CELL EXPLORATION

⛅ { Morning Glow } ⛅ PR-1

PROLOGUE [PT. 1/3]

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The suns rays would trickle into what appeared to be a young girl's room. The walls were painted pink, flowers decorated on the walls and star stickers splashed across the ceiling in a chaotic mess. The bed was pressed against the window, sections of the blue blanket and plush toys illuminated by the morning glow. A girl was nestled against the blanket, her hair partially covering her face, and her arms wrapped around a large shark plush. Beside the bed was a small nightstand adorned with a pink lamp and notebook with a green pencil tucked inside, most likely to indicate whatever page she left off on. A pink bookbag leaned against the nightstand, half opened with papers poking out.

While the young girl rested, a small phone placed on top of the notebook would vibrate and play a quiet tune, and the girl would adjust her body toward the phone, yawning and shutting off the noise with a push of a button. She sat up, pushing the long strands of hair off of her face, and got up, weakly leaning against the night-stand to keep herself from toppling over from exhaustion. With dirty-blonde hair down to her waist, she yawned and rubbed her ocean-colored eyes, before making her way to the bathroom attached to her room. Her bathroom floor was tiled with a flower rug at the entrance, and some strands of hair beside the sink. She made her way to the sink, splashing her face with water and picking up her pink toothbrush and brushing her teeth.

Once she finished up in the bathroom, she walked over to the bookbag beside her nightstand and shoved the papers sticking out of it back into her bag. They appeared to look like already completed homework assignments and packets, looking like variable worksheets for mathematics and history packets on wars and operations. Complicated work, but she was experienced with such subjects at her young age due to the advanced school she attended. She pulled on the zipper to close her bookbag, before moving to her closet and pulling out the uniform that hung on the closet door, changing out of her pajamas into the clothes. She was always deeply curious on what it would be like to have no uniform, but her school was strict on dress codes, something her parents commended and detailed as a major pro. She trusted her parents' word, given they worked in big jobs at the local lab and power plant that was just a few minutes from her home, but was still upset she had a dress code. They seemed to be highly respected for their work at the least, which made her want to follow in their shoes, so she continued on buttoning her uniform up and tying her hair up in the back with a hair tie and bow.

Finally finishing up getting dressed, she picked up her bookbag, phone and notebook and left her room, racing out of her room into the living room. Her mother sat at the dining table beside the living room, reading from the newspaper in her hands. She appeared to be reserved in nature, not paying mind to her daughter leaving her room. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail trailing down to her hips, and she was wearing a white coat, her uniform for her job.

She placed down the newspaper, and took a sip from her coffee while looking up at her daughter, who was now struggling to tie her shoes. She set the now empty cup down, rising from her seat to her full height and making her way to her daughter. She kneeled down beside her daughter, tying her shoes.

"Katie, didn't I show you many times before this how to tie your shoes?" She looked up at her daughter, as Katie averted her gaze with a huff. ''Sorry mama..'' She whined in response. She would finish tying the shoes with a double knot on both, rising back up and seemingly looming over her. "You need to learn these things. I won't be around forever, especially not with work how it is." The mother would huff, before walking back to the table.

She picked up her now empty glass of coffee, placing it in the sink nearby, and returned to the table to grab her set of keys and a plastic bag filled with dry cereal for her daughter. Meanwhile, Katie whined and whimpered different apologies repeatedly in response, her hands clenching around her notebook more as she walked over to her mom and took the bag off her mothers hands. Her mother used the now empty hand of hers to run her hand through Katie's hair.


"Let's head out now, you have school, and I cannot get late myself to work." Katie's mother would beckon her over to the door, unlocking it and holding it open for her daughter. Katie followed quickly, walking her way over to the car and sitting in the backseat once the door was unlocked, and would begin to eat her cereal as her mother sat down in the front seat and turned on the car. "Your report card should be coming out today, yes? Show it to your father once he picks you up." She would state, looking at Katie's face turn a shade of white from the overhead mirror. She chuckled to herself, beginning to drive through the neighborhood streets toward Katie's school.

Katie was young, but she had so much on her young mind. She looked outside the mirror at the forest beside her neighborhood, while thinking of what her grades could possibly look like. Bad, she theorized. School at Oaksley was difficult, especially for a 9 year old girl with parents like hers. The standards were almost impossible to manage, but she had no choice but to deal with it. Of course, she could just run into the forest, though. Many people hypothesized and rumored that magical creatures lived there, protected by invisible forces that kept humans away. Maybe she could reside there. Or maybe not; She was skeptical, but hopeful. Her mother and father hated the rumors though, and would constantly try to disprove them, instead offering her to visit the laboratory they both worked in. She got bad energy from the lab though, it felt too confining to her, and she always refused to enter. She would rather just daydream about the forest, mainly on the way to school, or on a rainy day. Maybe she would be able to talk to her best friend Susan today though! That made being in the small town worth it, at the least.

She didn't notice the car begin to slow to a halt until it stopped by the entry way of the school. She snapped back into focus upon bearing witness to the light gray walls of the three-story school and white fencing all around, and quickly grabbed her bookbag from beside her and ran out the car door. ''Bye Mama!!" She exclaimed, looking back as her mother waved good-bye at her before pulling out of the school to head off to work.

Katie paused, looking back up at the static building, before slowly making her way in with an innocent smile on her face. She wondered what the day would bring her.

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