Ivy sat at a desk, scanning the news. At twenty other desks there were others doing the exact same thing–scanning the news for anything out of the ordinary. Meteors, meteorites, particularly large earthquakes, or anything like that. That was what her whole job, Investigating Strange Occurrences, or ISO.

Ivy was a twenty-three-year old girl with ginger colored hair that came below her shoulder. Her eyes were darker green, seeming intelligent, which she was, having a few degrees, including Computer Science and Chemistry. That was one of the reasons she was chosen for this job- she was smart, and a quick learner.

She exited out of Bing when the articles got longer than four days ago, and opened Google. Immediately something caught her eye.

Missing Meteorite!!!

Quickly, she clicked on the article and began reading.

Missing Meteorite! A larger meteorite that we are sure had to have hit the earth was never found! There was no indent indicating that the rock had even hit the earth! ...

Ivy scanned the rest of the article. She made a new folder on the computer, and quickly put the article into it. Standing up, she went to her boss, Jake's cubical. He glanced up, "Yes, Ivy?"

"I found something."

Immediately, his eyes lit up with interest, "What was it?" he asked eagerly.

Ivy explained what she had found. Jake was silent for a few seconds before saying, "I want you to take a team out there and examine the sight, see if you can find anything."

Ivy nodded, "Of course." She turned around and called four names, "Bryan, Mark, Kayla, and Jasmine. Please come here." The four soon reported to Ivy.

"We are going to explore a missing meteorite." Ivy explained.

Almost instantly, grins were plastered on their faces. This is what they hoped for each day at work— something out of the ordinary.

After collecting the necessary equipment, they all climbed into Ivy's car and drove to the site using directions from the internet. According to the directions, the meteorite was supposed to have landed in an empty field out in the country. When they arrived, everyone scrambled out of the car. Ivy frowned as she looked around, not seeing the usual massive indent indicating a large meteorite.

"Spread out and search the field for any indents or any different elements. If you find an element, do not touch it." Ivy issued out instructions. Grabbing a metal detector, she began walking around the field, testing to see if it was buried. For a little over an hour, Ivy and her "team" looked over and tested the field and the surrounding areas. Eventually, Ivy raised a hand, "Let's face it, it's not in this field." Sighs of disappointment ran through them. They packed up all their equipment, got back into the car, and went back to report to Jake.

Ivy filled a form out, explaining exactly what happened while they were there, and left it on Jake's desk. She returned to her desk and began scanning the news again.

At 6:30, Ivy headed home. She drove for more than twenty minutes until she arrived at her apartment. Ivy pulled into the garage and climbed out of the car. She opened the door, calling out, "I'm home, Maggie!"

"Hey, Ivy!" Ivy's thirteen-year-old sister Maggie came running around the corner, giving her a tight squeeze, "How was work? Find anything that's gonna destroy the earth?" she teased.

Ivy laughed a little tiredly, "Nope. Not today."

"I have a problem in Math that I'm kinda confused about. Could you help me, Genius?" Maggie asked, using her nickname for Ivy.

"Of course, Maggie." Ivy smiled and walked over to the kitchen table with Maggie, and listened while Maggie explained how she checked her work many times, and how she still couldn't find a mistake in her work, and how she was positive the book was wrong. After Maggie was done ranting, Ivy looked over the problem, "You miscopied the negative." She said after awhile, "You forgot to put it in."

Maggie looked dumbfounded, and then glared at the book, "Good grief."

As Maggie closed her math book and put them back into her school bag, Ivy asked, "Did you already eat?"

Maggie nodded, "You said to."

Ivy explained, "It was a later day at work today, so I figured you should eat without me."

"I made you a sandwich, though." Maggie went over to the kitchen and pulled a turkey and cheese sandwich out, and putting it on a plate, handed it to Ivy. Ivy smiled tiredly, "Thanks." 

Maggie and Ivy's parents had died in a house fire, three years before. The responsibility had suddenly fallen on Ivy to take care of-and provide for- Maggie. Ivy had held up considerably well, but was usually exhausted at the end of each day.

After eating her dinner, Ivy changed into a too-big T-shirt and comfy lounge pants. She grabbed a blanket and plopped on the couch. Ivy took her hair-binder out, letting her red hair down, and slipping the hair-binder over her wrist. She smiled as Maggie came over and sat next to her. Ivy slipped her arm around her younger sister's shoulders, and together they watched TV for half an hour before Ivy deemed that it was bed-time. After making sure Maggie was in bed, and all the doors, windows, and garage door were closed and locked, Ivy slipped under her own covers on her bed. Soon exhaustion took over, and she fell asleep.

First chapter complete! Hope you guys are enjoying this so far. Don't worry, action will be coming. 😈

Heh heh bye bye!

|evara|