Now…
It was a beautiful Saturday morning in New York.
The sun's light was silently creeping into a young girl's bedroom.
Sierra's bedroom, to be exact.
She was silently resting when she began to feel the intense heat of the sun.
Sierra yawned and began to rub her eyes.
After she rubbed her eyes, she looked at her digital alarm clock that was on her nightstand.
The red digital letters and numbers read 9:24 A.M.
She then looked over at her desk that had a stack of volcanology research on it.
Sierra couldn't have been more than proud of the volcano diagram that she drew on her own.
It was very detailed and very authentic.
Okay. So...This place right here is a giant air pocket, which is surrounded by lava. The magma that also surrounds it turns the place into a big oven. Though… This still bothers me. What happened to Uncle Max? How come he didn't tell me last night about what happened to him? Sierra said to herself as she looked up from the breathtaking piece of art that she had managed to draw.
She then looked towards the hallway.
All was silent.
Just as she was about to head towards the hallway, the blinds began to slide all-of-a-sudden, on their own and, now, sunlight began pouring in.
It now had gotten a hold of Sierra, grabbing her hands and her legs.
The heat was getting really intense as the thick ray bands of sunlight was wrapping around the young girl.
She cried out, in pain.
….
Trevor was in the living room, sitting on the couch, drinking a cup of coffee when he began to hear the agonizing cries and screams of his daughter, Sierra.
He hated to see his daughter so sad and hurt.
He knew he would do everything in his power to make sure that she was safe and happy.
Right now, she needed to be safe.
He placed his coffee cup down on the table and began to run up the stairs, into the hallway.
He followed the cries and screams until he got to the doorway.
When he got to the doorway, he saw her arms and legs being held down by rope rays of sunlight.
Sierra looked at him, with a broken look on her face.
"Sierra? Sierra?! SIERRA!" Trevor said as a wave of concern was now running through him.
He ran in and grabbed a hold of the sunlight by its ropey rays and began to jerk it, causing Sierra to fall down flat onto the floor.
The sunlight began to get loose and spaghetti stringy again.
….
Just after Trevor watched the sunlight return to its normal and original form, he turned towards Sierra, who was on the floor.
He kneeled down to her.
"Sierra… Sierra? Are you alright? Did I hurt you? I'm sorry if I did. Can you forgive me, sweet pea?" Trevor said, hoping that Sierra would respond.
Sierra opened her eyes, slowly and looked up at her father.
Trevor smiled at her.
He checked her over for injuries.
All he could see was bruises.
"Hi, Daddy." Sierra said as she was beginning to get up.
"Hi, sweet pea. You alright?" Trevor said as he began to gently help her up.
Just as Sierra was about to answer, she began to feel a sharp pain coming from her head.
It felt like a headache and she knew that Uncle Max was wanting to talk to her but, now wasn't the time.
This was the time to be talking and having fun with her father.
Trevor looked at her, concerned.
"Sweet pea, you alright? I'm okay." He said as he looked at her.
Sierra shook off the headache feeling and looked at Trevor.
"Huh? Oh yeah, Daddy… I'm okay." She said as she looked at him and smiled.
The two walked hand in hand downstairs, into the living room.
Trevor placed her gently on the couch, being careful not to touch Sierra's sore spots.
"So, sweet pea… What do you want for breakfast? Maybe some pancakes? Bacon? Cereal?" He said as he kept his eyes on her.
Sierra looked at him.
"Blueberry muffins." She said, nodding her head yes, in affirmation.
Trevor smiled at her.
"Okay, sweet pea but, are you sure that you'll be okay here by yourself? Last night, I heard you talking in your sleep." He said, concerned as he was about to go towards the kitchen.
Sierra nodded her head yes.
"Yeah, Dad. I'll be okay right here." She said as she took one final glance at him before he went into the kitchen.
After Trevor left for the kitchen, Sierra laid back against the couch and passed out.
….
The young girl began to awaken on the underground ocean beach, inside a makeshift beach tent, on a beach chair.
Max was reading some sort of National Geographic magazine when he looked over and saw that Sierra was up.
"Welcome back, Sierra. Hope you had a good night's rest." He said as the young girl yawned and began to rub her tired eyes.
"Thank you, Uncle Max and yes...I did have a really great night's rest." She said as she looked at him and smiled.
Max smiled back at her.
He never got a chance to get to know her but now, he knew how to find a way to communicate to her, spiritually.
"So...How's your father doing?" Max said as a cup appeared magically and he was now pouring a citric drink into it.
The drink itself was very sweet.
Plus, it was orange-yellow.
Sierra smiled at the thought of her father Trevor.
"He's doing okay. I'll make sure that he knows that you asked about him." She said, with a sympathetic look on her face.
She could tell that her uncle missed her father but, right now, she couldn't tell Trevor what she was witnessing.
She was bound by her Uncle Max's word, swearing that she would never tell anyone.
Sierra then took a look at the drink that Max was pouring into another cup.
"Hey, Uncle Max. What is that drink?" She asked, curiously with intrigue.
Max looked at the orange-yellow fizzy, bubbly drink that was in the aquamarine cup.
He then looked back at her.
"So glad that you asked, my dear sweet Sierra. This is a very unique drink, made in the time of the Volcano Sisters. This helped them contain their energy." Max said as he gave the cup to her.
Sierra then began to take a sip of it.
It was just like an orange soda except that it had a little bit of a twang to it.
"Mmhm. This is really good, Uncle Max." She said after she took a drink of it.
Max chuckled.
"Very powerful, isn't it?" He said as Sierra gave the empty cup back to him.
Sierra looked at him and nodded her head yes.
"Thought so. Just wait til' it does something to you in an hour." Max said as he looked at her.
Just as Sierra was about to say something, she could feel seismic activity happening around her but, it wasn't just seismic activity…
It was the approaching footsteps of Trevor returning back.
Sierra looked at Max, overwhelmed.
"I...I gotta go." She said as she began to lay back against the chair.
Max looked at her and smiled.
"Okay, sweetie and I'll be right here, waiting for you to come back." He said as he watched her get comfortable.
Sierra began to close her eyes and relax.
Just when she did that, the same thing that happened last night happened again and Sierra disappeared into some sort of white light, which was sending her back up to the surface.
(So...Sierra doesn't seem to remember what happened last night. Except for the fact that she was talking with her dead Uncle Max, whom is now setting up something for her. Jean Michel Pare as Max Anderson. Stay tuned for chapter three.)