Perfect Storm

Prologue

                 I ran through in the lawn with Reed, laughing.

            “Come on, Reed, hurry up!” I shouted. “Dad said it was going to happen soon!”

            “I’m coming, Maggie, I’m coming!” Reed said, and chased after me, the blanket I had made him grab a mess in his small arms. I was 5, Reed was 10. I giggled as we ran up the hill, and he caught up to me, scooping me up. I was the smallest kid in my class at school, and Reed was tall for his age, so it wasn’t a problem.

            He put me down at the top of the hill, and laid out the blanket. We sat on it, and waited for the meteor shower to start.

            “You see that Maggie?” Reed asked, pointing to the sky.

            “Yeah,” I said, eyes wide as I watched streaks of light shoot across the sky.

            “Where do meteors come from, Mags?” Reed asked.

            “From space, originally called asteroids, orbiting the sun in the asteroid belt, but once they enter Earth’s atmosphere, they become meteorites,” I said, and smiled softly when Reed looked at me, eyes wide. “I heard Daddy talking about.”

            “That was amazing, Mags,” Reed said, hugging me closer. I smiled, glad he was proud of me. I didn’t see the worried look on his face.

            “I want to go to space someday,” I murmured to him. “I think it would be amazing.”

            “Yeah,” he said, smiling. “It would. We’ll both go someday, Mags.”

            “Together, because we’re a team, right?” I asked.

            “Of course,” Reed said, rubbing my arm. “We’re a team.”

            ***

            4 years later

            I watched in tears as Reed packed to go to the California Institute of Technology. The first in a long stretch of colleges Dad had planned for him. He had one planned for me as well, having found out a few years ago I was a child prodigy, just like Reed. Mathematics, physics, and mechanics seemed to run in the Richards blood.

            “What am I going to do without you?” I asked. “I hate it here. You’re my only friend.”

            “It’s just for a few years, Mags,” Reed said, grinning. “Then you’ll be off to Columbia at the same time I am. I know you did that on purpose, and so does Dad,” he said.

            “What am I supposed to do here for 5 years?” I asked, lying across his roommate’s bed in a huff of exasperation.

            “Make friends, be social,” Reed said. “I know it’s hard, but you should try to make friends with some of the people in your class.”

            “They think I’m a freak,” I said. “They think I’m a child.”

            “You are a child, Maggie, as much as you hate it,” Reed said, smiling. “I am too. But this is what we need. We need challenges, brain stimulators. You know that, I know that, so the other kids can just deal with it,” he said, putting one of his early Hyperspace starship models in a box carefully.

            I sighed loudly.

            “Don’t be dramatic, Mags, it’s not you,” he said, chuckling.

            “All the other kids are dramatic, I might as well practice fitting in, since your leaving me.”

            “I’ll be home for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter, and we can talk all you want on the laptop you rigged,” Reed said. I sat up and looked at him, mouth gaping.

            “How did you know about that?” I asked, knowing at the school, any technology was considered contraband. Didn’t matter that everyone 12 and up had one hidden. But I was 9. So how’d he know?

            “Maggie, you’re a 16 year old trapped in a 9 year old body,” he said, kissing my forehead really quick.

            “You’re a 20 year old trapped in a 14 year old body,” I said, sticking my tongue out.

            “You have a physics test tomorrow,” Reed said. “Go study. I’ll say goodbye to you in the morning.”

            “Reed, I know you’re leaving tonight,” I said, looking at him, eyes burning ever so slightly.

            He took a deep breath. “You saw me pack the chargers as I came in,” he said.

            I nodded. “Dad doesn’t want an emotional event,” I said, positive.

            He shook his head. I nodded, stood up, and gave him a hug. He returned it, hugging me tight.

            “I love you, Reed,” I said, eyes watering. “Good luck.”

            “You too, Mags,” he said, and kissed the top of my head. “I love you, too.”