Terra Nova: A Second Chance

Terra Nova: Five

Flora

The next day, rain spluttered from the sky in big, fat droplets, which beat away on the tin roofs of every house in Terra Nova. The dirt quickly turned to sloppy, oozing mud, the grass became coated in a blanket of water as puddles began to form, and little splash noises could be heard as the occassional droplet would slide down a leaf and land on the moist ground below.

I lay curled up on the couch with one of my good, favourite old books, The Scarlet Pimpernel- a real old classic- while listening to the sound of the rain on the roof. Sam was somewhere doing something, probably on the plex, which I'd finally-reluctantly- given up to him. I heard that in the olden days, it was thought that if you stared at a tiny screen for too long, you'd get square eyes, and I didn't want that happening so I passed it on.

After finishing a chapter, I slipped a bit of crumpled up paper I used as a book mark onto the page I was reading and gently shut the book. Today was the day I was going to get a job- I couldn't just let Sam do all the work, I had to pitch in my fair share. But what would I be best at? Not cooking, or gardening or- maybe narrow it down to nothing too... energy wasteful, as I'm quite lazy and dislike doing things...

But I knew that in every job around, you had to do work, so I' d have to suck it up and stick it out. For me, and for Sam, and for the plex...

I placed the book on the coffee table in front of the couch and  swung my legs out in front of me, eventually, slowly, pulling myself to stand up- my legs groaned in disapproval. "I know, guys." I bent down and patted my legs, like a crazy person. You are a crazy person I thought.

"Sam!" I yelled over my shoulder, grabbing the house keys. "I'm going out! Be back later!"

"Yup!" came from his room. 

I shook my head with a small smile and wandered out of the house, locking the door behind me- who knew what would happen to Sam if someone broke in again. I turned around after yanking my keys out of the lock and almost ran into Josh Shannon. "Woah, sorry!"

He laughed, "Yes, sorry, I'm a silent but deadly type."

With a small chuckle I stuffed my keys into my pocket. "Well 'silent-but-deadly' one, how can I help you?"

"Oh well..." He pulled one of his hands out from behind his back to reveal some sort of tray in tin wrap. "Mum just wanted to say 'welcome to Terra Nova' and I guess also 'sorry you got robbed!"

I smiled, taking the tin from him. "Aw, she didn't have to do that. What is it?" The tray was warm beneath my fingers as I peeled back the foil wrap to see what it was. A delicious wafting odor immediately charged my nostrils from the freshly baked lasagne. "Ooh yum! Thank you, no cooking tonight!" I cheered

He chuckled, "I'll tell her you love it."

"Please do! Thank you again, silent but deadly boy."

With one last warm smile and a wave, he turned around and walked back inside his house.

I smiled to myself and took another waff of the lasagne before quickly fumbling with the keys to unlock the door so I could put the lasagne in the oven to keep warm. Rethinking my current outfit, which consisted of a pair of washed-out jeans and a tank top, I hastily slipped on my thick, woolen jacket, hoping it would sheild me from the ice-cold rain which seemed to be getting heavier by the minute.

I headed for the door, my damp hair itching my spine, and wrapped my fingers around the cold handle. A gust of wind hit me as the door swung open, and I shuddered before slipping  the soft hood attached to my jacket over my head. I locked the door behind me, shoved my keys into my pocket, and walked down the muddy path that was slowly forming.