Thursday. July 9, 2054. 10:00 am.
Kiyro woke up startled on the corner of the bed, his heart clenched, his body trembling uncontrollably.
The nightmare had been so real, the agony so intense. His own soul had cried out in empathetic sorrow, feeling the tortured emotions as if they had been his own.
And then he sensed something else, something dark and eager, and evil. A crouching malevolent presence that had ripped his soul out of sleep, making him bolt upright on the bed; a smothered cry of terror escaped his lips.
Taking a breath, he looked around wildly, beads of sweat dripping down his face. Out of the corner of his eyes, he thought he saw something move across the closet from his bed. He quickly turned his head over to the movement near the closet. His Alive and Embryo gear were laid on top of his chair. A soft buzzing sound rang throughout the room as the Embryo gear turned on. Its logo blinked and pulsated with golden light.
There was nothing. Bright warm sunlight shined through his room, which looked the same as yesterday. He sighed with relief.
Old memories resurfaced of his childhood days. The endless nightmares, the eerie old house that he used to live in, and the days he hid under the covers till the sun rose up. It was surprising that even now it would come back to haunt him. He pushed the old memories aside. It was something he did not want to remember anymore.
He heard the loud clattering of metal pots from the kitchen. His messy black bedhead hair covered his eyes, making it difficult to see. He squinted over towards his closed door.
She's trying to cook again, isn't she? He sighed heavily. I hope she doesn't burn the place down. Kiyro pulled the blanket over his head. He and his sister were back to good terms. There were a couple tears that were shed but everything else was back to normal.
"Kyah!" shouted Anna as another loud crash was heard. Kiyro pulled the covers off him. He was half naked with just his black boxers on. He sat up on the side of his bed. His feet touched the cold wooden floor. He shivered. One thing that he hated and loved about the wooden floor was that it retained the cool temperature. It was a great way to wake up when he was in a hurry.
He reached over and took out a pair of socks from the drawers that were next to his bed. He was still tired from the unfortunate events of the previous day; he did not have enough rest throughout the night. His fever broke around six am, and then after a while he was finally able to sleep. Now his sister might break the whole apartment if he did not stop her.
Anna's cooking was terrible. All her hot spicy foods were like atomic bombs that exploded in his mouth. He cringed at the thought of her specialty: Volcanic Wasabi Sushi. He wondered how all her ex-boyfriend's even survived to this day. They either had an iron stomach or just like him tried their best to stay far away from it.
He had gotten sick yesterday. After blacking out in the game, he logged out to take a break. He was hungry. A sudden taste for Chicago-style hot dogs was on his mind. So both he and his sister went out together to eat. There were not many places in Atlanta that made genuine Chicago-style hotdogs. As a child he grew up eating them. He missed their flavorful taste.
Eventually he found a store through the Alive gear, and Anna drove them over. It wasn't far. They ordered to go and brought them home to eat. He and Anna had almost identical hotdogs, and she'd left hers right next to his. The difference was ever so slight yet vitally important: she basically pasted the hotdogs with a homemade hot sauce that literally felt like it was burning through his stomach and throat.
Without paying much attention, he picked up the wrong one after he came back with some sweet tea from the kitchen. Who would have thought that taking a bite out of the hotdog would make him end up with horrible stomach flu. He groaned.
It had been a long time since he'd eaten something so spicy. Kiyro thought his sister's Volcanic Wasabi Sushi was the worst, but this truly topped everything. He prayed she didn't open up the ghost chili peppers in the jar that he was storing for personal use. For an hour his lips were on fire. He chugged down water as if it was nothing. He even had to fan his mouth in between each gulp to try to cool it down.
It took another hour for the burning to finally go away, but then the true terror began. His stomach was on fire. He felt nauseated and had to use the bathroom multiple times. There was constant rumbling from his stomach and he threw up. He literally stayed in all day.
The following day, he had a high fever, coughs, chills, and an excruciating migraine. He had to make sure that his sister did not feed him anything that she had made. He remembered that time when her cooking made him sick for an extra three days when he had the flu. Those were quite possibly the longest days of his life.
The past couple days had made playing Growth difficult, but he was running out of time. He wasn't sure he was going to be able to reach his goal of level 150 by tomorrow at midnight to join in as a play tester. He'd had a hard enough time getting to level 115. Eve had passed him by twenty levels during the days he was out. He heard from Eve that Zeraph were not too far away from reaching the goal and they had been out hunting together.
Crash!
Kiyro halted midway through putting on his second sock.
"Please no…" Kiyro groaned as he jumped out from his bed. "For once I want a peaceful day. She is so banned forever from the kitchen!" he exclaimed as he rushed out of his room with one sock on and the other in his hands.
When he got to the kitchen, it was a complete mess. White flour decorated the ceiling, walls, and floor. Most of his cooking pans were littered on the floor. He even saw spoons, forks, and chopsticks in through cereal boxes like darts, sticking out of Anna's socks, shirt, and nose, and even mixed in the near the electrical outlet. How they all got there he did not know. If the police came by, they would have thought that this was a crime scene.
"Anna. What are you doing?" he asked as he rested his body against the wall. He was still a bit tired. Small crust formed in the corners of his eyes from sleep.
"Making lunch for us." Anna smiled from under the silver pan on her head. She was covered in white powder from head to toe.
"Teehee," Anna said cutely with no shame. "I know I'm not great with cooking and cleaning, but you were sick these past few days. I thought I would make you something to eat so you could get back your strength."
Kiyro sighed loudly. "Anna…thanks for the thought, but don't ever cook, okay? Just go watch T.V." He began to clean up the kitchen, picking up one item at a time. He was not surprised at the amount of mess she had created. It was always the same scene and it did not faze him. He remembered the time when she had somehow caught the pot of water on fire. It still amazed him to this day.
"But…I wanted to make something for you though…" Anna whined like a child. She really did have a knack for making him want to smack her couple of times to get her to have some sense.
He actually did once, and it made things a lot worse. On that day, he truly knew what a woman's wrath was. He did not wanted to be near the butt end of it. Kiyro gave her a stern look as she sulked. She got up from the ground, her head cast down with defeat. She solemnly walked over to the living room.
Stacking the dishes back in their original places, Kiyro was surprised the ceramic plates were not broken. Usually these things broke easily, but life was still kind to him. He did not have to buy new plates, pots, or glassware.
As the TV turned on Kiyro heard the voices of the newscast. "We have breaking news. Around 6 am this morning, in the city of Atlanta, a family was brutally murdered. Apparently the mother is on the run with the youngest daughter. It was a custody battle over the children and she had lost the case against the father. The following day, she murdered the father, both the grandparents, and her youngest son. The eldest son is in the hospital under intensive care and their daughter is still missing," said Simon with a tinge of anger in his voice. He shuffled his papers.
Finished cleaning up, Kiyro came over to watch the news. On the TV, right next to Simon, the picture of the woman and her family was shown. A sharp-looking mother with glasses stared out with wild eyes as her black frizzled hair was pulled back into a bun like a school teacher.
"She's not caught yet? How has nobody caught the psychopath yet?" exclaimed John with a bit of anger in his voice. His hands slammed down onto the wooden table.
"No. So far not yet. Allegedly, she slit her husband's throat while they were sleeping. Reports came in stating that the whole family was first fed sleeping pills to be able to do this." Simon stopped for a moment. "Wait a moment. We are receiving new information. Police have found the bodies of both the woman and the child. I can't believe this. Reports state that they found her gutted with the dead daughter in her stomach. They were found dead about ten miles away from their home, in a storage facility, locked in a room. This is truly an unfortunate case," said Simon with a gloomy face.
"Are you serious?" said John, appalled. He recomposed himself as he looked over to Simon. "Karma is a bitch, isn't it John, but to die in such a way is truly astounding. Who would have thought the killer herself would end up murdered. To the family of the deceased, my complete condolences." John bowed his head in respect towards the camera.
"I can't believe it," said Anna, horrified at what she was hearing. "To have to hear such horror these days…what is with people nowadays?"
"It seems like some females just can't let things go," Kiyro commented as he sat down upon the sofa. He wasn't as surprised at the news. "People like to hear the bad things in life so they don't feel so bad about themselves. Either way, news thrives on the negative aspects of life."
"What are you talking about? We so do not." Anna glared at Kiyro.
"See." He stared back at her with equal intensity.
"Come on. You don't understand the mind of a woman. I suppose you're some kind of expert now."
"No. I didn't say that. I only stated that some females won't let grudges go. You guys quietly let it fester until it builds up. Then wham!" He slammed his fist into his other fist. He let his anger slowly subside.
"Think about it: she might have a valid reason why she did that. Her husband might have been a horrible person. Plus her child is more precious to her, like jewels."
"To take such drastic action, but still end up like that… I don't know. It's too much. She could have lived longer with her loved ones instead of dying such a gruesome death."
Kiyro stayed quiet and did not go on with the conversation.