Margaret woke up slowly. Tumbling out of bed, she pulled on her clothes in the dark, and them stumbled toward the window. Throwing her legs over the windowsill, she hung for a second. SHe hesitated, but the pain of the sill jabbing her midsection overrode her fear of falling. She wiggled outward until her hands absorbed her full weight, and then she dropped. Her knees folded as she landed, and she just sat for a second. Getting up, she jogged toward the road, as the sun started to creep over the trees.
Meanwhile the two faties were finishing breakfast. They had purposefully gotten up early so that they could find Jamie before he went to sleep (due to his dream experimentation he tended to sleep more in the day than at night) and also find an empty telescope. Faties were always using them to spy on their favorite celebrities, which sometimes made it difficult to find one that was unoccupied.
Rachel pushed back her chair and started to get up. She turned to say something to Angel, but tripped and ended up on the floor with the chair leg poking into her hip."Ouch," she stated flatly. She wasn't awake enough yet for enthusiasm.
"Now we're even,"Angel stated, helping her up. Both of the girls went to change, and then hurried out the door for the telescope center (otherwise known as the H.O.A.R.D Center, Human Observation And Retrieval of Data Center). Or rather, Rachel hurried, and Angel skipped. After giving her a funny sideways glance, Rachel decided to ignore her.
They arrived just before it started raining. Rain was a rare occurance there, due to the fact that they were above most of the clouds. However, it did happen occasionally, when a high cloud drifted over. Angel lifted up her face for a moment, to catch the first drops, before following Rachel in.
Rachel caught sight of Jamie on their way to a vacant telescope. She went ahead to talk to him, while Angel went to claim the booth before anyone else could.
Focusing the telescope, Angel zoomed in on Margaret's house, and then through the window. The room was empty. The bathroom door stood open, and a quick survey showed she was nowhere else in the house. It was a Saturday, and too early for friends or events. Angel felt a slight sinking in her chest.
"Rachel,"she called. "Could you come here for a second?"
Taylor sat by the lake, staring in to its slightly murky depths. It was strange how things changed so fast. The last time he'd been here, just before MMMBop became such a hit, the water had been clear. He felt an odd sense of loss, which he couldn't understand. 'It's just a lake, after all.'
Suddenly his head jerked up, and he stared in amazement. Floating in the middle of the lake was a girl. Well, not middle maybe, but still pretty far out. She appeared to be unconcious, floating about 200 ft from shore. Her hair drifted around her head like a dark halo, reminding Taylor of a portrait he had once seen of an angel.
As he watched, her head slowly turned. Her arm lifted slightly, and before she could utter anything but a surprised whimper, she went under. He stared, horrified. She came up once, but went under again before she could pull any air into her straining lungs.
Without though, Taylor jumped in the lake. He had barely the presence of mind to kick off his shoes before heading toward the mysterious stranger. He had swum often when he was younger, and this gave him the speed he needed to get him to her just before she went under again. She appeared to have lost conciousness again, which made her easier to handle at least.
He managed to grab her wrist, and haul her towards him, and then hook his arm around her waist. When he got to shore she still wasn't moving, and he felt a moment of panic. Just as he was about to try to perform mouth-to-mouth (despite the fact that he had no idea how), he saw her breast rise and fall slightly as air rasped into her lungs.
He knelt down next to her, and waited for her eyes to open. They did so almost immediately, and he smiled at her in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.
"Hi...you ok?"
The girl didn't respond. She tried to sit up, and then fell back apon the ground.
"Hey. Take it easy. I don't think you should try to move yet." He paused for a moment. "What's your name anyway? And what were you doing out there in the lake?"
This time she answered. "My name's Margaret." She attempted to get up again, and was successful this time. "What happened, and where am I?"
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