Chapter 1

I wake up to the sound of the alarm clock. I grab the pillow and cover my ears, but the sound persists.

"Damn alarm clock, won't let me sleep anymore!" I complain, sitting up before turning it off and checking the time. It's already 8 o'clock.

I sigh and mess up my hair a bit, getting up. "I'll take a shower, have lunch, brush my teeth, and go to Curitiba to catch my flight to São Paulo." I stay quiet for a second, walking to the bathroom in my room.

"I wonder if Aunt Matilde would let me leave my car there? Can't leave it with Augusto after that," I think about the fight we had last month while entering the bathroom and starting to undress.

"Two hours of travel to Curitiba and another hour of flight to São Paulo, where I'll spend a few hours at Asta's house before catching the flight to Moscow," I say. I sigh as I undress, open the glass shower box, and turn on the electric shower for a hot bath.

"Seriously, why did I decide to do an exchange? I could have stayed here comfortably, but no, I had to offer myself," I grumble, soaping myself.

"Ah, screw it, I'm going to wash my hair," I say, putting my head under the shower and starting to wash it.

"I hope at least to make some friends there, and preferably, find a girl who pleases me. I'm tired of my friends bragging about having girlfriends and I don't! It's not my fault for being selective," I say, grumbling. I turn off the shower, grab the towel, and dry myself, stopping in front of the mirror. I see myself as tall, blond, with blue eyes, and relatively muscular.

"I am handsome," I affirm before laughing and saying, "Haha, man, I'm getting too narcissistic." I change clothes and leave the bathroom and the room. The hallway lights turn on automatically, and I go to the kitchen. I take the rice and beans I prepared yesterday from the fridge, put them in the microwave, and take some meat from the freezer to thaw. While waiting, I read on my cell phone. After a while, I get up, open the microwave, and take out the rice and beans to stop the infernal beeping. I check the meat, which has thawed enough, take a frying pan from the cabinet, and start cooking my steak while listening to music.

"I hope I can do this in Russia. I never researched if they have these things there, but they must. I just hope it's not expensive," I say, sighing. I grab a plate, start serving myself, and eat. After finishing, I go to my room and see how many suitcases there are.

"Why did I decide to do this?" I ask with a regretful look, but quickly get rid of it and start loading the suitcases into the trunk of my Hilux. After some time carrying everything, I wipe my forehead and say, "I didn't expect there to be so many, but it makes sense, considering I'm going to live in another country for a while."

I cover the trunk, grab the key, and start the pickup truck. I take the gate control and open it, waiting a few seconds to leave and close the gate. Then, I remember that I didn't lock the doors. "Damn, how could I forget that!" I exclaim.

I get out of the truck and go to the small gate, unlock it, and then close it again. I go to the front door, enter the house, and start checking if I didn't leave any of the windows open. Noticing that they are all closed, but I forgot to close the metal part of the window in my room, I open the glass window, close the metal one and the glass again, turn off the lights, leave the house, lock the door, go to the small gate, open it and close it again. "Thank God this gate locks automatically," I say, returning to the truck and starting it again.

I drive to Grandma's house. Upon arriving, I stop in front, honk, and wait a few seconds. I see my grandmother through the gate bars, and she unlocks the small gate and comes out, coming to the window.

"Hi, Arthur, how are you? Don't you want to come in and have a coffee?" she asks.

"Hi, grandma, I'm fine, and you? No, I was just passing by to give you the keys to my house," I reply, taking two keys from the glove compartment. I hand her a smaller one and say, "This one is for you," and I take another one with more keys, saying, "Please give this one to my parents when they return."

She nods and says, "I'm fine too, and okay, I'll give them the keys. But are you sure you want to go there, Arthur? I don't like that country and I'm worried about you. I know you can take care of yourself, but you'll be alone there."

I sigh and scratch my head, saying, "Don't worry, Grandma, everything will be fine. And yes, I want to go there. It's a good opportunity for me, and even though I'll be alone at first, I will make friends there sooner or later. So, there's no reason for you to worry, okay?" I finish with a warm smile, knowing how much she worries about me.

She nods her head, sighs, and says, "Okay, Arthur, but be careful anyway."

I nod my head and say, "Bye, Grandma, and give a hug to Grandpa for me," ending with a smile still on my face. I hug her, and she says, "Bye, Arthur, be careful on the road."

I reply, "Of course, Grandma, I'll be careful." She goes back inside the house, locks the gates, and I start the truck and drive towards Curitiba, listening to music throughout the trip. In addition to listening to music and paying attention to the road, I admire the landscape: the plantations, forests, etc. From time to time, some cars and trucks pass by, and there's even a little rain, which makes me even more careful since the road is not exactly in perfect condition. After a little over two hours, I entered the city and capital of Paraná, Curitiba. I start driving towards Aunt Matilde's house, even though it takes a while because of the traffic and traffic lights.

"That's why I hate big cities. The only good things they have are the malls and that there are more things to do. Even so, I prefer a little more peace and a little less traffic," I say, sighing. After a while, I arrive at where my aunt lives, which is in a relatively large house in a gated community. I enter, stop in front of the gate, and put my finger on the fingerprint scanner, happy to have already registered there, otherwise, I would have to wait a year to be let in. Then, the large metal gate begins to open, and I enter and go straight to my aunt's house, stopping in the open garage.

I ring the doorbell and, after a few seconds of waiting, the door opens, and I

 recognize Marco, Aunt Matilde's husband. I go towards him for a hug and say, "Hi, Marco! How's life been recently, man?" He hugs me back and answers, "Very well, Arthur. You came here to pick someone up to go to the airport with you and bring the car back, didn't you?"

I reply, "Yes, do you mind doing that, man?" He answers, "Of course, Arthur. That's what friends are for, after all, isn't it? But before that, wouldn't you like to stop and eat something?"

I reply, "I'd love to, but I need to get to the airport quickly. My flight is soon, and I'd rather not risk it with the traffic. But where is Aunt Matilde?"

He answers, "She just left a little while ago, as she had some important matters at work." I nod my head and say, "Okay, then, let's go to the airport." He nods his head, and we go towards my Hilux. I get into the driver's seat, and he gets into the passenger seat, and we go to the exit of the condominium. Again, I scan my fingerprint, the gate opens, and we leave, heading to the airport. We stop in the parking lot, lock the Hilux, and start carrying my luggage. After dropping off my luggage and being near the boarding gate, I hugged Marco and said, "Take care, Marco, it was good to see you again." He replies, "You take care too, Arthur, and I also enjoyed seeing you." After we part, I hand him the keys to the Hilux.

"Don't crash it, you hear, Marco? Otherwise, I swear I'll kill you!" I say, laughing. He replies, laughing, "Of course, boss." After that, I go to the boarding area, go to my seat in first class, sit down, lean the seat back, and sleep a little, as it's good to take a nap.

I wake up and start to slowly open my eyes, looking around and stretching, yawning, "Good sleep that was."

I take my cell phone out of my pocket and start reading a "Star Wars" fanfic of an SI as Anakin that I found and downloaded. I'm happy that it has a decent length and has been updated recently. Then, I start reading and take a look at the clock, realizing that it's been 50 minutes since I boarded, which means there are about 20 minutes left to get to São Paulo. I continue reading the fanfic and quickly the time passes, and we arrive at our destination. The flight attendants and the pilot asked us to put on our seatbelts, which I did, and the landing occurred without accidents at São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport.

I disembark quickly, pick up my luggage, and put it in the left luggage office of Terminal 3. I go to the rental car agency and rent a car for a few hours to move around the city. I go to my Aunt Asta's house, even though it takes a while because of the city's traffic jams. I arrive there at 11:20 in the morning and ring the doorbell of her apartment. She answers: "Who is it?" She asks. I reply: "It's me, Arthur, Aunt Asta. I said I would stop by when I arrived." She replies: "Ah, it's you, Arthur. I'm coming down to open the gate for you." I thank her and wait. Soon I see an old and wrinkled woman, with blond hair and blue eyes, wearing glasses.

She comes to me and gives me a hug, which I return. "Hi, Arthur, it's been so long since we last saw each other in person!" She says. I reply with a smile: "Yes, Aunt Asta, it's been a long time."

She takes me to the apartment and starts telling me about the trips she's made to Russia and tells me things about Moscow while making coffee for us. Quickly, an hour goes by.

While we are sitting on her living room couch, I take a look at a cuckoo clock she has and see that it's already noon. "Sorry, Aunt, but I have to go to be able to catch my flight," I say, getting up.

She also gets up and says: "Okay, let's go down so I can open it for you." We go down the building by elevator and reach the gate, which she unlocks and comes to me for a hug. "Bye and take care, Arthur. Come visit me when you return to Brazil, it's good to have your company," she says.

I reply with a smile and break the hug: "I will take care, don't worry. And of course, when I return to Brazil, I will visit you, Aunt Asta, I promise." After that, I leave the condominium with her waving to me, and I do the same to her. I take the rented car and return to the airport. After facing hellish traffic again, even worse than before, I arrived at the airport and handed over the car and the money for the fuel I used. I go to the left luggage office, pick up my things, and go to my boarding gate. I sit on a bench and read for the rest of the short wait.

When it's time to board, I enter the plane and go to my seat, leaning it back, and go to sleep again. I love sleeping on trips.

I wake up hearing the sounds of extremely strong lightning and look out the window, seeing a storm. I see that the gas masks are already on display and the passengers are scared to death. I think: 'How the hell is there a storm, and why are we in it? There was no record of a possible storm on this route!' The turbulence starts to get stronger, lightning strikes the plane's wing, and I quickly fasten my seatbelts and grab the gas mask in front of me. I look out the window and am shocked by what I see.

The plane's engine is on fire and destroyed. I look to the other side and see that the engine on that side is not on fire, but it has stopped working. Noticing that the plane is falling, before I can think much about it, I feel an impact and everything goes black.