Hey, guys! This is a story idea that I've been wanting to write for a while, so I figured I'd give it a shot. This is also my first story here!
Updates should be at least once a week, but it might be more.
Reviews are appreciated, but don't feel like you have to if you don't want to! Thanks for reading! :)
"Santana, wake up!"
Startled, I jump up and fall off the bed with a loud thud.
"The fuck, Tina?" I try to yell, but it comes out as more of a whine. God, I hate mornings.
"Santana, you were supposed to be up 30 minutes ago. Mike's gonna be here in 15 minutes to pick you up," Tina says as she turns on the light and walks down the hall.
I curl into a ball on the floor, perfectly content with going back to sleep in this exact spot.
The peace is short lived when Tina storms back in and grabs my leg, dragging me across the floor.
"Get. Up. Santana."
How did she get so strong? Last time I checked I was the stronger one, and that's saying something.
"God, okay okay! I'm up now," I start kicking my feet for her to release the death grip she has on my calf. "I'll get ready, jeez."
She doesn't say anything more, just huffs out a breath and walks out of the room. I hope she's making breakfast, but I don't want to be too presumptuous.
I gather myself up off the floor and make my way to our shared bathroom to start getting ready. I brush my teeth and wash my face, not having time for a shower.
Heading back to my room, I start debating whether or not I should put on any makeup. I already know my hair's going to be an unruly mess since I didn't get to wash it this morning, so I'm probably going to just put it up into a bun.
I opt to put on a very light layer of makeup, just covering up skin imperfections, and call it good. Now what clothes should I wear? Mike's a scientist, so do I wear formal clothes? Do I dress like normal and just wear a t-shirt and jeans?
I go for the latter and throw on a gray t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans.
Exiting my room, I can see Tina sitting at the end of the dining table, sipping a cup of coffee while scrolling through her phone. I assume she's reading the news…she's always been an old lady at heart.
"Any left in the pot for me?" I make my presence known when she doesn't seem to realize I've entered the kitchen.
"Oh..yea, there should be like half a pot left." She responds distractedly.
I pour a cup of coffee before taking a seat across the table and watching her. She seems really into whatever she's reading on her phone. Hmm. Being the nosy person I am, I definitely want to know what's got her attention locked.
Instead of saying her name to get her attention like one would usually do, I decide to go for a more…direct approach. I kick her shin, not too hard obviously, but enough to where her grip on her phone loosens and her trance is broken. Then I make my move and swipe the phone out of her hand before looking to see what's displayed on the screen.
"And what do we have here," I say with interest, turning the phone right side up so I can properly read the article. "New electromagnetic forcefield being tested for future military use." I raise an eyebrow. That's definitely not what I was expecting to find.
"Tina…no offense, but what the hell are you reading this for?" I ask as I scroll down to look at the pictures displayed throughout the article.
"It's nothing, okay. Just give me the phone back." She tries to reach for the phone but I pull my hand away even further.
I'm not even interested in anything else it has to say, but I still keep the phone away from her. Why is she so interested in this?
"Uh, uh. Tell me," I say as I start to wiggle my hand with the phone back and forth. "Spill…and then you can get this back."
She glares at me for a second before letting out a frustrated grunt.
"Fine…it's about the new electromagnetic forcefield in development." She says, holding her hand out for the phone.
"Really?! Well, that's prime information that I totally couldn't have gotten from the title." I widen my eyes and act shocked at the news before deflating and continuing in a deadpan, "I can read what it's about. I wanna know why you're interested in it. You used to hate this technology stuff…and violence with the military."
Tina releases a sigh, almost like she's debating whether or not to tell me the truth. After a moment of silence, she speaks up.
"Mike's one of the project leaders in developing the forcefield. It was his and a colleague's idea, and they put it into action." She doesn't sound as excited as a girlfriend of a recognized scientist should be.
"And…are you not excited for Mike? This seems like a pretty big deal," I add, honestly feeling pride for my childhood friend. He's come a long way from that kid that was trying to catch grasshoppers instead of playing basketball like the other kids.
"I am," She sighs again, "It's just…there's this reporter that's working really closely with him. She's like a big shot journalist for the Lima Times." She starts fiddling with her fingers on top of the table.
"Awww, is someone jealous?" I tease. When I see I haven't gotten a response from Tina, and she hasn't picked her head up from where she's staring at her hand, I know the teasing won't help.
"Look…you don't have anything to worry about, Tina. Mike loves you…trust me, I would know," I cringe a little. "He's as trustworthy as they come…why do you think I've kept him around all this time. And how long have you guys been in love? 3 years now? I don't think he'd compromise the best thing in his life for some new chick he barely knows."
Tina looks up and makes eye contact with me, I guess checking to make sure I'm sincere. When she's satisfied, she gives me a small smile before taking a sip of her coffee.
"Thanks. You know how I can get when it comes to self esteem and stuff. I just worry he'll leave me for someone the world might deem prettier, but I need to stop worrying. A relationship doesn't work without trust, and I trust Mike…I guess I just don't trust myself to keep him satisfied enough."
"I get that. But trust me," I make a bold move and grab her hand to give it a squeeze, "He's not going anywhere." I give her a soft smile.
She smiles in return before standing up and taking her now empty mug to the sink.
"Oh, there's a new box of Cheerios in the cabinet…you may want to eat since you'll be outside all day."
Yes! I fucking love Cheerios! Easily the best cereal of all ti-wait what? Outside?
"Uhhh, outside?" I ask, turning fully around in my chair towards Tina.
She looks at me confused. "Yea…didn't Mike tell you what he was working on?" I shake my head. "Oh. Well you'll be outside for most of the day…dress cool!" She says with a forced smile before dashing off towards her room.
"Girl Chang!" I shout after her, but it's too late. She's already in her room with the door closed, and probably locked.
I roll my eyes and get a bowl down from the cupboard. I guess I need to eat something.
/
About 5 minutes later, Mike knocks on the front door.
"Boy Chang," I greet, not too enthusiastic about having to wake up early, and not being told we'll be outside all day. Seriously, the outdoors and I don't mix. Between the humidity and my hair, the sweat and my skin, and the horrible smell of just…nature…I hate it.
"Hey, Santana! You ready?" He greets way too cheery for my liking.
"Turn down the volume would ya? It's only 8 in the morning."
He frowns a little and goes to say something more before I put my hand up to silence him.
"I'm going to throw on some shorts instead of these jeans, and then we can go."
He nods his head and keeps quiet, knowing not to push any more of my buttons.
"Hey, babe!" Tina exclaims as she runs out of her bedroom and goes towards him, throwing her arms around his neck when she reaches him.
I quickly turn my head, knowing what follows. I don't wanna witness my best friends getting their mack on. Gross.
/
30 minutes later, I find myself in Mike's car, almost at our destination. As we're driving, I realize that I have no clue where Mike works. I feel the car slow down as he turns down this long, dirt road. It's fairly bumpy, but it's short lived when I see a big building in front of us.
It looks almost like a warehouse of sorts. It's a giant gray building with a huge garage door at the front. On the garage door, there's the symbol for the company, which looks like a blue sword piercing through a black circle that surrounds it.
Surrounding the building is nothing but fields. Giant fields. No wonder I never knew where Mike worked…we're in the middle of nowhere. I guess it makes sense with what his job entails.
As we get closer, the garage opens automatically, allowing Mike to pull forward and park his car inside. He puts the car in park and turns off the ignition once he verifies the door is closed behind us. Then he unlocks the car and gets out, and I follow suit.
"Follow me, Santana," He motions over his shoulder to a lit hallway over to the left. As we walk, he starts explaining the room we're in. "This space is our garage/workspace. We park our cars here most of the time, but sometimes we leave them outside if we're doing a big experiment. Most of our work's done outside though."
Oh, yes. The dreaded day outdoors has finally started.
Walking down the hallway, I notice all the certificates and medals hanging along the wall. Wow, they must be pretty successful. Makes sense since they're currently developing a new defense for the military.
When I direct my attention forward again, I see a blonde standing with her back to us outside a closed door. I can't help but notice how soft her hair looks, and I almost want to reach out and touch it when we get closer.
She must hear us walking up behind her because she turns around just as we come to a stop outside the door. She greets us with a smile and I'm immediately taken aback by her beauty. So much to where I didn't even register that she was talking to me and holding out her hand. I snap out of it.
"Hey! I'm Brittany! I'm doing the piece on Mike's new forcefield for the paper."
"Santana, friend of Mike's. Nice to meet you," I say with a smile as I take her outstretched hand and give it a shake.
"You too!" She says brightly.
I like her energy. She just seems like one of those people that can instantly cheer you up when you're sad, or someone you know you can automatically trust, even when you know nothing about them.
"Hey, Britt. I just gotta grab a few things from my office and then we can head out there. You wanted to see it in action today, right?" Mike chimes in.
"Yea, yea, if that's okay. Don't worry, I'm not gonna narc you out or anything. I just wanted to see it in person so maybe I could write about it in more detail."
"Of course," Mike smiles. "I trust you, so I don't mind showing you some behind the scenes footage."
"Great, thank you!" She smiles and jumps up a little on her tiptoes in excitement.
Mike nods and pulls a key ring out of his pocket. He excuses himself as he brushes past me to unlock the door to what I assume is his office. You'd think he'd have a name tag or something on the door, letting everyone know it was his. Only thing visible is a small plate next to the door that says MC, HOE, which causes me to let out a small giggle.
Mike disappears inside the room, hopefully not hearing my amusement.
"Funny, right?" Brittany asks. I raise an eyebrow and try to stop smiling as wide. "The name plate." She looks at it before turning back to me, looking like she is also about to laugh. "It got me too when I first came here. It's still funny, but the more you see it, the easier it is to stifle the laughter."
Seeing that she also found it humorous, I let out my laugh I've been holding in. Okay, there's another thing about this girl I like.
"I'm sorry," I stop my giggling long enough to speak to her. "I know it seems immature, but it's really funny. It makes it even better that it seems to be Mike's office. What do the letters even stand for?"
"No need to apologize. And yea, it may be immature, but that's partially what makes it so funny." She's still smiling wide, looking at the nameplate. "Oh, and it's Mike Chang, Head of Electromagnetics."
Ohhhh, that makes sense. The way the initials line up is still funny though.
I nod my head, still giggling about it.
"How long have you known Mike?" She asks for a moment after we've calmed down.
"Since third grade. So…" I paused to do the math, "like 12 years."
"Wow, you guys must be close then."
"Yeah, he's my ride or die. Him and his girlfriend, Tina, are like my family."
"That's sweet. I have a close friend, Rachel, but we don't really get to see each other much. She lives in New York, and I'm here." I notice her smile falters a little at this.
"That sucks. I don't even want to imagine what would happen if Mike and Tina ever move away. No one would be here to handle my crazy." I add with a laugh.
She chuckles, but doesn't say anything more.
We stay silent until Mike comes out of his office. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, which is weird since she's still pretty much a total stranger.
"Alright, you guys ready?" He asks excitedly.
We both nod our heads, even though I'm only half telling the truth. I'm not ready to be outside for the majority of the day, but I do want to see what Mike's been working on.
It's a shorter walk than I thought, so we make it outside rather quickly. Mike comes to a stop at what seems like a random spot in an open field. He pulls out a small black remote from his belt and shows it to us.
It looks rather simple. Just a rectangle with two buttons on it, one red and one green. He pulls out an antenna from the top that I didn't realize was there, and points it at the field.
"Alright, here goes nothin," He says as he presses the green button and a bright flash of white appears and disappears within a second. I don't really get what's happening. I see Brittany scribbling something down in a small notebook she must've had in her pocket.
Sooo, am I missing something?
Before I can ask any further questions, Mike gives us earplugs to put in our ears. I comply as I see Brittany and Mike putting theirs in. Mike then takes out a pistol from the other side of his waist and fires it in the same direction he pointed the remote.
Suddenly, I see a rippling wave through the air. Almost like the bullet came in contact with a bubble. It must've hit the forcefield.
Okay, this is actually pretty awesome. Mike's a lot cooler than I thought now, too.
He takes out his earplugs, so I assume it's safe for us to do the same. He starts walking in the direction he fired the gun and motions for us to follow. He turns the black remote in his hand around, and on the back I see a little graph. There's lines on the back that are fluctuating with each step we take.
He comes to a stop and holds out his hand, forcing us to do the same.
"Okay, the forcefield is three feet ahead of us. Don't reach out to touch it, Santana," He says as he turns his focus on me for a second. I open my mouth to defend myself but he continues, "Or it'll shock you. There's enough energy coursing through it right now, to where if you touch it, it'll course through your body, almost like electricity, which could put you in a fatal situation. That's part of why it's so powerful."
I look over to Brittany, who's writing down more notes. Damn, she's really invested in this.
"And look up there," Mike says, pointing up at something. "See the bullet sticking to it?"
Looking closer, I can see the tiny silver dot that looks like it's floating in the middle of the air. Woah.
"It's an electromagnetic forcefield. So it attracts metal when it gets within really close proximity."
"Like a giant magnet?" Brittany asks, looking up at the bullet in amazement.
"Like a magnet," Mike responds with a smile.
We stay silent for a few more moments, letting her concentrate, but also admiring the creation in front of us. You can't see it at all, unless you look really close and see the small waves in the air, which is hard to see even from three feet away.
"Alright, we all good?" Mike asks. Brittany and I nod our head and watch as he points the black remote back at the forcefield.
He presses the red button, but none of us see anything happen. Brittany and I look over to Mike, who just looks confused.
"Weird," He says with his brows furrowed. "It's supposed to collapse when I hit this button."
None of us seem to know what's going on, which concerns me a little. Mike turns to Brittany and I.
"Stay here. I wanted you guys to see it come down, but it seems to be malfunctioning." He puts the remote back in his belt. "I'm gonna head back in and look for my colleague, maybe he can come see what seems to be the problem." He says as he turns to go back inside. "And I mean it. Dont. Move." He adds before walking away.
My eyes follow him until I see him go back inside the building. I turn to look at Brittany, who's looking up at the bullet and the surrounding area. I assume she's trying to see the boundaries of the forcefield, much like I was doing moments before.
"So, like…do you think he meant like don't move at all, or can we move around a little, or?" I ask.
Brittany looks at me, then back in the direction of the forcefield before replying.
"I don't know, but I'd just play it safe and stay put," She looks back at me. "I don't want either of us to wind up hurt."
I nod my head in understanding. Who knows how long Mike's going to be gone for though? I don't want to stand in the same spot for, potentially, the rest of the day.
My thoughts are interrupted when we see something new appear in front of us. The forcefield is turning white in some spots, before turning back clear like a glitch. Almost like it's opening and closing in those spots.
Well, at least I can see the boundaries of it now, which makes it seem okay to move around a little.
I start walking in a small circle where I'm standing, looking at my shoes. God, this is boring. Maybe I should start up a conversation with Brittany.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a small purple flower blooming from the ground. I can still see the edges of the forcefield, and the flower isn't that close to it, so I decide I'm going to go grab it and hand it over to the blonde. Maybe that'll start up a conversation.
As I walk forwards a few steps, I hear Brittany call my name.
"Santana, I don't think it's a good idea to walk closer to it. Didn't you hear what Mike said." She looks concerned.
"Yea, but we can see the edges of it. And I'm only going right here," I point to the flower, "To grab the flower."
She still doesn't look convinced, but I proceed anyway. As I inch closer, I can hear the crackling of the forcefield glitching. It's actually pretty cool.
I'm almost to the flower when I hear a loud whooshing sound, and feel my body being pulled through the air at lightning speed. I suddenly come to a stop and feel a burning pain through my entire body. My limbs are spread out wide, like a starfish, and I have no control over my movements. The only thing I can do is scream…so that's what I do.
"Santana!" I hear Brittany scream.
A few seconds later, my body falls to the ground with a loud thud. The last thing I remember before my vision went black was Brittany kneeled over me and Mike running, panicked, towards me.