After the news anchor apologised to the audience, she went on and continued with her segment of the news.
Unfortunately, the damage had been done.
Back at the table, Allan's family were stunned by what they had just witnessed. They had gone completely silent after watching that video feed.
It was Marcus who broke that silence. "Wow…that was…intense."
"What are they doing showing something like that on the news?" Elena continued, clearly pissed off. "It didn't occur to them that there would be children watching?" she continued.
While Marcus and Elena discussed the implications the video feed would have on the younger generations, the two who were considered to be a part of said generation stayed silent as they continued eating their breakfast.
Maya was almost done with hers when the video started, but slowed considerably after the video ended. She kept picking at her scrambled eggs with her spoon while the last piece of her toast rested on her other hand. She seemed to have a lot on her mind, as she slowly picked up her plate to place it in the sink.
As she walked over to deliver her plate, Elena placed a hand on her arm. "You okay, honey?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay; it just…caught me a little off guard," she responded with a small smile on her face.
"Don't worry, sweetie; those things cannot enter our city. After all, there are a lot of awakened here," she said with a reassuring smile. "They would be dumb to even try," she continued.
"Wow, that's a death flag if I ever saw one," the figure said with an amused tone inside Allan's head.
"Shut it," Allan sharply answered.
The figure raised its hands in surrender.
"I know, Mom, you don't have to worry about me," Maya said.
Elena smiled as she let go of her arm, and Maya left her plate on the sink to go get ready for the school day ahead.
Allan had also gone quiet…well, at least on the outside.
"Hey, I think it's time you tell me what's really going on here…" Allan said to the figure, as it lay down on the lake inside his soul space.
"Alright, kid, but not now. I'll explain it all later today," the figure answered as it let out a deep sigh.
Allan didn't object to that, as he knew that it was not the time for that talk.
As Allan also stood up from his seat, both Marcus and Elena turned to look at him. Both wore concerned expressions. Allan was the type of person to keep things to himself; he rarely talked about things that affected him.
"Son, you alright?" Marcus asked as Allan went to put his plate away.
"Mmm? oh, yeah, I'm okay," Allan answered with an almost indifferent tone.
"You sure? You know you can talk to us about anything, right?" Marcus explained with a concerned expression on his face.
Elena simply looked between her husband and son, knowing that it was better for Marcus to handle the situation. After all, the father would always understand his son better.
"Yes, Dad, I know…you don't have to worry about me," Allan answered honestly. He had always been good at dealing with his emotions, or so he thought.
"You know, kid, you should start being more honest with yourself." The figure interjected in the conversation. "I'm surprised by all the things you've bottled up inside; it's not healthy, you know?" it continued.
Allan didn't have an answer to that, so he decided to just ignore it.
Marcus let the conversation end there as he didn't want to put pressure on his son. It was never a good idea to force anyone to open up about their feelings. At least that was Marcus's opinion on the matter.
Allan also didn't dwell too much on it, as he simply headed to the door for school. Marcus and Elena were also getting ready to head for their respective jobs.
As Allan opened the door, his mother called out to him, "Be careful on the way, dear," she said.
"You got it, Mom. Love you, bye!" Allan said in a hurried tone as he went outside their apartment.
"Love you too!" Marcus said as he raised both arms with an offended expression, feeling left out as Allan only said that to his mother.
Allan simply smirked as he shook his head and closed the door of their apartment.
He hurried to the corner of his apartment complex, as that was where the school bus picked up the students of Eastgate High School.
Allan had arrived just in time; the bus was barely arriving at the corner of the street. He let out a deep sigh of relief when he realized he barely made it.
There were other kids already waiting at the stop, and they all turned to look at the late arrival among them. As the bus came to a stop and the doors opened to let everyone in, he realized that someone was already waiting for him inside.