Disclaimer: Danni, and the characters you recognise the names of, belong to cloud9.
Author's note: This story was written for the short-story competition on Tribeworld. It's about Danni before the virus, and what happened to her. This is the first story I've ever posted here on , so I'm sorry if things get messed up! And please review! I wonna know what people think, although this is far from my best story. And this is aone-shot, so there won't be any more chapters!
A scientist's daughter:
The day had started so normal. School, the awful food in the cafeteria, more boring school, and then home!
At home, my sister was in the couch talking to her bestfriend Gel on the phone. "I can't believe it! They chose me over Cynthia!" Annie said and laughed, probably of some comment made about evil Cynthia. I walked into the kitchen, and made myself a sandwich.
"Guess what!" Annie said when she came running into the kitchen. Her eyes were wide open, and she had a huge grin on her face.
"I'm gonna have the lead in the new musical they're putting up in my acting group!" she said before I had the chance to guess.
"That's great!" I said, and hugged her. I was really happy for her, she loved singing and acting, and was very good. Specially singing, her voice was amazing for an 11-year old girl! "I can't wait to tell dad and Alex! When are they coming home?" she asked eagerly.
"Don't know…Dad might be late, his working on a project, you know. And Alex is probably with his nature group!" I answered, rolling my eyes. After my brother Alex met his bestfriend Harold, he had gotten so interested in nature, and the earth. The two of them were always out in the woods camping, collecting mushrooms and herbs. And now they had started their own group, the Eco Group. They had actually gotten a few people to join. I wasn't really sure what they did, only that they learned to "live with nature".
"Dad's late again? I really wonna tell him!" Annie's smile faded quickly. I knew she was disappointed, he was always working so much, and often didn't come home before after she was in bed. But this new project was huge! He had said it would change the world. And how right he was…
Dad came home for dinner, same did Alex. "Had a good day, Alexander?" Dad asked. Alex shrugged, and sat down. He was always so cold to dad. After meeting Harold, he had started to hate dad's job more and more. And it wasn't because of the long hours anymore. They kept arguing about the earth, and how science was ruining it. Dad didn't agree, he always said science would improve the earth, that we all had to wait and see.
"It's not Alexander anymore…" Alex said, not looking up. "Or Alex…It's Pride now!" we all looked surprised at him.
"What?" I asked with a laugh.
"And Harold will be Hawk from now on!" he continued, making Annie burst out in laughter. Alex, or Pride, gave her an angry look.
"Umm…Annie, you had something to tell me?" Dad tried to get of the subject. Annie started talking, telling us all about the play. And dad listened, looking interested, but I could tell his mind was elsewhere.
"You ok, dad?" I asked quietly. He took a deep breath, and smiled carefully.
"Not really…I found out a few things today, Danni…About my project…"
"It's not working out? What was it, anti-ageing?" I asked, I could see Alex was looking suspiciously at him.
"Yes…It didn't work out quite as we planned…"
"Could have told you that much!" Alex said, rolling his eyes. I gave him an angry look, I could tell dad was upset about something.
"There is no easy way to say this…But…It went wrong! Something went horribly wrong!" I was getting scared. He looked like he was about to cry.
"What?" Alex asked with an angry voice.
"We have created a virus…A big one! We're trying to make an antidote, but it doesn't look good!" he drove his hand through his hair, and looked at me with sad eyes.
"Is it deadly?" I asked, still a little in shock.
"Very! You three are out of danger…Only adults can get it. Why, we don't know…"
"Are you gonna die?" Annie asked with tears running down her face. Dad took her hands in his, and looked deep into her eyes. "Yes, honey."
"What? They can make the antidote! You'll be fine!" I said, and angrily wiped away the tears running down my face.
"No, Danni! Noone will escape it! It has gone too far already! We just found out this was why one of the scientists and his wife died. I'll probably be one of the first to go..."
"NO!" Annie screamed, and ran out.
Alex started shouting at dad, red in his face from anger.
"Give it a break, Alex!" I stood up. "Just leave it! For once, just leave it!" I yelled, and ran after Annie. I put my arms around her when I found her on her bed, and we cried in each other's arms. From downstairs we could hear Alex and dad argue, and yell at each other.
"I hate you! You've destroyed the world!" I heard Alex yell, before he slammed the door. About an hour later Annie had cried herself to sleep, and I walked downstairs.
Dad was sitting on the couch, staring out in the dark. I turned on the lights, and walked over to him.
"Oh, Danni…I have messed up, haven't I?" he hid his head in his hands. I sat down next to him, for a few minutes we sat there without a word.
"Can you ever forgive me?" he looked at me with begging eyes.
"I don't see the point in not forgiving you. I don't wonna waste the time we have left together with being mad at you!" tears ran down his face as he hugged me. I rested my head on his shoulder, as he cried. I didn't have any tears left myself.
"Hows Annie?" he asked after a few minutes.
"Sleeping…" He nodded, and sighed.
"You better get some sleep to!" he smiled quickly to me.
"I guess…" I answered, and kissed him goodnight. I could hear Alex coming home late at night. Walking into his room, and closing his door. I cried, wondering what would happen to us.
Days went by quickly. Pride, as we all now called him, was never home anymore. Which was ok, cos he only argued with dad when he was. Annie was so silent. She hardly talked, all she did was run to her room and cry. Dad called her school to say she would be away for a few days. The day after we were told, dad called us all together, and told us we couldn't tell anyone. Pride got furious, he said people should be warned about what was coming. Not until dad told us he had been threatened, we had been threatened. When Pride realised that meant me or Annie would get hurt, he backed down. He had already told Hawk, but he promised to keep his mouth shut.
One morning I woke up, and walked into the kitchen. Dad was sitting there, staring at his hands.
"Look at me!" he held up his hands, full of wrinkles. "And my hair!" I suddenly noticed he had gotten lots of grey hair. All I could do was hug him. At that moment Pride walked in, he didn't seem to care that dad was sick, and later on we started fighting. He told me I was stupid to forgive dad, he hadn't only betrayed us, but the whole world. I tried, I really tried, but he wouldn't forgive him. Dad got sicker, and soon had to stay in bed. Pride tried to get me and Annie to leave with him, but none of us wanted to.
Then came the worst day of my life. I woke up one morning, and couldn't find either Alex or Annie anywhere. All I could find was a note.
"Sorry Danni! You choose dad, me and Annie don't! I'm taking her somewhere safe, so don't worry about her! She'll be safe with me and Hawk! I wish things could be different, but you made your decision! She's safer in the nature, then in the city. I hope you'll be ok, Danni. And maybe we'll meet again some day! Love Alex"
I cried, and I cried. And I cried even more when dad kept asking about them. I couldn't tell him the truth! A few days later he was gone. He was buried in the garden. The next few weeks I stayed at the house, before I took all I could with me, and left. I walked in the woods for a while, trying to find my brother and sister, but found no sign. So I went back to the city, where the virus had broken out again. Now the kids where also getting it. So I went to the Pandorax building, where my dad used to work. It was the only place I could think of. Maybe I could find something, information about the virus, maybe some antidote? Who knows! But I had nowhere else. All I could do now, was to fight for the future!