Silence // Danger Days (Book 1)

01.

As with every day, Lucas Castellan woke up to the sound of his father's shouting.

"Do you two plan on sleeping all day or what?" the voice yelled through his bedroom door.

"Coming, Dad!" His fifteen-year-old sister, Hailey, shouted back. The two were forced to share a bedroom because the other bedroom was used as an office, which Lucas thought was useless.

He reluctantly pulled himself out of bed and tried to be optimistic about the day, but it was nearly impossible to do so because as always, he felt trapped in his own life. Hailey was a different story. She always seemed to be on Cloud Nine, going into every day with a spring in her step. Lucas never understood that. He used to assume that it was just because she was young and didn't understand their predicament yet, but now she was old enough to think for herself, and yet it still went on.

"Luca, you coming?" Hailey's voice brought him back to the present.

Lucas shook his head to clear it, then stood up. "Yeah. And please don't call me that." When Hailey was a baby, she could never master the s sound, so instead of saying Lucas, she said Luca. The nickname had stuck for a while, but after he turned sixteen, he had tried to convince his family to stop calling him that. Two years later, and he still had to remind them.

Hailey turned left after exiting the bedroom to go to the kitchen, but Lucas walked straight across the hallway to the bathroom to check his appearance, as teenagers do.

When he arrived, the first thing he did was put in his contact lenses. The rest of his family had perfect eyesight, except him, which was troubling sometimes. You'd think he would have opted for eye surgery by now, and you'd be correct, except that his parents thought it unnatural and prohibited it. Other than this, he was exactly like every other seventeen-year-old boy you'd come across. His overlong blond hair was a mess, and his bright blue eyes were still drooping from sleep. He confirmed this as normal, ran a hand through his hair, and ventured into the kitchen, where the smell of waffles awaited him.

"Luca, honey, there you are!" his mother, Donna, greeted him. It's Lucas, he wanted to correct her, but she engulfed him in a hug before he could. She was about a foot shorter than him, so how she could still engulf him confused him.

"Hi Mom," he said lovingly, squeezing her in return. She, unlike his father, actually had sympathy for his concerns. However, he quickly let go once his father walked in.

"Alright, let's cut the pleasantries," he barked as he stiffly entered the kitchen. He sat down at the table, expecting his breakfast. Edward Castellan had always been a rich and powerful man, and never desired anything other than to win the constant legal battle that he was in with Better Living Industries. After the Helium and Analog Wars, however, he was forced to go into hiding. Now, he and his team of spies still advocate bringing freedom to the populous and are trying to bring BLI down from the inside. However, his claims of freedom seem to be null and void inside his own home.

Donna quickly rushed to him with a plate of waffles. "Good morning, sweetie."

"'Good morning,' she says," he mocked. "It's never a good morning in this city, what with all of the BLI scum running around." He bit into his waffle, swallowed, and scowled at Lucas. Once he had swallowed, he scolded his son, "How many times do I have to tell you that you need a haircut?"

Lucas ignored him but was grinning on the inside. He'd only decided to grow his hair out to annoy his father (although truth be told, he thought he looked good).

Once he finished his waffles, Lucas hopped from the table and wandered back to his room to get ready for school. A few minutes later, Hailey did the same. They both pulled on their customary white clothing and packed their bags. They bid their parents goodbye and exited the apartment to make the journey to school.