On early Monday morning, the sunrise's embrace quickly spread through the entire City of Standart. The yellow hue from the rays of the soothing sun highlighted the darkness of a mysterious night.
While Nate Elfirm woke up incredibly early for the chance to get to Vivid Forest unnoticed, the rest of his family members - namely Nallie, Jakob, and Bethani - woke up from their sleep and went to their ordinary scheduled morning preparations.
- - -
Darkness. The dark was always something Nallie found comfort in. Whenever it was as simple as a dark room or in an abandoned apartment complex, the atmosphere itself soothed her soul.
Unlike Nate, who was more "appropriate" for the daytime.
It sounded morbid for someone like her, but that was something she harbored for herself. Not even her closest friends and family knew about this personal characteristic. Nate might even make fun of her if he learned about this, calling her scary or unusual.
Only if it were everlasting, since the light peeked through the blinders and landed on her face. The rays of sunshine tapped into her eyelids.
Not wanting to endure the blinding light anymore, she immediately got up and rubbed her temples. Blood must have been rushing through her head, because there was a blinding pain zipping inside. A headache must have appeared as she got less sleep from studying so much material last night.
"Ugh, my head... it's killing me..."
Nallie groaned as she sat there with her hands on her forehead. It wasn't superficial pain, but deep inside, like her brain was poked by a needle.
Fighting against the pain itself, she walked towards the bathroom to intend to clean herself up. The dryness in her throat and the dust in her scalp also caused a terrible itching, to her annoyance.
Scanning the bathroom, she initially assumed it would always be the same, with everything in its place. The shampoo bottles, conditioners, soaps, extra toilet paper, and all that stuff. But there seemed to be extra batteries sprawled out on the floor, and the plastic case that contained them was left inside the trash bin.
"Someone sure made a mess here..." Nallie said to herself.
It could be her father or mother who did this last night, but likely it was her older brother by one year, Nate. He would always do anything if it meant it could annoy Nallie.
I wonder what you did this time? Is it a prank, or did you just decide to leave this mess for me to clean up...?
Regardless, Nallie momentarily looked at the batteries with suspicion before shifting her focus to more important matters, like getting a hot shower. That would definitely revitalize her by a large margin. She hoped that all the hot water wasn't used.
She stood in the shower, water droplets landing onto her bare skin, until she was ready to dry. Putting on some clothes, Nallie went downstairs to make her own breakfast after checking all her school things were tucked in nicely. Her backpack was full yet organized, not one spot of space left to put stuff inside.
Then, yet another unusual thing that may have been caused by the same person, the door was unlocked.
Was that open last night? Nallie thought to herself, why does Nate have to leave early.
If it was Nate who accidentally left the door open, then that explains why he wasn't here right now. So he left early to go to school, which is so unlike you at all. You always go with Sam and your other friends together in the morning.
She glanced over to the kitchen, then sighed in disbelief after locking the front door.
Nate, you idiot... You could've at least locked the door on your way out. Burglars might enter easily because of your stupid mistake.
"Y'know... maybe fried eggs on toast will do on this weird morning..."
- - -
Nallie stared at her plate with honesty and acceptance; the plate held mildly toasted bread with an okay-ish amount of wet egg yolk inside.
It wasn't much, but it may be enough for her to last the day without much trouble. On the other hand, physical education would be a little tougher.
Okay, Nallie. What are you waiting for? Dig in! Enjoy this meal to the fullest!
Not even getting a chance of biting into it after taking a whiff of its sweet aroma, she heard a repeated sound.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
An auditory pattern of light tapping on a hard surface. Guided by her curiosity and the sound, she made her way to it. Nallie then saw what made her not scared, but actually annoyed. It was Luke Sharptack, his hands cupped over his head to scan anything inside the house.
Nallie rubbed her eyes in disbelief. "Luke! Are you for real right now...?"
She went to the window and flipped the latch to unlock it. As a result, Luke tumbled down as he yelped, falling onto the floor headfirst.
"Oohh, my head!"
"What the heck are you doing here!" Nallie demanded. The sudden rise in her voice made Luke look at her.
"H-hey Nallie... you like my super cool entrance into your humble abode?"
"Breaking into my home is not something to brag about. So why are you really here?"
Luke replied to her, "I really meant what I said about counting on me from now on. I wasn't saying like it was whatever. Your safety is all I care about. Then that means I can count on you in return. And secondly, I wasn't technically breaking in, I was just trying to get your attention from the other side of the window when I saw you in the kitchen there."
"What? Never mind that, I just need to go to school before I get late," Nallie stated. "So, where are your friends? You're usually always with each other."
"I, um, told them to go ahead while I try to reach your house. Don't worry, I'm sure they will be fine. They are good fighters, trust me," he said.
You say that it is like a battlefield that we have to walk into just to reach Standart High. You're always dramatizing things like some sort of game, Luke.
Luke's foot shook as he whistled to himself. "Soooo... you still want to go alone, or you wanna be by yourself. Maybe you have other friends waiting for you."
Nallie pondered for a bit.
"Well... my friends live a considerable distance away from Standart High, so I can't really wait for them before getting late, so I guess you can come with me... not like there is anyone else to talk with on the way to school."
Hearing that from Nallie's own mouth, Luke clapped his hands with joy. "Then it's settled! For offering you security against potential threats, you'll owe me some tutoring lessons for some of my classes."
More like every class, to be exact.
Knowing the consequences of being late if she stayed behind to eat her breakfast, she decided to depart with Luke and go on her merry way, with a plastic bag containing her toast and eggs.
Whatever makes him happy. Maybe walking together is enough for him to hunt me all over town like a tracking dog.
They both walked out on the streets, their faces met with the morning breeze that felt extremely refreshing, especially on a school day morning.
She thought about Nate and how he went so early in the morning without letting them know. Nallie knew he was careful about where he went, but the feeling inside her was still filled with worry.
Whatever place you are in right now. I only hope that you're not doing something stupid. Like aimlessly walking around in Vivid Forest.
- - -
Bethani woke up. Not from the light from the outside, morning, or an alarm clock's ringing, but woke up by herself. It was something that she does, waking up when she guessed when she would wake up yesterday. It could be one of her strengths.
She glanced to her left and saw someone who was still slumbering in his dream. That was Jakob, her husband, whose sleep was undisturbed until his alarm clock on his phone activated.
Bethani observed the outside through the clear window. The houses all lined up across the street, catching the morning sunshine. Ollie Lisjurbule, the Elfirm's family's close neighbor, always sat near her porch, viewing the outside as a spectacle sometime in the afternoon, where the breeze hit the right spots.
She stretched her limbs out, and a noticeable pop rang through her body.
"Let's have ourselves another wonderful morning, by getting some breakfast to go to work at the furniture store..." she yawned.
After going over her morning routine in the bathroom, along with finding out that there was still enough hot water left in the pipes, a fact that made Bethani have a satisfying smile. Walking across the hall with her fresh new look, she noticed that neither Nate nor Nallie was in the house.
"I see..." Bethani said to herself. "... Looks like both of them went out to school early, huh? I do hope that they get there safely. There are just so many things going on in Standart City, people getting attacked by creatures, and some of them dying."
Ever since the green gases flew above the Standart City, the city and its officials were very adamant that they had everything under their control. Measures against anything that threatens the ordinary peace of the city of Standart were placed just in case, but they weren't being such an interference to many of the people.
There seemed to be more police officers and security officers around the city, even around the building Bethani worked at. Especially needed for how there was a death near the Volanten River, the body was left there at the bottom of the river for several days. Who knows who the perpetrator was and what their exact intentions were.
Despite the concerns around Standart City, Bethani tried to remain certain that the future was bright and that everything would be okay in the long run.
Going to the kitchen, she felt a rumbling in her stomach, the organ growled at her like it needed to get something to fill itself with. Bethani opened the rice cooker and saw that there was still some rice left in the pot.
After cooking a bit of fried eggs in a pan, she combined the eggs and the rice, along with a bit of day-old cooked pork from the fridge. With everything mixed in the bowl, Bethani devoured the contents entirely, but not without having to wipe away the mess from the table with a paper towel from the middle.
"Alrighty then, now I'm full, I should probably get going before traffic comes. Now where are my keys...?"
Refreshed from an early morning meal. Bethani found her car keys sitting at the table in the foyer. It seemed to have been taken out of the table's compartment, where the letters are usually placed for later reading.
She marched her way to the car and smiled at the outside, wanting the day to be the best for everyone.
With nothing in her way, she drove out of the home driveway and into the street. Towards her daily career.
- - -
Ringo, Ringo, Ringo
The phone on the bedside table emitted a digital noise repeatedly every second. It persisted until a hand from the sleeping individual reached to swipe the alarm off.
The father of the family, Jakob Elfirm, got up from his slumber and directly proceeded to go to the bathroom. As he turned on the handle in the shower, he felt the water was cool, with traces of heat barely felt on his hand.
"Looks like they used up all the water. Oh well, cold water it is then..."
Not caring about the temperature of the water one bit, Jakob still went inside to clean himself. After putting on a pair of clothes, he marched out of the bathroom and went into the kitchen, where he would feed himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich wrapped in a plastic foil that was left in the fridge since yesterday. Bethani made some sandwiches for the whole family, just in case they had the urge to snack on something sweet.
As he sat down with his breakfast, Jakob turned on the television placed on the kitchen counter and switched through the channels, each of them interrupting the previous channel's noises.
Jakob stopped at the news channel directly reporting events and stories from Standart City. The reporter onscreen was seen in the Volanten River. She made some comments about the weather currently:
"So far in the city, we'll be expecting sunny weather for the whole week. For those of you still in the summer vacation mood, you're in luck. It's gonna be an extended positive atmosphere right now."
Right then, there was a shuffling in the crowd, a few yelps, and a lot of people saying "hey" as a single girl went up to the camera and showed a picture of a young man.
"Hey! Were trying to record here!" The news reporter said, still shocked from the sudden intrusion.
Jakob leaned his head towards the television, and a look of interest spread on his face.
The young woman began to speak. "My name is Eustelle Camerons, and I n-need to say something about this. The guy in the picture is Phil Rackins. H-he was a good friend of mine, we were best friends for a long time, but then some monster took him away, his life-now gone."
"Eustelle!" Some sort of friend of hers emerged from the tightly packed crowd and attempted to pull her away from the camera. His hands were in front of his face to block the red embarrassment in his face. "Eustelle! Stop it, you're in the way of the news..."
"I need to do this, Zach!" She said loudly to him as she pushed him away. "There is no point for me to just give up. The killer who killed him is still out there! If you are hearing this, I swear, oh I really swear that I will hunt you down and make you pay-"
Before Jakob could hear the rest of her words, the footage abruptly froze, the channel now focusing on the weatherman as he had a confused look on his face.
With nothing interesting on the television left, Jakob promptly shut down the power with the remote. He cleaned up his plates and went to get his gray sedan's keys.
Before he could get in the car, a whistle was heard from the next-door house. Jakob turned to see a smiling Ollie waving in her comfy seat.
"Why, good morning, Jakob. Off to go to the bookstore again?"
"That's correct. I'm just going to check the maintenance status on the building to see if I need to prepare to allocate an amount of my budget."
"I'm glad to hear that. Ever since your father, Arley, went out to explore the world, the bookstore seemed to have attracted so many people. I'm sure the sales have been very beneficial."
A single tear flowed down her face, and she quickly wiped it away with her index finger. "Ah, Arley was so adventurous back in our younger days, didn't you know? Since our primary school years, we would play in Vivid Forest with many different kids."
"I'm sure that it was an experience in the past..." Jakob said.
"Oh, it was a wonderful past," Ollie remarked. "But today is still a lovely time to be in, despite the strange things happening in Standart City."
She looked down to see Jakob holding his car keys. "Oh, excuse me, I've accidentally taken up your time for a bit. Don't mind me, you can go now. Try driving safely to your destination, Jakob!"
She waved her hand goodbye as Jakob said "goodbye" to her too. She went back inside to her house. An old, but gentle-looking house.
Jakob entered the driver's seat and turned on the car. He went out from the driveway and into the street. He intended to go to the bookstore, like always. It was a building that should be kept tidy and maintained.