EarthFall----Chapter 1

                                     EARTHFALL
                                    
                                             P A R T    O N E:
                                        
                                        M E E T   T H E   T E A M
   
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The sun rose on the flawless brimming sea
     into a sky all brazen- all one brightening
     for gods immortal and for mortal men
     on plowlands kind with grain.

                                -Homer, The Odyssey



Chapter 1

                                    (Help me find me help me help you)
                                                                            (Lost alone lost afraid alone alone)
                    (Lost you will need help alone lost)

                                   (Help me help you alone lost help me he-

       Molly Hopkins eyes snapped open. She sharply drew a breath in and held it for a second, as the words and the emotions slowly faded in intensity.
"Oh hey, you're finally awake."
Her sister Mariko was looking at her from the chair she was sitting in. She put down the book she had been reading on as Molly sat up in bed.
"Oh, wow...I had one messed up dream."
"Nightmare?" Mariko asked. "You were tossing and turning bad enough that if you hadn't woken up on your own I was going to do it."
"No...Well, I don't know how to describe it, exactly. It's more like I'm being called somehow, like someone's trying to find me...or find someone. I'm not sure. It's so..." She trailed off, unable to put words to the dream. 
Mariko smiled and shrugged. "Well, I don't know what to tell you, sis. I slept fine. I'm pretty sure Jenny did too. Maybe it was something you ate on the road. Speaking of which, we made breakfast."
"You should have woke me up. I would have helped."
"Nah. It's no big deal, you got in late. We saved you a plate, anyway. Now get dressed and I'll see you downstairs." She stood up and left the room.

    When Molly walked into the kitchen a few minutes later, a plate was ready for her. Mariko sat across the table reading her book, next to their friend Jenny, who nursed a cup of coffee.
 Molly began to eat her breakfast. "Thanks guys."
Jenny grinned. "No problem, Molly. Mariko gets most of the credit, tho."
Mariko shrugged. "Team effort. By the way, thanks for recommending this book to me, Molly. I meant to check on you earlier and got sucked into it."
"Glad you like it. So: What did you guys have planned for today?"
Jenny said "I didn't really have anything. I don't think Mariko did either." She looked over at Mariko, who shook her head. "I guess we're about game for about anything you may have in mind."
Without thinking about it, Molly said"Well, I was thinking about taking a hike in the forest."
Jenny raised her eyebrows."What, really?"
Mariko paused to consider, then said "You know, that actually doesn't sound half bad. It'd be good exercise, and we can use the time to get caught up. I know they have trails out back but we should wait for Mark to tell us which ones to use. He's supposed to show up in an hour or so."
"Sounds like a plan."
 "Hey wait!" Jenny protested,"Aren't there like, bears in the forest? And what if we get lost?"
 "That's why we're waiting on Mark, Goldilocks" Mariko replied with a grin. "You never told us you're afraid of bears."
"I'm not, but don't you worry that they might be a bit pissed to find out we're sleeping in their beds and eating their porridge?"
"Not with Mariko around." Molly replied.
They all laughed. Day plans made, they made small talk and waited for Mark.
  
    Molly and Mariko Hopkins grew up in Danbury, Connecticut. Fraternal twins, Molly was technically the older sibling by 15 minutes. The two were very close, as twins often are, although Molly tended to spend her time reading while Mariko spent most of it outdoors.    
    Their best friend Jennifer Lyon had entered the picture halfway through seventh grade. When Jenny's folks got divorced, she had moved to Danbury with her mother to live with her aunt. Depressed about the divorce and the move, Jenny had a hard time to adjusting to her new settings. Her multicolored hair, her punk style outfits and her sharp tongue got her branded as an outcast in school almost from day one. But the truth was that Jenny was very lonely, far away from the life she had known, and she was too young to know how to properly deal with her feelings.
   The girls paths finally crossed when Molly noticed Jenny sitting by herself on the gym bleachers reading a book. This normally wouldn't have been anything of note expect the book in question was a collection of Ray Bradbury short stories that Molly loved. None of the other children had ever shown an interest in any of the books she had a passion for, in fact most of them had flat out disdain for reading period.
    So, with her sister in tow, Molly asked Jenny what she thought of Ray Bradbury. Jenny was surprised that someone was talking to her about a book and not making comments about her hair or asking stupid questions about Michigan. This led to the first of many conversations and before long the two young girls were good friends. Mariko and Jenny found many common bonds as well, and by the end of the school year, the trio was inseparable.
   As the years passed, Molly and Mariko's mother came to refer to Jenny as her third daughter while Jenny's mother and aunt both spoke highly of the positive influence the twins had on Jenny. The three were able to weather out the storm of puberty and the trials of public school with a great deal more ease by combining their experiences and creating a pretty effective support system. Friends came and went, but the three girls loyalty to each other uniquely endured.
     When Mariko had come out her sophomore year, she had fielded a great deal of grief for it from her less respectful fellow students. Molly and Jenny simply didn't stand for it. Jenny had been suspended after one of the preppy kids had called Mariko a derogatory slur as she passed in the hall. Although Mariko didn't hear it, Jenny did. She simply turned around, and socked the kid square in the mouth. After the assistant principal demanded to know the reason why she assaulted a fellow student, Jenny had coolly replied "Well ma'am, with this being a school and all, I believe I simply taught him to think before he speaks."
   Upon hearing this story later that day, Molly had laughed so hard she fell out of her chair she had been sitting in. Mariko had told Jenny that she didn't need to get in trouble for her sake, which Jenny replied "It was totally worth it. It doesn't matter if you're gay or not, you're still better than all of those jerks combined." 
     The girls continued their friendship through college and after. Molly ended up in Hartford, and Mariko and Jenny found work in Albany and shared an apartment. The trio made the effort to spend time with each other as much as possible, but the time and distance often made it difficult. However, they never failed to have a reunion at least once a year.
    This year, a reunion was made easier when the twins mother told Molly that a couple who were friend of the family had offered the use of their house in upstate New York while they were on vacation. The couple's son Mark, who had gone to their same school, would be around making small repairs and upkeep on the house for the summer and would be more then happy to host the girls for their reunion. Molly had called Mariko and the plans were laid out. Mariko and Jenny had gotten to the house without incident, while Molly turned down the wrong road and had to backtrack. It had been after nightfall by the time she got to the house. Exhausted, she spent enough time to greet her sister and her friend, change her clothes, brush her teeth, and then collapsed into bed.

    Mark arrived about half an hour after they finished breakfast. Mariko, who was the most savvy in the outdoors, had already prepared a small backpack for the walk, and Mark smiled approvingly when he saw the contents. Mark was a ranger in a local nature reserve, and knew the woods like the back of his hand.
    When Mark had everyone's attention he said "A few things you need to know before you set out. First of all, there are bears in the area.(at this, Jenny gently elbowed Molly in the ribs) However, they're black bears and they really don't care for people, so if you do see one, you can scare it away pretty easily by yelling and raising up your arms to look big. The big exception is if it's a momma bear. Mother bears don't screw around when it comes to their kids, so if  you do see cubs, the best course of action is to go back the way you came as quickly as you can walk. Outside of that, there are wildcats, but they generally go for lone hikers, so you three should be fine, provided you stick together."
"Yeeks." Jenny whispered.
   Mark opened the back door and pointed. "Now if you go to the bottom of the yard there's a trail that follows that stream about a half mile to a lake. There are plenty of deer paths for you to follow, and if you stay on them and stick together, you shouldn't get lost. If you get turned around somewhere, it's pretty easy to navigate back to the lake and to the path home, so keep note of landmarks and things like that so you can keep your bearings. There was a freak storm that hit the forest last week, and I haven't had a chance to check out the aftermath so be careful of fallen trees and the like."
"Got it." Molly replied, "Anything else?"
  "Well,  I have a series of errands to run, and I'll probably be gone for most of the day. Not to scare you, but it's nearly impossible to get a cell signal out there, and if I'm not mistaken, Mariko is the only one with any outdoors experience, so play it safe. If you ladies get lost I'm not going to know if something's wrong before it starts getting dark. If that happens, It's going to be morning before I'll be able to organize a search party to find you, so please get back here before nightfall. It's not as fun as you may think to spend a night out in the forest without camping gear. Trust me."
  They thanked him, and then started on their way.