Pandora Dreaming
Epilogue and Chapter 1
A girl, about 13 years old, stared out of her window. She had a frizzy mass of coppery brown hair, which was currently tied up in a messy knot resting on the nape of her neck. She had pretty eyes which were either an earthy green, an unearthly blue or a mixture of both. They glinted with intelligence and a certain spark that was becoming increasingly hard to find in people. She had a small and apparently cute button nose. Her lips were small, average. The top lip decisively smaller than the lower. She had a slender neck, slightly muscled shoulders and a strong middle section. Her legs were long and powerful. The girl had spots of acne on her forehead, back and chest. She'd had them for a long time, almost so long that she had gotten used to it. None of her friends had ever had acne this bad for so long. The girl sighed, wiping the condensation off the window.
The girl peered out the window, as she had done many times. The scene staring back at her had changed so many times. Her family owned the large-ish house in what was left of the country. The house was worth a fortune, since it was surrounded by trees and had about half an acre worth of land. They used to be surrounded by large acreages and not many people. Now, hundreds of lights glimmered in the surrounding valleys and hills.
The girl frowned and turned back to her book, her eyes skimming across the words, soaking up the information. She pulled the old doona up around her waist and glanced once again through the window, into the night. She wished she could see the stars. She hadn't seen them in years, except on TV. Too many lights. The girl pulled her knees closer to her body and settled the book on her waist, continuing to read until her eyelids drooped and her eyes barely registered the words she was reading. She placed the book delicately on the wooden floor, touched the panel which extinguishes her light and settled into her bed. The girl dreamt of glowing planets and massive blue people. She dreamt of what she had been reading of. She dreamt of Pandora.
Chapter 1
10 years later, a woman was settled in a very familiar position. Knees curled close to her chest, book nestled between her legs and her chest. Her green blue eyes skimmed across the pages, the words transporting her to another world. One which she would soon experience for real. The woman looked up and glanced through the foggy old window in another familiar gesture. Her still fuzzy, coppery brown hair hanging in ringlets just above her shoulders, her lips morphed into a frown. City lights flickered in the distance. Dawn was coming. The woman closed the book delicately, the old, worn pages rustling softly. The woman threw off the bed covers and quickly changed into a soft, comfortable t-shirt, a pair of worn jeans and some bright blue joggers. She raked her fingers through her hair and tied it up into a rough pony tail. She glanced at the bags by her bed. A backpack and a duffel bag. Packed and ready to go, sitting by her bed for a week, a steady reminder that she was going to be shot into space in such a short time. She walked into her spacious bathroom, grabbing her toothbrush and toothpaste, scrubbing her teeth vigorously.
Once she was done with everything, the woman swung the backpack onto her shoulders and shouldered the duffel bag. Its contents were her clothes, necessities and some personal items. The flinty gravel crunched under her joggers and she turned once more to look at the house in which she had lived in for most of her life. She smiled sadly, because she had the feeling she would never see this place again. The woman pocketed the keys to the old house and walked past the overgrown garden, past the jungle of weeds and trees and out the rickety gate. She packed her belongings into the boot of the idling taxi and as she was just about to climb into the antique car, she stopped. The woman pulled out a small tablet looking thing, pressed a button and it came alive. She pointed it at the house and pressed the screen. She saved the picture onto her tablet, turned it off and placed it back into her backpack. She turned and climbed into the taxi, driving away from her memories and towards her future.