The Static Box

Prologue

Leon awoke in his bed again; rolling himself around the mattress that laid there on the dark wooden floor. "Cut it out." His younger sister, Nita, grunted. They both shared the mattress; despite the luxuries they had, their adoptive father was convinced that one mattress was enough for the both of them. They both gave the same white lie that let them stay with their father in the first place; "oh, our mom died of cancer, we still grieve about her loss to this day.", they'd say this, eyes locked into a fancy TV watching cartoons, slamming the buttons of a PlayStation controller, or shooting at whatever rotting thing was residing in their backyard at the moment with BB pistols and mock rifles. They knew they were lying when they said those words, but they'd rather stay with the man who buys them trinkets and gadgets every Christmas and birthday than get tossed into their town's crummy orphanage system like the rest of the children with deceased parents.
Leon eventually rolled out of bed, got up and pulled a tank top over his bare chest. He rubbed his eyes as he made his way through the kitchen and out into the backyard; from there, he picked up a tube of toothpaste from the ground and violently kicked his soccer ball into the fence, before walking back into the house. He entered his bedroom again and pelted the tube of toothpaste right at his younger sister's head. "Ack!"
"You need to wash your mouth out, hog breath."
"Oh can it, you smell like cow mud, fish for brains!"
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
Leon sniffed himself; his sister was right, he absolutely reeked. He gagged slightly, "fine, fine. You win.".
He then stormed out of his bedroom, down the hall, and straight into the bathroom. He began to take a shower; or at least, his equivalent of a shower, which was lying down in the tub with the cold water running and bubbles slowly forming around him. After wallowing in his own filth for what seems like hours for him, he eventually gets out and dries himself off. His large, wet hair draped over his face, covering his eyes as he grabs the stick of deodorant sitting on the sink, sniffs at it, and licks it slightly. "Eugh-", he wipes his tongue with his hand.
"...why did you do that?" His father, Bo said, staring at him through the doorway. "...I was curious."
His father sighs, "sometimes I wonder if you were alright in the head when I adopted you."
Leon glared at him with an offended look, "...I was curious."
"I know.", his father walked away as he began aggressively rubbing the deodorant into his armpits. He swiftly pulled his tank top back on, before running into his room and grabbing his patchwork coat off of the floor; it was his favorite coat, almost every inch of it had an ironable patch or sewed up piece of cloth attached to it, giving life to a once ordinary black puffer jacket. He ran into the kitchen; worn out sneakers flopping about. "So, what's for breakfast?"
His father placed down a plate of French toast in front of him; Nita stared at him as she sat across the table, wearing her filthy yet fairly fluffy sweater coat. "your hair's wet, you know that big bro?", Leon shook his head wildly, causing water to splash everywhere, and his hair puffing up as it properly dried; their hair was naturally curly as well as dark brown, unlike Bo's straight, black hair.
"Aah! What the heck, Leon?!" Nita shouted at him as she got soaked from her brother shaking like a dog; Leon cackled, finding his sister's bickering hilarious as she pouted at him.
"That's enough, you two." Bo spoke, he sounded exhausted, which wasn't unusual, considering he routinely hunted for their dinner; as a shaman, Bo takes great pride in providing for his family, even if it's as small as two children he adopted and became attached to. Nita blew a raspberry at Leon before turning away from him. Leon ignored her and shoved the French toast into his mouth. "Oh! Banana and peanut butter! Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Because you always have Banana peanut butter toast for breakfast."
"...that's fair, I guess...".
Leon swiftly chugged his orange juice, "I'm gonna go to the mall!"
"Don't forget to take your sister with you."
He groaned loudly; he despised it whenever Bo mentions to bring his sister wherever he went, having no choice in the say. "Can't you just-"
"She's your sister, Leon. Besides, I need to hunt our dinner for the next few weeks." Leon sighed in defeat, "fine. Cmon, Nita." He walked out of the house, and made his way towards their beaten up bicycles; despite how banged up the bikes appeared to be (due to Leon's incompetence and crashing into things constantly), they still worked relatively fine.
Leon hopped onto the red bike and began riding off; "I'm not going to slow down for you if you can't keep up with me!"
"Funny for you to think I won't tell dad!"
Nita got onto her bicycle as well and began riding, ringing the bell on it constantly towards Leon. "I can't hear you!"
Ring ring ring!
"I said I can't hear you!"
Ring ring ring ring ring! "No you idiot! I'm trying to tell you to watch out!"
"What did you sa-"
SLAM!
Leon crashed straight into a telephone line and fell off his bike; Nita caught up to him and parked her bike. "Told ya so, idiot."
"uuuuugh... shut up."
He stood back up and dusted himself off. "Don't start yapping your head off to dad, I'm fine, I swear."
"And what's stopping me?"
"Sigh, I'll stop shooting at your CareBears."
"And?"
"...and I'll stop shooting at your My Little Pony figures."
He said that last statement through gritted teeth. Nita raised her eyebrow at him; "you're nuts if you think I'm raising my offer any higher."
"Fine, I won't tell."
"Good."
He hopped back onto his bike; "good grief, how long is that gonna last before it turns to dust?" Nita remarked, "cool your jets Charlie Brown, it's not THAT beaten." Leon retorted.
"That's the fifth time this week you crashed into something!"
"And? My head's still attached to my head!"
"I wouldn't be surprised if you lost your brain already!"
The two continued to bicker, before Leon remembered his initial plan of going to the mall. He covered Nita's mouth with his hand; "put a sock in it, we still have to get to the mall.", he then began to ride off again. Nita grimaced slightly "yuck! Those hands better have been washed, Leon!" She rode after him. "I'm not telling!!!"
"Oh for Pete's sake you slob!"