"LEVI! LEVI LEVI LEVI!!!!" Who needs an alarm clock when you have an evil sibling who wakes you up with water spray.
"Myca, stop spraying water on my face!" Before I could take my revenge, the eight years old devil ran off to somewhere, giggling.
I went into the kitchen where my mom is busy preparing breakfast and saw Mycah stuffing her mouth with cookies, and my eighteen years old twin brother who looks like a jock (and looks nothing like me) but is an actual nerd (just like me).
"Good morning." I grumbled as I sat across Ruze.
Ruze gave me a curios look. "What?"
I asked.
"Nothing." He went back to reading the Lord of the Flies before looking back at me. "Actually, what happened with your face?"
"The devil sprayed some water on my face to wake me up." I said as I glared towards Myca's direction.
She giggled before eating another cookie. "Midget." I stuck my tongue out before grabbing a slice of bread.
"Yeah. I didn't know water comes with different colors now." He commented.
I ignored him and paid attention to the french toast in front of me.
My mom placed another set of cookies and shrieked after looking at me. The sound of Myca's laugh filled the dining room. "Myca! I told you to wake your sister up, not. . . not this!" Her rage didn't faze the little devil as she continued laughing hysterically. My eyes widened looking at my mom's reaction. I panicked as I ran towards the bathroom.
Please, god, anything but a shaved eyebrows.
"Mother of – " I can't even recognize my own face with how much paint and red-colored water that midget put and sprayed on my face. My face looked like an abstract painting with 'I M A D E H E R P R E T T Y' written on my left cheek, in permanent green ink. My eyebrows were spared but the fact that I looked like an abstract painting didn't calm my anger. I went back to the kitchen after ten minutes of rubbing my face with soap.
Myca looked apologetic and was at the verge of crying.
"Myca, apologize to your sister." I bet she was scolded harshly by my mom. "It's not a good thing to do that to anyone, Myca. If you do that again, to your sister or your brother. . ." she let her sentence trail of and sighed as she looked at Myca who was now, sobbing silently.
"Mom, it's fine." I took three cookies and placed it on Myca's plate. "Let's buy some art materials after school, yeah?" She nodded meekly. "And some canvas, so don't ever make my face some abstract painting ever again. Geez, I was so nervous, I thought you shaved my eyebrows." Myca's a naughty kid, and she can be hard headed most of the time, but no one can really be mad at her for a long time because she makes our home lively and fun. Without her usual antics, it'd be boring and dull.
"Arid's a really good painter, I can ask him to teach you." Rue mumbled while still looking at what he's reading.
"Reflect on what you did, Myca, or I won't let your sister buy you some art materials." Myca nodded excitedly and drank the remaining milk on her glass. "Vi, don't you have any classes today?"
"It's just basic calculus. I got ninety five during prelims, so I'm not worried." My mom's a strict woman but dang, she can really cook. Even simple meals like this feels like heaven. "This French toast is – OW!" I rubbed the top of my head to ease the pain. I saw my mom's face as she was about to hit me again with the rolled newspaper on her hand but I avoided it thanks to my agility.
"Don't avoid it." My mom said.
"Well, it hurts. Of course, I'll avoid it."
"Ninety five? Why only ninety five?" My mouth gaped at my mother's words. I forgot she got Asian standards. Well, I'm half Asian but still, Asian.
"Your cousin Chen got ninety eight on calculus, and your brother got ninety seven on geometry." I saw Ruze smirk. He really enjoys it when mom scolds me. What a douche.
I rolled my eyes. "And I got ninety five on calc, yay!" I sarcastically said as I continued eating my French toast before she orders me to go to school.
"Levi, don't bum around and go to school. I don't pay your school a lot of money so that you can skip and laze around the house." she smacked me in my arm with the newspaper before sipping her tea.
"Okay, okay, geez. Mom, you're so strict."
"And you're lazy." She countered.
"Yeah, she really is." Myca agreed as if she was a part of the conversation this whole time.
"And you, go take a bath. We're leaving at six thirty."
Myca grabbed a french toast before heading to her room.
"Myca! Don't eat inside your – " Mom sighed as she heard Myca's bedroom door close.
"Mom, I'm heading to school first. Arid needs help with his arts and stuff." My mom just nodded and went back into reading her newspaper. "By the way, I'm amazed at how insensitive you are, Levi. I mean, Myca painted your whole face, and you didn't even feel any of it." Ruze looked amused at how stupid the whole thing was. "Well, atleast you woke up before she could drown you with WATER." He shrugged.
I wanted to throw a cookie at him but throwing food would make mom erupt in anger. My mom has a very short temper. Only Myca could make her angry and still survive.
"Shut up, nerd." I hissed and kicked him under the table. Ruze grunted and gave me a sharp look. Luckily, mom's busy eating her French toast and reading the newspaper so she didn't witness what happened.
"I'm heading out." He glared at me and flicked my nose before running out of the house.
"OW! Ruze! You piece of –" I looked at my mom who's staring at me intently. "Piece of cheese . . . dang." I looked at her. "What? That's not a bad word."
"Buy some groceries before you come home from school." I grunted but still agreed. I mean there's no point in arguing with her. She's just going to find another way to let me do her bidding. And no one wants 'another way'. Plus, I'm going to buy some art stuff with Myca anyway. "The list is on the fridge."
"Fine. But let me use the car. It's much better than riding a crowded bus, or taking a taxi."
She thought about it for a minute and agreed to let me use the car. Yes! "If you're going to use the car, wait for Ruze and pick up Myca on your way to the shopping center. Gas is expensive nowadays." I thought of leaving Ruze, as revenge for what happened earlier, but he's just going to tell mom, and mom's going to nag me about being irresponsible and how much gas I've wasted and make me go back and fetch. Honestly, I don't want all of that, so I abandoned my cheap plan of ditching my brother. It's not worth all the trouble.
___________________________________________
"Are you a snail or what? Hurry up." I drove forward before he could get in the front seat.
"Ha ha ha. Very funny, Levi." He rolled his eyes before sitting at the front seat.
"It was funny."
"Your face is funny." He retaliated but I just ignored him, and focused on driving. Don't get me wrong. I'm an excellent driver, but I'm a very cautious person. "Are you a snail or what? Come on, hurry up." His face looked smug.
"If I could just erase your face right now." I focused on the road ahead and started driving faster. Myca's school is only five minutes away from mine. Since this is a small town, it's easier to drive here than at the neighboring city. I squinted my eyes to block the sun's glare.
"Ever used a sun visor before?" Ruze said mockingly as he help adjust the sun visor. He looked outside, "Is it me or does it seem like it's a little bit too sunny?"
I stopped at the red light and looked at him with curiosity. "What the hell is a little bit too sunny? It's twelve noon of course it's a little bit too sunny."
"No, you don't get it . . . " He looked out of the window and stared at the sky. I saw his eyes widened with terror as he look above.
"What. . . what is it" I asked nosily. Somehow feeling nervous of the situation, I drove at full speed the moment the green light appeared. "Ruze, what the hell is it?" I asked nervously.
"I can't see the sun."
"What?" I accidentally stepped on the break. "Shit. Sorry. Wait, what? What do you mean, you can't see the sun?" I tried peeking outside but Ruze stopped me.
"Start driving. We need to fetch Myca first."
After a minute of driving, I saw Myca's figure as she, too, stared at the sky above together with her friends, looking amazed by the phenomenon. It must be true, then. What the hell is happening?
"Myca!" I shouted. But she was in daze.
"Myca!" Ruze and I both shouted. Realizing we're both calling her, she ran towards the car and sat in the back seat.
"Did you see? Did you?" She said excitedly. "I knew it! It's real!" Right now, I'm more worried that this kind of incident excites her.
I eyed her with suspicion. "What's going on?" I asked even though I'm nervous that what Ruze said was true.
"I told you, the sun isn't there." He shrugged as if the sun not appearing on the sky is a normal event. Wow, he got over it pretty fast.
"How the hell can the sun disappear, and still be sunny? And why the hell are you so normal about this?" My curiosity got the best of me. I went outside and looked above. It's obvious that it's still the middle of the day but holy shit.
The sun really did disappear.
When you narrow your line of sight and stared at the sun, you could actually see the edge of it. But as I do that, I can't see anything. It's not as if the sun disappeared. It's more like the sun is so near that it's hard to point out where the edge is. But if the sun is closer, why the hell isn't it hotter? Why isn't everything burning as it should have?
I went back in the car as I stared ahead not knowing if I'll pretend that the sun is still there but closer and continue with grocery shopping or pretend that the sun is still there but closer and go back home. "What are you still staring at? We need to go back home before everyone notices what's up there. Or what's not up there."
I looked behind and saw Myca still excited about it. "Why do you look so excited? Shouldn't you be worried?"
"Did you see?"
"Yeah. The sun is missing and we need to go home. Screw grocery shopping." I stopped to think about it, and realized what this situation could possibly end up being. "Wait, if this is some kind of apocalypse, shouldn't we be shopping? I mean, in case it really is, we need food and water, you know."
"Hmmm, Maybe we should." As expected, Myca took what I said seriously. "But can we make it?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean the guy floating above looks bored so he may start – "
"What guy?" We both asked worriedly. We both got out of the car and looked at the sky above.
"Levi, can you see anything?" Ruze narrowed his eyes. I squinted my eyes to look around, but the glare from the light makes it harder to focus.
"No. Damn it. I can't see anything." I noticed how some of the students kept looking at the east. I looked at, and saw a dark figure floating approximately fifty feet above the ground. "What the hell is that? Ruze!"
"It's . . . holy cookies . . . it's floating. It's fucking floating!" He shouted. The people around us started looking towards the east and started making a fuzz.
"Can't you be any louder?" I glared at my noisy brother. "Seriously, one minute you're calm and composed, another minute you're freaking out like a little girl."
"I'm a tiny girl, but I'm not freaking out." Myca heard what I said and giggled.
"Myca give me the binoculars." She handed me the binoculars after insisting she use it first. I grabbed it before she could protest.
"Let's see. . . where are you, dark figure." I followed the three story Verz Inn as the figure was floating approximately fifteen feet above it.
"Can you see it? Is it an alien? I mean, the spaceship may just be invisible. Does he have multiple eyes?" Myca bombarded me with questions before I could even take a proper look.
"There! Wait, what?!" To say that I'm disappointed is an understatement. I mean, sure, HE's floating and all, but. . . dang.
"Come on, tell me Levi!"
"He looks . . . normal?" The way Myca's face crumble is laughable.
"HE?"
"Yeah, HE." I passed the binoculars to Ruze, uninterested with the current situation.
"HE is floating." I just nodded and uttered 'uh-huh'. "Levi, no one can float like it's as normal as breathing." He said still shocked.
"Yeah, I guess. But you know, I kind of hope he's more alien-ish?"
"He is 'Alien-ish'. He got horns. Clear crystal horns. Plus, it can't be a coincidence that the sun just magically disappeared . . . or maybe he's emitting a light so strong you can't even see the outline of the sun. This can be serious, Levi. Gahhh. . . But what the hell is he even wearing? That's definitely an alien." Even Ruze finds it ridiculous and incredulous.
"What? What is it? Tell me. Ruze!" We both ignored Myca.
"Right? He looks human . . . well except the horns." I snorted as I looked at Ruze who's still looking at the floating alien guy. "Come on, we need to go back home." I went back into the car, and so does Ruze.
"What about shopping?" Ruze asked.
"I mean, if all this isn't coincidence, then an apocalypse is likely to happen. Sure we need food and other things, but we need to go home first. If that guy starts attacking the city, it would force the government to declare this as a disaster or something. The people will start panicking and started focusing on stocking up. There'll be commotion especially on shopping centers and grocery stores." I smirked.
He looked at me with a bored expression. "Are you suggesting that instead of paying for grocery, you'd rather wait for the apocalypse to happen to get free stuff." He looked disgusted with my idea. "When it comes to free stuff, you're worse than mom."
"But that's basically stealing isn't it?" Myca asked.
"Not when there's an apocalypse, it isn't."
As I drive out of Myca's school, I can't shake off the feeling that something terrible will happen. He looks normal and all, but the guy can block the sun with a much brighter light, as if it's so normal. It can't be a coincidence that all of this happened all at once. He can walk and float in midair.
But what bothers me most is his poor taste in fashion. WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THAT PINK LEATHER JACKET?