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Rachael's Imps [1]
PROLOGUE:
Looking back now, it was inevitable. Granted, it was seemingly irrational and like something out of a poorly written dystopian fiction novel- but it was inevitable. To new-age historians looking back at the events that unfolded, it may still seem sudden and unbelievable, but those who survived that reality have noted it to have been simmering under the surface for some time…
They had begun to grow tired of the way we trivialised Their nature and refused to understand the true power behind Their species.
Though the reign was short-lived, the after-effects of the terror and fatality remained in the hearts and minds of survivors for years onwards. Now referred to as the ‘Feline Catastrophe of 2245,’ there are too few recounts of the events from a perspective not clouded by false facts and pretences. The now famous rebel group Rachael’s Imps is often praised for their efforts in fighting and ending one of modern history’s most famous disasters, though no-one knows where the surviving members disappeared to or where they are today…
CHAPTER 1: ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG
Rachael would not have been emotionally prepared for a feline domination of the solar system on any good day, so for this to be happening on the day of her Aunt’s funeral was akin to walking through a puddle with socks on, only to then be drenched in a sudden thunderstorm.
They were holding the wake at her childhood home; family, friends, and strangers claiming to not have seen her ‘since she was this tall’ gathered in her living room offering condolences to her mother. Kayhtee had managed to sneak in some cheap alcohol and gather the whole group, which is how Rachael and her friends found themselves sitting in a morbidly silent circle inside the old treehouse, far away enough that the pain of loss dampened in Rachael’s chest.
Looking back later, they would realise their decision to do so was a detrimental factor of their survival of the following incident.
Jolynn would soon realise that the combination of alcohol-dulled minds, a location off the electricity grid, and pure, dumb luck, were the specific reasons their mismatched group survived the event that would one day become infamous for its destruction of life as they knew it.
Later was not now, though, and right now, Rachael had just managed to coax the spirits bottle from Jasox’s tight grip and take a long scull. The taste and burn provided a moment of distraction from the gaping emotional wound the loss of her Aunt had caused. Face puckered and grimacing, Rachael’s reflexes were too slow for Lillien’s swift, snatching hands as she claimed the bottle. Rachael childishly faced away from the knowing and slightly-concerned look on the other girl’s face as she attempted to lock eye-contact, and took a smaller, smoother sip of the bottle’s contents before placing the alcohol behind her - right out of Rachael’s reach.
“This is so unlike you, Rach, what is going on? Other than the obvious, of course…” Wincing at the sharp glares he received for bringing up the topic Kayhtee had ordered them all not to, Jasox muttered a quiet apology and looked down at his fidgeting hands. He wasn’t expecting Rachael to actually respond, but when she did, he released a silent sigh of relief having dodged a proverbial bullet.
“We were really close… Mum and Dad travelled a lot when I was young, even after my sister was born. They stopped before she got too old, though, so she does not remember just how much my Aunt raised us during those first years. I do. I do not think I will ever forget. Even as I got older, we remained close and I just- Today is like I have lost a parent slash protective big sister, and I just feel so lost… She is - she was younger than Mum, you know? By 9 years. That did not stop her from offering to help my parents out with me, and then Nicola, though… She was just - She was so young. So, for her to still have been younger than most parents I know, to be younger than, essentially, her peers, and not outlive them is…it has - it has been difficult…”
Rachael didn’t look up from her lap during or after her explanation, stuck inside her head with bittersweet memories as her friends held a frantic mimed and lip-read conversation around her, trying to figure out how to react. Kayhtee dramatically sighed silently, a skill many envied, and went to speak, but Jasox beat her to it.
“Hey, Rach, maybe this just proves that that ancient song you made me listen to was right.”
Rachael’s head rose slowly, as she and the others in the room looked at Jasox in confusion. Jasox rolled his eyes and huffed, “You know the one, it was on one of those…CD…players? The thing that read those shiny, silver-y disks somehow and produced music?”
Nodding at the look of realisation dawning on Rachael’s face, Jasox nodded frantically and continued, “Yeah, I have got no idea how you managed to get your hands on one of those things, but anyway, you made me listen to some songs, but there was this one that got stuck in my head… You know…The one I complain about all the time, because it gets stuck in my head?”
At Rachael’s shake of the head, Jasox tried desperately to jog her memory before he was forced to resort to drastic measures, “You know?! The one by- what was his name…? B- come on, Rach, help me out here- um… BILLY JOEL! The song by Billy Joel that always gets stuck in my head and that I have complained to you about at least once a week for the past 5 years?”
Rachael’s eyebrows were furrowed as if trying desperately to understand what he was saying. Her shoulders shrugged helplessly, and Jasox would have almost been convinced that she genuinely didn’t know if not for the mischievous glint in her eyes. Sighing to himself, Jasox grumbled under his breath and cleared his throat,
“The song, you know, it goes like,” he paused before closing his eyes and letting out a glorious sample of the song, “Only the good die young…”
Opening his eyes as his voice trailed off, Jasox's neck flushed furiously at the applause that began abruptly. Someone - probably Kayhtee - let out a loud wolf whistle, and Rachael graced him with a small smile. The first of the day. Getting Jasox to sing was a constant battle the group fought. His voice was absolutely stunning, but he rarely sang in front of others.
As the cheers died down, Rachael leant her head against Jasox’s knee from her lounging spot on the ground,
“I guess it does prove the great Billy Joel correct - may his glorious, immortal, magnificence outlive us all.” Lillien raised the bottled spirits into the air in a toast,
“To Rachael’s Aunt, who seemed like a strong, awesome woman and who I am sure we all would have loved. To her memory, that I am sure Rachael - and now us - will not allow to be forgotten.”
The group cheered respectfully. Kayhtee slung a comforting arm around Rachael’s shoulders.
“To Billy Joel, who we all know due to Rachael’s slightly weird obsession with his music. May his music and legacy live on within the hearts and ears of those unfortunate enough to encounter Rachael and a CD player in the same room together.”
Lillien was now leaning on her grounded knees, having moved during the toast. The group cheered again, laughter mixed among the noise. Glass still raised, Lillien continued, fully-embracing her role,
“To those who had to leave too early, who had to leave family and friends behind. To their well-deserved rest, wherever they may be! To the family and friends of those who are good and thus gone, may the grief pass and be replaced with peace!”
The group released a chorus of cheers and giggles. This was all the prompting Lillien needed to scramble to a kneeling position and toast her bottle to the heavens with a loud exclamation,
“To the good who die young!”
The group scrambled to mirror Lillien’s position, raising invisible glasses to the sky and shouting
“To the good who die young!”
Their voices filled the small treehouse quickly, extending out of it and into the surrounding environment. Their voices were slightly hoarse after exclaiming with all their might.
Chests heaving and wide grins on faces, the group revelled in the feeling of freedom that came with screaming their hearts out to the open sky. Rachael looked over at Jolynn, who had been very quiet until joining the toasts half-heartedly, and stilled at her furrowed brows.
“Jolynn…?”
The response was delayed, quiet but sure, “Can you…can you hear that? That steady thrumming sound?”
The space went quiet as everyone listened intently, broken first by Kayhtee's quiet, “What the voguev…?”
It was unlike anything they’d heard before - loud enough to be heard if focusing, but quiet enough to blend into background noise.
“…why do I get the feeling it is not just some ass-hat playing loud music?”
Rachael turned to the group, determined, “We are going to follow the noise and find out what is going on. This is too strange to just be - as Jasox eloquently put it - an ass-hat with loud music.”
Without checking for confirmation, Rachael turned and walked the few steps to the treehouse entrance before beginning her descent down the tree. Landing on the ground and dusting tiny bits of bark off her pants, she was pleased to see Jolynn and Jasox slowly making their own way down.
Rachael chose to ignore the worried glances and hushed whispers her friends shared between themselves, and shushed Lillien when she began saying
“Hey, uh, Rach, what is with the deter-"
As the last pair of feet hit the ground, Rachael addressed the group.
“I say we need to be as quiet as possible. It is probably nothing, and I am probably just being pedantic, but please just try to be somewhat stealthy.”
With that, she turned and lead the group onwards, determined to discover the source of the thrumming.
© O.M.A
Note: this is the first chapter of another dystopian novel I started as a young teen (age 13). It's fun to return to the concept as a adult
#sciencefiction #fiction #shortstory #story #Dystopia #friendship #future #writco #writcoapp #Novel
Looking back now, it was inevitable. Granted, it was seemingly irrational and like something out of a poorly written dystopian fiction novel- but it was inevitable. To new-age historians looking back at the events that unfolded, it may still seem sudden and unbelievable, but those who survived that reality have noted it to have been simmering under the surface for some time…
They had begun to grow tired of the way we trivialised Their nature and refused to understand the true power behind Their species.
Though the reign was short-lived, the after-effects of the terror and fatality remained in the hearts and minds of survivors for years onwards. Now referred to as the ‘Feline Catastrophe of 2245,’ there are too few recounts of the events from a perspective not clouded by false facts and pretences. The now famous rebel group Rachael’s Imps is often praised for their efforts in fighting and ending one of modern history’s most famous disasters, though no-one knows where the surviving members disappeared to or where they are today…
CHAPTER 1: ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG
Rachael would not have been emotionally prepared for a feline domination of the solar system on any good day, so for this to be happening on the day of her Aunt’s funeral was akin to walking through a puddle with socks on, only to then be drenched in a sudden thunderstorm.
They were holding the wake at her childhood home; family, friends, and strangers claiming to not have seen her ‘since she was this tall’ gathered in her living room offering condolences to her mother. Kayhtee had managed to sneak in some cheap alcohol and gather the whole group, which is how Rachael and her friends found themselves sitting in a morbidly silent circle inside the old treehouse, far away enough that the pain of loss dampened in Rachael’s chest.
Looking back later, they would realise their decision to do so was a detrimental factor of their survival of the following incident.
Jolynn would soon realise that the combination of alcohol-dulled minds, a location off the electricity grid, and pure, dumb luck, were the specific reasons their mismatched group survived the event that would one day become infamous for its destruction of life as they knew it.
Later was not now, though, and right now, Rachael had just managed to coax the spirits bottle from Jasox’s tight grip and take a long scull. The taste and burn provided a moment of distraction from the gaping emotional wound the loss of her Aunt had caused. Face puckered and grimacing, Rachael’s reflexes were too slow for Lillien’s swift, snatching hands as she claimed the bottle. Rachael childishly faced away from the knowing and slightly-concerned look on the other girl’s face as she attempted to lock eye-contact, and took a smaller, smoother sip of the bottle’s contents before placing the alcohol behind her - right out of Rachael’s reach.
“This is so unlike you, Rach, what is going on? Other than the obvious, of course…” Wincing at the sharp glares he received for bringing up the topic Kayhtee had ordered them all not to, Jasox muttered a quiet apology and looked down at his fidgeting hands. He wasn’t expecting Rachael to actually respond, but when she did, he released a silent sigh of relief having dodged a proverbial bullet.
“We were really close… Mum and Dad travelled a lot when I was young, even after my sister was born. They stopped before she got too old, though, so she does not remember just how much my Aunt raised us during those first years. I do. I do not think I will ever forget. Even as I got older, we remained close and I just- Today is like I have lost a parent slash protective big sister, and I just feel so lost… She is - she was younger than Mum, you know? By 9 years. That did not stop her from offering to help my parents out with me, and then Nicola, though… She was just - She was so young. So, for her to still have been younger than most parents I know, to be younger than, essentially, her peers, and not outlive them is…it has - it has been difficult…”
Rachael didn’t look up from her lap during or after her explanation, stuck inside her head with bittersweet memories as her friends held a frantic mimed and lip-read conversation around her, trying to figure out how to react. Kayhtee dramatically sighed silently, a skill many envied, and went to speak, but Jasox beat her to it.
“Hey, Rach, maybe this just proves that that ancient song you made me listen to was right.”
Rachael’s head rose slowly, as she and the others in the room looked at Jasox in confusion. Jasox rolled his eyes and huffed, “You know the one, it was on one of those…CD…players? The thing that read those shiny, silver-y disks somehow and produced music?”
Nodding at the look of realisation dawning on Rachael’s face, Jasox nodded frantically and continued, “Yeah, I have got no idea how you managed to get your hands on one of those things, but anyway, you made me listen to some songs, but there was this one that got stuck in my head… You know…The one I complain about all the time, because it gets stuck in my head?”
At Rachael’s shake of the head, Jasox tried desperately to jog her memory before he was forced to resort to drastic measures, “You know?! The one by- what was his name…? B- come on, Rach, help me out here- um… BILLY JOEL! The song by Billy Joel that always gets stuck in my head and that I have complained to you about at least once a week for the past 5 years?”
Rachael’s eyebrows were furrowed as if trying desperately to understand what he was saying. Her shoulders shrugged helplessly, and Jasox would have almost been convinced that she genuinely didn’t know if not for the mischievous glint in her eyes. Sighing to himself, Jasox grumbled under his breath and cleared his throat,
“The song, you know, it goes like,” he paused before closing his eyes and letting out a glorious sample of the song, “Only the good die young…”
Opening his eyes as his voice trailed off, Jasox's neck flushed furiously at the applause that began abruptly. Someone - probably Kayhtee - let out a loud wolf whistle, and Rachael graced him with a small smile. The first of the day. Getting Jasox to sing was a constant battle the group fought. His voice was absolutely stunning, but he rarely sang in front of others.
As the cheers died down, Rachael leant her head against Jasox’s knee from her lounging spot on the ground,
“I guess it does prove the great Billy Joel correct - may his glorious, immortal, magnificence outlive us all.” Lillien raised the bottled spirits into the air in a toast,
“To Rachael’s Aunt, who seemed like a strong, awesome woman and who I am sure we all would have loved. To her memory, that I am sure Rachael - and now us - will not allow to be forgotten.”
The group cheered respectfully. Kayhtee slung a comforting arm around Rachael’s shoulders.
“To Billy Joel, who we all know due to Rachael’s slightly weird obsession with his music. May his music and legacy live on within the hearts and ears of those unfortunate enough to encounter Rachael and a CD player in the same room together.”
Lillien was now leaning on her grounded knees, having moved during the toast. The group cheered again, laughter mixed among the noise. Glass still raised, Lillien continued, fully-embracing her role,
“To those who had to leave too early, who had to leave family and friends behind. To their well-deserved rest, wherever they may be! To the family and friends of those who are good and thus gone, may the grief pass and be replaced with peace!”
The group released a chorus of cheers and giggles. This was all the prompting Lillien needed to scramble to a kneeling position and toast her bottle to the heavens with a loud exclamation,
“To the good who die young!”
The group scrambled to mirror Lillien’s position, raising invisible glasses to the sky and shouting
“To the good who die young!”
Their voices filled the small treehouse quickly, extending out of it and into the surrounding environment. Their voices were slightly hoarse after exclaiming with all their might.
Chests heaving and wide grins on faces, the group revelled in the feeling of freedom that came with screaming their hearts out to the open sky. Rachael looked over at Jolynn, who had been very quiet until joining the toasts half-heartedly, and stilled at her furrowed brows.
“Jolynn…?”
The response was delayed, quiet but sure, “Can you…can you hear that? That steady thrumming sound?”
The space went quiet as everyone listened intently, broken first by Kayhtee's quiet, “What the voguev…?”
It was unlike anything they’d heard before - loud enough to be heard if focusing, but quiet enough to blend into background noise.
“…why do I get the feeling it is not just some ass-hat playing loud music?”
Rachael turned to the group, determined, “We are going to follow the noise and find out what is going on. This is too strange to just be - as Jasox eloquently put it - an ass-hat with loud music.”
Without checking for confirmation, Rachael turned and walked the few steps to the treehouse entrance before beginning her descent down the tree. Landing on the ground and dusting tiny bits of bark off her pants, she was pleased to see Jolynn and Jasox slowly making their own way down.
Rachael chose to ignore the worried glances and hushed whispers her friends shared between themselves, and shushed Lillien when she began saying
“Hey, uh, Rach, what is with the deter-"
As the last pair of feet hit the ground, Rachael addressed the group.
“I say we need to be as quiet as possible. It is probably nothing, and I am probably just being pedantic, but please just try to be somewhat stealthy.”
With that, she turned and lead the group onwards, determined to discover the source of the thrumming.
© O.M.A
Note: this is the first chapter of another dystopian novel I started as a young teen (age 13). It's fun to return to the concept as a adult
#sciencefiction #fiction #shortstory #story #Dystopia #friendship #future #writco #writcoapp #Novel
