A teen is faced with having to move, underwater. She writes daily events and meets intresting people and learns shocking new things. 

Journal
Day 1
          We boarded the submarines last night. My parents had to ride a separate one from me with just adults, I am in one with just teenagers. It’s eerily quiet, and cold. I don’t like the cold, I’m from Florida or what was Florida. Now I have to live in an underwater city because 5 years ago in 2045 Florida was completely submerged in water. They say these  underwater cities are safe. But, I don’t really care too much about that, it feels isolated and away from the world. We can’t be on land though because there isn’t enough room anymore for a whole state of people especially with overpopulation levels rising. I’m separated from all of my friends, some on land, and some in a different underwater cities. The lights just went out, apparently we have set curfews now too.
Day 2
          I hear people talking about their pets. Oh, do I miss my dog Missy. She is on the pet submarine with the veterinarian. Outside my window I can see Reef City from a far. From here it looks like an enormous snow globe sitting at the bottom of the ocean. It takes us two hours to get through the docking ports and security then I am getting off and going to get Missy first.
          I’m sitting with Missy near the front waiting on my parents to get the luggage and, a counselor to show us around and to our new apartment. We could only bring what would fit in our apartment so we left a lot behind like my paint set and easel.
          The counselor showed us different buildings like the grocery store, mall, and various small shops. He told us different activities that we can do around town but I wasn’t listening to any of it. The sky above me was a deep blue, watery sky with an occasional fish swimming past, and the new citizens looked mindlessly about the cookie cutter buildings and apartments. The edges of the dome were filled with a luscious forest of trees and flowers. The government paid for everyone’s relocation and the rent is the same on land. Once a month there is a submarine back to land for shopping or holidays but it costs to travel.
Day 4
Not wanting to wait another moment, my parents are sending me off to school today. We spent all day yesterday unpacking and furnishing our micro apartment. It has teal blue walls in every room and filled to the top with our stuff, it was smaller than anticipated. There are two small rooms, the slightly larger room for my parents and the smaller one for me. The only thing I like about my room is there is a windowsill for me to sit on and look out at the ocean through our dome.
          The school isn’t too far from the apartments so my walk takes about six minutes. As I was walking I noticed how the walkways are paved with multicolor gravel sort of like a fish tank. I live in an inverted fish tank; the water is on the outside instead of within. There is no use for cars here so there aren’t any roads, security and urgent care have motorcycles and hover boards for injured people.
          I have 7 periods a day at school: Calculus, Music Theory, English, Lunch, Current events and Anatomy. Each of my classes lasted ten minutes today instead of its usual forty that way they could fit in an introduction and announcements at the football field. We sat on the bleaches and on the field while, the principle and deans stood on an elevated platform in the middle. The principle, Mrs. Harriet, voice went on for hours about rules, our new society, how we are privileged and we should show gratitude to her and the staff, and more rules. The guy sitting to my left kept making silent comments about it all; a lot of them were funny. We ended up talking through most of it. He is my age and came from the panhandle of Florida while I came from central Florida. He brought his ferret with him and it’s living in his small apartment that he shares with his older brother, younger sister and parents. We parted ways at different buildings, he goes across into the slightly larger apartments meant to house more people while I go into my micro one.
Day 6
There is no school today so I got up late and took Missy on a walk through town. I went into many of the little shops and bought some perfume and eye makeup at a glitzy shop. Missy also got a new dog bed and a Hello Kitty toy to keep her occupied when I’m gone. I saw the guy from the rally, Jack, and he waited outside while I put up Missy and my stuff so we could explore our new town.
We went to more stores one of them being where his parents worked, a small natural grocer. They have a huge garden rented out in the garden lot. Jack and I also went to the forest surrounding the perimeters. It was so much quieter and gorgeous. The big willow and oak trees surrounded the perimeter in a thick forest of bright grass and hundreds of different types of flowers. We climbed up an old oak and sat on its branch looking at the blank sea ahead of us for hours.
On the way home he handed me a breathtaking pastel orange rose. It's on my dresser now in a delicate little vase.
Day 7
I woke up to sound of a vase rattling on my dresser. The whole building was shaking. In our living room a large crack split the wall by the front door. We all ran out side, like everyone else in our community, some people were crying, yelling, talking about the world ending or the dome shattering.
Soon a video of some authoritative looking person came on, his voice boomed “Citizens of Reef City. Please remain calm. A tropical storm is passing by and stirred the waters more than expected and some debris got caught in the outer layer of our field but it will be cleared soon. Please remain calm, and enjoy your day here in the city.”
I ditched my parents and went out to the “woods”. I climbed up an oak tree and  saw tons of fish swarming around the dome, bags, plastic bottles, random trash in a whirl with the fish.
The dome rattled again, I saw a sweeper cleaning the outside of the dome.
I was forced to leave the forest and report to the square. They put up some shield around the dome so everything is black now, besides our street lamps and flashlights. The storm apparently got a lot worse.
Day 10
I haven’t had much time to write, our power just came back on and everyone is still in a terrified swarm. Jack found me when the lights went out and we went to his parents garden. There are glorious little flying bugs that glow with a warm light. Fireflies. How does a bug produce light? Anyways, we sat there talking about life before the dome and the floods.
My parents and I use to live in a cozy beach house with a million windows and bright orange walls. Not like tacky orange but a warm, glowing orange of a sunset. Everyday I ventured out on to the beach and just laid there. Soaked in the sun, the soft sand and breezy, salty air. But the tide kept coming in higher and quicker,and the summer got hotter. After about a year of high tide warnings, our house was sunk along with our coastline. Another year and Florida was gone. We lived with my Aunt in Georgia for awhile but it was so crowded at her farm and the crime rates were rising uncontrollably everywhere. It was just a safer decision to go under water. I think…
Day 11
My mom braided my hair.
Day 12
The reasoning for the last entry was because I hate my hair braided. According to my ‘rents, I need to dress better for school and “blend in more”. WHY?.
Yesterday, the second Jack saw my stupid knotted braid he yanked it down. He about fell over when he saw I was forced into wearing the dress uniform. (We have uniforms at our school, choice of skirt, dress or slacks.) After about ten minutes of laughing, he questioned me and then finally said, “ Well, I think you look great in a dress,” I muttered a ‘thanks’ of some sort as he shyly hurried off.
Day 20
The power has been out again due to the storms. I miss my simple beach life. The Sun was our power.

To  be  continued…

I'm not yet completed and I want to add so much more. Would love comments on piece