The morning began with a loud VRRRRR entering Marcus' room.
"What the?" He woke up with a start, frantically glancing around, only to see his mother looking at him with a blank stare.
"Marc? Aren't you supposed to be at work?" She quickly turned off her vacuum and took out her earbuds.
"You scared me. I got a week off," He replied, laying back down and catching his breath.
"A week off? Why?" She asked in confusion, rolling the vacuum back out.
"There was an accident at our school. A gate opened there," He muttered, closing his eyes.
His mother froze and turned around. "A gate? At your school? And you didn't care to tell me? What if you got hurt?" She walked up to him, "Is that why you were so late home last night?"
"Yeah," He grudgingly got out of bed, "Everything's fine mom, stop worrying about it,"
"Okay, I'll stop. Just go make your own breakfast, I didn't know you were here, so I've already eaten."
"N."
----
Having eaten a full breakfast of eggs and toast, Marcus had a quick stretch and put on his running shoes.
"Where's dad by the way?" He asked, as he almost headed out the door.
"He's at a conference. I think it's about all the chaos that's been going on recently. They needed all the Army Commanders to meet up last night, right before you came back. Even the retired ones, I guess." She replied over the loud roaring of the vacuum.
"Hm, alright." He muttered, closing the door behind him as he left the apartment complex.
Taking in the sweet summer air, he began his usual morning jog, passing through the dense city sidewalk.
"Mr. Marcus!" A friendly shout rang out from his left,
A woman wearing a black leather jumper and jeans came running behind him. Her black hair tied up in a pony tail, swaying as she ran.
"Mally," He greeted back with a smile,
"What are you doing jogging so late in the morning?" She asked, catching up to him.
"Woke up late this morning, What about you?"
"This is my third lap, Mr. Sleepy-Head," She chuckled, "But don't you have work today?"
"No. I got a week off,"
"Oh, lucky you. What for?" She whistled,
"We had a gate incident," He muttered, casting his eyes down.
"Oh my! I'm so sorry," She gasped, stopping in her tracks. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm okay now, I don't know about the kid who lost his mother though,"
"Is this the case that was announced in the news this morning?"
"News?" He looked up, "What news?"
"Laidside Elementary. 3 people went in a gate and only 1 survived."
"That was in the news?"
"Yeah, of course it was, It was the first case of people going into those gates."
"Then what about the Hunter's Union thing that I've heard about? Didn't they 'raid' the gates?"
"They only started exploring gates this morning. They were just trying to gather people who craved adventures to join them in the so called 'raid'. They pulling in the naive children who think it's all like a video game."
"How many was in the raid this morning?"
"Around 120 or so I've heard," She replied,
"Did they succeed?"
"It's only been an hour since they began. The gate they went to was different to the others that were around. Instead of the grey looking portals, it was white." She explained, shrugging her shoulders.
"That's..."
"Yeah. Anyway, I'll leave you to your own jogging now. I've got work in 30 minutes." She quickly explained, looking down at her watch and quickly running off.
"Okay. See you tomorrow," He smiled, continuing his jog.
----
An hour later, Marcus sat down on the park bench as he chugged down a bottle of water. Sweat dripped down his face as he slashed the remaining watering on his face, cooling it down.
"I should inform Valina's father of the news,' he muttered to himself, "Even if he's an alcoholic drowning him his own debts, he deserves to know."
Taking out his phone and double checking Valina's address, he headed off in its direction.
He climbed a few steep hills and finally found himself in front of a half run down shack.
"This is it?" He looked at his phone to double-check. Sure enough, it pointed right here.
*Knock Knock*
"What? Who? Is it you Valina?! You think you can just come back whenever you want?" A drunken voice called out from within.
"No. Sir. My name is Marcus Elori. I'm a colleague of hers," He replied, trying to look though the broken window.
"Come in,"
Marcus slowly pushed open the wooden door to reveal a dark, disgusting mess of a house. The floor was littered with wine and beer bottles. Vomit bags just thrown on the floor and Valina's father lying on the couch groaning from a hangover.
"Did you come here to bring me my beer?" He croaked out, scanning Marcus to see if he came with his daily dose of alcohol.
"No, sir." Marcus answer, "I've come to inform you that your daughter, Valina has... passed away last night."
Valina's father dropped the bottle of empty wine on the ground and stared at Marcus.
"How?"
"She was in an accident which involved the gate."
"Gate? The fuck's that?"
"Those portal... things that appeared yesterday...?" Marcus replied with confusion in his eyes. How does he not know that?
"Huh? Those weren't my eyes hallucinating from all the alcohol?"
"Huh?" Marcus stared back at him in shock.
"So my daughter's death," He changed the topic, 'Do I get life insurance from it?"
"Huh?" Marcus repeated.
"Life insurance. Will I get?" He grumbled, staring at Marcus.
"I-I don't know?" He stuttered, not knowing how to reply.
"Gah. Not useful when you're alive, and still not useful when you're dead." He grunted, throwing the empty metal bottled bear at Marcus. It bounced off his forehead and rolled on the ground.
"She was your daughter," Marcus muttered, his palms red from the gripping on his fingers.
"Yeah. So what?" the father got up from the couch, walking up to the mini-fridge in the kitchen and taking out a bottle of wine.
"Better than nothing,"
"Your daughter is dead." Marcus stared at him as he chugged down the bottle like water.
"Gah. And so is probably 100 other people in the world. Do I care? Nope." He wiped his mouth and made his way back to the couch. "You can leave now. You've delivered the message and you've got no beer. I've got no money. You're just as useless as her."
A flip Marcus suddenly flipped as his nails pierced into his palm, drawing blood. The anger inside him felt like it was going to burst right out of him. He grit his teeth and stared at the old man licking few drops of wine left in the bottle.
'[Open Gate - Rank E]'
A white portal suddenly began to form inside the room. Slowly growing bigger by the second.
Within half a minute, it had touched the roof of the shack and stopped growing.
"Get in." Marcus muttered.
"What the fuck is that?' Valina's father fell flat on the ground, shuffling his butt further away, trying to distance himself from the portal.
"Get in." He repeated, slowly walking closer to the man.
"What the hell are you?" Valina's father cried, getting on his feet, trying to run, but his gigantic stomach causing him to fall on the ground.
Marcus grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him close.
"I'll have you experience what she felt, but ten times worse" He whispered in his ears before dragging him into the gate himself.
The two of them instantly disappeared from the room as they touched the portal, and the portal itself disappeared right after as well.