Ida

Chapter One

A house sat quiet in the darkness of night, surrounded by desert and all that lurk in its cooling sands. An isolated goat farm sat on the outskirts of a small rural town known for its variety of dairy and meat products. A town not well known on the map, but a place often traveled to by surrounding towns.

The inhabitants of the old farm were winding down after a full meal of bison and bread. A mother and father tidied the house before their nightly ritual of relaxation. As she wiped down the last dinner plate before placing it back in the cabinet, she heard her daughter laughing and talking about in her room. Curious, she walked down the hallway towards her daughter's room. The mechanical, motion-sensitive lanterns mounted on the wall, lit brighter as she walked by them, brightening the hall as she walked through it.

Through the space between the slightly opened door and the jam, she watched as her daughter played with her dolls and magnetic blocks. The dolls sat around her in a circle as her audience as she performed a juggling act. The highly polished blocks float gently through the air as she manipulates them with the magnetic push from the bracelets she wore. The thin steel blocks hovered in front of her with ease as she focused on the rotation of the blocks .

It was a good time to live in this world as technology was truly beginning to take off. With a discovery of an alien ship, society has begun to propel forward with leaps and bounds as the technology was passed onto the world. Just three years ago the world was considered to be in a dark age compared to where the people sit know. Now an old town was brought back to life as its old technology had been slowly replaced by futuristic knowledge.

"Okay Mr. May, watch this," Ida asked of her imaginary friend as she made the blocks move higher and faster as she juggled.

Ida's mother had learned of Mr. May's existence a few months back when she heard Ida talking to someone in her room at night. After a few nights passed and she continued to interact with herself, she had to ask about it. Ida had told her it was her imaginary friend, and from that day forward, Ida and Mr. May were inseparable.

With a smile, Ida's mother returned to the kitchen to finish up and to join her husband in the den for some quiet reading time and a glass of red wine. As she read from her book a red laser shone through the window, landing on the newspaper held up in front of her husband. A heading on the front page read, Local finds strange, ancient crystal buried out in the desert. Once again the technology of 1857 will jump ahead two fold.

A swift and silent discharge left the barrel of the rifle, sending a bullet blasting through the glass window and newspaper, sinking into the chest of Mr. Struella. He sunk into his chair, grasping at his shirt as it began to saturate with blood. A blood curdling scream from Mrs. Struella filled the home as she watched her husband choke on his own blood as he died quickly in his chair.

The front door slammed open with three men rushing through, each with a sleek looking firearm at the ready. The sound of the door bursting open and the commotion that followed, quickly made Mrs. Struella leave her dead husband's side. With Ida the only concern in her head, she rushed back down the hall towards Ida's room. Three more shots followed the red dots placed on her back as she made her way down the hallway, dropping her instantly to the hardwood floor, letting the motion lanterns dim as they sensed that there was no longer movement.

The sounds of her mother's screams, blending with the shouting of the intruders in the house grabbed Ida's attention. A look of fear pasted on her face as she stared at Mr. May who held his long, slender, pointing finger pressed to his lips. The curve of his talon-like finger passed by his nostril as he gestured with his other hand for her to follow him inside the large, standing cabinet. Closing the door behind her, Ida watched for the intruders through the thin slats in the door. A pool of blood ooze under her bedroom door from the hallway, and sadness filled her body as she knew her parents were not moving behind that door.