AFTERLAND and The Cryptic Prophecy

01: The Sky Listened

A cat with emerald eyes holding a remote and watching a late night show waved at me. Outside my window, I heard birds singing to Jack and Jill nursery rhyme. In the kitchen, three rats were twerking while holding a cheese they stole from our pantry.

Too funny to be true? Those were some of the strange craps I had encountered over the past ten years. When I said strange, I wasn't referring to a ghost or green aliens with extended black eyes. I was speaking about something enchanted. The only problem was nobody believed me, not even my parents.

It began when a magnificent thing happened when I turned seven. Every night, I look forward to watching the moon before going to bed. However, on the night of my seventh birthday, two moons appeared. Both cast an ethereal glow like marbles, but a golden ring embellished the other one. What I prayed for my birthday was glorious raining donuts, but the heaven gave me two moons instead.

Right after the unusual moon incident, another terrible event happened. One storm came, and it changed everything. I must be the heaven's favorite for receiving two marvelous gifts in one night, a twin moon and a storm.

Our house collapsed during that storm, and the earth swallowed me for twenty-five days. Nobody knew how and why, but everyone, including the rescuers, was so sure that I was supposed to be dead. No one could survive such a situation, but here I am, alive and sucking the polluted air. I never saw the moon turned into two again, but everything turned upside down since then. Just like what happened to Gregson's eyes that turned milky white.

"Are you sure you saw it clearly, Charlie?" A voice cut through my imagination. It was Ms. De Austria, our guidance counselor.

"Yes! I saw his eyes! They turned white!" I blustered, sitting on the leather couch.

"Is this part of your practical joke again?" There was a trace of dismay behind her jewel tone eyeglasses.

I did something heroic, yet stupid.

The prodigy of evil, Gregson Chatwin and his gang bullied Franco, and as a friend, I saved him. Heroic, right? But I broke Gregson's leg, and that was the stupid part. Well, if you saw him acting like a literal monster, are you not going to break his leg? Apart from his eyes that turned white, he also had an unusual strength. He gripped my hand like an elephant if elephants had five long fingers.

"This is not a joke. I'm telling the truth!" I insisted.

Gregson glared at me like a bulldog. "You're a psycho and a liar! Do you remember what you said yesterday? You saw red people flying with skateboards, and now you're accusing me of being a monster? You're delusional!"

I raised an eyebrow despite of guilt. Everything he said was true, except for his statement that I was a psycho, liar, and delusional. I really saw people wearing red flying with skateboards, and I was certain about Gregson's monstrous eyes as well.

"I'm not delusional useless twat!" I stood sharply from my seat.

"Charlie Amberstar, your language!" blared Ms. De Austria, shooting me a look like an angry ostrich.

"Sorry, but I'm not lying!" I stared at Franco. "You saw it too, right?"

He shook his head gradually. "S-Sorry Charlie, b-but I didn't see it," he stuttered. I felt betrayed for a moment. I saved him, yet he couldn't back me up.

"See? You're great at making stories!" Gregson sneered at me, giving me a concrete reminder he was the most arrogant douchebag I ever met in Kingshire City. He was wearing a grey uniform that seemed deprived of laundry for a week. I hated everything about him, especially his bad breath.