Titan's Heart

Chapter One: Wishing to go back to Sleep

My whole being was drowsy and felt awkward. Pain seared my body. White light blinded me. I saw figures that I felt were suspiciously doctor-looking. I tried to move my arms, but found them to be shackled to the bed I was on. Wait, I thought, where is my bed? Where am I? I tried to open my dry, (Someone help me on this one) mouth, but nothing would move. Except for my toe. I pondered that for a second, but didn't get very far, because then I saw a face, and everything went black.

I blinked a couple of times. This looked like my room, with my pillows, big blue bean-bag chair, and the bright blue and purple walls, but I felt strange. Like something just wasn't right. I moved everything, from my fingers to my toes, and slowly inched the covers off. I didn't feel drowsy, though I had a feeling that I had slept for a long time. Mom would be mad. As I sat cross-legged in my bed, I looked up at the ceiling and all-around. Everything looked right, except... There was a little, blinking light up in the left corner, by the door. Had mum (or mom) installed a security system while I was asleep? Or maybe it was a bad smoke alarm? I went to investigate.

I had literally gotten out of the bed, and walked maybe six paces when the door opened, and a very young, doctor-looking man walked in. He closed the door immediately, but I saw the hallway enough to figure out that something was up. As far as I knew, my hallway at home was not a pristine, white-tiled corridor. It was littered with the twins' toys, baskets of laundry, and dog shed everywhere. So I knew that something was not right. At home, I did not get visits from hot, young doctors, like the ones on TV. The man looked at me, and gestured towards my bed, as if saying "Have a seat." In my room. I sat, on the edge of my bed, while he (tried to) gracefully flop on the blue bean-bag across from me. I snickered. He quickly flushed red, and then composed himself.

"Hello, Kay," he said, still adjusting in the bean-bag chair. "I am Dr. Parveen. But you can call me Joziah."

"Ummm... Well seeing you already know my name, might as well just say hello." He laughed, and I just sat there, very uncomfortable.

"I'm just gonna ask a couple of questions, easy ones, OK? Kay, can you tell me the year it is? Or the president currently in office? The family members that are still alive, for you?" he asked, with a strange tone in his voice.

"Well, the year is 2016, President Obama is still, sadly, in office, but the presidential elections are this year, and Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders are pretty much all going to kill the country and its values. Oh, and my mom (mum?), the twins, Dean, my dad, my grandparents on my mom's side, and all of her siblings. My dad's brother is alive, and all of my first cousins are," I stated, confusion and worries dripping off my words.

He sighed, with a sadness in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Kay, that I have to explain this. We can talk about it later, but almost all of that is wrong. The year is 2115, America has no current president, and only Dean is alive." I was shocked. My eyes must have been as big as supper plates, and rapidly filling with tears because he promptly got up and said, "I have to go. I'll be back, OK?"

I didn't have a chance to answer, because he left. And I cried. As hard and long as I could. I did that once, at my grandparents house when I was little, for some stupid reason. When I came downstairs, I had a raging fever. That I had given myself. I felt so bad about that, that I never tried doing it again. But at that moment, I did it without knowing. I didn't want to feel. Not even the fact that it was one hundred years from when I remember phased me. Just the fact that almost all my family was gone. Except for Dean, my big brother and best friend. Later, while I was still crying, other doctors came in and tried to take my temperature, blood pressure and all that, but I shooed them away. Wouldn't let them come near me. I just wanted to grieve.