Diaverse

Chapter 10

8th January, 2252.
Obsidian Waste Beach, Connecticut.
3rd person POV

"Here we are!" Risse exclaimed as as the forest floor turned to sand. It was around 11, just as he'd estimated. Both twins smiled at the sight of the sea and the coastline.

Clarissa took off her Converse shoes and socks, and wriggled the sand between her toes. It felt particularly nice, seeing that today was a hot day. There was the usual strong ocean sea breeze flowing through the air. The waves crashed along the shore over and over. It gave her a nice joyful feeling.

Risse was still holding her bag and his. As they both walked on the sand, a fair sized wooden house came into view. It had a steps leading up to a spacious front deck. He could practically feel the heat rising up from the earth, and the heat from the sun as well. It made him feel a bit dizzy but he kept that to himself and walked on a bit faster to the house, with his sister at his heels.

Clarissa smiled and ran up the wooden staircase to the front deck, and Risse trudged behind her, clearly tired. He dropped the bags and wiped his brow.

"We made it!" Clarissa took a deep breath of the ocean breeze and her brother let out a tired sigh.

"Yay."

She grinned at his antics and looked under the Welcome mat, and sure enough, the key was there. She opened the door and walked in, remembering the times she had been here on those hot summer days. Risse ran over to the fridge but tripped over the school bags, and both twins burst out laughing.

Clarissa flopped down on the couch and let out a happy sigh. "Risse, this was a good idea."

He pulled out a can of Seven Up and opened it, walking over to his sister. "Simply one of the best." He took a sip and passed it to Clarissa, who also took a sip.

He took a seat next the her and sat down. She grabbed the remote off the coffee table and switched the television on. They both put their feet up and Clarissa leaned on her brother, a bit wearily, just as he put the soda can down on the coffee table. She snuggled into him more and before a minute had passed, she'd fallen asleep, with Risse doing the same a few minutes after.

Later that evening: 5:36 p.m.

Clarissa opened her eyes slowly and yawned. It took a while for her eyes to get used to the dim twilight that was now becoming nightfall... Wait, twilight?! She jumped to her feet, but instantly regretted it when her legs started paining. She imagined her nerves were annoyed that they had to send immediate messages throughout her body, and sent pain messages just to spite her.

Clarissa shook Risse awake. "Risse! Rissy! C'mon we have to go!" She urged him, calling him by the nickname she made for him. No one else could use that nickname except her.

Risse groaned. "Five more minutes Mom."

"We don't have five minutes! Now wake the hell up! We overslept!" She complained and smacked him lightly on the face.

Risse opened his eyes to glare at her. "I am sleeping."

Clarissa shook her head. "Look outside Risse! It's dark! You know Dad doesn't like us out after dark! Especially out in the forest! Where our house is located!" She pointed out. " We have to leave now! "

A brilliant flash of lightning seemed to burn into the twins' eyelids and the following peal of thunder made them both jump. It actually rocked the foundation of the beach house and they both paled.

"You know what? You woke me up, past tense, all is forgiven!" He grabbed the soda off the table,  drank a bit, gave the rest to his sister and then threw the can away in the garbage bin. He grabbed their bags off the floor, but paused, looking out the windows.

Clarissa finished tying her laces for her shoes and took her schoolbag from her brother. "Great, if we run we..." She paused right next to him to look outside as well.

Huge dark clouds covered the entire horizon and area over the sea. They were black, and would've been unrecognizable from the now becoming night sky had it not been for the frequent lightning flashes between the huge masses of clouds illuminating them. The storm was huge and almost at the beach house. The waves crashed hard on the shore, because of the high speed winds, almost which were tornado-like.

Clarissa opened the door and was met with a gust of wind that almost blew her off her feet. The beach didn't look inviting anymore, and she was eager to go home with Risse. Her brother steadied her and locked the door, putting the key right back where he found it.

Risse led them both, and Clarissa didn't argue, since he was better at sticking to paths than she was. They made it to the edge of the forest, but stopped. Clarissa looked at her brother confusedly. He looked at her and shook his head. "The path. It's gone!" He had to yell over the roar of the winds.

"Then how do we get home?!"

"The town! We'll have to pass through the town!" He ran around the forest, with Clarissa, hoping to beat the storm home before it came crashing down on them.

"Isn't that longer?!"

"Well, you can always walk back of you want!" he shouted back at her and she rolled her eyes.

They go to the boardwalk and bridge and started running like mad. A silver bolt of lightning struck a lamp post and it fell towards Risse. Clarissa tackled him, and he allowed her to put them both in a somersault, before they got up running again, not breaking momentum for one minute.

They kept on running; past the arcade, the diner, their school, the mattress firm company...then there was the choice of neighbourhoods. But Risse wasn't in the mood or any shenanigans, so he made Clarissa cut through the park, while he went over other people's fences. They met up by the entrance to the forest; their pre-driveway that was really a dirt road.

Another loud rumble of thunder rang, and the twins ran faster than before. Clarissa was about to pass out, and so was Risse, but it was the thought of being out in the storm that had kept them still running and standing. They ran up to the front door and banged on it, seeing lights on inside. Someone had to be home.

And someone was. A beautiful Latin-American woman answered the door. She had tanned skin, with black hair and sky brown eyes. She had on a simple purple dress and dress slippers, and looked to be in her mid thirties. She looked surprised to see the twins looking pale and exhausted.

"Kids? Get inside!" She showed them inside and the rain came pouring down immediately, and she shut the door.

Clarissa and Risse hugged each other, dumped their bags near the stairs and hugged their mother. She had been looking for them, anxiously awaiting for them to return her calls, as she told them.

"Well since Dad was upset with us for taking our phones to school last time, we thought we owed it to him to leave them home for once." Clarissa gasped and sneezed.

Risse grinned. "Biggest mistake of our lives so far. And that was the longest I've ever run before. We were all the way at the beach house when Rissa got up and saw it was dark. Then we saw the storm and crap and-"

Their mother blinked and put a finger to both their lips. "Uh uh. You two need to go upstairs, take a shower and relax. You ran, what, like 5 miles? You need to relax and destress. So go do that. Dinner's gonna be ready soon."

Neither twin had the energy to complain. They grabbed their things and trudged up the stairs. Clarissa smiled at Risse. "Not a bad day. But you nearly got us both killed."

Risse was appalled. "Me? How is this my fault?!"

Clarissa grinned. "Well it was your beach house idea." She said going into her room, and closing the door on her laughing younger twin brother.