That night Jeanette woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat which hadn't happened in years. She didn't know if it was a nightmare or memory she has tried to forget her painful past. She looked out the window and for the first time in she doesn't know how long, remembers her old parents were gone, when one day in particular flashed in her mind. "My parents," she said with a sad tone.

Flashback

700 years earlier...

Earth, not so far away has a lush green forest, full of squirrels and chipmunks (in case you find this weird). The cities have humans in it and they're two hours from the forest. Living in one of the trees in this forest is a family of chipmunks. One of the chipmunks was brown and had purple eyes with purple glasses to match.

This was Jeanette.

She had a mother and a father and a big and little brother and sister. Life in her house or tree rather should be pleasently peaceful. Having siblings to play with and parents to keep you out of harm's way. Jeanette's parents do a really good job of that.

However, they overdo it.

They set rules that no other families would set. Jeanette's parents tell her all kinds of rules even ones that not needed. Rules like "always watch your back," or "don't do anything without supervision" apply to their house.

One day, Jeanette waited patiently for her father to come out of the bathroom. She waited for a few moments and then she decided to knock and make sure he was okay. Jeanette knocked on the door. "I'm on the pot!" shouted her father. "Is everything okay?" Jeanette asked nervously. "Go away, Jeanette!" shouted her father. "You know you shouldn't disturb other people when they're on the pot! You gotta think of other people too!" Jeanette felt bad. She hadn't done the wrong thing, but her father didn't believe that. Jeanette's father eventually came out of the bathroom and Jeanette could go in.

Later at breakfast, her parents were not happy. They were eating with spoons so no one would cut themselves. And the eggs (scrambled) were cut down to the size of a crumb so no one would choke. Jeanette's parents were treating her like she didn't have any teeth! Now the family ate in silence for awhile, then her mother spoke. "Jeanette," she said sternly. "Your father told me you disturbed him while he was on the pot. I'm not happy with you." Jeanette calmly put her spoon down. "Well, I didn't mean to," she said. "But I just wanted to make sure he was okay. And I remembered to knock." "You're not supposed to disturb people who are in the bathroom. Do you know how late you made him?" scolded her mother. Jeanette tilted her head. "Two hours late." Jeanette's mother answered for her. "He's two hours late for work and because of you, he's going to lose his job. You really have to learn to knock, Jeanette. That's no way to behave." "Oh. sorry, dad," Jeanette said taking a bite and looking at her father. "It's too late to apologize, kid," said her father. "Thanks to you, I'm going to lose my job." The family finished eating without further conversations. Jeanette felt bad for making her father lose his job.

Jeanette looked over at the night stand where her alarm clock used to be that was taken away from her all those years ago. Her heart beat faster which meant it was time for her to get up for breakfast and get ready for another day at work. "Jeanette?" Brittany asked wondering why her daughter didn't have an alarm clock anymore; she always woke up with her heartbeat. "Oh good morning Brittany," Jeanette tried to gather her thoughts again as she gave Brittany a hesitant smile. "Well I better go and get breakfast ready before the kids start complaining" she joked to get her out of whatever was bugging her.

The rules at Jeanette's house were much easier now. Her new father never got mad when she remembered to knock and she didn't have to eat with spoons. There were no rules like "always watch your back," or "don't do anything without supervision" in her house.

Later that day near border limit of colony "Hope"

Jeanette noticed most of the former city was now a bustling colony now with her and others efforts to clean up the city. Although they still needed to clean up the skyscraper sized piles of trash that was the work of the former buy'n'large workers of Operation: Clean-up. Just then Captain Simon came running up to her, she guessed that the labor of growing farms was a good thing. "Jeanette you have to come with me quick!" his tone got Jeanette's attention immediately. "Simon what is it? What happened?" Jeanette was beginning to worry something happened to her family. "Another starliner has returned its Jupiter; they landed just outside Washington D.C." Jeanette was a little confused shouldn't this be a good thing?"Then what is the problem?" Jeanette couldn't help, but expect the worst for the returning ship. "There is no problem it's just that when they arrived they found a subterranean colony of people more specifically families of the work force from Operation: Clean-up".

Jeanette's eyes nearly popped out of her glasses and her brain could hardly understand what she just heard survivors? "They haven't caused trouble have they?" she quickly asked. "No, in fact they are helping the passengers ease in with starting their colony there, why?" Simon eyed Jeanette suspiciously he thought she would be happy knowing there were other survivors like her. "Oh, uh… no reason has Jupiter sent any recent messages?" Captain Simon pondered for a bit "Actually the colony is sending representatives over to see if we could start a trading route or something." "They'll be here in about a week" "Thanks for telling me Simon" Simon smiled "I thought you should be one of the first to know" with that he returned to the Axiom.

Jeanette was doing a lot of thinking on her way back home especially with the news her wise grandfather just shared with her. She wasn't the only one who survived that dust storm all those years ago, but her old family! They must've found a shelter in a different direction than her. Until her old parents arrived she would tell Brittany and the rest of her new family the strange news, heck they'd be so surprised that her parents didn't die.

Her mind suddenly jumped back to when the "incident" happened and Jeanette took a long look at her gloved paw.

Flashback

700 years earlier...

However, this was not true.

Later that day, her father rushed to work, but he wasn't late, he was early. He didn't lose his job so the family was worried over nothing at all. Jeanette's father worked as a safety teacher, teaching young children about teenage safety such as no smoking or knock before entering a room. He also explained that his daughter Jeanette had forgotten to knock. However, his explanation was all false.

Jeanette meanwhile had decided to play outside. Her big brother and sister were with her. They were playing tag to get some good exercise. Jeanette knew this was important and this was all well and good until five minutes passed. Jeanette's mother was watching from the window while putting anything she thought Jeanette would hurt herself with out of reach of Jeanette and her siblings. She noticed Jeanette and her brother and sister running around and getting exercise, but she thought they were being chased. Quick as lightning (no offense to those with the name), Jeanette's mother ran outside and grabbed her, whilst her father gabbed her siblings and dragged them into the house. "Hey!" Jeanette protested. "We were playing." Jeanette's mother showed no signs of apology. "Go to your room!" she shouted. She pushed Jeanette by her tail up the stairs. Jeanette winced because she was being pushed very hard and it was painful. Once Jeanette was upstairs, she ran to her room but not without wincing from the pain she was experienced. She collapsed on her bed to let the pain ease. "Ouch." she said.

As soon as she felt no signs of pain, Jeanette got up and popped in her favorite movie: "Combination." She liked this movie because it showed all the parts from Cars when McQueen does something funny. Along with this was her favorite song "Sputtering." Because this movie was so funny, it always cheered her up. Jeanette curled up in a blanket and smiled as she stared at the screen. This little moment lasted a good five minutes. By the time her song reached its second verse, Jeanette heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" asked Jeanette, not nervous because whoever it was remembered to knock, just as she had done earlier. "Jeanette, dinner!" answered a voice Jeanette knew. It was her mother. Without complaints, Jeanette took out her movie, shut off the TV and came downstairs.

Once everyone sat down to dinner, Jeanette's father seemed really fed up. "Jeanette," he said. "I need to talk to you." "How was work today?" asked Jeanette, taking a bite. "Work! Work? Jeanette, I'm fired! Do you know why?" her father replied. "I did remember to knock, daddy," said Jeanette. "I'm sorry to hear that you lost your job." "Sorry doesn't help, kid," said her father. "And stop calling me 'daddy.' You won't always have parents you know. One day, you have to learn to address people properly." Jeanette gulped as a shiver ran down her back. She made a promise to herself that she wold take good care of her parents and show them she loved them. Hopefully, they would love her back. How clever she was.

After dinner, Jeanette decided to watch the rest of Combination. "Go get ready for bed," said her mother. Jeanette sighed. She was a little disappointed as it was quite early. But the day's events had made her tired. She went upstairs to get ready for bed.

Jeanette was soon ready for bed, but her parents instead of tucking her in, lectured her. "You have to learn your lesson, Jeanette. You're very lucky that you have parents. You wouldn't like it if you were in an orphanage, would you?" Jeanette shook her head. She was shaking. "And," said her father. "You went outside without our permission. You were very lucky that we saved you. You won't be so lucky next time. We won't always be there to help if something goes wrong. Did you think of that?" Tears began to come out of Jeanette's eyes as she shook even more. Jeanette's mother continued. "You have to learn about apples, Jeanette. They're very bad for you." "And apples will rot your teeth. You'll get a cavity." said her father. "Go to sleep!" shouted her mother. And they both walked out of the room and shut the door hard. Jeanette got startled by the sound of the door slamming. Her startled cries did not go unheard by her mother. "And that's my final warning!" she said. She slammed the door again, leaving Jeanette shaking in fear with her eyes full of tears. Jeanette curled up and shakily closed her eyes. But she would not sleep very well.

JEANETTE!

JEANETTE!

Jeanette!

Jeanette snapped out of her daydream and found herself in front of her old home back when she was grounded and where Brittany saved her life. She turned to see Brittany walking up to her. "Jeanette didn't you hear me calling you?" "I'm sorry mommy I was just thinking about a few things." Brittany had a confused look on her face and noticed she was holding the sheet in her gloved paws where she used to write her lines, she wanted to know what was bugging Jeanette. If it caused her so much pain it just made her want to help that much more, she has suffered being grounded for 700 years over. "Jeanette you've been a little absent-minded lately, does it have to do with the sheet of paper in your paws?" Jeanette went rigged did she really want to relive that painful memory? She'd been grounded for years for sleeping on the couch and unknowingly, she had tried to forget it. Brittany is my mom she has a right to know...

"Alright" Brittanywalked next to hergetting ready for whatever Jeanette had to say. Shewas her life and if talking about it made herfeel better, it would make her feel better too. "Brittany, have you ever wondered why I wrote the same thing over and over on this piece of paper?"