Fight For The Human Race: The Changing Earth

Chapter One: Orange Skies?

"Riley! Get down here! You're going to be late to school!" I wake up sleepily, hearing my mom calling me.

"Coming!" I call back, looking over at the clock lazily. I sigh, seeing that it's only 5:30 in the morning. "Mom, it's only 5:30!" I yell downstairs to her. I hear her run up the steps.

"What sweetie?" she asks, opening my door.

"It's only 5:30," I mumble sleepily, pulling the blanket over my head.

"Oh I know. I just want you to get up early for your first day at school dear," she explains as she walks over to the window, opening the curtains. "Rise and shine sleepy head. Maybe you and your brother could walk together to the academy," she says cheerfully, smiling. She sees that I'm still hiding under the blanket so she walks over to me and starts to tickle me.

"Okay, okay, I'll get up," I say, giggling as I sit up. My mom smiles and walks out of the room, closing the door behind her. I got up and walked sleepily to my walk-in closet.

I pick up the clothes hanger with my school uniform on it and put it on a shelf. Then I change my clothes, putting on my white shirt, burgundy jacket, and navy blue pleated skirt. Then I walked out of the walk-in closet and over to my dresser, pulling out the white socks and putting them on, along with my black shoes. Then I walk into my bathroom and comb my hair, putting it into a ponytail and tying it with a sky blue ribbon. After I finish, I walk out and look into the mirror at my door, smiling, satisfied at how my outfit looks. I finally walk downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Good morning," I say to my brother and mom, sitting down at one of the stools at the table.

"Good morning," I hear my brother, Rafael, mumble sleepily as he moves his spoon around in his cereal. I giggle as I watch him eat sleepily.

"You remind me of a zombie," I giggle, smiling at him and his messy hair. He grunts and keeps eating sleepily, looking down at his bowl.

"Here's your breakfast dear," my mom hands me a bowl of chocolate rice krispy cereal.

"Thanks mom," I smile and start eating it happily. My mom nods, smiling and turning on the nearby living-room tv. She looks through the channels and leaves it on the news. I hear the news reporter and listen carefully as I eat, finding the news interesting.

"People are starting to notice a slight orange tint in the once blue sky we had," he says. I turn to look at the tv and look at the screen surprised, seeing the orange tint where the blue sky once stood. Rafael sees the surprised look on my face and turns to see the tv, the same look of surprise filling his face.

"I can't believe..." he says, cutting off and running to the living room window. He pulls back the curtain and looks out, surprised to see the sky really is orange. My mom looks at his expression worriedly and walks over, looking up to the sky as well.

"Maybe I should drive you two to school," she mumbles worriedly, slowly moving away from the window while staring at the orange sky.

I look at her, full of thoughts, wondering why the sky is orange, a slight fear in my gut growing with each second I think. We all finish our breakfast quietly, each of us lost in thought.

After I finished my breakfast, I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. After I finished I rinsed my mouth and started to wash my face. After a moment, I noticed the water was getting hotter. I wiped my face with a towel and opened my eyes, seeing the water change from a clear color to a translucent orange color.

"Mom!" I call her, freaking out. "Something's wrong with the water!" I hear her run in and gasp as she sees the water getting darker. She quickly turns it off and stands back, staring at it in shock. "Mom?" I look at her worriedly as she keeps staring.

"I'll call the plumber later today," she says, shaking her head and snapping out of the trance she seemed to be in. "Let's hurry and get you two to school, it's getting late," she walks out and heads to the kitchen to get her car keys. I walk to the living-room, picking up my backpack and looking at the TV as the meteorologist announces this weeks forecast. I turn the volume up and listen.

"Good morning and this is your weekly forecast," she says cheerfully. "Today it will be sunny and that will last on until tomorrow and half of Wednesday. Thursday, however, it is going to start getting cloudy and that will continue through the weekend. We are expecting some showers on Saturday and thunderstorms on Sunday-"

"Are you ready?" My mom asks, coming up behind me, Rafael already out the door. 

"Yeah, sorry," I put on my backpack and start heading towards the door. 

"I call shotgun!" my brother calls as he opens the passenger door and hops into the front seat. I roll my eyes jokingly and get in the back, putting on my seatbelt as my mom turns on the car.

"Everyone buckled?" She smiles back at me through the rearview mirror. 

"Yeah," I smile back. She nods and I look out the window as she drives us to school.