The Five Laws ✓

01

It was humid in New York.

The weather wasn't scheduled to be anything but hot, and the nearly empty apartment where I stood seemed to soak up every inch of heat possible. The sun was bright against the large glass windows, the wooden floors were searing against my feet, and the blonde I called my best friend was complaining every so often about the temperature while rummaging through cupboards in the kitchen a good distance away.

"Mia, do you know where the mugs are?" Florence questioned me after being silent for a few minutes, not bothering to even glance in my direction when she spoke. I looked around, trying to find the box I knew we had put kitchen items into. It proved difficult as I had to balance a stack of books and movies in my arms at the same time, but I managed. After a few beats with what was seemingly no luck, my eyes landed on a box with the word, "Fragile," sprawled out across it in messy handwriting.

"Yeah, I got them." I called back as I struggled to gently guide the box across the floor with my leg, trying not to drop the items I was carrying simultaneously. I could hear Florence speaking to me as I made my way to where she was.

"We really need some food. So far all we've got are crackers and orange juice, and I don't know about you, but I cannot survive off that." I nodded before pushing the box near her, taking a deep breath after, "Have you checked the car?"

I was met with her confused expression. "I know we bought snacks on the way here," I said, trying not to grin as I watched her, "those should hold you off until dinner time."

Her confused look turned to one of judgement and I smiled wryly at her finally, "Fine, we'll go shopping after we unpack this last box." I tapped the one I had previously brought in and watched as Florence pushed her glasses up a bit more, adjusting them on her face. The clear rim complimented the color of her hair that she always seemed to have tied up in a bun, and I took a second to think about just how opposite we were. She was light haired, and I was dark haired; Hers was choppy and short, mine was long and wavy. We were complete opposites.

Florence was my best friend. Sometimes I wondered why, since we didn't have all that much in common, but then I always discarded the thought from my mind immediately. Florence was there for me through all the ups and downs of our teenage years, and although we were barely in our early twenties, we had managed to stay together. I wouldn't change our friendship for the world.

"Okay, I'll unpack this last box while you go put all that," she motioned towards the clutter in my arms, "away. Be fast though, a girl needs to eat."

Her words made me chuckle as I turned to leave, walking back to the living room to find a place for everything. My attention was brought to the window suddenly when I entered, rain pattering down against it from the gray sky outside, starting to get louder by the second. I wasn't surprised at the sudden contrast to only a few minutes ago, instead, I was grateful. Things had changed, this was how they were.

There were small, drone-like machines, stationed at the highest point possible in the sky; over not just big cities, but long stretches of country sides and smaller towns across the country itself additionally. These machines could send signals up into the atmosphere, and necessarily alter the weather for however long needed.

It was introduced almost over a decade ago, so it surely wasn't anything my generation wasn't used to. Before we had machines that were smart and powerful enough to aid us on a larger level than just phones and televisions, our earth was practically edging its way towards

catastrophic failure. I couldn't say I agreed with everything we were exposed to as a society, but the planet being saved was definitely high up on the list of things I was grateful for.