I threw my sweaty shorts and tank top into the laundry and got ready to shower. I grabbed a fluffy white towel from the stack, slid the door closed behind me and turned on the shower to let it warm up. The relaxing sound of the shower running was so soothing. Quickly, I brush my violet hair as I gaze into the mirror. It's funny how my eyes changed their shades of violet depending on the light.
Of course, nowadays you could look any way you wanted to look if you had the money. Praise CRISPER 21 for figuring out how to manipulate DNA with such precision, that most sicknesses could be avoided with the correct modifications. Just as other things, such as hair color, eye color, eyelashes, skin color, hair texture, brain capacity and many other scary things could be influenced and altered. If you had the money for it, that is. In my case, my hair, my eyes and my skin had been genetically altered. And of course, the usual enhanced immune system tweak had been done as well. The rest had been too expensive.
There was still a lot of skepticism about the procedure. For one, the child had no influence on what happened to him or her. Two, many found it unnatural and shunned the industry for intervening in nature and playing God. But eventually, even those people will have to accept it as normal. Nobody could stop the advancing of technology. Either you go with the flow or you'll be left behind. That's what my parents always told me. And it was true.
The bathroom was getting warm and steamy now. Time for me to step into the shower. Tapping the glow pad on the wall, I lowered the lights, turned on my playlist and let my mind wander into nothingness.
Oh shit! I had totally lost track of time.
Hurriedly, I got out of the shower and got dressed. I threw on a black hoodie and some jeans. Nothing too fancy, or it might get damaged while driving.
My hair was as sleek and shiny as always and quite forgiving when it came to drying it. So even if I didn't properly dry it, it would never fluff up and get frizzy.
Looking at my phone, I saw that I didn't have much time left. I guess I'll have to pick up some food on the way. My BlueFire headphones was all ready and charged for the day.
I put them on for the ride to the go-cart arena. While I was stashing away my rain jacket and wallet into my bag I noticed the necklace sitting on the desk again. I stared at it for a second. Cautiously I reached over for it and looked at it again. Kat had been so siked for today. She had been raving about it for weeks. And now she wasn't even here to go.
At first I had considered not going, because if Kat couldn't go, why should I? But my dad had told me, that if she couldn't go, then I should go all the more. Kat would want me to.
The more I thought about it, the more I started believing it. If I were to die, I would want my friends and family to be happy. Not sad. Well, at least not sad for too long.
Without thinking, I put on the necklace, zipped up my bag and ran for the train.
Gracefully I slid down the stair railing and landed with experienced lightness on the marble floor below. "Hi, mom! I am going now! Bye, mom!" I hurried past the kitchen where she was cooking what seemed to be bacon and eggs. I wrinkled my nose at the thought of meat. It smelt so repugnant to me. "Have you eaten yet, honey? Look, I've made an egg sandwich for you to take on the train."
Yess! My mom was the best. "Oh my god, yes! Thank you!" With my shoes on already, I skidded back to the kitchen to grab the sandwich from the white counter. The kitchen smelled like fresh oranges. "Don't forget that you still have to get your vaccination against cancer later today."
"Ah no! I hate vaccinations!" I complained. My mom gave me a stern look.
"Young lady, you will get your vaccination done. People-"
"Yeah, yeah. People used to die because of it. Whatever." I took my power bank from near the fruit basket where it was charging before I flew off towards the door.
"Okay, I got to go. See you!"
"Bye, hon-" I slammed the door shut before she could finish and raced against time. If I missed this one, I'd miss my next connection and be way too late for the go-carting.
Speeding down the shortcut through the woods, I noticed how slippery the gravel path was from the light drizzle the night before. I slowed down a bit so I wouldn't fall on the steep path. During the day the Tobel forest looked dazzling. The golden-red leaves, the small waterfalls that followed the creek all the way down, the small bridges. But right now I was oblivious to all of this.
Suddenly, from the corner of my eye I saw a small silver cat jump out in front of me. I gasped. In the last second, I sidestepped.
Slipping on the wet gravel, I fell face forward down the hill. I came crashing down the slippery hill, unable to stop myself from sliding further. Curled together with my arms crossed protectively in front of my face I skidded to a halt.
"Oww..." My head was spinning. I tried blinking the blurriness away, but I couldn't. What a stupid cat! I stayed still, gasping for air. The impact had taken my breath away. Great! Now my pants are surely ripped and dirty. My hands, elbows and knees were burning. I think I scraped my face pretty badly as well. I felt the taste of blood in my mouth.
Slowly, I felt a warm liquid spreading around my chest. I pushed myself up to take a closer look.
I wish I hadn't.
The arrow tip from my necklace was almost embedded into my chest from landing and sliding down on my stomach. Holy shit! I need a doctor. Now.
It didn't hurt. I think it is because of my adrenaline rush. I remembered seeing a horse fall over at a race once. It broke its leg but kept on running with its leg just dangling next to it, unable to feel the pain.
Quickly I reached for my phone to call 144 while I still could. My hand still shaking, I triple clicked the power button to activate the emergency call. Thank God someone picked up immediately.
"Health emergency 144, where exactly is the emergency?"
"Hello, this is Jacklyn Morgenrot. I'm in the Tobel forest on the path to the train stop fr-"
I felt my tongue slowly going numb. The words just wouldn't form in my mouth anymore. Panicking I tried again. The blood on my chest was multiplying by the second. This was bad! Trembling I held on to my phone.
"I- on the path from- from-" My fingers were shaking violently now and were turning cold. What was happening? Why can't I talk?!
"Miss? Miss? Hello! Please answer Miss! Where are you?" I recognized a familiar blue light slowly creeping its way across my body. No! I must be dreaming! What was happening?
A loud pounding sound filled up my head. My hearing and vision turned dull and fell into the background. I clenched up into a ball. The strain was getting unbearable until I couldn't take it anymore. Everything turned black.
Then, I was falling.