Somewhere+Over+the+Rainbow

Writen by Cat Sanchez
“Good morning sir,” the computer said into the darkness. The window shades slowly lifted, revealing the world zooming by. “Good morning Smith, let’s hope this morning will be decent,” Demetri said as he dragged himself out of bed. He walked across the room and let the wall slide open in front of him, revealing contraptions of all kinds. They brought out clothing, shoes, and a tie. “Thanks Smith!” Demetri yelled as he stepped into the little closet of a room and watched the wall close behind him. A mirror popped onto the wall and he stared in amazement at the little contraptions pulling at his hair, tying his shoes, and fixing his tie. At least he was fully dress and ready for a hard days of work. The wall opened back up and he was finally able to breathe easy again. Barley. He begged his land lord for a room that was father from the sky but he wouldn’t agree. Floor 58 building H wasn’t his favorite place in the world. The glass door leading to the outside world slid open and he looked up and down, barley being able to see the gray sky above him or the ground below him that is rumored to be green. He wouldn’t know. He placed one foot into mid air as if he were to step out of his room and plummet down to his death, but before his second foot was out of the door frame, the sidewalk slid under him like a magic carpet swooshing off to where ever he was needed, and in this case it was work. He smiled a little, the only thing he looked forward to every day was the feeling he got whenever he stepped out of a room, falling before the sidewalk reached you just in time. But this time the magic sidewalk ride didn’t take him where he wanted to go. Instead of floor 63 building of history and science, he was flown off in the completely wrong direction. Instead of the History and Science building, he was being whisked off to the complete opposite side of town. “Well if I have no choice I might as well enjoy the ride,” He said as he took his jacket off and used it as a pillow, eventually falling fast asleep. Soon or later, Demetri woke up, and found himself sitting alone surrounded by blank gray walls in the most uncomfortable chair in the world, “What-” He began when two men walked into the room. The first man had dark brown piercing eyes, and looked like he belonged in a catalog for men’s suits. The second man wore an army green t-shirt and black cargo pants, he seemed to belong to the military; to think they have worn those since the year 2000. “Hello Demetri,” the first man said. “My name is Mr. General and this is Mr. Government,” the second man, now known as Mr. General added. “Hi Mr. General, Mr. Government, can you tell me what I am doing here?” Demetri said, attempting to make this conversation any less weird than it already is. “Well Demetri, there has been an increasing growth of Osteosarcoma in the children today. The deaths are quickly starting to pile up and we cannot hide the truth for much longer.” Demetri attempted to wrap his head around the idea of Osteosarcoma still existing, but he couldn’t. “That was pretty straight forward, sir. But I gotta say Osteosarcoma is a cancer form the past. It stopped developing around the year 2009 when you cured it with one simple shot.” Shame flicked across Mr. Government’s usually emotionless face. “That’s the thing; the shot we gave to the children stopped the development in them, temporarily. The children with Osteosarcoma were protected from the radiation of microwaves, cell phones, all the things we have eliminated throughout the decades, but we forget one important part of the equation. The fact that Osteosarcoma is passed through genetics of the people who have had the shot. At first maybe 20% of the children who had t have died. Then the amount of children getting it increased, and after it increased, more children died. That’s when we couldn’t hide anymore, we have been blaming broken bones to the deaths, but that is the first sign of Osteosarcoma.” Demetri sat it his small dray chair, wide-eyed in shock. Finally he could form words and maybe three worded sentences, if Mr. General and Mr. Government got lucky. “And I’m here because…” Mr. General gave Mr. Government a hard stare before answering. “We need you to find the cure for cancer.” Demetri jumped from his set and began to yell, “What? Me! I’m a twenty three year old guy just out of college who interns in history class for a job. Why me?!” He began to pace furiously and yell in Italian “Di cosa sta parlando!” Mr. General began to chuckle in his seat and Mr. Government silenced his with a glare that made him sink into his chair like a kid who just answered a question wrong in class. “Demetri,” Mr. Government began in his monotone voice, “You have been chosen, and this is your job. Think of it like a duty to your country.” Demetri stopped his not understandable rant and laughed darkly. “Why in the world would me country need my duty, There is no war, only peace, no poverty, no disease, this world could be considered perfection. Why in the world would you want my duty?” Mr. Government opened his mouth to answer but Mr. General beat him to it. “Because unlike every other person in the country, you see the world for how it really is, just too damn happy. You don’t see the perfection in the world as everyone else does, you aren’t blinded by all the good things around us. You’re a serious pessimist.” Demetri snorted, “Way to put it nicely.” Mr. Government stood and handed Demetri a black file. “It doesn’t matter whether or not you want to do it, you are. You might as well enjoy it while you can; you’re going into the wild.” This news brought a second round of Italian cursing. “Wild? There is not a wild; the government got rid of that with the microwaves and cell phones.” Mr. Government sat back down knowing he wouldn’t be leaving this room for awhile, “We did, but we didn’t. The wild to the people isn’t known but to scientist of this day, it is a place of nature, always growing and assisting the scientist to create new elements, new ways to travel, and new ways to make taller skyscrapers without the lack of oxygen.” Mr. General grumbled, “Isn’t a 75 floor skyscraper high enough.” “Look Demetri, you’re going to need to find this flower,” Mr. General said, attempting not laugh, “The fate of millions of children rests in a flower.” Demetri give him a serious ‘are you kidding me’ look before speaking, “a flower? I’m off to find a flower.” Mr. Government smiled for the first time this whole conversation, “So you’re going to do it? Good.” He said and before Demetri could object, Mr. Government pressed a little green button, Demetri hadn’t noticed before, and was sent flying from his seat. Again. Demetri was flown into the air like a Dorothy and landed hard on his back in something green, moss-like, and squishy. He looked down and yelped, jumped up, and attempted to get the green stuff off his clothes. He looked up seeing huge trees 8 times taller than he was, listening to the rain softly pounding on the rocks, and the wind shake the green leaves as big as his head. [] With every step he stumbled, he wasn’t use to walking on anything not flat before, and with every noise he jumped, people around him were taught to be silence at birth, outgoing children were not an option. But even with his stumbling and jumping, he was in pure awe of what people are missing out on. The ability to breathe fresh air was good enough for him alone. Something edged him in the back of his mind, he almost forgot about the reason for the big journey down here. He pulled the picture out of his back pocket and memorized the plant. The cure to cancer was one simple flower, something the people who got the chance to live here took for granted every day. The rain slowly stopped and a long, colorful rainbow appeared above him. Demetri looked up, like a dog seeing color for the first time, nothing could compare to his utter shock. Completely forgetting about the flower, he followed the rainbow just as a little kid would. Once he reached the end of the rainbow, he found one little sunflower, sitting alone. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. He bent over to pick it up and when his hands graced the stem, he was once again flown into the air, landing in his favorite most uncomfortable chair in the world. “Thank you Demetri,” Mr. Government said, taking the sunflower from his hand. “Yes thank you,” Mr. General added as they left him alone in the room. “What?”