Jan
C.
14
March, 1999
It Could Happen
"Hey
Jan! C’mon kid, let’s go. The car’s waiting outside," screamed my friend
Chris, or Chang, as we called him. We were already late to meet some friends at
the mall and we were in a big rush. My friends Andrew and Amir had just called
me up to tell us they were already at the mall plus we were supposed to meet
our friends Chris and Jeremy almost two hours ago at the big fountain in the
mall.
There
was a lightning storm outside so I had to put on some heavy clothes.
I
ran down and shouted as I jumped into the car "Alright, let’s go!"
The car peeled out of the driveway faster than I had ever seen any car pull
out. Chang is a fast driver so I knew that it would only be a matter of minutes
before we arrived at the mall.
"Yo,"
Chang started to say, "look at the sky. I’ve never anything like it
before. The sky was turning a dark
brown and it was only 4:30 p.m. And on top of that, the flashes of lightning
were occurring in almost a triangle-like pattern.
"Yeah,
this is kinda messed up right here. Doesn’t matter though. The mall is only a
block away," I said, as we approached the mall.
"Alright,
were here. Let’s get inside before we get hit by lightning or something,"
Chang said as we parked the car.
"Yeah,
no doubt. And let’s hurry up about it too," I said as we slammed the doors
of Chang’s 1995 Toyota Camry.
As
we ran toward the entrance of the mall we could see Andrew and Amir waving us
in. Then suddenly as we approached the door the sky let out a thundering roar,
"Boooommmmm!!!"
The sky light up in a furious
confusion. Suddenly cars started to slow down and crash into each other, birds
started to lose their sense of direction and were flying into telephone poles
and buildings, and all of the streetlights shut off. Luckily we were all inside
the mall at this time, but all the lights inside were off too!
"Hmm.
That’s kinda weird... Anyway, what’s up," said Amir.
"Yeah,
what’s the deal? It took you two long enough to get here," said Andrew.
"Chillin’,"
said Chang.
"I’m
good. But something is seriously wrong with this situation," I said,
" My head feels kind of strange. I feel almost lightheaded (4). And look,
all of the security cameras have stopped working (5), and all the electricity
in the mall is off." It seems we were stuck between two sets of doors, the
ones that led outside and the storm, and the ones that led inside the mall.
" We can’t even get in the mall. The motorized door isn’t working (6).
We’re gonna freeze to death!"
"So
why don’t we just use the manual door," said Amir.
".........Yeah,
heh, I was just testing you guys. You know..." I said hesitantly.
"
Well at least I could watch some TV," said Andrew as he pulled out a
pocket TV from his coat. " Hey, my TV doesn’t work either. What’s goin’
on?" (7)
"Nothin’
works anywhere in here.", said Amir.
"Yo,
aren’t we supposed to meet Chris and Jeremy at the big fountain," asked
Chang.
Meanwhile,
at the big fountain on the other side of the mall Chris and Jeremy awaited our
arrival.
"Jan
had called me just a few hours before reassuring me that we’d all meet right
here, at the fountain at the mall. Of course that was me calling him asking why
he was two hours late." thought Chris, "So I figure that about five
hours I’ve been waiting here." "Hey
Chris, wanna go to the MRI shop," asked Jeremy.
"Sure.
Where is it?" asked Chris.
"Right
there!" said Jeremy as he pointed strait ahead.
"Alright.
But nothing seems to be working in this mall. All the monitors in here have
either shut off or have lots of static on the screen. Plus all the light around
us seems kind of distorted." Chris continued, "And if I’m right and
something has happened to the magnetism on the earth, then that MRI shop will
be out of service."
"Okay,
stop talking now!!!" said Jeremy.
"Shut
up before I brake your face," said Chris.
"Oh...Well
when you put it that way..." said Jeremy timidly.
Back
at the other end at the mall the others and I are trying to figure out what to
do.
"Alright
yo, forget Chris and Jeremy. Let’s jump in Chang’s car and get out of
here," said Andrew.
"Let’s
go!" we all said unanimously.
As
we ran toward the car our friend Amir said the strangest thing that I have ever
heard. "Did you know that a magnetic field is used to hold extremely hot
plasma, creating energy. Without it we couldn’t use fossil fuels. And without
magnetism, we couldn’t use nuclear fusion to create energy "
"What
are you talking about," said Chang as we jumped into the car.
"Sorry.
I don’t know where that came from. I think something’s going on in my brain It
feels like there is radiation pouring down on us .", Amir responded.
"You’re
right, I feel it too," I agreed.
As
if all that was going on wasn’t enough already, Chang’s car wouldn’t start
(14). Suddenly, Amir and his talk of magnetism started to seem like a strong
possibility to the cause of all our problems.
Then
suddenly there was a bright flash in the sky again. In what seemed like an
instant, things turned back to normal. Cars started up again, birds started to
fly straight again, and Andrew’s TV turned on.
"Alright,
that was the strangest ten minutes of my life," said Andrew.
"Yeah,
that was strange alright," I said.
"You
can say that again," said Amir.
"I
think I can explain what happened," Chang started to say, "I think
for a brief moment in time, magnetism ceased to exist."
"Yeah
Mr. Science," said Andrew.
"Just
shut up," Chang retaliated.
"Both
of you shut up," said Amir, "Let’s go get something to eat, I’m
hungry. You up for it Jan?"
"Lets
go."
Meanwhile
back on the other side of the mall...
"Hey,
it seems everything has turned back to normal," said Jeremy.
"Yep.
Well anyway let’s continue to wait for Jan. Shall we?", asked Chris.
"We
shall, we shall...HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
"Stop
laughing!", screamed Chris.
"Oh
sorry, I keep doing that...."
THE END