This is a story that I did for a scenario contest a few years ago. A scenario is a story that must be 1,500 words or less, and takes place at least 30 years in the future. This story got first place in the entire state of Iowa for grades 5-8 (I think. I don't know the exact grades. I know that I was in 5th grade, which was the youngest grade in my age group.)

I Love You, You Love Me

"Is he going to be okay?" asked Alice, in tears.

"Well, we don't know exactly what caused the coma," said the doctor. "It looks like a tumor, but it's not. It's puzzling. Tell me what happened".

"It started a week ago. He started acting weird. Cole went to the basement and brought up an ancient purple dinosaur.

"He played with it like it was alive, even started a band with it. I thought it was just a stage. I mean, he's only six; pretending is normal, right?

"But, it got worse. He would do everything with it. He would shut himself in his room all day and talk to it.

"Then, an hour ago, he went into an extreme coughing fit. I loaded him into the hovercraft and floated straight here. In the waiting room he choked out, 'I love you' then started coughing, 'You love me', I answered that I loved him very much. Then, he said 'We're a happy family' and slipped into the coma". Alice was hysterical by this point.

"I know, I know," said the doctor. "We are doing everything we can; in the meantime, we need some information from you. Follow me".

He led Alice down the long blinding hallway. She heard everyone rushing around and was overwhelmed by the smell of blood and medicine.

The office was huge and the same blinding color as the hallway, and it smelled like palm trees. The moon shone through the glass wall. He picked up a Portable Hospital Form Device (PHFD) and handed it to her. She looked at the device.

Patient: Cole Harris

Age: 6 _

Birth Date: 14 May 2036

Parent/Guardian Name(s): Alice Harris and Jakob Harris

Telepathic Reader Number: (1) Jakob: 22569

(2) Alice: 22542

Date: 11 June 2042

Time:

She looked at the digital alarm clock imprinted on her wrist: Time: 20:03 . The last thing to write was the story, and she wrote it, trying not to cry. She handed the device back to Dr. Sol and returned to the waiting room. She pulled out her Telepathic Handheld and plugged in her emotion reader. Jakob had his own Telepathic Handheld, and kept his emotion reader plugged in.

Alice spoke, "Call Telepathic Chip # 22569" The mechanical voice answered, "Calling Chip # 22569. Is this correct?"

"Yes" answered Alice.

"Calling Telepathic Chip # 22569".

Alice waited while the Telepathic Handheld called Jakob.

"Hello?" said a voice inside her head. It was Jakob.

"Hi" she answered. "They can't tell what is wrong with Cole. They think he went into the coma because…"

"WHAT?"

Alice realized that she hadn't told Jakob about Cole's coma.

"Sorry, it's just that…"

"That's okay, just TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON!"

Alice relayed the story. During the part where Cole said that he loved her, Alice saw Jakob's face appear in front of her, crying. She felt the tears rolling down her own cheeks, and tasted the saltiness of them in her mouth.

"So, is he going to be okay? What is happening to my little boy?" asked Jakob, in hysterics. Alice didn't blame him since Cole was their only child.

"The doctors are doing everything they can to try and figure out what caused this. He is in room 224 if you want to come, but I'll ask if it's okay to see him, and send you a message from my Arm Messenger." said Alice.

"Okay," answered Jakob.

"Bye, love you."

"Bye, love you too"

Click! She heard a click noise in her ear, which meant that Jakob had hung up. Alice put her THP away. She asked the receptionist where Dr. Sol was. She checked her hospital map. She located Dr. Sol's picture that showed him coming down the hall and told Alice. Alice thanked her and went to the hall.

"Dr. Sol?" asked Alice timidly. "Can Cole have visitors yet? My husband and I want to see him".

"Yes," said Dr. Sol.

Alice found room 224 and walked in. Cole was hooked up to several machines and a few robots were checking his statistics. She pulled up her Arm Messenger and had just found Jakob on her contact list when the door opened and a young blonde woman walked in, carrying a PHFD. She showed it to the robot with a nametag that said Dr. K. Smith. It followed her out the door. Alice typed the message and hit "send". Soon she felt the vibrating in her lower arm that indicated a message.

After arriving, Jakob walked over and sat down in the armchair next to Cole, and held his hand, crying.

An hour later Alice and Jakob said goodbye to Cole and got into their hovercrafts. Alice looked behind her and started crying at the sight of Cole's empty car seat. She wondered how long it would remain empty.

The ride home was painful for Alice. Every time she looked into her mirror, she would see Cole's empty car seat and the dinosaur that he brought up from the basement, and the tears would flow. Alice wondered if her tear ducts would ever work again after today.

August 2042

Two months later, the doctors still didn't know what was wrong with Cole, so Alice decided to try and figure it out herself. She decided to make a list of clues.

Watched a lot of television

Favorite T.V. shows: Sesame Street, Ronny Robot, Tawny Tractor, Barney, and Boots the Explorer

Purple Dinosaur

Coughing Fit

"I love you"," You love me", "We're a … happy family"

Coma

"'Purple Dinosaur'. Sesame Street has one. Ronny's best friend is a purple dinosaur. No dinosaurs on Tawny. Barney is about a purple dinosaur. Boots' partner is a purple dinosaur. So that eliminates Tawny Tractor. I don't know where the heck I am going with this, but maybe he just watched too much of a show and it zombified him, I don't know" Alice said to herself. She moved on to the next clue

"Coughing Fit, can't think of anything. 'I love you', 'you love me', and 'we're a happy family'. Ronny doesn't have anything about love. Sesame Street doesn't have anything about family. Barney and Boots both have love and family in them. I guess I will get on the PID [Portable Internet Device] and check them out".

Alice picked up the PID and typed "Boots the Explorer". She found out the show was filmed in Bujo, Iowa. She wanted to check this place out, so she hopped in the hovercraft and said "Bujo, Iowa. Boots the Explorer studio". The hovercraft took her there.

Alice walked in and quietly found a seat in the audience. Shortly after, the cast and crew took a break. Alice saw the director, and went to talk to him. His nametag read "Director F. Kaddon". Alice questioned him about his crew and the technology used to make "Boots".

After the brief interview, she returned to her hovercraft and typed "Barney" into the PID. She said "Chicka, Iowa. Barney studio" and the hovercraft took her there. They weren't filming that day. The director and assistant director were there. The director was a robot with the nametag 'Katy Smith', and the assistant director was a young blonde woman with a nametag 'Kyla Norris'. Alice stated why she was there and the robot's eyes looked worried, and the assistant looked like she was about to burst. That is exactly what she did.

"I am so sorry Katy, but I am a mom and I just have to tell her, I don't care if you fire me!" burst Kyla

"We have been putting secret signals into our broadcast that make the viewer buy more of our merchandise. Watching too many episodes though, causes the senses to overload and well, you know what happened with Cole. ".

"Wait. How do you know my son's name? I only told you about the coma and that this was one of his favorite shows" said Alice suspiciously.

"Katy was one of Cole's doctors and when I showed her the form you filled out, we figured out what had happened. We saw you there. Maybe you remember us.".

"I do!" said Alice excitedly.

"Just so you know, Alice, Cole is lucky that he went into the coma, because his brain is repairing itself." said Katy coldly.

"That's it! I quit!" yelled Kyla. "Alice let's report this to the police before any more kids can be harmed".

Alice and Kyla walked outside and hopped into the hovercraft. Kyla drove so that Alice could call Jakob and tell him what had happened.

September 2042

"Tell me again!" said Cole.

"I've already told you about twenty times!" said Alice jokingly.

"24. I counted" Cole smiled.

"All right." said Alice, smiling.

Cole loved the story, especially the part about the robots. Alice loved having Cole back, and so did Jakob. Everyone was glad that it all turned out fine, even though how peculiar it was, just like Dr. Sol said.