The book

It seems that he arrived at the airport when I got home. I didn't see my father.

My mother was painting something in the living room. She was painting a landscape.

She's a big fan of Van Gogh, so her paintings often have similarities to his.

This time she painted something where the sky resembled The starry night and the landscape resembled the wheat field under thunderclouds, she really does great paintings.

Our house is full of her paintings. Whenever someone is at our house, they ask about the paintings, and they're always shocked to know that mom is the one who painted.

I walked upstairs, imagined where mom would hang this painting, sat down and continued reading the book.

Sometime during the night, I got a call from Jesse. It was 11pm, but we had to discuss the book. I had many doubts while I was reading it.

She was already at the end of the book, and just like me, she had many doubts about the book.

We spent almost an hour trying to understand the topics and the concepts that the author presented. We helped each other when we had doubts. I helped her understand some topics, and she did the same for me.

At some point we had already finished discussing the book, but we kept talking. At first, we just talked about what we had enjoyed that day, and she told me that she had been bored in her class. I heard her silently and nodded when she asked me.

It is much better to listen carefully to someone when they say something to us, rather than interrupting them constantly. I learned this from my mother. Then we got onto a few random topics, like aliens. Then questions came up like:

Are we really alone in this vast universe?

What if we're in a matrix?

It was already 4 o'clock in the morning when we realized that we were spending too much time talking.

— I'll be honest, if I sleep now, I won't be able to wake up in time to go to school. — I said after a long yawn.

— I know, right? My mom isn't home today, so I can't even count on her to wake me up. — She said, and her eyes seemed to fight to stay open.

— The downside is that I'm missing out on my beauty sleep. Well… I'm good-looking even without sleep. — Said I, trying to keep the mood up, because if we don't talk about something, I'll pass out from fatigue.

We decided to keep talking because we had to go to school at 6am, and now we don't have time to sleep.

Mom knocked and opened the door, and I sat in the chair talking to Jesse. It was 5am, and usually she wakes me up, but when she sees me, she probably realizes that I hadn't slept that night.

— Didn't you sleep? Lee, what have you been doing? — She asked me, seemingly angry at me, and she's right.

— Yes… — I wanted to say something else, but I had nothing to say.

She sighed and told me to take a bath, apparently breakfast was ready.

I'm not a person who sleeps late at night. I'm usually asleep by 8pm, so I think this is one of the few times I haven't slept in this life.

I hang up and send a message to Jesse that I'll take a bath to keep me awake.

She replied to me immediately and said something similar. She said she'd take a cold bath because that usually wakes her up when she's tired.

I headed downstairs. Mom prepared bacon, eggs, and lemon juice. I really like my mom's cooking. She's a great cook, so I want to learn how to cook too.

I'm sure that soon I'll be living on my own, so I want to learn everything that will help me.

I wasn't much of a cook before. I could only cook well enough to keep myself from starving. But my mom is on a whole different level.

I took a cold bath. It was a terrible experience. Today is a cold day, so the bath was almost torture, but it woke me up.

I tried running to school to get my heart beating faster. I hope that helps keep me awake. I got to school earlier than I'm used to and decided to surprise Jesse.

There was no one in her classroom, so I sat down in a random spot, waited, and the front door opened, but it wasn't Jesse. It was a boy in this class. He seems to be an edgy person. He looked surprised at me, but didn't try to talk to me.

Perhaps he knows me from the play, or he may be dumbfounded because of my godly appearance.

Time passed and then Jesse opened the door. She had huge and deep black holes under her eyes. She seems as tired as I am.

She stared at me, surprised, and sat down to talk.

— Did you miss me? — I asked and smiled ironically at her.

— I'm pretty tired of you. — She said and smiled at me.

— Sigh, I'm such an altruistic person. I came here to make sure you don't sleep before your class, and you mistreat me. I said, pretending to cry.

— Sigh, I'm glad to see you. Are you happy? — She asked me, but I could see that she wasn't really angry with me.

— Ho ho, is this your boyfriend? — Said a girl with short black hair while sitting next to Jesse.

She was normal, that's all I can say about her. She appeared very ordinary, but she seemed to have a unique personality.

When I heard what she said, I made a plan.

— I'm Lee, Jesse's boyfriend. Nice to meet you. — I said, winking at the girl. She seemed to understand my plan, because she immediately joined in.

— Oh, she told me many things about you, Lee. — She said, trying to suppress her laughter, at which Jesse's face turned red as a tomato.

— Stop playing with me. — Said Jesse. Her cheeks were full of air. She looked like a squirrel. Seeing her face, I wanted to tease her some more, but her teacher came in, so I ran away before she could get back at me.

I also run because my teacher is probably on his way to class right now, so I don't want to be late. I arrived at class and tried to sneak to my seat.

The teacher was writing something on the board, so I tried my best not to make a sound.

I sat down quietly while my classmates watched me. A boy sitting next to the door closed the door quietly. I really forgot to close the door, thank God this nameless guy helped me.

I gave him a thumbs up when I sat down, and he gave me one back. Seems like a good guy. I'll try to talk to him later.

— Why are you so late, Lee? — Whispered Julia next to my ear.

I almost screamed in shock. She caught me as I let my guard down.

— Julia, you scared the shit out of me. — I said.

She appeared to have achieved a goal when I said that. She smiled proudly. When she looked at me, she seemed to notice something.

— Damn, you look dead tired. Are you OK? — She said, and to be honest, she's right.

I'm almost fainting out of sleepiness.

— Kind of, I spent the night studying acting. — I said, and I can't hold anymore.

I laid my head on the desk and everything got dark.

Strange, seems like I'm in a lucid dream, I'm in a dark place, seems like I've been here before, but I don't know when.

Then I heard a robotic voice talking to me.

— Long time no see, Lee. — He said it's a familiar voice, so I looked at where I heard the voice.

As if it were a hologram, I saw a boy wearing a cap from Stranger Things. He seemed to be about ten years old, and he smiled at me.

— Yo, Lee, don't you recognize me? — The voice said, and then a blue holographic window appeared in front of me.

[Don't you recognize me?]

— Are you the system? — asked him. I'm almost sure now, but I'd like to hear his response.

— You are really dumb, Lee. — He said, with a playful smile, while looking at me.

— You really are the system! — I said to him.

— But, why am I here, and where am I? — I asked, because this place seemed too familiar to me.

— Someday you will remember, but right now, I had to bring you here beforehand. You need to be one of those chosen to be in the auditions. The reward is something you can't lose. — He said, even in a robotic voice, I could hear his concern for me.