Chapter 5: Collision Theory

 Bits of bark flew about as the tattered purple umbrella struck the orange tree. Each hard blow landed in quick succession, but umbrellas could only do so much to a tree.

 Glesto jabbed a spot of lichen on the bottom of the trunk.

 “This is you off your feet.”

 He assumed a low stance and swung up to the left, grazing the tree.

 “This is you without your knife and arm.”

 Spinning clockwise on one foot, he swung round and landed a final blow to the left of the tree.

 “And this is you with a broken ear.”

 He stared at the tree, then punched it with his empty fist.

 “Argh! But what the hell! Terri isn’t a tree, so he’d be incapacitated by now," muttered Glesto as he set down the umbrella and brushed some wooden dust off his hurting knuckle. “Damn it, the hell am I doing? I should just cross that bridge when I actually get there...”

 Glesto picked up the umbrella and headed back inside, but not before he gave the tree another powerful whack.

 “For good measure," he mouthed.

 Glesto replaced the umbrella next to the door on his way in. Tomus was in the bathroom; Karen had already finished showering while he was outside.

 Proceeding upstairs, he headed not for his room, but Karen’s. Reaching her door, he took a deep breath and knocked twice.

 A sudden loud thump came from inside, followed by the ruffling sound of paper being rearranged and then footsteps coming up to the door. The lock clicked and the door swung open, Karen behind it.

 “Ah! Hi Glesto, erm, what’s up?” asked Karen.

 “I was wondering, did you leave the front door open when you came home just now?” Glesto noticed Karen was looking past him.

 “Huh? Well um, I don’t think so. I’m really sure I closed it when I came in.”   

 “I suppose it was Tomus then.”

 “Sooo uh, is there anything else you wanna ask me?” At this point, Karen was biting her lower lip and fiddling with her fingers.

 Glesto could tell something was up.

 “You alright? You’re acting all nervous.”

 “Huh?! I’m fine, I’m just a little, uh…” She thought for a word that fit. “...I’m stressed is all. There’s been some math I don’t understand and such, you know?”

 “Um, sure.” Glesto glanced inside her room. A huge dictionary had fallen from her table in the far corner of the room and there were pages strewn about the floor, all of which appeared to have been torn out from some notebook. “I’ll leave you to do whatever you were doing. Talk to you later, I guess.”

 He was about two steps away when he suddenly felt her hands clasp around his right arm from behind.

 “Whoa! Karen, what are you-?”

 “Please, wait! I want you to have this.”

 “Huh?” Karen pressed something into his hand.

 “Just take it. Please.” Her voice was almost pleading.

 “W-what is this? Hey, Karen-” But she had already run back into her room and shut the door; it was locked with a click that was much louder than usual. Glesto looked down at what Karen had given him.

 In his hand was a round and intricate silver locket.

 Gripping the locket with a weak hand, he stepped back to his room. The shoebox Glesto retrieved from the closet was sitting on the table where he had left it, next to Terri’s pocketknife.

 “Argh, what the hell...” He sat down on Tomus’s bed for about a minute, his head filled with so many worries and conflicts that it felt as if his mind was entirely blank. There was the annoying problem of Terri retaliating, Aunt Kole not signing the form and then whatever was going with Karen that Glesto didn't even understand yet.

 Without thinking, he swiftly got up towards his table and opened the shoebox with his free hand.

 There was a single white ring folder sitting inside. Glesto gently placed the silver locket on the table and picked up the folder, opening it steadily. Nothing was on the first page apart from instances of silverfish; the entirety of the page had yellowed and it was tattered at the edges. Glesto flipped to the following page.

 Sketches, lots of them. Paragraphs in a language he couldn’t recognise and several actual photographs. Photographs depicting outlandish creatures. He scanned their contents and the handwritten labels under each one.

 The first appeared to be an eyeball with spindly arms and legs armed with a crossbow. This one was labeled, in English, “Eyeman”.

 A second on the same page was of a human with what appeared to be cat ears and a long tail ending in a tuft. The label read “Draku”.

 A third on the opposite page was of a humanoid covered in grey fur complete with a wolf’s head. The label on this one was torn off.

 Glesto slammed the folder shut, paying no heed to the dust that flew into the air from between the pages. The anger inside him rose like every other time he had attempted to read it.

 This was the legacy left to him and his brother by their parents? A folder containing gibberish details of crude designs and costumes?

 But he reminded himself that it was he who had taken this folder in the first place. Yes, his parents had never mentioned much about their job, so how could he assume that these were all they had to their name? In fact, they could possibly even be alive…

 His legs gave way and Glesto fell backwards into his chair, finding himself panting and sweating bullets. The white folder was still in his hand.

 Glesto let a moment pass while he calmed down. It was frustrating, really, but that was all he had from his parents. A folder containing pictures of those costumes; if they weren’t costumes, what the heck else could they be?

 Hands on both sides of the folder, he reopened it slowly, this time with a clearer head. The worn yellowed, pages spoke for themselves about their age and most of the pencil sketches had begun to fade. Perhaps this was from an old job his parents used to hold, but what their jobs actually were he and his brother never knew.

 Glesto placed the folder back into the shoebox and covered it - just in time for someone to barge into the room and startle the thoughts out of him.

 “Eeyyy Gles!”

 “Fff-! Knock before you come in, idiot! Jeez!” yelled Glesto. He hastily moved between Tomus and the shoebox on his table.

 “Sorry ‘bout that, I went out lookin’ for ya since I thought you were still busy whackin’ that tree with the umbrella.”

 “I always come back here, alright? Not that it’ll be very important if we go for the exchange programme.”

 Tomus shrugged.

 “Aunt Kole still hasn’t signed those forms so I ain’t holdin’ my breath.”

 “She will eventually. It was her idea for us to go, remember?”

 “Wat. I don’t remember.”

 “Nevermind.” Glesto mumbled something under his breath and turned to his table. He lifted the silver locket with his index finger and thumb.

 “Do you recognise this?”

 “Eh? Uh… wait a sec, I thought that was teh locket you gave to Karen?”

 “She forced it back to me just now, I have no idea why.”

 “Bro, you’re friggin’ dense.”

 “Huh?”

 Tomus had a comical look of utter disbelief and amazement on his face.

 “Karen LUVS you, bruh! And since she thinks you’re gonna be gone for a more than a li’l while, she’s givin’ you her memento of, well, you!”

 “She lov- huh? Seriously?”

 “I dunno, it’s LUV and I hate everything about the word LUV, tis gross!”

 “Wait just a minute. If that really is the case then... she may be thinking I’ve been brushing her off this whole time, I didn’t get why she was acting like that. Damn it, I’m an idiot!”

 “Like I said, you’re effing dense!”

 “So she’s mad at me, isn’t she? Wait, why am I asking you?”

 “Cuz I ain’t dense, and as much as I hate everything about LUV, I’m not a dumbdumb.”

 “Fine. At this point, your opinion is as good as mine anyway," sighed Glesto. He placed the locket back onto the table while still blocking the shoebox with his body.

 The brothers talked about several random topics, like how Karen hated watching the news (“She said the news reporter was borin’ but I think she just hates his face.”) and why Aunt Kole had an orange tree on her lawn to begin with (“Yeah, no, orange fetish? Ain’t impossible.”).

 They only stopped when they heard someone open the front door. When Glesto looked at the clock again, it was 9.

 “Wow, Aunt Kole sure is late.”

 “Yep yep, let’s go grab some dinner.”

 “Hold it. You, go put that clock back up.”

 “Aw, shiet. But you better make it up to Karen, yo.”

 “Shut it.”

 Glesto waited for Tomus to skip out of the room, then swiftly carried the shoebox from the table and stuffed it under his own mattress.

 Aunt Kole was already in the kitchen placing her bought groceries into cabinets and the fridge. She left the lights off, relying on the lamp at the stairs that shone into the kitchen. Glesto looked around for any sign of Karen and he was relieved by her absence, deeming the room safe to enter.

 “Hi ma’am.”

 “Oh, Glesto! And Tomus as well, I’m so sorry I haven’t made anything yet, it’s already so late.” She was currently in the middle of placing a carton of milk into the fridge. “Karen must be hungry too, oh dear. Can you help me find the eggs from the bag?”

 “Sure.” Glesto bent down to search for the eggs, leaving Tomus to get bored at the doorway.

 “How was school today?” asked Aunt Kole gently while she positioned a bottle of olive oil into a cabinet.

 “It was alright. Nothing much happens.” Glesto shot a look at Tomus who snorted.

 “I see, that’s good. It’s better to be nice if you want to enjoy your time in Italy along with your schoolmates. Not everyone is approachable though, am I right?.”

 “I guess so. Ow, what?” Tomus had come over to poke him in the shoulder.

 “Karen’s behind you. Brace yourself.”

 Glesto had failed to notice the extra shadow being cast from the doorway.

- - - - - - - - - -

 Dinner was good despite it being this late. The same, however, couldn’t be said for the atmosphere. Glesto and Tomus exchanged several words over their food while Aunt Kole made various queries about their day had been.

 Karen had not spoken a thing since she walked in on them.

 “Glesto, you have the acknowledgement forms in your room right?” asked Aunt Kole.

 “Yeah, mine and Tomus’s.”

 “May you them pass them to me later after dinner? I’ll sign them and let you bring the forms to school in the morning.”

 “Okay.” Glesto sideglanced at Karen. “Uhm, Karen…?”

 “Hm?” Karen looked up with, to Glesto’s surprise, a perfectly normal expression. She looked nothing like the unusual character she had been the whole day and was now staring straight at him with her bright, cyan eyes, awaiting what Glesto had to say.

 “...Ah, um, is Lucas coming over tonight?” He was trying to play it cool.

 “Not sure, he’d call me if he’s coming.”

 “Ok then.”

 Dinner went on without much incidence and by the time they were done, Tomus was dozing off in his chair.

 Glesto got up to leave.

 “Going to bed?” asked Aunt Kole, stacking the dishes together as she brought them to the sink.

 “Pretty much, I’ll brush my teeth in a second.”

 He sauntered towards the bathroom, scratching his head. Karen was hanging a windbreaker on the clothes pegs.

 “Karen-”

 She jumped, dropping the windbreaker on the floor.

 “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you there. Are you-”

 “I’m f-fine, don’t worry about m-me.” Karen bent down to pick up the windbreaker and when she looked backwards at Glesto, she urgently diverted her gaze from his. She was blushing.

 Glesto could already see where this was going.

 “You were pretending to be normal in there, weren’t you?”

 “I-I... well I…” Karen turned around to face him but slowly backed up against the wall.

 “Karen,” said Glesto; he crossed his arms. ”Just talk to me like I’m any other person.”

 He didn’t want to act like an a*s but this was beginning to annoy him.

 “If you want to say something, just say it. Please.”

 There was nothing for a good few moments apart from the clinking sound of Aunt Kole’s dishwashing in the kitchen. And then-

 “D-do you… l-like me?”

 Glesto was stunned for a moment.

 “...Look," he said in the calmest voice he could muster, "You’re a friend, and I appreciate that you have feelings for me as well, but what do you know about me?”

 Now it was Karen’s turn to be astonished.

 “W-what do I know about you...?”

 “Yes. Me and my brother. We came here nine years ago to stay at your mom’s house. Why is that?”

 “I… I d-don’t know. Why?” It was clear Karen wasn’t mad at Glesto like he had originally thought.

 “Forget it, that’s not important right now. What’s more important-” he put a hand on Karen’s shoulder, “-is that you need to get your s**t together.”

 “What?”

 “Just listen to yourself; you’re taking this way too seriously. It’s not like I’ll be gone forever, right? You can always contact me even when I’m not around.”

 “I… you… so you’re telling me to “grow up”, aren’t you?”

 Glesto sighed and said, “Yes, I suppose you could say that.”

 Karen wrapped her hands around Glesto and hugged him.

 “What in the-!? Karen?”

 “You’re so cool.” The embrace got tighter.

 “Oh my fudging god, you are beyond help.”

 The grip gradually loosened, Karen pushing herself away to an arm’s length.

 “Glesto… you’ll keep in touch, right?”

 He sighed. Again.

 “Of course I will. Postcards twice every week, yeah?”

 Water ran from the tap to rinse the dishes.

- - - - - - - - - -

 Tomus was waiting for Glesto behind the room door and had tried to jump him, but old tricks always lost their kick after the first time.

 “So! So? How’d it go, bruh?”

 “You overheard us, you know exactly how it went.”

 “Come ooon, don’t be like that. Voice reception ain’t too good from the top of the stairs, yo.”

 “It was trivial. She likes me and can’t stand not having me around, end of story.”

 “Why ya gotta be so cold, man?” Tomus plonked himself down on his bed. “Like, it’s basically your signature to spit frosty burns all da time.”

 “Deal with it.”

 In actuality, Glesto was glad Karen finally let her thoughts out; he had to keep himself from smiling in front of Tomus.

 “...Ah right, before I forget,” said Glesto.

 “Wat.”

 He went over to his bag on the desk and extracted a plastic folder.

 “Where’s your acknowledgement form? I’ve got mine right here.”

 “Eh, it’s under your bag,” Tomus declared sheepishly.

 Glesto lifted up his bag about an inch and pulled out an extremely crumpled slip of paper from underneath.

 “Didn’t I just get this printed out for you?”

 “Meh, stuff happens.”

 “Anything goes with you,” mumbled Glesto as he glanced at the clock, which he noted had been haphazardly hung back up; it was 9:50pm.

 “I’ll bring the forms down to Aunt Kole and then we’ll head to bed, got it?”

 “Yah, whatevs. I’m beat,” said Tomus with a yawn, his arms outstretched.

 Glesto took care to pass by Karen’s room without making a sound. He headed for the kitchen but he could see it was empty from halfway down the stairs.

 “Ma’am?”

 “I’m here.” Her voice came from under him.

 “Are you in the closet?”

 “Yes, I’m rearranging some things. What is it?”

 “I have the acknowledgement forms.”

 “Alright, you can just leave them on the kitchen table.”

 He stepped into the kitchen, not forgetting to take a peek over his shoulder at Aunt Kole only to find that the closet door was shut. Some cabinets over the stove were still ajar; Glesto raised a hand to push them closed as he passed.

 He left the folder containing both forms on the table and promptly left.

 “I’ll head to bed now. Goodnight, ma’am.”

 “Okay, goodnight.” She was still in the closet.

 Glesto braced himself as he reentered his room.

 “Tomus, if you’re there-,” he began but stopped short of raising his voice enough to wake his brother, who was snoozing off in bed. “...Nevermind.”

 It was always odd to see Tomus not being an overly energetic fool.

 Hesitating a moment before closing the door behind him, Glesto then headed to check on the fan.

 “Alright, let’s see here- oh.” The fan had already been replaced by Aunt Kole with an almost identical model. Glesto scratched the back of his neck as he then sat down at his desk, his eyes focusing onto the silver locket.

 He picked it up and found it cold to the touch; at least Tomus hadn’t messed with it. Glesto raised his other hand to open it, and inside he found-

 “BOOoooO!”

 “What the actual f**k!” The locket fell from his hand and clattered against the floorboards. “Tomus! Can you effing not!?”

 “Soz, at least the fan’s fixed.” Tomus was about an inch behind him, judging by his voice.

 “Go to sleep!”

 “Nah fam, you’re here now sooo-”

 “SLEEP!!”

 “Okie, jeezus,” said Tomus mischievously and threw himself back into bed.

 Glesto picked the locket back up while staring at the empty frame, having half-expected to see something fit into it when he flipped it open just then. Back to the desk it went with a short throw.

 He drew the curtains over the window.

 “You actually going to sleep now?”

 “Maybe.”

 “Just sleep, you idiot.” Glesto approached the light switch next to the door. “I’m going to kill the lights, got it?”

 “Meh.”

 “Goodnight, Tomus.”

 He flicked the switch, and everything went dark.

 Glesto could hear Tomus rolling in his bed, quickly climbing up the ladder before the darkness could bother him. He lay in bed staring at the black ceiling for several minutes, listening to some of Tomus’s snores and trying to block off the worries that plagued him before he finally fell into a deep, untroubled sleep.

 But somewhere in his subconscious, the shoebox under his mattress disturbed him.

- - - - - - - - - -

 The sunlight felt warm on his face and there was grass tickling his back. Glesto tried to open his eyes but when he did, he cupped his hands over them.

 “Don’t look at the sun directly, dear. You’ll hurt your eyes.”

 He turned his head towards the house.

 “Yes, mom.”

 His mother smiled at him from the doorway, her long black hair falling onto her shoulders.

 “Please come in soon, we’ll have lunch in half an hour,” she said to him in a sweet, calm voice.

 Glesto could see his father pacing about in the living room behind her.

 “Alright, mom.”

 

 The door creaked closed and Glesto turned back to the sky, his eyes shut again.

 “So boring... Why does Tomus get to go to Australia?” lamented Glesto in his childish, high-pitched voice. He rolled onto his side, letting the grass touch his face; he still kept his eyes closed.

 

 “Gerald!”

 He opened his eyes. That had been his mother’s voice; it wasn’t calm anymore.

 “Gerald, you know you can’t take on them yourself! You-!”

 “Stop nagging at me!”

 That was his father’s voice.

 Glesto froze in position. He could hear footsteps toward the back of the house.

 “For god’s sake, Amelia, we’ve been through much worse than this!”

 “We have! But you’re on your own here, it’s suicide!”

 Sewy-side? Glesto never recalled hearing that phrase before.

 “You are NOT facing the Penumbrans alone, I’m staying!”

 “What about our son?! Tomus is in Australia but Glesto’s still sitting on our lawn, you’ll have to bring him away whether you like it or not!”

 “There has to be some other way-!”

 “What other way?!”

 Glesto’s hands went over his ears. His parents had been arguing like that for hours now and he couldn’t understand any of it, because they were using so many adult phrases like sack-kree-fies and per-number-runs.

 A breeze was picking up, blades of grass swaying with it.

 “Arekiles can bring him over, can’t she!? The portals-!”

 “She has her own daughter to protect, Amelia! Tomus being there is already a burden and we can’t afford putting her at risk just because you would not let me stand guard here!”

 “You’re not invincible, you imbecile!”

 “Do we have a choice?!”

 The wind grew louder. Leaves detached themselves from trees.

 “Gerald, just… wait. Do you feel that?”

 “Feel what?”

 Glesto opened his eyes, having not realised they were closed. His hands were still on his ears, but there was something to hear.

 “...They’re here. Gerald, get your sword!”

 “Oh, god damn it!!

 Rumbling. And it was getting louder. Glesto saw his neighbours coming out of their houses across the street, but his parents did not.

 “Detector’s lit up, three inbound! Amelia, go get Glesto and run!”

 “I’m not running-!”

 “GO!!”

 And then, from beyond the houses across the street, there was a new sound.

 Cracking. The road and the pavement split in two. People ran about with screams that could barely be heard.

 The ground was shaking, the crack was spreading. Children fell as they ran and houses began to crumble. Blackened clouds were closing in to cover the sky.

 And yet, Glesto did not move. He could not.

 

 “Glesto?”

 The lawn separated in two and dirt spat up from beneath. Glesto was shook to the side but the house could only stand its ground.

 “Gles! Dude!”

 Wood and concrete flew, tainted with blood. Death was as certain as the sun would set.

 There was nothing left. Nothing left to see, nothing left to hear, and nothing left to breathe-

“Glesto, wake UP!”

 A cold shock impacted his shoulder.

 He opened his eyes, having not realised they were closed.

 “Tomus? Argh, ow…” Pain shot through his shoulder. The room was pitch black.

 “Dude, you alright?” Tomus’s voice asked. Glesto heard Tomus jump out of bed, then realised he himself was on the floor.

 “I… I fell out of bed? Ack!” He tried to get off the ground with his injured arm and spared no time regretting it.

 “Chill for a sec, I’ll help you up.”

 “It’s alright, I’m fine,” grunted Glesto, using his other arm this time.

 

 “You dreamt about our parents again, didn’t you?”

 Glesto froze for the briefest moment. He continued to get back onto his feet.

 “Uh… sorry, Gles. Want me to get the lights?”

 “Yeah, go ahead.” He felt around for the ladder as he felt Tomus rush past him with a whoosh. Glesto felt sick inside as he climbed up, his shoulder hurting with every other rung.

 Just as he got to the top, the lights flickered on.

 “There we go, do you wanna-” began Tomus, stopping short when he saw Glesto already back in bed. “Wat. You wanted the lights on and ya gonna just go back to sleep?”

 “Can’t, my shoulder’s hurting. I think I landed on it.”

 “Good job.”

 A few seconds passed in silence. Tomus gave Glesto an awkward look as he stepped back towards his bed.

 “Do you, well, um… wanna talk about it? The dream, I mean.”

 Glesto sighed for the umpteenth time that day; he turned his head to see the clock.

 12:30am.

 “...Sure.”

- - - - - - - - - -

 Standing at the far end of the street again, I was watching.

 The lights were back on in the brothers’ room. It would appear they would be awake for this. Will they struggle? Perhaps, but there’ll be nothing they can do about it.

 There was no reason for my return but to be a simple observer.

 I looked to the sky, like how Arekiles would have done. Clouds covered it, the moon but a bright blur behind them.

 A new era was about to begin. Will this one fare any better than the last? Maybe.

 The clouds moved steadily with the wind, gradually leaving my sight.

 Will this new era be the one we have awaited, a prophecy of centuries past?

 Maybe, and maybe not.

 The clouds floated away and moonlight shined all around me.

 Five lights blinked in the deep, dark abyss of the sky. Two grew brighter than the others.

 Finally. It was time for this era to begin.

Author's Note

Yeah yeah, no. Someone shoot me, I'm not one for using italics much.

Reviews

[Mr.Writer]

Wow... great job! I liked this chapter! It had some new developments! Keep it up!