ABSOLUTE

"Jennifer Run!!!"

"NO!"

"RUN NOW!"

"NO!"

"GET OUT OF HERE!"

FRIDAY June 29, 2091

Dear diary,

Same nightmare. I have to stay strong I am too close now. Diamonds are a girl's best friend. Well, I have a heart of diamond. You need one to deal with what happened. Now the lost are an estimated 4 billion. They’re no closer to knowing (or disclosing) what happened than they are to fixing things. That was ten years ago. What do you do when you can’t (or won’t) control the uncontrollable? You try to control everything else. 8 territories at peace. More like isolation. “For your safety and the good of all” define good. Passports, transportation, and association, are just some of the things “maintained for the good of all”

No matter my heart is unbreakable. Almost ten years ago this day I made a decision. No matter what, “I WILL FIND YOU!” Thanks John, you got me ready. And though I know you want to come I can’t allow it. I won’t lose anyone else. Talk about controlling the uncontrollable. Nothing will stand in my way. Not The cameras. Not the scouts. Not the 8 nations of the world committee. I’ll cross every border there is if I have too. “Keep us safe.” By monitoring us so closely it feels as if at all times your eyes are upon us. Yet with protective (or intrusive) surveillance equipment so advanced it feels like magic, crime still occurs. “We can’t be everyone at once.” Sure feels like it. So advanced yet no one saw this coming. Maybe they didn’t? Maybe they caused it? Who knows? Who cares? I've trained my mind to be as impenetrable as my heart. “Train the mind, the body follows.” I hear you, John. My body, reflexes and everything else is following.

Finally got a car. I’m “borrowing” it. I may need a lot more. I’ll get it. Whatever it takes. Ironic how lost makes us appreciate what we have. I’ll never lose my heart. I am afraid. But like John says without fear there can be no courage. Well, I am courageous. I will find you. I’ll travel land, sea, air, and space if necessary. No world will go unchecked. You’d do the same for me. I know you would. I know you are. We’ll likely meet halfway. As usual. I can’t wait to see you. Show you my heart is even stronger than when you gave it to me. Focus, planning, training. With these I can do anything. I will do anything. Last night was a close one. I have to be more careful, better. What I did was dumb, no doubt. Still, what I found out was more than worth the risk. One step closer. I think that’s serendipity, or something like that. I’m no scholar. Sometimes I can hear the screams when I am awake. No matter I will soon be with you again. I know it. If anyone can survive this you can and now so, can I.

They say it was Mother Nature. Not that I can’t understand nature having a bone to pick. We have not always been the most gracious of tenets. Still, I can help but feel if instead of Mother Nature it was the “nature” of man, kind that is. Even the “spur of the moment” plan was almost implemented to perfection. Maybe it was preparation and not planning. It just seems like for 8, oh I am sorry 9, “countries” who couldn’t agree on dinner, sure came together pretty quick “for the good and safety of all.” Speaking of which, the whole “safety for all” campaign, started over 25 years ago. Paul always had a “bad feeling” about our safety. We just thought he was paranoid. He is paranoid. Guess you can’t be wrong all the time. Although I wish he was. Then there is Sam. Now she is another story altogether. She met John before any of us. She is annoying, pushy, and at times distant. I can’t help wonder if there is something more to that. Her and John never talk about their about past. I can’t blame them. Sometimes it hurts so much you want to forget that which you lost. Not me though. It is said that coal can become diamonds in time. I have no idea how long that process takes but my heart went from to coal to diamond in a little under ten years. Now it is fire-proof and can cut the thickest glass. Seriously fire proof. Paul is a genius. Not like the genius behind world 9. Why create a world for the “safety and good of all”, and then make it nearly impossible to reach? Nearly is the key word here. Thanks Paul. I guess it takes a genius to know a genius. Cool. Genius, check. World 9. “A perfect oasis.” Sure, looks big to me. Much bigger than all the others. Perfection looks expensive. Not to mention the whole science, art, and technology preservation plan. Random selection of the best and brightest minds. Paul could’ve gone. I’m still unsure why he didn’t go. Even if he didn’t have personal ties, it was all he ever talked about. It Still is. It’s just a completely different conversation. Just like the bits and pieces of private conversation we hear that appears to contradict the public conversation taking place. I sound like Paul.

Day after day he’s looking less and less paranoid. “World 9, come one come all.” Just don’t read the fine print. Maybe things happen for a reason. I lost everything. Now I have a family again. But I won’t forget you. I will find you. Cross my diamond heart and hope to fly.

I bet you’re flying. A fast as a peregrine falcon with the strength of a harpy eagle. Nice metaphor if I say so myself which I just did. Hey sometimes If you don’t blow your own horn, there is no music. Gosh, I sound like John. My teacher, my friend, my family. They are all my family. I can’t wait for them to meet you. I can kind of wait for you to meet them.

Okay, it's almost the moment of truth. We’ll find out if all that training was for nothing. I love my chances. I’ll have someone watching my back. Even if from afar. Plus, once I find you again, there’s nothing we cannot do. Remember our fun on world 5. I guess it is fun compared to now. Big brother, big sister, mother, father, grandfather, and grandmother are always watching. Protecting us from ourselves. It feels “prison like.” Please get out of my head Paul.

I wonder if you saw “IT” coming. Not that it matters you’re ready for any scout and whatever else. You’ll probably find me first. It was like a nightmare or at least it felt that way. That was before things got bad, or worse I should say. I guess curfews and enhanced “protection” were put into place to make us safe if not suffocated. The sun will set soon. I will rise like the moon and begin my search; I mean find you.

You would think with all the protocols how did worlds 3 and 4 both get hit the way they did. No witnesses, no trace of who did it. Just a lot of stolen stuff that the public “should not be concerned with.” Makes no sense. Why hide the most advanced technology on the least advanced worlds. Does that make it less likely to be stolen? Or more easily stolen. Why not keep it on world 9? There’s crime on the oasis? Chance or perfectly executed plans? “We’re on it, citizens.” I’m sure you are.

“A democracy for all.” Run by 8, I mean 9, of the most powerful people in the universe. Starting to feel like rule by one, under the false pretense of “democracy for all.” I don’t remember a vote on enhanced scout security. Security which somehow “lost” some the most sophisticated technology in all the worlds. Technology based on their same technology. Technically speaking it sounds like a bunch of genius speak for “just relax I’ll handle everything. Including you.”

Security for freedom. A universal event like “IT” sure did frighten a lot a people. Those left anyway. Certainly, helped even the odds against the Scouts. I mean protectors of freedom. That’s not been my experience with scouts. Which brings me to Dan and Don. Twin ex scouts about as different as night and day. Except in one area their love for each other. So, they say. Dan at least. Maybe it’s loyalty. Or programming. There’s my "Paul" voice again. Paul, not surprisingly, loves the twins. Especially Dan. I guess with the choices available, he’s, my favorite. If there is such a thing for me. Trust scouts. A bit difficult when your creator, the “most brilliant mind” in the universe, a person who predicted so many other environmental anomalies didn't see “IT” coming. Never thought "IT” could attack land, air, sea,

I don’t feel “good and safe” not when communication between worlds at times is nonexistent. Worlds supposedly United for a common goal, peace. Yet all worlds can communicate with world 9. To give us an example to emulate. Being as far away as it is, makes it difficult to go off second hand information. There’s not any other kind these days. Representatives of world 9 in each of the other worlds to help with transitioning into the "oasis" life.

But I will find you. My heart shines brighter than any star in the universe. It will light my path to you. A path I am now ready to take. “Talking the path, is not the same as walking the path.” I hear you John. You’re right. As usual. Sam has a point as well. Even though she is annoying and a few other things. She is always there for John. No matter what. Initially she was supposed to train me. Feels like she did. We spared a lot. John insisted on it. It was like he trained her to train me. That’s John. Not what you want but what you need. She has taught me amazing things. Sometimes more amazing than John. Not that she ever acknowledges it. I would say Sam goes out of her way to not acknowledge me. “Not good enough.” “John did it.” “I did it.” News flash Sam, I am not you or John. I am better. I will find you. My heart shines further than the light of any scout. And it is even stronger. Nothing will defeat me in my quest for you. My path. And my path alone to walk. No more talking and training. No walking. It is time to fly. Fly to you, and you to me. It does not feel like ten years. it feels like yesterday to me. My heart burns even hotter than before. If lifts me to unimaginable heights. Brings me from the greatest depths of sadness and hopelessness.

World 9. You may be “The greatest mind” of all time. I have the “greatest heart of all time. Prepare to experience my great love. I understand your “hypothesis” of the brain being the most powerful muscle in the body. I agree with you. I would humbly or rather not humbly at all, submit the “theory” that brains are made equals parts stronger or weaker with or without true heart. My heart is made of diamond! Do you have one? If so, is it made of coal?

No matter.

I will find you.

Talk to you soon diary.

Jennifer reaches under her shirt pulls out and squeezes a small pink glowing diamond heart-shaped locket.

Jennifer: “For the good and safety of all”

John:

Paul:

“Hi”

Dan:

Don:

Sam: -Nods slightly-

John:

Paul:

“When do we leave?”

Dan:

Don:

Sam: “What they said”

Jennifer: “Where do think you’re going?”

To be continued. Hopefully?

Thanks for all your time.