Burning Up The Sun // Muke

Prologue

It was late afternoon, and the sun beat down on a small cafe near the beach. In the small town it was surprisingly busy, with tourists from all around flocking to bask in the warm weather. Not a cloud in the sky, the people were raving about how the afternoon was seemingly perfect as they carried on with their day.  The town suited the summer sunshine, in both setting and company. The sun beat down on the white seats outside, with the gentle sea breeze pulling at the fabrics of things that were not permanent. It was here where a tall figure sat down at an empty table for two. 

He sat patiently for a while, his foot gently tapping the floor beneath him as he waited to be served. He didn't have to wait long, however, as what he was looking for came in the form of a flustered blonde boy, who was adorning rosy cheeks, an apron and a notepad, and had clearly just been shouted at moments before. He rushed over to the table that the man was sitting at, wiping his brow before addressing him.

"Hi," he said. "Sorry for the wait, would you like to order something?"

The man paused for a moment, picking up the menu suddenly and viewing it through his dark ray-ban sunglasses. It looked as if he had not even evaluated the menu as he had sat down. The blonde boy stood awkwardly, shifting his weight awkwardly from one foot to another. Even though he looked half-exhausted, he seemed like the type of character with enough energy to keep moving. 

"I'll have the strawberry milkshake," he said, upon looking up. "That's all." With this he handed back the menu, smiling.

The boy smiled back in acknowledgment, taking the menu and said: "Strawberry, nice."

The man grinned. "There comes days when you just have to be like, damn it, I'm gonna have a strawberry milkshake and I'm gonna enjoy it."

 "Oh I get you, nice day for it," the boy replied, before saying: "Nice hair by the way." he grinned over his shoulder and walked back into the cafe. The man touched his hair, smiling to himself as he reached up to touch his red and black array of spikes.

The man watched as the boy walked inside, and almost hit his head on the roof as his lanky body travelled further away. This was all too familiar, and he knew what was coming next.

The boy wandered cheerily outside, looking for the table where the man who had ordered the feminine drink had been sitting. His eyes found the table, and then passed it, because there was no one there. Squinting his eyes, he looked around the area, but there was no man with red and black hair to be seen.

Still holding the milkshake, he wandered over to the table that this man had previously been sitting at, where there was clearly no figure to be seen, only a newspaper that he had been reading. Curious, the boy looked at the front page, and was about to turn around when he noticed the date. 

20th August 2016. Exactly four years into the future.

He stood for a moment, before shrugging his shoulders, and picking up the paper, tossed it into a nearby bin before returning with the drink inside.