One's younger years were supposed to be spirited, everchanging, and memorable. Each day, something new and brilliant!

Some said so. But Vin loved how every day was predictable and routine. As long as he didn't deviate from the norm, nothing could go horribly wrong.

He rested until his father's boisterous voice woke him. "Breakfast in ten!" the man announced with a bang on the door. Vin awoke fully melted into his exceptionally cushioned bed, then pulled his bedsheets over his short black hair. He didn't want to move; he felt flat. As muted as the gray walls of his punk room.

Eventually, Vin, sporting an incurable resting-bitch-face, wrestled the comfy bed to sit upright. The room's tall, narrow windows flanked his body, inviting in the sun's golden rays, which lit his dark, sharp eyes and brightened his skin to a pleasing brown. Tilting his head, Vin growled at the warm, innocent light. It was bright, but the weather that Saturday morning was nicely ordinary.

He slowly sat his foot on the ground and rotated his ankle to uncover a slight sting from training the night before, but nothing dire. He stood, releasing himself from daylight's amicable grasp, then strolled to a wall of skateboards. He grabbed onto his favorite, a fully translucent board made of high-impact acrylic resembling glass. It was a fun design but far more slippery than traditional wooden skateboards; he just took the extra risk of falling because the board summed up his life. It was transparent. It was obvious.

He wouldn't have time to tune it up, so he just went to his desk in the corner of the room, which half functioned as a workshop, and pocketed a T-shape tool that doubled as a socket wrench and screwdriver.

Holding onto the board, Vin closed the curtain to his room and walked downstairs for breakfast. The dominant aroma of freshly brewed coffee and cooked bacon sheathed every other dish readied. He followed that alluring aroma into the dining room, revealing himself with a slight smile to his mother, Hellen, and his father, who'd been preparing the table for breakfast.

"Morning, champ," his father said, pausing his assignment and placing his rough hand on Vin's head.

"Ready for your race today?" The man asked with a grin that would only accept one answer.

Side by side, Vin and his father looked a lot alike. It made sense, considering he was named after him: Gavin Dance Jr. His father, who went by Gavin, loomed over his son. The man was stocky, rocked a buzz cut, and wore an exceptionally tight athletic shirt and short shorts.

"Another trophy for the collection," Vin effortlessly replied. Gavin smiled, wrapped his wide arms around his son, lifted him off the ground, and squeezed him so tight you'd think juice would seep from his body.

On a different tempo from the boys, his mother, Hellen, swung around the table, kissed them both on the forehead, and then jokingly stated, "You'll be competing on an empty stomach if you don't finish setting up."

After her sound threat, Vin helped his father set the dining table. Macy, Vin's younger sister by two years, was pulling condiments and drinks from the kitchen. He tried to help, but his assistance was met with a pouty, "Back off, I got it."

Macy had the same resting scowl that'd made making new friends difficult. Even more, while he'd taken early lessons in skateboarding, she'd studied Karate making her someone he avoided pissing off.

After some hasty steps here and there, everything was set, and together, they enjoyed breakfast. Vin knew which dish his sister was most involved in because she'd stealthily stare at him anxiously as soon as his utensil hovered over the dish. After catching her usual glances, Vin stabbed a bacon wrap with a fork, then downed it in one bite before groaning in delectability. Her face lit up in content, but she soon hid it on her plate, pretending to concentrate on eating.

After wrapping up, the family left on foot. Their house was situated at the edge of a bustling city, and they often took the 20-minute walk to town to enjoy the progressive transition from a rural area to an entire metropolis.

 ** 

The Dance family arrived on time at their destination: a rooftop garden atop a sizeable two-story shopping plaza. The skateboarding competition's host, a sporting corporation named Black Wings, had rented it out for their event and even hired local policemen to guard it.

It spanned the distance of a stadium's field but was sectioned off with trees, tall, lush hedges, and rows of colorful flower beds. Most of the rooftop garden was encumbered by plants. Still, a concrete sidewalk was lined with benches for the plaza's frequent visitors.

Shortly after arriving, a robust but panicked voice cut through the plaza's loud ambiance. Vin searched for the source and spotted a man standing on stacked crates. He was—in a word, misplaced from the other young skaters and their associates. Tall and scrawny, he had a ghastly complexion, which didn't mesh well with his beaten, heavy, black trench coat. His most distinctive feature... The pointed tin foil hat on his long, unruly brown hair.

"The aliens are coming!" The stranger shouted, throwing his arms toward the sky. Vin wondered where security had been and why dozens of people bothered to gather around such a run-of-the-mil crazy person.

"I spoke with them myself! They've accepted me as Earth's leader!" the man hollered.

"Every single one of you will be saved! I give you my word! The aliens WILL take Earth, but I have negotiated a new land for us on their planet!"

The unfiltered lunatic pointed at everyone who held a skateboard, praising them, and begging them to lead the new world. At first, this person seemed utterly bonkers, but Vin observed more than a manic man. There were tinges of anxiousness and desperation on that stranger's face. And what could be identified as hope?

The man's expression lit up. A disturbed smile detonated across his face as he quietly and sedately added, "You all have a talent they do not; they'll surely revere us."

Vin didn't believe a lick of what the man said. Still, he couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something more to the stranger's words, something beyond mere delusion. Vin's mind wandered back to a post he'd seen of a supposed new planet in the solar system and bizarre conspiracy theories circulating online about portals appearing and snatching people and objects from thin air. It sounded more plausible that things were falling into sinkholes, but he wondered if some truth was hidden amidst the madness.

Vin looked around to see if his family or anyone else had been buying into the story and spotted a particular person he'd hoped to run into.

'Thick-rimmed glasses and shoes with buckles instead of laces…' he recognized, starting at a girl his age and, to his displeasure, the same height. He remembered her being quite pale upon their first meeting, but skating in the sun had given her a honey-like tan. Her hair was light brown and too short to be pulled tightly back into a ponytail as it had.

Her name was Lynn. A frequent attendee of those events and elected most likely to maliciously push Vin off a rooftop.

Probably with good cause.

When he met her, he sensed she was like him—both comfortable with the safety of a mundane life. She was the first person in a long time he tried to befriend, so it hurt when she ignored all of his advances. So, during a race, Vin rolled up from behind her and quickly undid her shoelaces mid-race in frustration. Her strings got caught in the wheels, and she face-planted into the ground.

At first, Vin believed it served her right for always ignoring him and skating in her own world. But then the guilt ate at him, and he'd been waiting to run into her again to apologize.

The girl had been alone listening to the odd speaker with an uninterested expression, one of her hands inside an oversized hoodie with an abominable snowman print. She soon caught Vin looking at her, then frowned and walked away.

Vin began after her; however, his mother somehow sensed his unease. Her long, dark silk hair and flowery patterned dress swished as she chased him down and pulled him back by his arm.

"Try and get along with the other kids. You're going to high school soon, so you may end up in classes with some of the teenagers here."

He and his sister Macy inherited her scowl. However, she had a soul-easing smile that warmed him inside out.

Vin glanced down, then pocketed his hand before replying, "Tried it, didn't work out. Be easier to just focus on skate."

His mother plopped both of her hands on his shoulders, then brightly added, "Listen, sweetie."

"You're still young; you can afford to be distracted; in fact, this is the only time it's acceptable. One day, you will become and do even greater than your father. But that is only once you're older."

Vin wrinkled his brows and closed his fist. "How can I be greater? Dad had already accomplished so much more by this age."

The Woman lowered to embrace him, then sighed at her troublesome son. "That might be true."

"But. Follow your own path. Don't bother chasing a shadow when you can become the sun."

Vin wasn't sure if that'd be the case but exhaled in defeat, then returned her hug. Sometimes, it seemed like she knew him more than he knew himself.

An obnoxious "Awww," followed by mocking giggles, arose from the crowd, so he broke from her grasp and then soured his expression. He glanced around and saw a group of boys his age pointing their way with laughter.

Vin peered at them, stormed forward, and shot them the middle finger. A quick wack at the back of his head interrupted him, and then his mother quibbled, "What did we JUST talk about!"

"Alright!" Vin blurted, darting away from his mother. He fled, and as he walked, he felt an abrupt, eerie gust of wind against his back. When his next step landed on the ground, a blinding flash of light erupted behind him, flooding the garden with startling, unnatural blindness.

Vin speedily spun around, his eyes squinting from the radiant light's discomfort. There had been no news of fireworks or flares at the race event, so he was confused about what was going on.

His day, which was supposed to proceed as safely intended, shattered in a blink.

Vin's mind emptied as his sight fixed on a scene of ruin. His family, along with dozens of others, disappeared, ripped away with the flash of light. There was an enormous, jagged tear in space like a frozen lightning bolt prolonged there, flickering in various hues, showing nothing inside as if the space had been torn away or consumed.

His family, the people that he called home, was gone.