An owl hooted in the distance as Atom looked up at the night sky. His
sister Nova came and sat next to him. "Mom says to come home for dinner."
He paid no attention.
"Hello? Atom! Dinner in five! Can you make it that fast? The house is at
least an hour's walk, and I only have one bike."
"I'll walk."
"And get grounded."
"So, get grounded from what?"
"From, from, you'll get yelled at!"
"Tell her I'll eat in the morning, Nova."
"But she'll just tell me to come back and get you again, and I don't
wanna!"
"Who told you to come get me mom or nanny?"
"Mom."
"You go tell her that I am spending the night out in the woods."
"You're not staying alone!"
"You're going to stay with me?" His dark green eyes looked into her dark
blue eyes. "Will you?"
Her golden hair matched his as their heads swayed to look up as an owl
screeched above their heads. She searched for an excuse but all that came
out was, "Guests are over. She doesn't want you playing outside all-night
like you did last year. Besides I'm in my nice dress Atom."
"Something's out there, I know it."
"What?"
"Every night I hear voices, loud, very loud voices, coming from the sky. I
look out my window and see only the night sky looking back at me. Sometimes
I even here glass shatter in the distance or something boiling up above."
He paused to look at the sky smothered with stars. "Some body's out there
and I'm going to go find him."
"Oh no you're not!"
"Yes, I am. I've waited to long for this chance, too long. She'll be too
busy to notice we're not there. We are going to go find him."
"Mom'll notice we're gone."
"No she won't." He pointed in the direction of their house. She turned
around and gasped. There was a billow of smoke coming from their house. She
began to cry in his shoulder softly. They had lost their father already,
but two children alone in the wilderness with no mother were not in her
plans. A faint shriek was heard and then total silence. Atom began to walk
away.
"Don't you care at all?" Nova yelled at him.
"We can't have them around to stop us." He replied simply.
"We can't go. What if they're alive? Doesn't that matter to you? We have a
mother and a nanny, we should go help them!"
"They're dead; don't go to your own death."
"Huh?" She sniffled and caught up with him.
"If you go back, what will happen to you? You are going to find their
bodies and drag them away from a fire and save your self?"
"No."
"Go back if you want, but I'm going to find him."
"We're going to find him." Nova said and walked by his side.
Thy walked many hours into the morning.
"I don't want to go on an adventure in my dress Atom!"
"Well tear off some parts of it and it will be more comfortable to walk
in."
"Never mind." She said disappointed.
It was around noon when a shatter was heard up above. Nova ran to her older
brother's side, "What was that?" she trembled.
"Oh, blast it, my best beaker!" A voice said up above.
"We must be close." He said and ran faster.
"Hey, wait up!" She yelled at him in a mad tone.
They walked for many days and nights, and at around the same time each day
they would hear something new in a never changing area; always above. One
night they came near the Ending Bay.
"I wonder why it's called the Ending Bay, don't you Atom?"
"Not really." He said in an annoyed tone.
"Well I do, why 'ending'?"
"Who knows?"
They walked along the side of the lush shore all covered in flowers and
trees and grass. They walked for around an hour when Nova spoke out again.
"Why doesn't anyone live near us? I mean other than nanny, mom, Mary, and
Simon?"
"You're right. No one lives near us, none at all."
"Well, do you have an answer?"
"No, we are alone, and will remain alone until we find him."
"Oh, well then to lift up our spirits lets go skipping stones. See all of
those rocks over there, let's go to them. Please, pretty please."
"Oh fine maybe something helpful will be over there."
"Is that all you think about?"
"I'm not answering that."
She rolled her eyes and they ran as fast as they could over to the rocky
part of the shore.
They started out just throwing out rocks close to shore but then Atom
decided to throw his third stone far away. He threw it with all his might,
but the third stone came skipping back. Nova climbed over the big boulder
to look closer but he already picked it up. This time he threw it into the
distance but it came flying back at him. He ducked and threw ten rocks at
once and each of them came hurtling back. He paused for a moment and then
jumped into the water.
"Where are you going you idiot! It's pitch black out there!" Nova screamed
at him.
"Come on, hurry! He's out there I know it!" He cried back at her in great
excitement.
Suddenly the sky became light as if it was the morning. Helooked up and the
sun was shining above him.
"Did you see that?" He asked the soaked Nova behind him.
She nodded. Suddenly there was a loud draining sound and the water level
dropped as if it was a bath tub. Then all the water was gone. Nova ran
close to her brother. They held on to each other and ran the rest of the
way. They then came to a dead end.
He pounded a glass wall blocking their way. He said aloud, "Ending Bay." He
looked around and saw that the glass made a giant curve around every where
as if it was a tank. "It can't be."
"Atom!" Nova shrieked and jerked his head upwards. A giant head was peering
down at them and it picked them up with his giant hand.
"Looks like you two need to switch environments for a while. No matter,
we'll just have to find some memory loss medicine, and a new family to live
with. He placed them down in a sort of mouse like cage. Nova clutched her
brother's arm. He said in astonishment, "I knew it."