Sleeping Jenny (3 page)

“David and Timothy Streetwater are my ancestors.”

The room rushed around me like a washing machine on high cycle. My mind wrestled with his words, wrapping itself around them and denying it. “Where's Timmy? Where are my mom and dad?”

“Dr. Kline said it would be hard on you.” He took my hand and squeezed it. “I want you to know, I'm so glad you're alive. My wife and I have adopted you. We're your legal guardians now. My name is Valex Streetwater, and my wife is Len.”

Valex? Len? Did everyone's name sound like a household cleaner? What happened to all the Marys and Toms? “What year is it?” I demanded, bracing myself.

Valex glanced at Doctor Kline and the doctor shook his head in a subtle no. Valex patted my arm. “We'll get to that.” He gestured to a woman out in the hall, “Why don't you come in now, honey?”

An Asian woman with long, shiny black hair peeked in. She wore a bright pink dress that looked so straight it must have been made out of paper. That's when I realized Valex's clothes were strange as well. He wore a gold tunic with a yellow dot in the middle. My eyes were getting better by the minute, but I didn't like what I saw.

The Asian woman stepped in. “Are you sure?”

Valex turned to me and lifted an eyebrow. “Do you want to meet her?”

My stomach flipped. That giant bowl of chocolate ice cream didn't seem so appetizing any more. I'd woken up on the wrong side of the bed, or fallen into an alternate universe, like on
The Twilight Zone
. I squeezed my eyes shut and wished it all away.
Please, please, please be a dream
.

When I opened my eyes, Valex still sat beside me, waiting for my response. When I looked into his eyes, I saw my dad, and when I studied each curl, I saw Timmy. My mom's thin, arched brows were his as well, along with Grandpa's cheekbones. I reached out and touched a stray end of his hair.

“You look just like them.” My voice shook.

“I'll be there for you, just like they were.”

Anger rose inside me and struck out like a lightning bolt. “No. I want to go home.”

Dr. Kline pushed between us as if he could take back my harsh voice. “She's had enough for today.” He yanked on Valex's arm until he stood. “We have counsellors available to help her. Let's let her digest this new information.”

“We're just going to leave her here?”

Dr. Kline ushered Valex out of the room.

Part of me wanted him to stay because he reminded me so much of Timmy and Dad, and another part of me couldn't bear to look at him. He was proof my world was gone.

“She's due to stay and speak to counsellors while we monitor her condition.” He whispered under his breath, but his voice carried. “We have a high suicide rate with woken cryosleepers. You may pick her up when she's come to terms with her status.”

Valex spoke over his shoulder. “Get some rest. We'll be back for you when you're ready.”

I had no words. My entire body was in denial, shock jarring me until nothing made sense.

After the door shut behind them, I couldn't hold back the tears. They came like a tidal wave, soaking the front of my hospital gown. I pounded my fists on the bed, thinking of all the things I'd missed. Now that I was alive and healthy, I didn't want to go on. What was the point?

A nurse scuttled in and pressed a needle into my arm. The hospital room disappeared around me into the endless oblivion from which I came.

CHAPTER SIX

Alone

I
clutched Thunderbolts reins with sweaty palms as he pounded the earth. The sun set in a bright fire bath on the horizon, and I raced to meet it, as if catching the brilliant gold could somehow take back time
.

The scent of his mane mingled with the freshly cut grass of our pasture. I drew in a long breath, filling my lungs. We rode so hard that I lost myself in the rhythm of his hoofbeats, as if our bodies melded into one and nothing else existed. Freedom and exhilaration washed over me like spring rain
.

“Come on, Thunderbolt, faster!” I nudged my heels in his flanks
.

Thunderbolt whinnied and bolted ahead. The rhythm stuttered like a weakening heartbeat. Had he missed a step?

I tumbled forward into a heap of arms and legs. I braced myself to be buried underneath his weight, or trampled by his hooves. The air whooshed over my head as he leapt over me, racing toward the setting sun
.

“Thunderbolt, wait for me.”

When I scrambled to stand, pain shot down my leg. Somehow, a cast had formed around it, weighing me down. A nurse stood beside me, as if she worked in the meadow every day
.

“We've got to get you to the recovery room.” She bent down and lifted me onto a rolling bed. All I cared about was Thunderbolt getting away
.

I pointed. “Over there. We have to go after him. There's no fence and he could run away.”

“Yes, my dear.” She pushed the bed forward
.

The grass made it bumpy and slow. “Hurry up.”

“There's no rush, dear. You'll be woken in due time.”

Woken? Was I asleep? Was this a dream?

When we got to the edge of the meadow, the sun had set. Twilight hung over me in a cold haze. I shivered, clutching my shoulders. I scanned the horizon and saw a black rump sticking out of a cluster of trees. “Over there.”

As she pushed me forward, her face turned into Mom's perfect fox-like features. A swirl of emotion threatened to crumple me, and I couldn't figure out why I needed her so badly. Wouldn't I see her at dinner?

“Mom, we have to get Thunderbolt.”

“Yes, Jennifer. We're almost there.”

His black hide glistened in the moonlight. She was right
.

“Thunderbolt, over here.” I clicked my tongue. He always came when I made that noise, because I had treats
.

I shoved my hands in my pockets, but they were empty. When had I used all the treats?

I whistled, and Thunderbolt didn't move
.

Mom seemed oblivious. “Who knows, they might wake you up in a year.”

“What?” I reached out and touched Thunderbolt's hide. The fur was cold and coarse. My heart raced, and I swallowed a rising current of dread. I leaned over so far I almost fell off the bed and stretched my arms. My fingers caught around the saddle. I yanked him out of the trees and screamed
.

A stuffed horse fell on the grass below my bed. His glass eyes stared at me as if asking why I abandoned him. I rubbed the hand that had touched his hide on my good leg to wipe away the feeling of his fake skin, but the feeling of the dead hair kept coming back and my spine tingled
.

“Mom, how could you let me sleep for so long?”

When I turned around, she was gone
.

I awoke shivering and reached for my sheets. My hands groped in the dark and closed on air. Had I kicked them off? Why was my pillow stuck down?

My eyes adjusted to the green light of the heart monitor, and my horrible day rushed back like a slap in the face. I relived the horrors of learning everyone I knew was dead. It left me with an emptiness so large it could eat me alive. I wanted to squirm it off, but it clung to me like mold.

I cried until I had no tears left and my stomach muscles hurt from sobbing. I felt so alone that I could have been the last person alive on Earth. Curling up into a fetal position, I wanted to feel Mom's arms around me, hear the sound of Dad's voice. All those times Timmy wanted me to play cars with him on the floor and I said no hurt like stabs in my heart. I was too interested in my stuff, the latest gossip in school, and shopping. How could I have been so distracted?

In the middle of the night in my futuristic hospital room, I finally realized what was important in life. Not some school dance, my gym grade, or the latest accessory from Abercrombie. When everything was stripped away, family and the people you cared about were all that mattered. Too bad I realized it too late.

“Wake me up.” I cried out loud to whoever would listen. “Get me out of here.”

No one answered. Only the beeping of the heart monitor, and it always said the same thing. The emptiness was so complete that I could have died right there and not cared. But that's not what my family would have wanted. They invested all of their money and hopes on this project, and it worked.

To fight the depression, I had to keep going. I owed it to them.

They'd want me to give this new world a chance. If anything, I couldn't let the thousands of dollars Dad had paid for me to have this second chance go to waste. Besides, I couldn't lie in BMC forever. I hated hospitals. Anything would be better than this, even if I had to put up with people I didn't know, people who looked like they'd stolen my family's faces right off them.

I reached around the bed for the button to hail the nurse, but the sleek chrome had no panels.

“Damn. Stupid futuristic bed.”

How did they call people on
Star Trek?
I cleared my throat. “Computer, get me the nurse.” I felt like the biggest geek ever, but after a second, the wall on my left flicked on like a giant TV. I jerked back, expecting something to explode. An older woman's face peered at me.

“Yes?”

Um. Do I just talk to the wall?

The older woman tilted her head. “You hailed?”

My voice came out as a mouse shriek. “Yes.”

“Is anything wrong?”

“No.”

It took me a moment to remember the weird names of my new legal guardians. “Call Valex and Len Streetwater. I don't need to talk to the counselors. I'm ready to go home.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Metropolis

I
dragged my feet like a zombie, following Valex and Len through the corridors of the Cryonics Institute of New England. Dr. Resin's picture hung on the wall along with a plaque that said,
Founding Father 1967-2064
. He smiled like a movie star thanking his adoring public. He'd slicked his hair back in a luscious wave of blond, and his tan was the color of my mom's coffee. Easy for him. He wasn't the one that had to go on in a world where everything had changed. It would have been much easier to die that day with my family by my bedside. But I owed it to them to keep going.

I wasn't alone. Valex picked up my bags, along with a few storage containers of items my family had left for me. Len held my hand and gently nudged me along with kind words. Her tiny hand had so much strength in it that I couldn't refuse her.

Valex caught me mentally smiting Dr. Resin and smiled. “Let's go, Jennifer. Our ride is just beyond that gate.”

“Don't we have to take the stairs down?” If I remembered correctly, the New England Cryogenics Institute was on the tenth floor of BMC.

Valex shook his head and winked his dark eye. “We don't need any stairs.”

Len poked him in the side with her finger. “Don't tease her. She's had a hard day.”

“What?” I huffed. “What am I missing?”

Valex tilted his head toward the door. “Come on. It's much easier to show you than explain.”

Valex was way more easygoing than my dad. Comparing the two of them sent a shot of pain directly to my heart, and I closed down my memories in order to survive and keep walking. No matter how cool Valex was, he could never replace my real dad.

Valex pressed a panel and the door slid open. We walked out onto a dock where strange ships with no wheels stood in rows and the sky opened up above us. Valex dug in his pocket and pulled out a black box. He pressed a button and a
beep
sounded from the third ship down the line, a small aerodynamic-looking bubble with striped wings.

“You own a spaceship!”

Valex nodded. “Yup. But it's not a spaceship. It's a hovercraft.”

“Wow.”

Len rolled her eyes and took my arm. “Everyone has one. Come on. He's just being a show-off.”

The hatch lifted and we crowded in. Valex put my bags in the back and took up the controls. When the ship turned on, seat restraints came down, belting us in automatically. I jerked away and Valex and Len laughed. “The seat belts won't hurt you.”

Great. Just my comeuppance. Now I was stuck with two parent comedians to tease me. I wanted to tell them how I used to be smart and witty, but the words stuck on my tongue and I sat in silence as the hovercraft took off.

Bath, Maine, looked more like New York City on a Monday morning. Instead of rural barn houses and fields, high-rise buildings crowded the skyline. There was no ground anywhere, and I realized why everyone flew in hovercrafts. The buildings were so close together that there were no roads.

“Where are all the fields?”

“They grow the crops on top of the high-rises.” Len pointed to bubble-shaped greenhouses capping each skyscraper like the tops of vegan slushies.

“You mean there's no ground?”