It may not seem like a nightmare to you or I, but to a seven year old who has never felt the sun against her skin, it was. She longed to run in the rain, to swim in the sun's golden rays.
Bree wanted to have a best friend to play games and to have a sleepover with. She wanted to see cats and dogs, and maybe even a bird! To run through the fields at night, catching and releasing fireflies as she went.
After she woke, she could not seem to fall asleep again. So Bree did what she always did to calm down - make a list of what she wanted to do when she left the lab.
The girl flicked on the light at her little table in the corner of the lab that Mr. Davenport had let her have for drawing. She began to write in her seven year old scrawl in the notepad she kept hidden from everyone.
Chase stirred in his capsule. His bionic hearing had picked up a scratching noise. He slowly opened his eyes to a dim light flowing accross the lab.
The 6 year old pushed open his capsule door and walked quietly over to where his sister sat writing.
"Bree, what are you doing?"
The girl jumped and closed her pad quickly. "Just drawing."
"No, you were writing."
"Nuh-uh."
"Yeah-uh."
"Nuh-uh."
"I'm telling Mr. Davenport!" Chase started toward the elevator.
"Chasey! Wait!" Bree ran over to her brother and took his wrist, pulling him over to her desk. She took her note pad and slowly opened it, then handed it to him.
His eyes scanned the pages, taking in every detail of his sister's scrawl. When he was finished, he looked up at her with misty eyes.
"I want to do all of this too." he said in a barely audible voice.
Bree enveloped her little brother in a hug. "Then why don't we? We could sneak outside tonight. Nobody would ever know."
Her chocolate eyes focused on her brothers hazel ones. "But if someone were to see us..." he tried.
"It's one in the morning. We could be in and out." she pleaded.
The boy sighed, clearly beat. "Let's wake up Adam."
Bree gave a little squeal of joy and sped to her older brother's capsule.
When he opened it, she filled him in on the details.
The eight year old whooped and grabbed a jar.
Chase gave him a weird look. "Why a jar?"
"To catch fireflies with." Adam responded innocently.
The youngest shrugged, not wanting to ruin his brother's fun.
They took the stairs, not wanting to wake up Mr. Davenport with the elevator.
Once they got up, they found the door marked EXIT. The three looked at each other, smiled, and took a deep breath.
"1! 2! 3!" they pushed hard, and the door flew open.
Bree sucked in a breath at the sight before her. A wide green lawn over looked a valley. At the other end of the valley, a city was alive with lights. And through out the lawn, fireflies danced.
The children looked at each other and ran. They squealed as the fireflies tickled their bare arms, and lit up in their hands. Adam used his jar, and caught many. They ran in the bright green grass, chasing each other.
Too caught up in their game, they didn't notice the time flying by. They rolled in the grass, and at last just laid back and watched the stars.
Chase pointed out a few constallations, and then they all saw a shooting star.
"Make a wish! Quick, guys!" Bree shreiked.
Chase was about to say that there was no way it would come true, but he decided against it. He wasn't about to crush his sister's hopes and dreams.
"I wish we could go to that city over there." Adam said dreamily.
"I wish we could go to school." Bree sighed.
"And I wish this could last forever." Chase mumbled as he drifted off to sleep.
Bree smiled as she wrapped her arms around each of her brothers, and they all fell asleep on the grass, under the bright stars.
Should they have stayed awake any longer, and looked up, they would have seen none other than Donald Davenport, watching his neice and nephews. He smiled, he had seen the whole thing. Even heard the children's wishes.
"I promise, one day, those will come true."
Seventeen year old Bree Davenport was downstairs, cleaning up after Douglas had blown up the lab. She was angry, to say the least. He had blown up their home.
She knealt down and picked up a splintered piece of white wood. A frown appeared on her smudged face. It was her desk.
Bree sighed. She threw it into the over flowing dumpster. Another piece of the desk hit the pile of debris.
She bent down and picked up the drawer to it. A charred piece of paper floated out and landed on the dusty ground.
Interested, Bree picked it up. On it was a list of things she wanted to do when she left the lab. She tried to decipher the seven year old writing.
To have a best friend To catch fireflies To scuba dive in the ocean To go to Paris To go camping To go to school
And at the very bottom, half worn away by the heat was:
To make Adam and Chasey's wishes come true.
She smiled, and a tear slipped down her sooty cheek.
If only seven year old Bree had known what was in store for her.