Promises

Promises Chapter 1

All was quiet as the moon beamed a still light through a small room in 1216 Franklin Avenue. Tension nevertheless lingered in the minds of some of the members of the 14 member household. A certain 13-year-old woman's life was changed forever nearly four months ago.

Although a minor, she knew what it meant when Ronaldo Santiago and herself promised to forever commit to their new responsibility. After that repugnant discovery yesterday, there was no way that they could allow anyone to interfere with the emergency plan that they have now agreed to execute.

Linka Loud grunted and stirred in her sleep. Just then, a full bladder prompted the young woman with snow pigmented hair to wake up. Her squinted eyes opened, revealing sea-blue irises. She sighed and sat up to see the time: 4:00 am.

"Ron," the youth called out to the snoring man sleeping beside her as she shook his left arm.

The snoring stopped, and Ronaldo expelled a heavy breath before awakening.

"Shoot.." The 13-year-old hispanic sighed worriedly after he glanced at the clock.

"We need to adjust our plan! My entire family will be awake in a couple of hours. Even if we leave in 30 minutes, we have acquaintances who might recognize us since some of them are working outside at this very moment" Linka ranted anxiously to her boyfriend.

The 13-year-old female tiptoed down the hall to reach the bathroom while making sure that there weren't any obstructions that could become a trip hazard. She was careful not to flush the toilet after mandatory business was taken care of and quickly gathered her and Ronaldo's toiletries in a little bag. After heading out, Linka passed by the room that belonged to her younger brothers Levi and Leon once more. This time, she couldn't help but notice that it was a crack open.

The youth gingerly pushed it far enough just so that she could fit through. The young woman glanced towards three-year-old Leon's bed and could hear him breathing peacefully in his sleep.

"Goodbye, sweet boy," she whispered.

The youth swallowed, trying to calm the lump in her throat. He'll be just fine. Just as Linka was about to exit, she stepped on something hard.

Leon must have found something but tossed it once he got bored. The snow haired female moved her foot out of the way and saw what appeared to be some sort of green stainless steel watch with a wide digital screen. She stared at it before blinking and shaking her head. It's just a watch, ignore it. A severe pang of deja vu flashed through her mind.

Wait, she could clearly recall seeing this very same watch in the past. Two years ago, the youth had the strangest dream. Levi had allowed her to borrow a watch, which enabled people to visit a different dimension. It was one where the then 11-year-old girl had ten sisters instead of 10 brothers. It started as a great dream, but she ended up missing her brothers and wondered what would happen if their only sister would never return.

The young girl was relieved to find out that it was all a dream because, at the end of it, she appeared to accidentally transfer to a dimension where Linka was named Lincoln and the only boy in the family-a direct parallel of her real-life world.

If only I could magically wake up and find out that these last several months have been a coma dream or something like that. Something tells me that I need this.

She picked the watch up and headed back to her and Ronaldo's bedroom.

"What do we need that for?" asked the Hispanic youth, as he stopped filling his backpack.

"Ron, I had this dream a couple of years ago. In it, I remember seeing this same watch despite it not existing in real life. It was able to-"

The female youth paused, at a loss for words that could describe what happened for a moment.