Imagination's last hope: The quest to save the unseen world

Chapter 12

Rachel was woken up by the loud thunder and pouring rain. It had been raining since she got back from the world of imagination. Rachel didn't like this dreary and miserable weather at all. She saw it as a sign that something terrible was going to happen.

Rachel liked sunny and warm days. It lids everyone up and makes them feel better. Nothing bad ever seems to happen on sunny days.

She wasn't in the mood for this terrible weather, especially not today.

Rachel got home at one. She wanted to catch up on some sleep. She was feeling exhausted after the past few nights. The weather made her even more tired. She wanted to stay in bed and read a good book.

Luckily, it was almost Friday. Just one more day before she could sleep in and do whatever she wanted, except for the homework she still had to finish.

Rachel looked at her watch. She wanted to get a few more minutes of sleep. But she knew if she fell asleep now, she would wake up sometime in the afternoon.

The first thing she thought about was Caleb. He was looking a lot better, but Rachel knew that if his Wi-Fi and technology got taken away, he would become a zombie again.

He still wasn't himself. Last night at the dinner table, he didn't eat all his food. When Dad asked how school was, he barely replied. Usually, he likes to talk about his day. He has many friends, and something exciting always happens to them.

Caleb didn't have black bags under his eyes and wasn't as pale anymore. He poured himself a big cup of hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows. It was what he drank every morning.

"You look a lot better today," Mum said to him.

"Of course I do. You guys don't understand how awful having nothing to do all day is." He said.

"Do you know how bad these games are for you?  You're going to die because of them one day." Rachel asked him.

"I'm going to die anyway. At least if I die playing games, I'll die happy." Caleb said as he took almost all the french toast and bacon. You could see that his appetite was back.

Rachel rolled her eyes at him. It was no use trying to argue with Caleb. He would continue sitting in his room all day and playing video games. It has crossed Rachel's mind more than once that Caleb might be a vampire. That would explain why he hates the sun and screeches like a bat when you open his bedroom curtains.

School wasn't that bad, Rachel thought to herself. She stayed awake through all of her classes, and they didn't get too much work to do. The bad weather probably made the teachers tired, too.

Mum was too busy at work, so Dad had to pick them up from school. It was actually really nice having him pick them up. He was a much better driver than their mum was, and he didn't have as much road rage as she did. It made the ride back home a lot more relaxing. It helped her to relax and not think about them having to go into the world of technology.

Rachel was at her desk, finishing her math homework. Caleb was in his room. Rachel could hear him shouting. He was on a video call with his friends. They were always this loud when they played together.

"Caleb!" Mum shouted as she was walking up the stairs.

Rachel could hear that she was in a bad mood.

Rachel peeked out of her bedroom door to see what was going on. Mum went into Caleb's room. Rachel left her room and sneaked down the hall to stand closer to Caleb's room. She was curious to hear what he got in trouble about. Luckily, Mum was talking really loudly, so it wasn't hard to listen to what she was saying.

"The school never calls me, not about you or your sister. So why did they call me yesterday to tell me that you have done absolutely none of your work, didn't listen, and fell asleep in most of the classes. You were probably up playing video games the whole night. That's why you were so tired yesterday." She heard her mum say.

Rachel made her way back to her bedroom before she got caught. She sat by her desk to make it look like she was there the whole time. She didn't want to get in trouble for eavesdropping.

Mum was in Caleb's room for about another five minutes. Rachel couldn't hear exactly what Mum was saying, but she knew Caleb was in trouble.

"I don't understand it, Peter. He gets sent to one of the best schools in the country, and this is what he does. He knows the rules we set up for him, and now he's breaking all of them. It's only to get worse from here. I think we should take away his cellphone and PlayStation." Rachel heard Mum say to Dad in the living room. You could tell Mum was furious about all of this.

She strictly follows the rules and hates it when Rachel or Caleb breaks even a small rule. She has always believed that you must do what you are told; that's probably what got her so far in her career, but Rachel has always believed that rules were made to be broken.

"I really think you should relax a bit; this was the first time something like this has happened, and I'm sure if we just talk to him about it, he won't do it again. we can't just take away all of his things." Dad tried to get her to calm down.

He was always the calm and relaxed one, holding everything together. 

Rachel zoned out and didn't hear the rest of the argument.

Her mind was elsewhere.

They had to go to Techtopia tonight. If all goes well, they will find out what is wrong and solve this mess. But if something goes wrong, they risk being terminated by the robots.

Rachel shook her head. She wanted to get the idea out of her head. She had to stay positive and believe everything would happen according to plan. There wasn't any space for negative thoughts in her mind.

Rachel has always been fearless. She was always the one who everyone called when there was a giant spider. She has always been the one to swing the highest in preschool. Only certain things scared Rachel. The dark scared her until she turned ten. It always felt like something was lurking in the dark. Worms were her biggest fear. Everyone always laughed at her because of her fear, but she was terrified of them. At sixteen, she is still not entirely over her fear of worms.

Rachel tried imagining what it would be like. She had no idea what to expect and didn't want to go unprepared.

Hootwiggle didn't tell her what Techtopia was like. She didn't tell her anything about what the mission would be like. But there wasn't time to ask questions now. Rachel had to be brave. She had a huge responsibility resting on her shoulders. The whole world depended on her.

If this mission goes badly, the children's and adults' imagination and creativity are at stake.