Now that things are back to normal, I get asked a lot, what is it like to be the first genetically modified human? How does it feel to be able to breathe under water? Why did you choose to do this? The truth is, I wouldn't have done any of the stuff I did if it hadn't been for the flood. Wait, you don't know what I'm saying do you? Man, I should seriously put this at the end of my autobiography. Or is it a memoir? Who cares, what matters is that you have absolutely no idea what I'm saying right now, do you? Okay I guess a good place to start might be the beggining. Duh. But where is the beggining? I'm starting to think that this whole book will just be me trying to decide how to start. Okay, okay, I got it. Please don't put the book down. Yet.

It was a peaceful afternoon in California. Or, about as peaceful as it gets in my house. You can imagine that with an immature 10 year old boy running around screaming all the time, "calm" is not exactly how to describe the Webber house. Oh, by the way, I'm Cari. Cari Webber. I am 15 years old and I live with my little brother Aaron, and my mom. My dad died when I was only 6. We were at the beach, and he drowned. I don't really remember him, so it doesn't bother me when people talk about him. My mom however, that's a different story. Ever since my dad died, she was really quiet. She's pretty cool, but if anyone so much as speaks about Dad, she leaves the room. Enough about my dad. I am homeschooled, so you'd think I have tons of time, and don't get me wrong, I love my mom and brother, its just that sometimes, I get a little bit lonely. I only have one friend, and that's Lilly. She's also homeschooled. That's pretty much everything you'd want to know about me.

As I said, it was a peaceful afternoon. Aaron was inside playing virtual life with some of his friends. That's this game where you take your personal identification chip (PIC) and put it into the computer, and the game sucks you into a virtual world. It's really cool, especially since if you die, you can just respawn. Me and Lilly were walking along the beach, which is down the street from my house. We were just happily building a sand castle. I know, its incredibly childish, but let me just say, we build really good sandcastles. Once we built one so good, they put it in the sky news. That alone is enough to let you know that we live in a really small town. Anyways, this little glass bottle washed up right next to us. We were surprised that there was actual paper inside the bottle. Paper is so rare, because every tree on Earth is used for air, so we can't afford to cut down any more trees. The only paper that we have is grown on Mars, and even that is incredibly expensive. So you can imagine our surprise when a glass bottle with actual paper inside appeared. Lately it has been a trend to use a holographic bottle, put some kind of prank in it, and throw it to sea and see who receives it, so we were very cautious with opening it.

"Cari, open it facing away from us. It has actual paper, so clearly whoever sent it is rich, meaning that they can afford a high tech prank," Lilly advised.
"I know, but this cork is really hard to unscrew!" I told her.
"That's why I keep my package opener with me!" Lilly pulls out this weird metal contraption. It has a handle and three different things popping out. One is a rounded knife, in order to open chip bags and such. The second is a circular thing that you clamp against the cap of something and twist, for bottles. The third, well, don't ask me, it looks really weird, though. Lilly uses the second device to twist off the cork. The piece of paper rolls out onto the sand and stops.

"Umm, Lilly, I don't think there's a prank here." I say, unsure.
"Wait for it......3......2......1....." Lilly says, waiting. You wouldn't believe what happened next. Nothing.
"Lilly, there isn't anything in the bottle but paper."
"Cari, trust me when i say to be careful with that paper" She says, like some kind of FBI agent or something.
I got down and picked up the paper, not sure what to expect. I slowly unraveled it. On the paper was a handwritten note. It said:

To Chenelle,

I will find out how you did it, and when I do, you won't like it. To save us all the trouble, bring Cari and Aaron to me at 9:00 pm September 1st. You know where. That, or face the consequences. I will not have mercy on the people in the country of Los Angelos. The fate of the world is in your hands. Tick tock

-Ian Webber

I froze. Chenelle is my mother's name. Los Angelos is the country where I live. And Ian Webber, that's my father. My dead father.
"Hey, um, Cari, like, can I maybe see the note? You've been staring for a minute and unless your PIC is malfunctioning, you should be able to read. Its 2189 for goodness sake." Lilly said.
"Oh yeah, um, of course!" I handed the paper to Lilly, who scanned it (quite literally) and looked up.
"What a coincidence! Your name is Cari and your brother's name is Aaron! How strange," Lilly said, clearly oblivious to the letter. I wasnt sure I wanted her to know that it was definitely not a coincidence.
"Yeah, that's uh, really strange," I replied, playing dumb.
Later that day, after Lilly had gone home, I was laying clueless on the golden sand as the bright sky turned into a black abyss. What had the letter meant? Was it from my father or was Lilly right, was it just a coincidence? But my father is dead, right? There's no way he can come back from the dead. And the date, September 1st, that was in exactly a week. And where did the person want me and Aaron to be? Why? The questions raced through my mind, my stomach twitching with a small bit of fear. I was just being paranoid. There was absolutely nothing wro-

I heard a small splash and whipped around. For a fraction of a second I saw a foot before it went underwater. It didn't come back up. No, no, no, no. My mind was just playing tricks on me, that's all. Tomorrow I will wake up and it will be all over, right? Nothing bad will happen, and this is just a figment of my imagination. I tucked the letter in my pocket and chuckled a bit. The lights in the house weren't on. That meant Aaron and Mom were out eating dinner. Oh well, I can just make myself some food with the telepathic microwave. I trudge inside and pop a food base in the microwave. In my head I think Sushi. I have a thing for seafood. The microwave starts up and the food base gradually begins to shape into sushi and gain color. Ding dong. The doorbell goes off. I walk over to the front door and nobody is there. I poke my head out of the door.
"Hello?" I call. "Is anybody there?"
There is no reply. I step fully out of my house and look around. There is a holographic message on the ground. I lean over and and get close enough so I can read the message. I feel a sharp pain in my head as something heavy hits it. I cry out in pain, and struggle to stay conscious. My eyes flicker and I pass out.