My name is Anna Jackson. It's the year 2100 and I'm nineteen years old. I'm a black girl and an inventor too, which is not a rare thing in Seoul, South Korea which is where I live.
Korea is full of black inventors. Black and Korean people pretty much run this place. Robots also run this place; in a way. Almost all hotels, restaurants, and theaters are run by Robots. Those robots don't have brains but are just pure machines. The mom-and-pop shops are the only ones that are not run by robots.
You still see a few people walking the streets, but almost everyone now works from home. Mostly working online government jobs. But when night comes around, the streets of Seoul become full of thousands of people. It's like time transforms back to what New York looked like in the 20th century.
We call those the "Aftermath hours".
Every Saturday, I go to 보바 하우스 aka Boba Hauseu. In English, it's BOBA HOUSE. That's the name of the cafe where I buy my favorite drink which costs 4012.15 won. It's a Dragon Fruit Milk tea with mango tapioca-flavored boba balls in the bottom. I've tried the Dragon Grape flavored milk tea, but I just didn't like the taste; the dragon grapes made it sour.
My story begins three weeks ago. I had walked to the mailbox to check for the mail on a very cold and rainy day. I managed to get all the mail out that had been piling up. My parents hadn't come home in two weeks, so I figured I'd finally check it.
It was scary being alone in my house. I'd go out only on Saturdays to get my usual boba and sometimes bibimbap (my favorite Korean dish), then I'd come straight home.
I walked inside and quickly shut the door. My sweater was soaked from being out in the rain. I went to the living room and set everything on the coffee table. I began to shuffle through the mail to only find magazines, and other junkmail; things like that, But one envelope really stood out to me. It was a white envelope that had "Anna" written on it; my name.
"I never get mail..." I said.
I quickly opened the envelope with my name on it. Inside was only one thing, a blue USB drive. I went to my room and plugged it into my laptop. Two files popped up with the names, "Pictures" and the other one "Anna".
I didn't know who had sent the USB, because it didn't say who it was from, it only had a stamp showing that it was sent from America.
I sat there and stared at the file confusion. First, my parents didn't come home, and now this? I decided to go ahead and click on the file. You wouldn't guess what I found when I opened it. It was a video of my mom and dad. They were sitting side by side.
My dad spoke first, "Anna, by the time you see this, we will be dead. American intelligence knows what we've built and they will kill us. They don't know that we live in Korea so you are safe there. Because your mother and I built the time machine in another house in America, they won't be able to track you back to Korea. We spent over ten years gathering resources and materials for the time machine, and it's now finished."
Then my mom began to talk. "You were called by God Anna. When you were nine years old, Jesus told your father and I what you would become and what you were destined to do. Our assignment was to build a time machine for you so that you could go back in time before "The Great Smog", to help a man by the name of Kazuki Sato build something that would change the entire world and end the war. But first you must get the Crystalsphere that is located in China. Once you get it, you need to capture Dragon's breath in it. Bring the Crystalsphere with you in the time machine to give to Kazuki."
"But where's the time machine?" I asked myself.
"You will need to go to the Dragon Forest in Mexico to capture the dragon's breath, there you will also find the time machine, hidden in a bunker.
That's where your mother and I have been keeping it safe, where no one will find it. When you get there, there will be more instructions. If you go into my office, there's a map to the bunker on the top drawer of my desk. On the back of the map, I wrote the address of the location of where the Crystalsphere is located in China. The Crystalsphere is the only thing that can hold dragon's breath. Millions of people are counting on you, Anna." Then he looked at Mom, then back at the camera. "It's your time now. Keep trusting in Jesus. He will guide you. We love you." Then the camera stopped.
I cried and cried because I was afraid. I sobbed knowing my parents were dead. How was I going to help save the world? How was I going to go back in time? How was it that I had been called by God?
All this would explain why they had been gone all of this time and had left me in the care of Jasmine (a close family friend). Did she know what my parents were up to?
I quickly grabbed my earpiece and dialed her.
"Anna? Hey," Jasmine answered. "Did your parents return?"
"Can you come over?" I asked her.
"What? What happened, is everything okay?"
"No, it's not," I cried.
"Okay, I'll be right over."
Jasmine came over within that same hour. She cooked me some kimbap (김밥).
"Eat up sweety," she pushed the plate to me.
I was sitting at the kitchen island.
"Thank you Jasmine, but I just can't," I said, pushing the plate away.
She walked over to me and rubbed my back, "I'm sorry hunny."
If there was one person I could trust, it was Jasmine. Not only was she like an aunt to me, but took care of me for most of my life.
I asked her if she knew what my parents had been up to in America, she said that she didn't know. Each time my parents left, they would never tell her what they'd be doing in America.
"They were murdered by the American government," I told her.
"What?" she said.
"Yeah, My parents mailed an USB to me explaining everything."
"A USB?"
"Yeah."
"I see. Should we take it to the police?"
"We can't. It's top secret."
"How top secret?"
"So top secret it's going to change all of existence," I sat back in the chair.
"Okay, I understand. Is there anything I can do?"
"No. But thank you, Jasmine. You should go home to your family, just in case they find us."
"What about you? I don't want to just leave you here alone."
"I know but it's best that you don't contact me anymore or you'll be putting your life and your family's life in danger."
"I see. You just be careful Anna. You're my family too."
"I will, don't worry. Jesus is with me. I'll be okay."
Jasmine nodded.
Later she left and went home. I went to my room and shut the door behind me. I sat there for a few moments thinking about my parents, how they were gone forever. Then I got on my knees and prayed. I asked Jesus for help, guidance, and strength. The journey ahead was going to be extraordinary. Something I couldn't do alone. Something only the Lord could help me with. Because without Him, this was all going to be impossible.
ns216.73.217.39da2
and then Add to home screen.