ONE SECOND after, Margot could feel the air change, hear the

silence as the rain stopped in Venera City, the capital of Venus, for
the first time in seven years. For that second, her heart leapt – and
she forgot where she was, forgot what her classmates had done.
The scientists hadn't lied. The sun was there, warm and golden as
she remembered. It was right outside, waiting.

ONE MINUTE after, Margot was throwing herself bodily against the
bolted closet door, screaming for someone to let her out. Every
moment that passed was another moment of sunlight lost, another
moment of the warmth and joy that she longed for – ached for –
denied.

Tears ran down her face, making her hands damp and smell of salt
and the hateful rain. She knew she was forgotten. Her classmates
had locked her in as a cruel prank, and then the sun came out and
they forgot her. It wasn't fair. She wanted to see the sun more than
anyone. She remembered it and she understood what it meant as
the other children couldn't. She had waited for this day, for this
hour, since she had set foot on Venus with her parents five years
ago. She wanted so much, so terribly much.

If she couldn't get out of the closet, it would be another seven years
before the rains stopped again, an impossible length of time. She
couldn't survive that long without seeing the sun. She would get rain
sickness. She would go mad.

Margot pounded against the door, sobbing so hard she couldn't

breathe. Her fingers stung from the force of her blows.
No one came.

ONE HOUR after, they opened the door. Her classmates stood there,
silent and fearful. Margot stepped out of the closet slowly, and did
not run to the window slit to search the sky for any remaining rays
of sunlight. In the closet, she had already heard the downpour begin
again and knew all hope of seeing the sun was gone.

She came out with puffy eyes and acted very depressed. She wouldn’t talk
to anyone including the teacher. At the end of the day she asked her
parents to return back to Earth. At first they were very angry that she even
suggested returning to Earth, but when she explained the reason, they
understood.
In about a week VSP, (Venus Space Program) the company that brought
people to Venus had prepared a transporter, a transporter that will take
them back to Earth. Margot and her parents had packed their things up and
were ready to go back to Earth.
“Hey Margot,” Margot looked around, “Over here,” Margot turned and
spotted William, “So you guys are really leaving?” Margot nodded, “Oh, well
you know I’m sorry, for you know, locking you into the closet.” William said.
He opened his backpack up and pulled out a necklace. “I know this isn’t a
very good apology so, I uh, brought you this necklace it belonged to my
grandmother.” He said nervously. He handed it to Margot; there was a
small blue heart on it. Beep! An alarm suddenly went off.
“It’s time to go! Quickly finish talking and go on the transporter,” shouted
Margot’s dad. Margot waved good bye to William and walked to the
transporter. “Is everyone ready?” Margot and her mom nodded. “Okay!
Here we go!” he exclaimed. He pressed the button on there, and the
machine started humming.
“Bye Venus.” Margot quietly mumbled. Voop! The machine transported
them back to Earth, which would be the last time she would be on Venus,
or so she thought.
10 Years later…
Beep! Margot picked up the phone.
“Hello.” Margot said
“Hello, is this Margot? The Margot that was in the VSP program?” asked
the other person on phone.
“Yes, do you need something?” Margot said
“We want you to go back to Venus,” he told her.
“Go back to Venus? Are you crazy? I’m hanging up now,” replied Margot.
“Wait! Let me explain, we know you are struggling to pay for college and at
the same time support your parents with money. If you do what we ask,
we’ll give you 10 million dollars,” explained the man.
“Ten million dollars? That is a lot of money. I have a few questions to ask
first: why don’t you ask someone else? What do you want me to do?” she
asked.
“You have lived on Venus for a few years so you have experience. We
want you to shoot the sky with this gun, and theoretically it should stop the
rain, although we haven’t tested it yet so that’s why we need you to do it,”
he explained.
“Wait, how would I go out if it’s constantly raining I would be crushed by the
rain.” she asked.
“Well, we made a suit that will let you stay outside for 10 minutes. Anymore
questions?” he said.
“Okay, I have no more questions,” she replied
“So, are you in?” he asked
“Yes, when and where do I meet you?” she asked
“This upcoming Monday, at VSP headquarters,” he answered.
A week later
“Welcome to VSP headquarters, my name is Tom, I’ll be guiding you
through this mission any questions?” said Tom.
“Actually I do have a question I forgot to ask you. What happens if it doesn’t
work?” she asked.
“Nothing, you come back to Earth and still get the money,” he explained.
“Oh, okay,” she said.
“Now follow me, we’ll be starting the mission soon.” he said.
Tom started walking at a brisk pace. She followed him into a room with hi-
tech technology and gadgets.
“Okay here’s your suit in it is a red button. Don’t press it until I say so! This
speaker here is how we’ll talk to you and here is your beam gun.” he told
her. Margot quickly slipped the suit on, “When you’ll be transported to
Venus, you should see stairs, walk up them and there should be a door
there, I’ll tell you to press the red button, and then go outside. Charge up
the beam it should take about 15 seconds. Aim the part that is glowing at
the sky and then it should blast. Report to us if it works or not, then go back
to the transporter and press the button, your mission will be over after that.
Got it?” he explained.
“Yeah I got it,” she said nervously.
“Okay are you ready to go?” he asked. She nodded, “Okay! Get on to the
transporter and get ready to go to Venus!” he said. She trudged to the
transporter and waited. He pressed the button and the machine started
humming. Voop! Instantly she heard rain and knew she was back on
Venus.
She scanned the room it looked exactly the same, except for the stairs that
were there now, but other than that it was exactly the same ten years ago.
She was about to walked around when she heard static.
“Hello, is this thing working? If you can hear me say “loud and clear”,” Tom
said.
She repeated.
“Okay so do you see the stairs?” he asked
“Yes,” she answered.
“Okay now go up the stairs and you should see the door,” he explained.
“I see the door.” she said.
“Okay good, now press the big red button inside your suit and head out the
door, from there charge the beam and shoot the sky. In about a minute or
so it should stop raining if it doesn’t that means it is a failure. Now report to
us when you are finished,” he explained. She pressed the big red button, it
made a loud sound and then there was a blue barrier around her. She
walked outside, she started charging the gun. Pew! A large blue beam was
shot into the sky. She waited two minutes nothing happened.
“Hello, Tom you hear me?” she asked.
“Did the beam work?” he asked
“Unfortunately, no,” she answered.
“Oh, like we thought, well it’s just a prototype. Okay now walk back to the
transporter and hit the button on it.” he told her. She walked back inside,
down the stairs and onto the transporter. Suddenly the barrier was gone, it
had have been five minutes. She hit the button and the machine, like
before, started humming. Voop! She was back on Earth.
“Here is your 10 million dollars, we might need you again.” Tom said
“Thanks! I’ll be leaving now.” she said quickly. She ran out of the
headquarters and went to her car. She went home and went to sleep.

The next day she read in the news TV:

Thanks to a very brave girl the Sun has finally shown itself in Venus this
morning and it has not rained since then. We will keep you updated on this
topic.

A smile grew on her face. Just then the doorbell rang. She opened the door
and saw William waiting outside with a bouqet of roses.