Space Explorers

Chapter 1: Ordinary Morning

September 9th, 2032

Ilriu walked down the worn-out stairs, only to find his sister Hisumi already sitting down at the old, rickety wooden table beside their father.

"Morning Ilriu," their father said with a smile. It was a cool Sunday morning, outside the many-colored leaves could be seen on the ground. A few of the red, orange, and yellow stragglers clung to the tree's branches waiting for when the wind would knock them down. It was around 8:00 am, and breakfast time in the Tull household.

"Are you headed to work, father?" Hisumi questioned, from where she was seated beside the larger man who had already finished eating what looked like the remnants of peanut butter toast. The man nodded, despite it being the weekend you could see the weight of a late-night under his eyes.

"Everyone is trying to get the numbers in this week for the beginning of the month, which leaves us busy," their father stated.

"Good luck then," said Ilriu as he seated himself beside Hisumi at the old table. A vacant fourth chair was left empty across from Hisumi, the chair seemed less worn.

With that the man stood, handing Ilriu a plate with a peanut butter smeared piece of toast. The bread was crisp, hints of blackened lines from the toaster, and softer brownish parts between the outer layers. The peanut butter had been slightly melted by the warmth of the bread, perfect. Ilriu began to eat the bread as his father walked to a counter, grabbing a gray coffee mug.

"I'll be back around 5:30, I'll then try to get some sleep in before my nightshift," the man said as both Hisumi and Ilriu nodded in understanding.

"We'll be studying with Wyu until 4:00," Hisumi and Ilriu said in unison. You could tell that every movement this family made was well-practiced, the words and motions repeated on a day to day basis. However the normalcy of this day Ilriu found comfort and warmth in the middle of it all, seeing the familiar bony face of his sister Hisumi and the tattered overworked figure of their blond-headed father.

It's what the family was used to. Ilriu and Hisumi's father waved to them, before picking up a bag and taking that along with his coffee outside of the house to go catch the train into the city. The time was now 8:34, and the people in the neighborhood were still asleep due to it being the weekend. This was the siblings' favorite time to walk around, it was as if life had stopped itself.

Ilriu and Hisumi quickly slipped out of the house a few minutes after their father had left. They began to walk down the sidewalk, Ilrius long blonde hair falling past his waist as they walked. Hisumi's mid-length hair was tied up in a ponytail as per usual. They walked through the neighborhood feeling alienated, surrounded by only quiet however the silence was comforting. A gust of wind picked up dry leaves that spun past the siblings' feet as if the leaves were dancing. The chirps of birds keeping the siblings' company, their songs complimenting the leaves dance. The world was alive amongst everyone's sleep and in that neighborhood, Ilriu and Hisumi were the only ones to see it.

Two blocks became four, four became six, and so on, until the siblings had reached a tree approximately 12 blocks away from the house they had left an hour ago. The tree stood tall, a large rough tree with brown bark that circled the wide trunk. The tree stood greater than the others it surrounded, in a field that would slowly spring more tree after tree after tree. The field becoming a forest, the forest leading to a river, and the river away from the neighborhood to a lake near the city.

There in the city stood many buildings, one a college, another where people worked. Buildings for science, medicine, music, and dance, buildings upon buildings of life outside the neighborhood. The neighborhood was still quiet. The silence, only broken by the occasional squirrel, or rabbit running throughout the field and forest.

Hisumi looked up, through the branches of the tree as Ilriu walked to her side. Both sibling's heads were tilted up towards the sky that was blocked by the branches, they could see slimmers of blue and puffy white through the tree's rough branches. The leaves left on the branches colored like flames.

A rumble of tire on pavement and a whoosh of air was heard behind them, bringing the two young adults back into reality. Hisumi sat down, leaning her back against the rough tree trunk and Ilriu followed her action.

"I wonder if we could see father's work from the top of this tree," Ilriu pondered, his voice was soft yet deep- hesitant. It was like he's afraid to be louder than nature.

Hisumi was thinking the same, and the siblings returned to silence. Sitting there against the tree trunk, 12 blocks away from their old white trimmed home. They watched the field, the sway of dandelions pressed against soft gusts of wind. The forest behind, tall trunks and green tops lining the bright blue horizon. The time passed and it was nearly 10:00 at that point and the siblings tutor, Wyu was arriving at noon. Ilriu checked the tattered watch on his pale wrist, brushing the blanket of blonde hair aside to read the time.

"9:58," he stated with an abrupt stand.

Hisumi stood as well, beginning to walk back along the sidewalk beside Ilriu. The siblings passed the leaves, trees, and houses they had traveled next to for so long. Over and over again as they visited the field often. Eventually, the time read 11:03 as the siblings approached their white-trimmed, worn-out gray house stepping over the green grass and flowers in the yard stopping at the front door. They creaked open the door, which was colored a darker green shade complimenting the green grass of the yard, and walked into the kitchen and the living area they had left two and a half hours ago.

Ilriu and Hisumi gathered two binders off a shelf that rested beside the rickety staircase, and placed the binders on the table from earlier. The siblings sat in their respective seats, opening the binders to reveal the contents of many papers, notebooks, and folders that were the records of years of studying at home. Ilriu reached for a pencil, scribbling something in a reddish-brown notebook he had pulled from his binder.

"What are you writing today Ilriu?" Hisumi asked, the notebook was obviously not new and had many papers torn out of it or bent at the corner.

"The slivers of the sky we could see from the tree reminded me of something." Ilriu continued to write, the faint scratch of graphite against paper one of few sounds in the house. "Something's missing," he said suddenly.

Hisumi glanced over and peered into the notebook, resting her thin hand on her brother's forearm. "A lot of things are missing Ilriu," she spoke quietly, "let this one slip."

Ilriu nodded slowly and shut the notebook slipping it back into the binder. He moved the pencil to his ear, balancing it between the thin threads of light-colored hair.

"Fourth five minutes," he said, glancing back down at his watch. Hisumi nodded and lifted her hand from Ilriu's forearm.

"We should eat something before Wyu arrives." With that Hisumi stood and walked to the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing some leftover soup from earlier in the week.

Ilriu walked over to a cabinet, grabbing a pot and putting it on the stove and Hisumi poured the contents of broth and vegetables from the container into the pot. She turned the knob to heat the stove, Ilriu slowly stirring the pot of soup.

The quiet house was now the abnormality, as cars heard outside filled with families returning from brunches and church ceremonies flooded the neighborhood with sound. Such was the noise of every other Sunday, and it had been that way for as long as Hisumi and Ilriu could remember. Their father at work, and them being silent, the house's life sucked out of it as the blonde figures moved in their day to day rules of normalcy as it was what anyone would call an ordinary morning.


Authors Note:

Hi everyone this is the first chapter of my story! Thank you to everyone reading, this is my first book on here that isn't some shitty grade school thing I made when I had no idea what dialogue was- so yaY! Hope you like this so far! <3
- lemon 

Wordcount: 1407
Characters: 6575