Eccentric Old Man

.....

Year: 3120

Time: 2:40

Location: Thidas

Area: E

In a relatively quiet area away from monitoring drones and bots, a lever placed on the ground was covered by platinum tiles.

A very handsome young man walked towards that area in a way that would not alert any of the drones monitoring around the area. He pulled the lever up and a platinum tile shifted. A space portal was shown and he jumped into it.

Portals like this one were very common in the area as the brain growth and development of youngsters were very fast. Stuff like space portal enabling one to be transported to another area was a basic level skill.

The space portal that the young man entered led to an area very well furnished.

The floors were very shiny made out of platinum tiles and some tiles were made of amethyst. There were virtual screens on the walls containing lists and lists of data. Looking closely at it, one would notice that the data was a list of deceased people during the last ten years. A name was highlighted.

Xana Evergreen Curtis.

A portal appeared in the ceiling and the young man jumped from it. He passed his fingers through his dark brown hair and narrowed his black eyes at the screen showing the highlighted name. He smirked.

"Quite fast, Sister." Venus muttered to himself. He poured himself a cup of water and sat on a chair.

The water was a first grade one which was almost impossible to find in the slums of Area E. The fact that this young man could get it showed his financial status and position.

He clicked his fingers and the virtual screen appeared in front of him. He clicked on the highlighted name and smiled with emotion at the picture of a young woman shown.

"Xana, how's your plan going? Are you going to correct the mess our race made?"

Venus sighed.

He dunked the remaining liquid down his throat and got up from the chair.

.....

Xana woke up with wide eyes and heavy pants. She was sweating heavily and her blank eyes showed confusion.

'Why can I not remember that nightmare I had?' she thought to herself.

"A ticking clock, each tick increasing the tension and evil in the air. An explosion? A mistake?", she muttered then hit her head.

"I never had a bad memory. What is this?!"

She relaxed her furrowed brows and went to prepare for her day. 'Whatever must come, must come', she thought to herself.

Eating breakfast which was food consisting of mainly acorns; acorn bread, acorn squash, fried acorns and even the doughnuts were fried in acorn oil.

"Deanna, you will be one of the people sent to school in the city", a voice sounded so close to her ears that it woke her from her reverie.

She looked up from her plate and her gaze settled on the little boy next to her. He had dark brown hair and darker eyes reminding her faintly of someone. She just couldn't remember who that person was.

Shaking her head to get rid of those crazy thoughts, she asked the boy who was Deanna's younger brother a question.

"Sorry, I was not listening. What did you say Lucas?"

The boy frowned in dissatisfaction.

"Sis, you're behaving quite differently nowadays. Is it those boys on the road who laugh at you? Don't take it to heart! I will always tell you, you are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.

So don't mind them Deanna. Okay?"

Xana smiled inwardly. 'What a cute little merman. This little brother of Deanna's stirs up warm feelings in me. Who is this person I'm trying to remember?'

"I'm okay little Lucas." she smiled at the boy and he stretched his little hand to rub her head.

Their dad was not home and their mum was processing acorns, so no one witnessed this heartwarming scene.

Very soon, all peace and tranquility was ruined when the perfect friends of Xana appeared.

The shouts came intermittently from outside the house. Max's was the loudest as he called Xana out. Lucas rolled his eyes and picked up his bag. He opened the doors, greeted his sister's weird friends, and went to school.

The friends walked into the house and shouted their greetings to Deanna's mum at the backyard.

Max scratched his head doubtfully.

"Is it just me or does Lucas seem to be mocking us with his eyes?"

"He is mocking you idiot! Who are the 'us'? You are 'you' and we are 'we' ", Sam knocked his head.

Xana laughed inwardly. 'Her brother was definitely more smarter than any of her friends. By the way, he mentioned something about school, or did she not hear him well.'

Sean watched the siblings bicker and shook his head. He turned to Xana.

"Ready Dean?" The others also turned towards her.

Xana calmly picked up a slice of bread and munched on it. "I'm still eating."

The rest paused and suddenly Max grabbed a doughnut and munched on it to.

He said with bulging cheeks, " Xana's right? Food is more important than anything else. We need food for the energy to go."

Sam was absolutely irritated once again as she watched her brother eat the food.

Sean spread some butter on the bread and ate while lamenting.

Soon, they were on the way to Bill's office. Bill immediately closed business for the day and they began to go to the residence of Old Tim.

"I informed him of our coming yesterday, and he is at his house awaiting our arrival." Bill seemed restless though.

"Is there a problem?" Xana asked.

"Well, you see, I told you he is an eccentric man so I don't know if he'll want many people in his home."

"Ha! Eccentric? I know how to deal with such people. Do not worry at all, Bill", Max said oozing confidence.

Now Bill began to seriously worry. 'Does Max have to come with them?'