The Wave of Time

Chapter 2

"Nikki! Are you okay? Do you know how you hit your head?" Sadie quickly asked. Nikki winced slightly, replying "yeah, I'll be okay. I think when we dropped, my head caught the corner of the counter." In an instant, Jack disappeared in the bathroom to retrieve the first aid supplies and Sadie began cleaning Nikki's injury. Once she was all patched up, the three friends began picking up the mess that was their apartment – upside down table, chairs thrown about the small space, laptops on the floor, dishes smashed on the floor, sofa leaning against a wall.

As they tidied, very few words were vocalized, as each person attempted to review the events that occurred just a short time ago. Finally, as they finished the last of their tasks, Jack walked into the kitchen, put the kettle on for some tea. "Do either of you have any idea what just happened? There was no way that was an ordinary earth quake. I mean really! We were floating up at the ceiling! What causes that!?" Startled by Jack's sudden outburst, both Sadie and Nikki jumped slightly from their places at the kitchen table and couch. Once she recovered from the slight shock of his voice, Nikki replied, "I don't know what happened. It definitely was not an earthquake. I've never heard of anything like that ever happening. When I go into work tomorrow, I'll have to see what I can find out. Until then, I suggest we see what the news is saying about this little event, then go to bed, and get an early start tomorrow." "Sounds good." "Jack replied. "Yeah, sounds good, though I am wondering Nikki, what time do you consider to be early exactly" Sadie added with a slight smirk. "Hahaha, very funny Sadie!"

Sadie was the first to pull the local news report up on her computer. "Well, this is odd, but not exactly helpful!" she declared. The only thing the news report is saying is that across the country there was a large earthquake earlier this evening, and as soon as the shaking stopped, people and objects began floating for no apparent reason." "Well, it is helpful in that it is extremely odd for there to be an shaking event happen across Canada. It is extremely rare for earthquakes to occur in the center of North America, the farthest from where the tectonic plates collide with one another. There is definitely something weird going on here." Nikki replied. "Hmm. Well lets just go to bed. Perhaps there will be more information tomorrow." Jack suggested.

The trio trudged down the hall, calling goodnight to one another, and entering their respective rooms, changing for bed, and flopping down, staring at the ceiling. Each lay for hours, thinking of the events of earlier that evening, until finally, sleep overtook them.

The next morning, Sadie was the first one up, preparing breakfast for everyone. It was at that point that she noticed something peculiar. "Hey Nikki! Wake up!" Sadie yelled. It was at that point that she heard a grumbling noise coming down the hall. Sadie continued, "which direction does the sun rise from?" After some more grumbling, she could make out Nikki's response. "The East. How did you not know that?" "That's what I thought. You might want to get out here... we may have a problem." Sadie responded, as she stared out of the window in their living room, which was large enough for the three roommates to stand shoulder to shoulder, with room on either side. It provides a great view of the sunrise when it is clear out. A moment later, Nikki stumbled down the hallway, looking rather irritated to have been awoken so abruptly. "What do you mean, we may have a problem, Sadie? Yesterday's little event wasn't enough?" "See for yourself. Just watch the sunrise for a few moments." Sadie responded. Nikki obeyed. After watching the sunrise for a full 10 minutes, a sharp intake of breath could be heard from where Nikki was sitting. "Sadie, I believe you are correct. We may have a serious problem. I'm leaving for work early today, and will let you and Jack know what I find out. "Okay, sounds good." Sadie replied. With that, Nikki shoved some bacon in her mouth, which had just finished cooking moments earlier, and rushed out the door, waving to Sadie.

Half an hour later, Jack made his way into the kitchen, looking tired and worn down. "Morning." He greeted Sadie, as he grabbed some bacon and placed it on a plate. "Morning sleeping beauty." She responded as she began putting her dishes away. He just snorted, and began eating. Once finished, Jack was curious as to the whereabouts of their other roommate. "Hey Sadie, is Nikki still sleeping? She's going to be late for work again." Sadie just chuckled. "Nikki has been up, observed the peculiar sunrise, which I pointed out to her, inhaled some food, and left for work." "Oh great, so the only way to get her to work on time is for some crazy natural phenomenon to occur?" Sadie laughed. "Yep, it would seem like it." "On her way out the door, she said that she would let us know anything she found out about last night or this morning." Sadie added. "That's great!" Jack responded. Another few minutes passed before the two remaining occupants of the apartment began preparing for work, and departed for the day, hoping that Nikki would come home with some answers.

It was 7pm by the time Nikki slowly trudged into the apartment, where she found her two roommates rather impatiently awaiting her return. Sadie was repeatedly pacing the length of the small room while Jack was aggressively scrubbing a pan, which had been scrubbed clean 30 minutes ago. As soon as they heard the door open, they simultaneously stopped what they were do and looked at Nikki. "Well?!" They exclaimed. "Well, I can tell you, I have seen nothing like this before. We're still running tests and the results won't be back until tomorrow afternoon, at least, but I have a theory." Nikki replied. "Let's hear it then! I want to hear a scientist's theory, not a local newspaper editor who has absolutely no idea what he is talking about!" Sadie exclaimed.

As Sadie and Jack watched her every move, Nikki slowly walked toward the kitchen, served herself some spaghetti which her roommates made and consumed earlier that evening, and made her way to the living room couch. As soon as she settled, Sadie and Jack were right next to her, staring expectantly. "Keep in mind that this is just a theory, but I believe what has happened is something has caused a disruption in the earth's natural gravitational pull and the earth's rotations. Basically, the reason the sunrise didn't look right this morning is because the earth is spinning the wrong way." Sadie's jaw dropped. "What does this mean? What's going to happen? Is the earth going to crash into other planets? Is it going to explode!?" She rambled on. "Just relax Sadie! I don't know what this means, but panicking isn't going to help our situation. I won't know any more until we confirm that this is in fact the case, and what has caused this. I suggest we just go about the next couple days as we normally would until we know for sure." Nikki replied. "Just take a deep breath Sadie, we'll be okay." Jack added. After some more discussion about their situation, which consisted mostly of calming Sadie down, Sadie and Jack went to bed, while Nikki stayed up and continued researching the phenomenon which they experienced just the day before.

It was another 3 days before Nikki was able to get some solid answers to the mysterious events that was experienced, and while the results were at least in part what she was expecting, Nikki was still shocked. As she rode in the slow, and rather sketchy elevator up to their apartment, Nikki was fiddling with the strap on the backpack she always wears to work, trying to figure out how she is going to explain to her roommates, and best friends what is happening, and what it could mean. She new Jack would take the news in a calm manner, and thoroughly think about what this could mean, before asking the logical questions. Sadie on the other hand? Well, she would freak out, and begin rambling, much like she did 3 days earlier. Nikki took a deep breath as she stepped off the elevator, fumbled around with her keys, and opened the door of her home.

The sight which she was welcomed with did not shock Nikki. This scene has been displayed every day she has come home from work since revealing her theory about what has happened 3 days ago. Jack will be sitting on the couch or chair, laptop in front of him, camera hooked up, and will be either editing or posting his photographs to his website. Sadie, on the other hand, will be rapidly pacing the distance of their small living room, nervously muttering to herself, or polishing every wood surface in their apartment. In all of the years of knowing her, neither Jack nor Nikki had realized until now that Sadie was a nervous polisher. If they weren't worried and unsure of the fate of the world right now, it would have been hysterical.

As she stepped through the door, both Sadie and Jack stopped what they were doing, and stared at Nikki. "Well?" They asked in unison. "Well." Nikki replied. "It has taken just about every country's top astronomers and astrophysics specialists to figure it out, by I think we finally have an idea about what is going on." Before either of her friends could cut her off, Nikki took a seat on the end of the couch, laid back, momentarily closed her eyes, and released a deep sigh. As she opened her eyes, Nikki began to speak.