The Door to Tomorrow

Lazy Sunday

It would be my last weekend with my family for a while. During the week I would be heading to Soma, a tropical island far off the south coast of Vafria. The people I worked for decided to send a group of thirty journalists into the restricted island so we could write articles about it. Strangely, no one had ever thought about doing that, like, ever. If someone actually did, then I suppose nobody cared. I did find it fishy, but they enticed me with promises of a prosperous, successful career. My bosses were an odd bunch, but I still trusted them for some reason. There were at least two that hated me for sure, however, that didn't stop me from doing my job as a journalist.

Actually, said profession wasn't what I was into, but I settled for it. As long as my job wasn't to find out which celebrities slept with who, I honestly didn't mind. I didn't know what else to do with my life, anyway.

"Good morning!" I said in a singsong voice as I sat across from Morgan.

"What's up?" His lip curled into a half-smile as he instinctively handed me the half-full bottle of syrup.

"Oh, nothing. I mean, I've got literally nothing to do today. I think I might go to the store for a couple of picture frames, but I'm coming right back, and I'm staying."

"You're finished with your college assignments?"

"Yup. I'm all caught up. I'm so glad this semester is almost over. The only thing I have to do now is go to Soma and help out with a report or two about the place."

"Hmm. What even happens over there? People have to be chosen to go there, right? And kids aren't really allowed."

"That's what we're going to find out, my friend." I pointed my fork in his direction. I couldn't help but notice the faint dark circles under his brown eyes. Morgan always had trouble sleeping due to his poor mental health. Sure, I spent all my time caring for my mom and aunt, but Morgan needed attention, too. He would sometimes come home from school and bury his face in the couch, refusing to do his homework. Other times he would cry uncontrollably about his lack of friends and how he would surely die alone. Poor Morgan had looked up to me from the beginning and always tried to imitate my generosity. He wanted to be there for both his mom and mine, but Morgan was only nine years old at the time, so we couldn't ask too much of him. He had been diagnosed with depression, too, so we had to keep that in mind.

Some syrup trickled down my chin and landed on my light gray shirt. "Hey, next time can you try to stop the syrup before gets on my shirt?" I sighed as I reached for a napkin.

"I dunno. That seems tricky." Morgan groaned as he poured an obscene amount of syrup onto his pancakes. "Let me guess, you're gonna ask me to pour the syrup with my mind, too?"

"Only if you can."

"Nope. I can only lift apples and coins for now. Even turning on the sink is hard."

Morgan was a clairvoyant. He had telekinesis. He was a different kind of psychic than most, though. His powers would disappear every few years, and each time he needed to relearn how to use them. His power first appeared when he was three. When it did, my aunt wasn't surprised in the slightest, likely because Grandpa was a clairvoyant himself.

From what I can recall, over half the world's population was psychic as of 1997. While there weren't enough clairvoyants in the world to automatically consider non-clairvoyants irregular, being a non-clairvoyant certainly felt like a disadvantage. I particularly felt left out because even my cousin Morgan had on and off telekinesis. Neither my mom nor Cheryl had abilities, though. My best friend from high school had two abilities, which made me ridiculously jealous. I ended that friendship because I was simply way too fucking envious. Hell, even my neighbors had the abilities to read emotions and see ghosts respectively. Their daughter Hina seemed to be a non-clairvoyant, though.

I quickly finished all three of my pancakes and waited for Morgan to do the same. He poked his half-eaten pancake with his fork and rested his small hand on his face. I spoke up to get his attention again.

"I'm leaving this week. Aren't you gonna miss me?"

He lifted up his head. "Nope," he smiled. "Just kidding. I'll miss you."

"Take care of your mom and my mom while I'm gone, okay?"

"I'll try." He pushed his plate away. "I'm just a kid, though..."

"You should spend today with me," I changed the subject. I noticed Morgan was wearing a t-shirt with his favorite video game character on it. Ironically, the character was from a game he didn't own.

"Since you're such a good kid, how about I buy you that game you've been asking for all year?"

Morgan's tired eyes lit up. "S-Seriously? You shouldn't—"

"I insist. I'm about to leave for a whole month, and I'd like you to have something that'll remind you of me." Well, it's not like I'm good with money anyway, I thought.

"Thanks, Chuck! Thank you so much!" Morgan rejoiced. He had a giddy smile on his face.

"You can help me pick out a good picture frame, too. I found a picture of Grandpa that I need to show off."

"What? Can I see?" He had never seen what Grandpa looked like before. I had some pictures of him lying around here and there, and my mom had some too. None of those pictures were on full display anywhere in the house, which was a real shame.

I spent the rest of that Sunday with Morgan, whose mom was at work. We browsed the art supply store together in order to find the perfect frame for the picture of Grandpa, which I brought along. In the end, we bought a decorative silver oval frame for the picture. It had a nice vintage feel to it, much like the black-and-white photo. I didn't stop there, however. I impulsively purchased three other frames. My favorite of those three was a simple, rectangular sky blue frame. I admired it as we walked out of the store.

"What should I use this for, though?" I asked Morgan.

"Don't ask me. You're the one who's obsessed with scrapbooking."

"I am not!" I blushed. "I haven't even touched a scrapbook since high school."

"You should just become a photographer, you nerd."

"Nerd? I prefer the term 'photograph enthusiast'," I replied as I tucked some of my wavy brown hair behind my ear. "Anyway, that new video game store should be around here, right? What's it called?"

"Triplex Games."

Just as promised, I bought him that expensive video game the whole neighborhood was buzzing about. From the store name alone, I was expecting the store to be huge, and I was right. Only in the great country of Vafria would you find a three-story store dedicated to selling video games and consoles. I liked video games, too, so I didn't mind browsing all three floors. According to my cousin, the store had locations in each of the Four Cities.

He was right. A sign stood by the first-floor entrance, reading: Aspen location now open! Check out our other stores in Maple City, Shirosaki, and Saga!

When we arrived back home, I pulled out the framed picture of Grandpa. I placed it on top of the drawer shelf next to my bed where I had found it. As for the three other frames, I laid them in the top drawer, where they would stay until the right time came.

After playing Morgan's new game with him for some hours, I finished packing for the island.