A New Life [I]
Be-beep
Be-beep
Be-beep
I was awoken by the pitched screams of my alarm, though I did not remember switching the ringtone from the default. It was most likely a bug that'd get fixed in the next OS update. Just to make sure, I checked the configuration of the alarm and the ringtone was still set as 'Default.'
After tapping the stop button, I sat up in my bed and dragged my sleepy palms vertically down my face. The drag pulled my cheeks with it and further opened my eyes. With my arms, I pushed myself up from the bed to stand up and walk to the bathroom.
The light was less bright than usual, in fact, it was fairly dim. The light bulb was old after all so it was time for it to retire.
"Two replacements in a row."
I took out the toothpaste, which somehow looked half empty.
"Did I use that much without realising?"
Once I ran the brush under the warm water of the sink, I spread the toothpaste onto it and ran it under again. The paste pushed into the bristles as a result of the water's force. Bringing the brush into my mouth, I started to scrub my teeth and the paste quickly foamed up. The refreshing minty feeling was accompanied by a metallic taste.
I spat out some of the foam and saw red swirls spreading through it like roots. Some of them faded away and turned the white foam pink.
"Didn't realise I applied that much pressure.."
I got back to brushing my teeth, lessening how hard and quick I was brushing and the blood stopped. The spearmint flavour overwhelmed the metal of my blood and the foam's pearly white colour returned with no pink imperfections.
Finishing off, I spat the foam back out and swished water in my mouth to get the rest of it out. I turned up the water to max pressure for a second to quickly get the foam down the drain before proceeding to wash my face.
I grabbed the small towel that was hanging next to the sink and patted my face dry. After looking at myself in the mirror one more time, I walked out of the bathroom to get dressed.
Be-beep
Be-beep
An alarm went off? I picked up my phone from the bedside table and flipped it over.
﹁
8:43AM
Stop
﹂
Did I set it accidentally?
I tapped the stop button, and for some reason, there was no snooze. I never turned off the snooze button as I knew that if I did I would press stop on all the alarms and go back to sleep. Plus, as an added bonus, reaching for the small 'Stop' button helped my brain wake up quicker.
"That's weird."
Setting the phone back down on the table, I ambled towards the dresser and opened the first drawer to pick out some trousers. I chose beige cargo pants, if you can't tell I love cargo pants, then from the drawer underneath I took out another white shirt. This one had a black sketched drawing of a city printed on its back. I put both of those on and walked over to the hanging coats.
From the crowd, I picked out a white and sand-coloured varsity jacket with the letter 'W' stitched onto it in the left top corner. I grabbed the hard-working satchel and wrapped it around my arm before checking the bus times.
﹁
Bus-Stop 81AJ6
87X: 5m, 12m, 25m...
439B: 7m, 12m, 23m...
﹂
"Just enough time."
I rapidly left and crossed through the alleyway which was still as clean as it was yesterday, practically unchanged. When I got to the bus stop, I knew about 4 minutes passed so the bus should've come soon but it didn't.
Re-opening the app, I saw that the time remained at 5 minutes but the rest decreased, probably a delay.
﹁
Bus-Stop 81AJ6
87X: 5m, 8m, 21m...
439B: 3m, 8m, 19m...
﹂
"That's weird, is my phone broken?"
Spinning the phone around in my hands, I inspected it for any physical damage. There was none. When I looked back up to the street, I saw my bus approaching. I took out my ticket and put my phone back into my pocket before getting on. The driver scanned my ticket, handed it back, and I took my seat next to a window near the front.
Out of nowhere, an announcement from the driver came. The voice was badly distorted as a result of the microphone's quality, though the speakers were most likely at fault as well. They were all damaged or dirty in some way. The beauty of public transport.
"We are taking an unplanned stop due to a disturbance with the 439B bus route."
What's up with today and the issues?
I saw a group of four people waiting at a bus stop after about 10 minutes of driving. There were two guys and two girls. None of them seemed to be with one another as they were all standing far apart.
One of the guys was surprisingly short. I assumed he was about 5'3 or somewhere around that. He had a buzzcut so I wasn't able to tell what colour his hair was. The clothes he had on were heavy-duty and covered in all sorts of stains, ranging from paint to oil. On top of all that, he also had an orange hi-vis vest on.
The two girls seemed to be identical twins. They were of equal height and both had straight dark hair. The main difference was their hair length and facial features. One girl's hair only reached below her jawline while the other girl's reached to her waist. My hair only reached somewhere around my shoulder blades so it was a combination of the two.
"I do need a haircut sometime soon."
I twirled a few strands of hair in my fingers before going back to continue inspecting the group.
The last guy was tall, very tall; and under my estimations, he was around 6'2. Fittingly, his hair was black and fairly long - nowhere near as long as mine though - and cut into a wolf cut. He wore a black suit with a white button-up shirt and a black tie, and to top it all off, his outfit was covered by a black trench coat that flew behind him with the breeze.
There was nobody else on this bus apart from me so I prayed they wouldn't be talkative or loud, it was too early for that.
"Bus stopping."
The automatic announcement spoke and, as commanded, the bus stopped and its door opened. The two girls got on first, followed by the guy in heavy-duty work clothes, and finishing off, the tall man got on. The girl with short hair ended up buying a ticket from the driver whereas the other 3 had permanent tickets like me.
All 4 of them ended up walking past me to sit down, but I could still tell where they sat - or stood. One of the girls sat somewhere at the end of the bus, most likely next to a window. The other girl sat down near the exit doors of the bus but probably closer to the back.
The shorter man ended up standing, or at least I never heard him sit down, opposite the exit door as that was the only place to stand. On the other hand, the taller one sat down directly behind me. Personally, I always tried to sit at least one space away from people but I guess not everybody is like that.
"So much for privacy."
Instead of speaking those words, I mouthed them; and that's when the ground below the bus started to shake and tremble. Cracks formed in the concrete of the street and the bus abruptly stopped. I heard its engine roar in an attempt to keep going but it gave out. All 6 of us got off the bus quickly and looked around.
People were in hysteria, some even screaming.
"It's an earthquake!"
"A tsunami is coming!"
An earthquake or a tsunami? Those people were out of it. No tsunami would've reached us and we don't live in a country with many earthquakes, not any at that.
The sun's light was overwhelmed by ever-spreading darkness. We all looked up into the sky to see a line, a tear, in the sky, spreading out across the entire globe. The tear stretched and expanded to swallow the entire sky into oblivion. The clouds, the blue sky, and the shining sun were no match for its power.
Once the entire sky was covered, and no more light reached the Earth, white specks appeared in the darkness, forming constellations and galaxies. Their colours illuminated the abyss and brought a tint to Earth. The streets were no longer enveloped in shadows but instead covered in shades of blue, pink, purple, and white.
"What's going on?"
The short guy from the bus was the first to speak around me.
From between the stars, a black fog came forth to form a humanoid body. The stars wove themselves into a cloak which hooded the being and cloaked the back of its body, giving its shape even more definition. The cloak flew light years behind the figure, reaching far into the depth of whatever thing covered Earth's atmosphere.
The ominous entity spoke in a hoarse voice, authority and will emanated out of its manifestation and spread to all human minds.
"Greetings, life forms of the 'Milky Way.' I won't bother with introducing myself, but you should know this: your world is now mine."