Chapter 1: Monday(ne)

"Arthur! Stop being lazy and get out of your bed!." I hear as I open my eyes. "Remember that we still have traffic to deal with!" I shake myself up and groan, sitting up straight. It took me a while to remember what I was dreaming about. Portals, clouds, or gloves? There was something about the word "obscure" too, which I had a hard time recalling. Well, it didn't matter because I couldn't remember it anyway, and I have other priorities in mind.

I notice my mom outside my room, waiting for me to get up. I sigh "Just ten more minutes". "I'll give you 1 minute to get up from your bed right now." she scolds back, with a sound of slight impatience in her voice. "Your dad still has to go to work before he drops you off at school." Knowing how I would never hear the end of it if I ignore her, I decided that I might as well not sour her mood more than need be.

I slowly get out of bed, even though I should be hurrying. It doesn't matter, since it's always traffic. Every day, no matter what time I wake up, it never changes. I sluggishly go to the bathroom and wash my face. As the cold water hits, I slowly start to wake myself up. I lazily throw my clothes into the laundry basket, with only my shirt landing inside. I prepare myself and enter the shower, which welcomes itself with cold water. It sends a shiver down my spine, as I feel my body adjust to the change in temperature.

I finish up and gather my things for school. Christmas break just ended, I wish it never did. A classroom becomes my prison. Having to be stuck in a room full of 20 to 30 students for 8 hours made me feel cramped, like a pack of sardines in a box full of packed sardines. As much as I hate it, there was nothing I could do. I packed my bag with my things and made my way downstairs.

My parents have just finished eating breakfast as I enter the dining room. I hear them conversing while they drink what's left of their morning coffee, catching something about some kind of earthquake. "Apparently, a part of the city experienced some kind of earthquake last night." my dad says, "The news said it was measured to be around 6.1 in magnitude, but I barely felt it." "You wouldn't have felt it anyway because you sleep through everything," I said, making my way to the table, "Once you hit the sack, there is nothing that stops you from sleeping." My dad laughs, making me smile a bit. "And good morning to you too Arthur." he says in a playfully snarky tone "Are you done preparing for class today?" he asks me. Just as I was about to answer, my mother interrupts me "If I didn't wake you up, you would be shuffling and panicking while u packed your supplies."

I looked at my mom on her side of the table. She's a woman in her early 30s has an average height of around 5'4, and has a skinny yet solid body type. Her skin was pale and her hair had white lines, either from the stress of her job or the stress of taking care of me. She was a no-nonsense type of person, working as a nurse in the city's top hospital. My mom dealt with people on the verge of death, where one wrong move and everything will come falling down. That's probably why she worries about everything, making sure we don't mess up or make mistakes we can't account for. the opposite was true of my dad, who's got a more carefree personality. He's around 5'7, not as tall as a lot of guys his age, but it doesn't bother him. He has a big and round build, like Santa Claus but a bit leaner. He works as a sales representative, and he seems to enjoy the work that is given to him there.

"Ease off the kid a bit, I'm sure he can take care of himself Leslie", my dad says in his signature easygoing tone, "He doesn't cause any trouble in school, so I believe he's doing just fine!". "You pamper him too much Arnold" my mom replies as she gathers used-up kitchenware. "Now finish up, you better leave now so you don't get caught up in traffic."

It was traffic. Just a whole lot of it. The small roads filled with cars on their way to work. The rush hour has sunk its claws into the morning and it would probably take a few more hours before it clears out. Even though we left the house at 6 am in the morning, it seemed everyone else had the same idea too. Considering how we live on the outskirts of the city, I guess our neighbors would also consider waking up early to get ahead of the morning traffic. The problem is, we all were thinking at the same frequency. As we fit into every spot on the road, cut other cars, and occasionally hear the angry honks made by those same vehicles, I had a feeling that I'd somehow make it just in time. This isn't the first time this happens, in fact, you could say it happens almost every day. We somehow get stuck, push through a legion of vehicles, and get to our destination in time. I thought it could be some kind of luck or karma on my side, or a higher being influencing my action to a predetermined destiny. Thinking again, it's probably the fact that my class still starts in 2 hours. "You okay bud?", my dad asks me, "You've been quiet since we left the house." "It's nothing" I answered, my mind is racing.

After an hour of traffic, I finally reach Cordova City. It's bustling with life, filled with activity and noise in every corner. I see people walking to work, with hurried and anxious expressions on their faces. We pass by a crowd of joggers with their dogs on a leash as they run around the local park. Children walk in line as they enter their preschool with joyous expressions. Looking at these people, I wonder what they look forward to, what purpose they have in their life. If you ask me, I relate less to these people and more to those hoboes in the nearby alley, huddled over an oil can with fire. They had such bleak expressions in their eyes, unsure if they can escape the helplessness of their situation. Just how I picture how my future, bleak.

As we arrive at school, I check the watch on my hand. "30 minutes to spare," I think to myself. I'm not normally this early. Before I opened the door, my dad puts his hand on my shoulder. "Hey kid," my dad says to me, "I know I may be a bit easy on you, but your mother is always worried." My dad looks at me with uneasiness, something he doesn't express often. "I trust that whatever you're doing, you'll do great" he smiles. Hearing him say this gave me some warmth in my heart. "Sure Dad, I'll do great in whatever I plan to do".

I wave him goodbye as he leaves the driveway of the school, leaving me with the bit of comfort I had left. As I enter the school, I see other kids with faces of disdain, missing the fun break they had before the new semester. They shuffle in the hallway, passing others on their way to their classrooms. I see fellow students placing their bags inside their lockers, talking to their friends about how they had fun on the beach or went skiing during their Christmas break. Meanwhile, my family just stayed home and ordered Chinese takeout. I packed my bag in my locker and headed straight into the classroom.

I take my seat on the far left of the classroom near the window facing the school soccer field. The seat was the quietest part of the classroom, as it was separated from all the others in class. As I take my seat and sit face down on my desk, I notice someone approaching from behind. I look around to see the one person I didn't want to see.

"Arthur! you came to class early for once!" Jocelyn said spiritedly. One of my classmates, I enrolled in this school in the same year as her. Both our parents found better work near the city, so we ended up being in the same class. She's a cheery, energetic person, who has warmed up to the rest of the class in her starting year. Although I find people like her annoying, I don't feel any disdain towards Jocelyn. I'll just keep it simple and say she's nice and friendly.

"Yeah I got lucky," I answered her, "It only took more than an hour for me to get here." "Well it could have been worse" Jocelyn giggled, "You could have been struck by an asteroid or something". "An asteroid?" I asked in disbelief, "Why would there be asteroids in the city?" Jocelyn moves a bit closer to me like she was about to spill a big secret. "Well you see, there's a rumor going around that an asteroid caused the earthquake last night" she whispers, "they're saying it's not some kind of space rock!" "Hold on, pause for a sec", I stop her before she can continue, "Who do you mean by "they"?" Before I could ask her anymore about this strange rumor, the teacher entered the classroom. As the students hurried to their seats, Jocelyn tell's me her last bit of info. "One last thing, I also heard that it's teleporting around the city!"

As the day goes by, rumors continue to circulate about this mysterious asteroid. How it may be some alien device or a harbinger of doom. Overall just crazy theories. With that in mind, I paid no attention to it and just went through my day. I was thinking of going to Jocelyn and asking her more about this asteroid but felt deterred when I saw her being busy with a group of girls. I'm not really popular or social in school, and I wasn't comfortable with groups of people. But I thought to myself, wouldn't be nice to have friends that I can surround myself with. People that I can tolerate, just like Jocelyn? Would they even want me as their friend? I swept these questions away to the back of my head. I don't need to think of these things right now. Let's just finish the rest of my classes and get through the day.

The day passes in a hazy blur and before I knew it our homeroom teacher dismisses us, I pack my stuff and prepare to leave, right when I exit the building, I see men in black suits and a convoy of cars on the driveway. It looks like security for some big-shot VIP. One of the guards then opens the door of the car in the middle of the convoy, with a bearded man emerging from its black exterior. Contrary to the black suits and cars, he wore a white lab coat with a blue button-down and khaki pants. He had full grey hair and a beard, which held a stern, anxious look. I look at who he was facing, and it was Jocelyn. She had a neutral look on her face, which scared me since she always carried a smile. "Jocelyn", the man called, "come to me, we are going home." In that instant, Jocelyn obeyed, and she entered the car with whom I presume was her father. The guards went into the cars, and as suddenly as they came, left in the same fashion. As they leave I noticed a crowd of students gathered to watch what was going on. As they start to dissipate, my phone begins to vibrate, I check to see messages from my dad. Reading the messages, I soon find out I may not have a ride home.

"I'll be there in an hour son, I promise," my dad says on the phone. I can hear the horns of other cars. Knowing he could be stuck in traffic for a lot longer than an hour, I let out a sigh of frustration. "Look, Dad, I still have enough money for a bus," I tell him, "I've taken a bus before, and if you've been stuck there for more than an hour, just head home" It's already 6 pm, with the commotion that happened earlier being 2 hours ago. "just wait for me I can still-" he starts before he gets interrupted by the load honk of another vehicle. I can hear shouting in the background about an accident. "I'll just take the bus Dad" I insisted "It will be much harder going hear than going home." "Besides, I can take care of myself" I know how concerned my dad is right now, but I don't have to make him worry about a problem I can solve. "I'll see you at home dad, love you," I tell him as I hang up.

I start heading to the bus station. As I continue walking, I take a shortcut through Cordova Park. When I was younger, my parents would take me here because of how big it was. They had the best playgrounds, and long fields that I can run with all my heart. Those were the times were I felt truly happy. Before we had to keep moving places due to my parent's work. It was all so different back then, being so carefree and naïve. I wonder when it all went wrong.

As I continue to delve deeper into my thoughts, I barely notice a faint blue light coming from behind a tree. Weird, I remember when I used to run around that tree before, playing under it's shade. I waved that memory as walk towards the strange light. It was weak yet oddly distracting, which was enough to grab my attention. As I come closer to the tree, I look around to see where the light was coming from. Was it some kind of trick, or a flashlight left on by someone? "Who would leave a flashlight on?" I thought to myself. As I step to the back of the tree, I find myself staring straight at a giant crack. It wasn't on the tree itself, but it was floating as if it was a fissure in reality. Like a fracture on a window.

It looked dangerous, but my body felt no danger. There was something behind it, something familiar. As I come closer to touch it, a blue flash enveloped me, followed by a loud bang. As I open my eyes, I found myself lying on the ground. I checked myself to see if there was any injuries, only detecting some minor bruises. As I quickly gather myself, I noticed something unusual on my hand. In fact, it wasn't only my hand, but my whole arm. Both of my arms. They both looked like metal gloves, something you would use for metalwork, yet it shows battle damage all around. I tried taking them off, but they were stuck as if it was glued to me. Or was a part of me. As I continue to wrestle them out of my hand, I never realized how this fateful event will change everything, and that nothing would ever be the same again.