"Today is the day", I thought." I am finally 13!"
Today is March 18, which is my brother Mason and my birthday. We are turning 13! But the best part about it is that my grandma is here. ("We haven't seen Mamaw since we were ten!") My brother is right. We don't really know why Mamaw has not come and visited since our tenth birthday, but the important thing is that she is here now.
Anyways, so I woke up and looked at the clock. It read 5:50 am, like usual. I sat up from my bed, still a little bit tired from my deep sleep from the night before. I slipped on my slippers and walked to the other side of the room. I grabbed some clothes from my closet and changed. I then fixed my hair and did my makeup.
I looked back at my clock and saw that it read 6:00 am. I knew that I still had a few minutes until my mom would wake up, so I sat on my bed and turned on the TV. As I flipped through the channels, I stopped on ABC. For some weird reason, they were playing the news.
I grabbed my glasses and read what it said at the bottom of the screen. It read: Breaking News! Two subjects belonging to a secret government facility have escaped. One of the subjects is known to be a male about 5' 3" with brown hair,blue eyes, and a lightning strike mark on his wrist. The other subject is known to be a female about 5' 2" with dark brown hair with red highlights, hazel eyes, and a star shaped mark on her wrist. These subjects were last spotted on Interstate 90, near the city of Chicago. If either of these subjects are found, please report them to your local police.
Well that wasn't weird at all.Choosing to avoid the news, I kept flipping throught the channels. After seeing that there was nothing good on TV, I turned it off and grabbed my IPod. I put on some One Direction and started packing up for school.
A few minutes later, I heard my doorknob rattle. I thought it must have been my mom coming to wake me up, but ,to my surprise, it was actually my brother Mason.
"Happy Birthday Luna!" he said.
"Thanks baby bro." I replied.
"I am not your 'baby bro'."
"Yes you are."I responed.
"I was born before you."
"Yeah, but I'm taller!" I replied.
"So!" he replied, obviously annoyed.
It was true though. Mason and I may be twins, but we do not look alike. Mason is about 5' 0", has brown hair, green eyes, and a scar on his ankle. I, on the other hand, am 5' 1", also have brown hair, brown eyes, and a scar under my left eyebrow.
"So, why did you come to my room? Aren't you going downstairs to open your presents already?" I asked as I took off my earplugs and wrapped them around my IPod.
"I was going to, but I said to myself ' Mason you are a man now. You have to be a gentleman, an example.' I also decided to wait for you this year." he replied.
"Aww! Thanks Mason." I told him.
"No prob. Hey, did you hear about those kids who escaped from the secret government facility?" he asked me.
"Yeah. Wait, how do you know about that?" I asked confused.
"Well, when I woke up this morning, I went to check my phone to see who won the game yesterday. And when I turned it on, my phone started blowing up with alerts warning everybody in the Chicago area about the runaways."
"Really? It's that serious?" I asked Mason.
"Yeah. And their making most of the businesses around the Chicago area shut down until further notice."
"What about the schools? Do we have to go today?"
"I think we do,but let me check my phone just in case."
"Ok, well I am going to text Val."
I pulled out my phone and, after I checked my Instagram, I texted my friend Val. Val is one of my closest friends. Sadly, she moved a few months ago and I haven't seen her since.
After texting for about two minutes, she told me she had to go. It turned out that everything was fine and she had actually not heard about the incident. Weird. Well, life goes on.
I turned off my phone and was greeted with my brother staring at me. I could tell he had been waiting for a while and was starting to get annoyed.
"What'd you find out? Do we have to go to school?" I asked.
"Yes. We do." he told me, a little disappointment in his voice.
"Hey, at least we get to spend the day with our friends. And then we get to go to dinner with Mamaw!"
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that!" he replied.
"It's 6:10. Do you want to go wake Mom and Mamaw up?"
"Sure. Let's go."
We headed out to the hallway and went to my mom's room first. We knocked on the door and 10 seconds later, it flew open.
"Happy Birthday!" My mom exclaimed.
"Thanks." Mason and I said in unison.
"I cannot believe my babies are already 13. You guys grew up so fast." My mom hugged us so hard we could barely breathe.
"Mom...can't...breathe..." I managed to get out.
"Oh my, sorry guys." she said, laughing.
"It's fine" Mason replied.
"Hey Mom, I know we just woke up and all, but can we go wake Mamaw up?" I asked, eager to go downstairs and eat breakfast. ("And see Mamaw!")
"Sure."
Mason and I raced to Mamaw's room. We knocked on the door. No answer. We knocked once more,but there was no answer. I opened the door and my grandma was not there. "Maybe she's in the bathroom" I thought. But, I didn't hear her open her door and close the bathroom door. Or turn on the shower.
"I think she might be downstairs." I told my peers.
"Ok so let's go." Mason suggested.
"Ok."
When we got downstairs, we saw that Mamaw had fallen asleep on the couch. As we were going to go wake her up, my little sister, Kelly, came running downstairs. She ran up to Mamaw and tugged at her shoulder.
As Mamaw groggily sat up, she stared at us. With a confused look on her face she looked around. Then, all of a sudden, an imaginary lightbulb lit up above her. She looked at us and jumped off the couch.
"Happy Birthday Mason and Luna!" she told us.
"Thanks Mamaw." I told her. "And, do you mind me asking, why were you sleeping on the couch?"
"Oh, well, I was watching the news about these two kids who escaped from that government facility. I guess when the president started talking, I dozed off."
"Oh. Ok" I replied.
"So, what are you guys doing for your birthday?" Mamaw asked.
"I have a technology club meeting after school, adn after that I am probably meeting up with friends to go to the park and play some football." Mason told her.
"That sounds like fun! And you Luna?" she turned towards me.
"Well, I have to practice my flag routine for the team. And after that, I think my friends and I are going to go to the mall to go shopping."
"Oh, well you guys have a busy schedule. But before you guys go, open some presents!"
After she said that, we went to the dinner table and started opening presents. First, we opened the presents our mom had gotten us. Mason got an apple watch, which he had been waiting for since last year, and I got an acoustic guitar with my name engraved on it.
We then opened presents from our other family. We got some money, Itunes cards, and gift cards. We also got a special card from our dad who was currently on an important business trip, and that's why he couldn't be with us.
After a few minutes, our mom served us some breakfast. Mason had some eggs with bacon, I got some french toast, Kelly got cereal, Mamaw got pancakes, and Mom got waffles.
We talked for a few minutes and shared some laughs. My mom then took our plates and told us to grab our bookbags. Mason and I ran upstairs, finished getting ready, and hurried downstairs.
I gave Mamaw and Kelly a hug and Mason did the same.I took one last look at the clock. It read 6:40 am. But what I didn't know was that that was the last time I would able to look at that clock the same way.
Mom turned the car on and headed out of the driveway. On the drive to school, all we could hear were all the phones ringing, trying to reach Mason and me.
We got to school and got out of the car. We kissed our mom goodbye and went inside. The whole way to our class, people stopped and said "Happy Birthday" to us. And when we got to our classroom, a bunch of our friends popped out and started singing to us, along with our teacher.
"Having a good day so far Luna?" asked Mrs. Lancaster, my math teacher.
"Yeah. I am just excited to go home and be with my Mamaw!"
"Well who wouldn't!"
I went to my locker and got all of my stuff ready. I said goodbye to my locker buddy and caught up with Mason.
"This is it," Mason said."Today is our first day being teens."
"Yep! Just you and me baby bro!"
"I told you to stop calling me that!"
"Ok I will... When I'm 100!" I told him.
" 'When I'm 100' " Mason mumbled under his breath.
"Oh look, the baby is crying"
"No I'm not!" he protested.
"Ok stop fighting. Let's go" I said putting my arm aroung his shoulder.
We got to the room and chatted with our friends.
And that's where it would all begin. This is the moment that would change our lifes forever. It all started when the new girl showed up. And she was one of the runaways.
