Alek couldn't wake up with a clear mind. Thankfully, her dream of Aether was stuck in her mind and, she was able to recall the dream easily.
When she sat up on the bed, she saw that Bia was not in her bed. Alek heard some people talking in the kitchen. It must be Bia and her mother.
Alek checked the alarm next to her saw that it was nine in the morning. It was still early for her to wake up but, she didn't feel like sleeping again. She wanted to help them in the kitchen, but first, she needed to write down her dream.
She got out of bed and hunted for a pen and paper. It took her a while to get them and, she started to write in detail of what she dreamed about. Thinking about her dream made Alek a little emotional but she continued writing.
When she was done, that was when Bia came into the room looking surprised.
"Morning." Alek greeted her, putting the notebook onto her bedside table casually.
"Morning. How come you are awake?" Bia was getting suspicious. Alek has been waking up early these past days and, it was definitely weird. Did someone wake her up every day or something?
"I just woke up." Alek told her the truth.
"Oh. Well, breakfast is almost ready. Come and get ready. Also, help." Bia turned the other way round and walked away, leaving the door open.
'Why did she come to the room?' Alek questioned herself. But soon, she remembered what Bia said and went out of her room to wash her face.
Alek washed her face, put her hair in a really messy bun and went to the kitchen.
"Good morning, sweetie." Panacea greeted her daughter.
"Morning." Alek greeted her back and went straight to her mother. "What do I need to do?"
"You can spread the plates out and the honey and butter." Panacea instructed Alek.
Alek silently did what her mother told her. Kai showed up right at the moment and was surprised like how Bia was.
"What are you doing?" Kai asked his sister before even greeting her.
"What are you doing awake, Alek?" He asked again because Alek ignored him.
"Huh?" Alek snapped towards Kai. "What?"
"I asked-"
"Oh, morning, Kai." Alek greeted him, cutting his sentence.
"Morning." Kai replied to her, a little annoyed. "Alek, were you listening?"
"Listening to what?" Alek was dumbfounded. Her brain was empty for a while since she started spreading out plates.
"I was asking," Kai was planning to say it again but he got tired. "Nothing." He was walking away when he heard Alek replying.
"I just woke up like that." Alek told him the same answer she had given to Bia. She finally heard what Kai was asking her. It was there was a glitch of time between her and him.
"So you heard my question." Kai asked his sister with accusation, looking back at her.
"Yes, just right now." Alek answered him innocently.
Kai didn't say anything anymore and just walked towards the bathroom.
"I think the sound waves just went up to the satellite and back to you. Your brain has issues." Bia told her sister, who was staring at where Kai had gone.
"I agree to that too." Alek replied to Bia and continued to spread out plates.
Soon, Kai came back with his father and, they took their place on the table. The women joined the men when they were done.
"Itadakimasu." They all clapped their hands together and began to eat.
"So Alek," Panacea spoke to her daughter. "Tomorrow is your birthday. What do you want for tomorrow?"
"Oh yeah." Alek remembered. She had been excited for this to come for a long time but she had forgotten about it. "I don't know, chocolate?"
"Are you sure?" Panacea asked her daughter who stuffed a big piece of pancake in her mouth.
"Bmmmbdskt." Alek tried to talk but she still had a pancake in her mouth.
"Finish eating first." Panacea told the second born.
"Yeah, I don't have anything I want," Alek answered her mother when she has finally swallowed the piece. "Actually, ice cream and chocolate would do."
"Okay. Ice cream and chocolate. Got it." Panacea smiled at what Alek said and continued eating.
"You haven't given me the name of the book that you said that reminds you of me." Bia looked next to Alek and asked. She hadn't forgotten about it.
"You are serious?" Alek stopped eating and looked at her sister back. "I'll keep it on your bed."
"Hmmm." Bia raised her brows in agreement.
There were small talks during the breakfast and the rest went normally like all other days.
Their schools were all closed due to the summer holiday and they had nothing to do but chill at home. Alek didn't have many friends as not everybody can handle Alek. But she didn't mind it. She had books and if she got bored, she will just disturb her siblings.
Today, Alek decided she needed to exercise and went to the park nearby. But not really exercise because of her foot. Sometimes she needed to go to the hospital for check-ups. Her fracture was a rare one and the hospital couldn't fully treat her.
They were scars on her right foot but, Alek did not mind it. In fact, she loved it. She felt like the scar was like the ones from books and movies that she loved.
Alek went to sit on the bench in the park after walking in the park for fifteen minutes. Some of the people, mostly, mothers and their kids, in the park knew Alek and they gathered around her.
Alek used to have a part-time job to take care of these kids and she knew every one of them. She loved them and they loved her back. After some chatting, mothers needed some work to do and she volunteered to take care of them while they run some errands. They didn't find any problem with it and left the kids in her hands.
For the next few hours, Alek played with them, told them stories until the mothers came back to pick up their kids to have lunch. One of them invited Alek to join for lunch but she gently turned down the offer and went back home.
Alek went back into her house to find it weirdly quiet. It was as if no one was in. She thought they went somewhere and she had the house to herself.
She smiled triumphantly and went to her room in happiness. Alek closed the curtains and prepared her phone and a book. Alek needed the phone to play songs that she wouldn't hear because she would be concentrated on the book.
She was somewhat hungry and thought of eating something. Alek wasn't exactly allowed to eat in the room but, her parents were there to watch or stop her from doing so. Alek went to the kitchen and grabbed some snacks.
But before she went back to her room, Alek thought of aroma candles and went straight to the room where they keep candles and other things they don't use, leaving the snacks on the counter table in the kitchen.
But the door was locked and she needed to find the keys.
'Ahh, dang. I gotta find keys for this door and also for that book. Keys are not my thing now.' Alek thought when she couldn't find the key she has been looking for for over half an hour.
She got the keys she had been looking for after another half an hour. Once Alek wanted to accomplish something, she never gave up and her hard work paid off. Alek ran to the candles, jumping up and down.
'I'm coming, babies!!' She shouted to the candles in her mind. She reached the door stabbed the key into the keyhole. But when Alek turned the to open, it stopped at ninety degrees and did not move from there.
Alek got confused and turned the key the other way round. It made a clicking sound and, she thought it opened. She turned the knob, but the door didn't open. It was locked. She then again twisted the key the other way around. It made a clicking sound again.
Alek stopped breathing because she thought there was someone in there. The door wouldn't be open if someone wasn't already in!
That person needed to pay for making her go through all the work to find just one key for almost an hour! Alek prepared her body for the surprise. She then took a deep breath before touching the knob and pushing it silently.
Alek sneakily entered the room and was greeted by a boy facing toward the window opposite the door that she just entered. She thought that was Kai. This brother of hers needed a good surprise and scolding to remind him to never do this again.
Alek prepared to scare him. But before she tried to do anything, he snapped his neck to where she was standing.
She was caught off guard.
But what she saw next was enough for her brain to stop functioning.
"What the..." Alek could not continue.
The boy looked like her dead brother, Aether.