-WAKE UP-

My eyes fluttered open, and a yawn broke through my open lips as I rose from the bed. Covering my mouth with one hand, I idly scratched myself with the other and fumbled for the bed sheet covering me, bringing it down to rest around my waist. 

The sun’s brilliance peeked through the blinds, casting the bedroom in a bright golden light. I woke up to the sound of a voice calling my name from beyond the doorway.

“Elisa, wake up!”

I groaned, covering my face with my pillow. It was Omar, my little brother. He could be so loud and annoying in the morning. I was not in the mood for this. 

“Go away, you little shit, I’m already awake!” 

Without skipping a beat, he shouted back. 

“Okay, get ready so you won’t be late for school!” 

I sighed, though it was hard to keep a smile off my face. The kid was a loudmouth, but he was probably the only reason I didn’t miss school.

School. The thought of this made me groan. School was both a hellhole and a shitshow to me. And yeah, I had no choice but to attend, did I?

I shook my head. Okay, it was time to stand up. As much as I wanted to close my eyes and sleep for some more time, I knew I couldn’t. So, come on, body, come on. As I dragged myself out of bed, I sighed. As I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and looked around the room, I scratched myself. Though a little messy, it was my very own abode, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

I hummed a quiet tone under my breath as I walked past my pile of dirty clothes. My mom had told me to gather those together for laundry today, I thought as I finally reached my door. Twisting the knob, I saw a small, brown-haired rascal looking up at me, trying to act all cute and succeeding at it. I groaned and glanced away. Those annoying younger brothers with their wide-eyed expressions

“Is that all you needed to say, or do you want something else?” 

I forced myself out between gritted teeth, still not facing him. Even if I knew he was a demon spawn and were pretending to be otherwise, I still wouldn’t be brave enough to stand in the face of such monstrosities. He scrunched up his nose and backed away, waving his hand in front of his nose. 

“Phew, you stink!” 

God, no

“Go away, little shit; I’ll be down soon.”

As anger surged through me, I slammed the door shut, only to be met with the sudden sound of giggles that shattered the ensuing silence. Thankfully, before I could rip the door off its hinges and chase the tyke, Omar’s footsteps pattered out of earshot. Sighing, I rubbed the bridge of my nose and walked to the bathroom. Damn annoying younger brothers and their ability to get under the skin.

—

I scurried down the stairs and through the hallway, skipping two steps at a time, my school bag slung over my shoulder. When I walked into the dining room, my parents were seated at the table, and Omar was tapping his fingers impatiently on the elaborately carved table. As soon as she saw me, my mother gave me a disapproving look, and I knew it because she had made breakfast for my brother and father but not for me.

“Nice of you to join us, young lady.”

“I’m sorry; I overslept.” 

I mumbled, self-consciously playing with the edges of my dark-blue sweater as I made for the fridge. 

“Good morning” 

I added it as an afterthought. As per my morning ritual, I pulled out two slices of bread and some butter from the fridge and began having my breakfast right there.

“Elisa?”

My dad’s voice abruptly broke the serenity of my morning.

“Yes, Dad?”

I continued to chew my bread as I turned to face him. He gave me a small frown, obviously dissatisfied with my demeanour.  

“You know I’ll be travelling later today, right?”

For a while, my father had been talking about his upcoming trip, but he hadn’t given us many specifics. I was interested in where he was going, but I didn’t want to ask too many questions. I had complete faith in my father and knew he would never put our family in danger. He grinned at me as I nodded.

“Alright.”

He punctuated his speech by clapping his hands.

“Make sure nothing goes wrong, and don’t forget to help your mom, okay?”

I replied with a thumbs up for him.

“You got it.”

I said, taking my final breakfast bites. My mom, who had been on her phone the whole time, finally drew her attention to me. She was ready to say anything when Omar’s screams cut her off. I’m not sure why he was crying this time, but I didn’t want to hear it anymore. I hurriedly gathered my belongings and moved towards the entrance.

“Goodbye” 

As I jogged out of the house, I shouted and waved my hands. The long walk to school awaited me. 

—

“Settle down, students.”

Mrs. Jacquelyn, our history teacher, entered the room as I looked up from my desk. She was one of the coolest teachers in the school, and her classes were typically enjoyable despite her tendency to be a bit of a stickler for the rules. The boisterous class subsided. I made the decision to sit up straight and pay attention as soon as everyone took their seats. Despite the fact that I occasionally behaved like a troublemaker, I was not a delinquent.

A recognisable voice whispered to me from behind my back as I listened intently to Mrs. Jacquelyn’s lecture on ancient civilizations from my desk.

“Hey, Elisa”

He greeted me quietly so as not to draw the attention of our strict teacher. I couldn’t help but grin at the sight of him, but then my smile faltered as I remembered something.

“You left pretty early yesterday.”

The unasked question was obvious. Despite the temptation to keep looking, I forced myself to resist the urge and focus on the lesson at hand. It wouldn’t do me any good to get caught staring at Louis, especially in the middle of class. So I made a conscious effort to keep my eyes facing forward, determined not to get distracted.

“I had to.”

He replied.

 “I got a call from my mom, remember?”

Stupid me. I totally forgot about that. If I recall correctly, Louis had told me that his mom needed him to come back home immediately. I had no idea why she changed her mind, though. Should I ask?

I considered the pros and cons in my mind. If I do, I might come off as being nosy, but if I don’t, he might think I don’t care. Though I was prone to minding my own business, this was Louis. He was my best friend, and I cared a lot about him.

“I thought she said you could stay until nine?” 

I tried to concentrate, but I couldn’t help but glance back every few minutes. I made a mistake because Mrs. Jacquelyn caught me doing it.

“Mrs. Nunez, why don’t you share with the class what you have to say?”

I turned to look at her as a wave of dread overwhelmed me.

“Just pay attention.”

With a fixed gaze, she gave instructions. She didn’t seem upset with me, which made me nod in relief. I let out a heavy sigh and buried my head in my hands, but as soon as she turned back to the board, I did the same. We still had two more hours of class before our break, and I was already feeling worn out, so I glanced at the clock on the wall and groaned inwardly.

—

It was a few minutes before noon, which indicated that lunch would soon be served. As they prepared to leave the classroom, the students began gathering their belongings and conversing with one another. Louis was not to be found, despite my best efforts to find him as I looked around the room. He was likely already there, possibly with Briana.

Briana was my best female friend. Even though she was a little eccentric, I loved her for who she was. It annoyed me that we weren’t in the same class, but at least I could look forward to seeing her at lunch.

“Overthinking as always.”

I scolded myself and stood up, heading out of the classroom into the very busy corridor.

The warm sun streamed through the windows lining the hallway, and I couldn’t help but bask in its comforting glow. I had to manoeuvre my way through the throngs of students, pushing and wiggling my way through the crowd. However, I eventually arrived in the courtyard, where everyone was either chatting or relaxing, appearing to be in their own little world.

The cafeteria was on the other side of the garden, and I knew where I needed to go. I started walking over there, being careful not to step into anyone’s personal space. Despite being only a short distance, the walk seemed longer due to the large number of people present.

“Over here.”

I turned to look when I heard a familiar voice calling out to me, and there was someone waving. It was Briana. I waved back and grinned, but my focus was lost when I unexpectedly ran into someone. I stumbled and hit the ground forcefully. That hurt.

“Are you ok?”

I heard a quiet voice coming from the girl with white hair and tinted glasses sitting on the ground next to me when I looked up. I must have hit her in the collision. Her hair was a definite standout, so maybe it was her first day or something. This was something people would at least talk about. After a while, I finally noticed she had been staring at me for a while. Heat flooded my cheeks, and I had to resist the urge to smack myself. 

“I asked if you were alright.”

I forgot to reply, and now I look stupid.

“I apologise; I was momentarily lost in my thoughts.”

She offered to help me up and put out her hand. She pulled me to my feet after I hesitated briefly before accepting her offer.

“I apologise; I didn’t pay attention to where I was going.”

I said it with remorse.

“No problem,”

She smiled and comforted me.

“Accidents happen”

I focused more on her appearance. She was wearing a black sweatpant with two white stripes down one leg, a blue and cream hoodie, and brown camper boots to cover her feet. She was a little smaller than I was, but what really caught my attention was the strange device she was wearing on her wrist. It had multiple buttons and a screen, and I had never seen anything like it before. Perhaps it was a new type of phone or smartwatch?

“Oh, that reminds me. Would you kindly point me in the direction of the physics lab?”

I gave her the appropriate direction after she asked.

“It is upstairs in the left-hand block, next to the second classroom.”

I said, gesturing toward the general area.

“I truly appreciate it.”

She warmly responded. Even though I kept to myself most of the time, I couldn’t help but be curious.

“Are you new here?”

She responded while maintaining a smile.

“Yes, I admit that I don’t really know where any of my classes are because today is my first day.”

Her laugh was endearing and infectious, making me smile a little.

“Well, maybe I could help you get around?”

I didn’t know why I said that. Honestly, I didn’t want to turn into someone’s personal tour guide; plus, I just wanted to be alone. I am not trying to be a loner, but I just wasn’t particularly interested in getting to know her. Her hair was an aspect that I would’ve liked to learn about, but that was mostly it. Anyway, I was stupid for offering that. All these unexpected events are due to it being Monday, obviously. She did, however, beam a cute smile at me.

“That would be wonderful; we can meet later in the physics lab to do just that. Thank you so much.”

Before I could respond, she walked away waving, and I did the same back to her until I lost sight of her. What did I get myself into? I shook my head. 

“Elisa, come on!”

Oh yeah, I forgot about Briana. I finally rushed over to her, but before I could even say a word, she pulled me by the hand to a somewhat secluded area. Louis was already there, resting against the wall. She let go of me, messing up my hair in the process, and I hit her with a deadpan glare.

“I hope you ruined my hair for something worthwhile.” 

She ignored it and reached into her pocket, pulling out three tickets.

“I got them!” 

She exclaimed. 

“Three tickets to Zachary’s concert next weekend!”

“WAIT WHAT?!”

She actually got the tickets, and I was rightfully shocked. Zachary was a fast-rising musician who had released a couple of hit songs over the few months that he had been in the industry. Briana and I were huge fans, and now we could go see him perform live.

“Briana, I love you!”

I gave her a big hug and squealed. This was me breaking character, but who cares? This was amazing news, and it deserved squeals. Louis, on the other hand, showed no concern. He wasn’t interested in Zachary, but he was coming with us no matter what, even if he tried to wiggle his way out of it. 

“Aren’t you wondering how I got this?” 

She whispered conspiratorially, and this made me widen my eyes as I began wondering if the method she used was dubious.

“Was it illegal?”

She smiled.

“Nope, not at all.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Then I don’t care to know.”

I was so excited that I began laughing, and she joined me. Louis, who was starting to feel left out, decided to interrupt us.

“So, how about lunch?”

That was true, but before either of us was able to answer, a loud chime echoed across the school compound as a clock tower struck noon. Remembering what Louis had said, I chose to respond.

“Yes, please, I am hungry.” 

I turned to Briana. 

“How about you, Briana?”

She hid the tickets back in her pockets and arranged her hair.

“Of course”

Suddenly, the ground started shaking violently.

An earthquake? Here? Now?

The tremors were so intense that people were knocked off their feet, causing widespread panic. Screams could be heard all around me. My forehead began to perspire, and my heart began to race. A section of the school suddenly exploded, sending everyone fleeing for their lives. However, I was frozen and unable to understand what was taking place. Everything sounded muffled, as if it were emanating from below the surface.

I wasn’t sure who was pulling me along when they took hold of my hand. When I turned around, I could see that the area where I had been standing just a short while earlier had given way, and the ceiling had fallen. I was still unable to fully comprehend what was happening. At that moment, as if to mock my thoughts, a tremendous roar could be heard that drowned out all other voices. I was still looking back, so I had front-row seats to the whole incident and couldn’t believe what my eyes saw.

It was really tall—I would assume about fifty metres or so. It had silky-looking skin and two appendages that seemed to act like its arms but looked dislocated, in addition to the other two it stood on. Its body was deformed and irregular, clearly not of this world, and it had a hump on its back. Some of its bones were visible through its thin, stretched skin. 

Its eyes were grey and lifeless, and a thin film of flesh encircled them. It lacked a nose and instead had two oddly placed holes on its face. The mouth was somewhat torn, with skin hanging loosely from it. Its teeth looked as sharp as a razor. With its long neck and a head that lacked most facial details, it looked like a mix of a human and a four-legged creature.

It swung its hand, causing piles of rocks to rain down on us as we tried to get away. Some were large enough to crush my schoolmates. I felt like throwing up as I saw people in my class who were dead. My mouth hung open in a wordless scream. No, I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t believe it.

Louis. I realised he was the one pulling me. He kept looking back to say something, but I couldn’t hear him, and Briana was running ahead of us. They were both terrified, but that could be said for everyone else.

Then something caught my eye, as the impossible was again at the forefront of my mind. Someone was hovering in the air around that thing. Then there was another barrage of rocks and debris falling from the sky, with a gigantic slab of concrete hurled right at us.

Is this it? Is this how I die? What about my dreams and aspirations? What about my family and friends? How can it just end like this?

I didn’t want to die, but in the last second of my life, I felt the rough texture make contact with my face, and everything went black.