John tried the light switch in the front
room it came on! What the fuck? Outside it was night the light would be visible
for miles, Sarah drew the dusty curtains coughing and sneezing due to years of
crap. In the corner was the reason why the light worked, a car battery rigged
up to give current mounted on an old metal TV stand, what an ingenious idea!
Each other room was the same under closer inspection; spare batteries were
stored in a big floor to ceiling cupboard in the kitchen. There was a multi
media centre in the room, Sarah messed around with it and loud music came out
of the speakers, a song about failed poignant romance sung by a female singer
with a stunning voice. A dusty CD cover was on the shelf, John picked it up, it
read Nightwish, “Once” album. Sarah turned the music down to a bearable level
and looked at the other equipment here – 36inch plasma TV, 17inch pc monitor
with dust covered keyboard and pc tower nearby, cordless phone, digital camera
with printer and other gadgets. Sarah turned on the computer, a Mac model from
over a decade ago; she used a similar one at college so long ago. The screen
glowed green through the dust as the Mac booted up, then black, grey and
finally white as software loaded up, anti virus, firewalls and other crap. On
the desktop a host of icons glowed showing many uses, Sarah clicked on one with
the mouse trying the internet. It came up after endless minutes of waiting
bringing real opportunities to see what was happening in the world; news had
been so hard to come by and was often old or just hearsay. On the main page she
took her bearings – news, bizz, Myspace (still going now?), Europe online and
more. She checked the date “3.32am Friday June 13 2015”, yes up to date and
working, the news feed streamed up, she hadn’t used the internet (still called
that after all these years?) in a decade. It was still the same or was it coz
of the old computer? There was a UK news bit, she clicked it, nothing came up
this bit was blank with only a white screen. Why? The English army keeping
everyone in the dark? Or had everyone crashed back into the Stone Age after the
wars? Then it hit her; there was no United Kingdom anymore after the civil
wars. Fuck that! Onto the world news bit covering Europe, there a bit on
France! After the terrible nuclear war was there anything or anyone left? Three
news headlines read: “Reconstruction begins as France re-joins Europe and the
World community”, “Money from America rebuilds France and bordering countries”
and “UFO seen in many areas over France, strange lights in the sky and ghostly
lady of the mist seen”. For ten minutes Sarah and John read the news on France.
Rebuilding had to happen one day they had to build up and rejoin Europe, it was
the only option wasn’t it? What was this odd report on lights, UFOs and a ghost
woman? Could it be Juniper’s Daughter? After the weird talk of a woman, a
leader coming to help, dismissed as hearsay, was she in the land of the frog,
before coming here? Who could say? John thought it was all bullshit that people
had regressed to superstition and rumour. Onto world news, a war reigned
between India and China allied with Pakistan with millions of casualties. Other
trouble with mad tribal leaders in South America, an American invasion of South
Africa, etc, etc, the world hadn’t changed at all, just the year. War ruled the
planet, as before, Sarah was about to break the connection when John stopped
her, “Do a search for Juniper’s Daughter.” She did so, one hundred and eighty
seven million results showed, “Fuckin’ Hell! This cant be right,” he gasped. Sarah
redid it, it was correct. She clicked onto the first link, it loaded and opened
and blurred photos appeared of a woman walking down a derelict road. More
photos and text, she scrolled down and read the words, “Rumour and counter
rumour of a second coming, of the end of the world, of a saviour of the human
race. No firm evidence is available only speculation, conjecture and mystery.
Just who is Juniper’s Daughter?”
On and on they both read, John left the room
to get some fresh air, this was all too much. A world still at war, UFOs, this
strange woman, all madness! It was then he looked up; he saw a light move
across the heavens, a shooting star… then it turned and shot back the other
way. What the fuck? You gotta be shitting me! “Sarah, Sarah get your fuckin’
ass outa here, come and see this!” he screamed. In seconds she was there, the
sky was dark nothing was there. Then it appeared, she swore and held her breath
for a full minute watching it, a dark red light pulsating and growing larger,
shooting over their heads before vanishing.
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