House Trap

Chapter One: Rachel

                                                                 Thirty years later

"...Plants need light. Leaves produce the plant's food by the action of light on chlorophyll contained in their cells. This process is called photosynthesis...." a sixteen-year-old teenage girl said lectured to the two judges alongside her science poster board set on top of a woodentable. "...Sunlight contains all the light that plants need; however, if we decide to use artificial light, we are not sure that every light bulb has all the lights that a plant needs..."

As soon as she finished the presentation of her project, she happily waited for their questions but wished they would not have any for her.

"Comparing types of artificial light on plant growth," one of the judges said as she scribbled on her clipboard."Interesting." She was in her forties and wore a white lab coat over her pale yellow collar shirt and black blouse. Her short, wavy, salt and pepper hair reached her cheeks. The other judge— a plump thirty five year-old man—much taller than the female judge, clad in a white lab coat, cast an attentive stare over his round, wire-rimmed glasses.He asked a question to an obvious problem. "As for your visual, you have ordinary incandescent bulb here," he said, pointing at it with his black ballpoint pen. Then he inquired, "Where's the fluorescent, metal-halide and high-pressure-sodium bulb?"

Rachel's mind went wild; she did not want to tell the judge the truth. She did not want to inform them that her idiot little brother had played with his soccer ball on the very day of her science project presentation and broke the bulbs which were set on the living room coffee table prepped to be moved in the car.

Come on, Rachel, think, think of something, come on! She thought, pondering an excuse while showing a nervous smile. Then she spoke to the judges, "Well, the bulbs... well..." she sighed and said succinctly."My little brother broke my bulb; that's why they aren't here."She looked rather sad. The judges wrote something on their clipboard and they both gave her an indecipherable glare then one of them replied, "Okay, we have to move on." Rachel thanked them for their time and watched as they moved to the next table.

Oh! Alex, you're so dead! She thought angrily.

The voice by the next table sounded so engrossing that Rachel listened in as she pretended to clean the plant closest to the next table. The teenage boy at the next table spoke like a college professor, and by the body language of the judges, they seemed to be intrigued by what he said. Rachel also thought his project sounded amusing, but she knew that her project was unique. And the realistic person that she was, she knew that she would lose a few points from the visual, but overall her project was the best and should win this year's competition. She worked so hard on the project and felt that it would pay off. Rachel noticed the judges had just finished with him, the last person on her row and the last table enrolled in the competition.

Rachel tried one last attempt to impress the judges—as they sauntered back toward the aisle. Rachel quickly straightened her black blouse and sable-rimmed glasses, tied her hair band even tighter on her dark-brownish ponytail, and as the judges passed her, she flashed a wide smile at them. The judges glanced at her and one of them replied with a simple nod that was indecipherable as they headed to the podium to tally their score.

The school cafeteria space managed to hold the ample amount of students that participated in this year science competition, to a lot of people's—including Rachel's—surprise. The students still stayed by their cardboard, hoping to hear their name being called as this year's winner. Their friends and families leaned against the wall as they watched the event unfold while being supportive from a distance. Rachel did not look anywhere for her family as she knew her mother and brother couldn't make it due to the fact that her mother took turns going to any activities her children were involved in. This time, it was Alex's turn, and she went to his soccer game. There were more students enrolled in this year's science fair than the previous year. The cash prize award was the reason for this, but Rachel didn't care about the cash; she was here to get the top spot. She wanted to put "First place" on her college application.Anxiously, she waited for the judges to tally the scores.