotels out here. I don't even think that there are people." I took in my surroundings for the first time and realized that he was probably right.
"Oh, yeah I guess so." I could feel my cheeks heating up as the embarrassment spread through my face. " I packed a few blankets we could us those." I took my tiny pack off of my back. He looked at me in disbelief. "Bottomless bag remember. They came out last month." I stuck my hand inside and reached around for a soft blanket. It took me a few tries pulling up food pills and water bottles before I found the blankets but they were still good. I set up the blankets and John got a fire started with some sticks and a lighter that we brought.
When we were settled John reached for the pills and I reminded him that we could be out here for a while so he put them back. "I'll go find something for us to eat." I got up and walked away from the camp. Really I just wanted to have sometime alone to process everything that had happened over the last few hours. My friend is now on her deathbed, acid bubbles have burned my skin, and now John and I have to find the golden rose. Couldn't be easier right? After a while of looking for something seemingly edible I found a bush of dark blue berries. I remembered how back in school they told us that lots of nature was poisonous but I was hungry so I decided to take my chances. The berries were squishy but when I bit into one a combination of sweet and sour exploded in my mouth. I picked as many as I could and ran back to camp.
"You have to try these," I said enthusiastically as I stuffed a few more into my mouth.
"Are you sure about that you don't even know if they are safe to eat." But I guess hunger won over as he took a handful and reluctantly put a few in his mouth. He twisted up his face like someone had just punched him in the gut. "Those things are disgusting!"
"You must have eaten a sour one here try this." He took another berry from my hand but this time he looked pleased. Once we finished the berries we both decided that it would be good to leave the fire on while we sleep because we didn't want anything sneaking up on us. I got under my covers and once again reflected my day. It was dark out but I wasn't tired.
"Goodnight Amy."
"Goodnight John." I sat there with my eyes open for what seemed like hours until my eyelids got heavy and I drifted off to sleep.
I awoke with a start. Tingling spread through my entire body. I itched to scratch my legs. I sat up quickly and realized that I was shaking and by the light of the fire I could see a swarm of black crawling all over my body and John's blanket. I was shaking and I let out a scream loud enough to wake up anything in the forest. I stood up and started hopping around trying to scrape the bugs off.
"John!" I screamed. He awoke and thought fast. He grabbed a stick and tied the white stringy stuff around it then he stuck it in the fire. It was ablaze immediately. He waved the stick around my body and the bugs quickly vanished. I screamed and resisted as John tried to calm me down. Finally I gave up and let him put his arms around me to stop the shaking. I could feel myself slowly calming down. When my heart rate had slowed he tried to make me lay down, but I wouldn't. I stood there with him until I felt tired. I curled up under my covers and went to sleep.
We woke early the next morning ready to get out of that spot. We ate some berries and walked for hours. Every now and then something would move in the bushes and startle me but I just reminded myself that it was daytime and nothing could sneak up on me. After a while we came upon a small wooden sign saying, "THE ROCKS."
"I think we're here," John pointed out.
"Yeah but where is here?" We were standing in front of a giant grid with squares about 3 or 4 fee wide. It looked safe enough but I knew that something was wrong. "I don't think it is safe."
"Come on its just a bunch of lines." I knew what to do. I ran to the side of the road and picked up a handful of stones. I had seen this technique in one of those old fashion TV shows.
"Follow behind me ok?" I told John. He nodded sullenly. I looked at the grid and threw a stone into the square in front of me. Nothing happened. I threw one onto the square next to it and nearly had a heart attack. A giant bolder came crashing through the canopy of trees and onto that square. John and I both took a step back and stared in awe. "See I told you we need to take the first one." I took a deep breath and stepped onto the fist one that had not triggered the rock. To my relief it held. I tried the next row and found the right one and that held. For half an hour we went throwing stones and jumping carefully as if our life depended on it. Finally we made it to the last row. I had already thrown rocks at three and all had been triggered but just to be sure I was about to toss one at the last one when John stopped me.
"I think that we should just jump through it," he suggested," in case you know they rigged all of them." I considered this but then turned it down. Why would they do that? I was just about to throw when John leaped out through the gap made by the boulders and onto the safe ground on the other side. "Jump Amy," he called. I figured that it was worth a shot. I backed up to the edge of the square and took a one step running start. I leapt through the air but my right foot dragged just at the end of the square. I prepared for my leg to be crushed but luckily John pulled me through just in time.
"We made it," I whispered out of breath. We walked for the next hour until it started getting dark and that was when we made another camp. John offered to go get some berries but I refused saying that I would rather be out there alone than here alone.
I had collected a good amount of berries when I heard a scream. I rushed back to camp to see Wolves surround it. I quickly grabbed a stick and headed towards John. I got there just in time because the first wolf pounced and I wacked it down with my stick. The one retreated. I thought that we had won but then the real fight came. All of the wolves attacked now. I fought off as many as I could. I was looking to my left when horrendous pain spread through ought the right side off my face. I saw that John hadn't been doing that well either. Right then I didn't know what hit me. I was overcome with strength and power. I eradicated the wolves from our camp and then passed out on the floor.
I woke suddenly very very hungry. John had already collected berries so I ate all I could with out throwing up. We walked quickly with ought talking about last night. I tried to remember the next line in the poem to try to see what was coming up next.
Talk to the Oak Tree
Make it let you to the Sea
Great. Just what we need a talking Oak tree. I kept my eyes open and I spotted the Oak Tree.
"Hmmm let's see are you the oak tree?" I asked.
"Yes I am and I speak so tell me what you seek." It replied.
"We want to see the sea," John said to the tree. There was no reply.
"Maybe we need to speak to it in rhyme," I suggested," Let us to the sea so we may be set free." It was a stretch but I hoped that it would work. I guess it did because all of the trees cleared and there was a salty smell in the air. It was the sea. I ran to the sand and took a deep breath. No more trees.
"We need to get going," John said with a stern face.
"Oh ok." We walked until we came to a giant field of roses. Big roses, little roses, even pink roses as far as the eye could see. We had made it, but which one was the golden rose? None of them looked very golden to me. I bent down and picked up the closest rose.
"Now what?"
"I don't know I guess…" that was when I remembered the last line of the rhyme.
The rose will only come for your friend's name
"Sam," I whispered.
"What?"
"Just follow along." I took a deep breath and yelled as loud as I could. "SAM! We are here for you now show us the rose." As if by magic a tiny mound came up at my feet and a small withered red rose sprouted out of it. I bent down and plucked it. Every thing was going to be ok.
The ground shook and a really strong wind blew. It whipped my hair in my face and stung my eyes if I tried to open them. I heard John yell something but it was muffled by the wind. A few seconds later John disappeared almost like the wind had taken him away. That was it. I relaxed and let the wind sweep me off of my feet. The world spun and we ended up at the entrance to the hospital. We had made it. We ran to Sam's room and made her small the flower. With just one deep breath she was feeling and looking better. We had done it. We had found the Golden Rose and cured Sam. I will never forget that day when I put on my contacts and it saved me from the pollen.