Being the light sleeper that I was, I woke up because of the loud news coming from the TV in the living room. I groaned, as I still wanted to sleep, but next to this noise I knew that going back to sleep was no longer an option. After taking a brisk shower and putting on some fresh clothes, I went to the kitchen. There, I saw my mom and dad leaning on the kitchen counter, with dad sipping his morning coffee and watching the news silently.

"Good morning." I muttered and scratched the back of my head, noting how the orange kitchen walls were paler than usual, for some reason. I headed to the fridge and took a carton of orange juice from the inside of the door, and then I closed it with my elbow.

"Good morning, Mel." Mom said.

I can't believe she actually talked to me. I am such an imbecile. The way I acted last night was unforgivable.

I took out a glass out of the cupboard and started pouring orange juice in it, tentatively starting my apology in my head. "Mom, dad, I…"

"Shh!" Dad chided me and I had to keep silent. He liked listening the news in silence, so that he could focus better on the information. I shrugged and poured some more juice into my glass and quietly drank it.

I turned my attention to what dad was watching. Something about an alien invasion of robots on Earth. Who makes up stuff like this and then broadcasts it? These people must be on drugs. There are no such things as alien robots, and whatever crashed on Earth was probably some sort of meteor that came into our orbit and Earth's gravity field dragged it to the ground. Maybe Amanda would like to see these news? God knows her obsession with robots is enormous and this would only feed her insanity.

The TV was shut off with the pressing of a button, by mom's doing, after the news ended. Dad put his empty coffee mug on the counter and left the house quickly and soundlessly, heading for work as he put his coat on and took the keys to the Audi, and closed the front door behind him. Mom and I were left alone in the kitchen as we both stared at the ground for a moment.

"Sweetie, what did you want to say?" Mom asked, looking at me as I brought my gaze up to meet hers. It was almost as if she wanted to hear my apology.

"Uh… nothing. Nothing." I said and emptied the glass I was drinking the juice from and put it in the sink.

"You have school at 9 today." Mom reminded me.

Oh great, Monday mornings.

I already knew I had to start getting ready for school, so I went into my room to change into clothes that I normally wear to school. While I was doing that, I went to my bedside table and took my phone off the charger, glancing at the time.

07:57 am. I should get going.

I really didn't want to go today.

Walking over back to the kitchen, where I saw mom washing the juice glass I drank from earlier, I started a conversation. "Mom, can I skip school today? I don't feel like going today…" I said to her. I wonder why my parents didn't wake me up or usher me to school.

"Sure, honey." Mom replied, washing her hands in the sink. "Your father and I figured there was something really wrong last night. I found blood on your white volleyball shirt in your room. Where did that come from?" She asked, drying her hands on a kitchen towel and putting a strand of her raven, shoulder length hair behind her ear as she leaned on the kitchen counter again to face me.

"I... It was because of the coach. He was such a bastard to me last night. I'm not going to volleyball anymore, I quit." I angrily said. "Mom, just please, don't ask me again." I shook my head and I went to do my chores, willingly for the first time in my life. She nodded soundlessly, being the silent type, accepting my wish to not to be disturbed.

My chores were unwritten, meaning that I knew what I had to do, like take Buddy for a walk. Sometimes I wondered why I even bothered walking the Golden Retriever, because he'd always end up peeing in the whole apartment anyway, regardless of how many times we took him out and how long the walks were. I love my dog, but he really needed to learn some manners. I guess it was our fault he isn't housebroken.

"Buddy! Let's go for a walk, boy!" I excitedly called him as he appeared from the living room and ran towards me into the kitchen, jumping on his hind legs onto me, nearly making me fall on the floor. I wasn't weak, but Buddy wasn't really lightweight either. I managed to get the leash around his black collar and I take him outside. The weather was really nice and slightly windy. It was perfect!

I held the leash in my hand and decided I was going to walk yesterday's stress off. The weather was fantastic and if I had to unleash the rage somehow, I knew running would be nice. It worked earlier, so it'd work now. Buddy and I walked for about 15 minutes until we came across a park. There were absolutely no children playing and it was almost empty, except for a few tired, elderly faces.

I unleashed Buddy and he ran like a mad dog almost immediately. The park was huge and wasn't surrounded by traffic, so Buddy was perfectly safe. I realized I didn't bring my phone with me, so now I had to run after Buddy, instead of busying myself with texting someone. Amanda was in the same class I was, I'm sure she was worried, now that I didn't go to school. I hadn't called her since the volleyball training ended and it was unlikely of me to not go to school.

After a terrible 20 minute sprint chasing Buddy, I finally got the leash on him. I panted and felt sweat drops falling down the sides of my face. I frowned, knowing I'd have to take a second shower for the day. Buddy and I walked back and in 15 minutes we were home. I didn't see mom in the house, but the door was unlocked. Maybe she left to go to the market? I shrugged and unleashed Budster and went to my room.

My phone made chirping noises from my room where it had been left charging. I jogged to my room to get it, and I flipped it open only to find six messages, five from Amanda and one from mom.

Amanda's messages were the first to pop up. :Wanna meet at the bus stop?:

:Hello, are you even awake?:

:Coming to school?:

:School's going to start, where are you?:

:We had damn English class today. If you aren't dead now, I'm so going to kill you.:

I actually laughed at her remark. I shook my head and snorted, replying, :I'm alive, so don't get your knickers in a twist for no reason. The damn coach pissed me off, and I took it out on mom and dad...:

Closing her message with a pressing of a button, I opened my mom's message.

:Gone to the market, honey. See you in an hour!: Mom's message stated.

I closed the phone and sat in silence for a few minutes. What was I supposed to do, being left home alone? Maybe Amanda could come over, if it wasn't too much trouble? Then again, she was more trouble than she was worth.

:Maddie, wanna sneak out of school and come to my place?: I texted.

The response was almost immediate, for she never let her phone out of her sight. :Coming in 30.: She wrote back, but even with the bus, it'd take her a lot of time, but she didn't care. At least she didn't have to endure the never-ending, boring classes.

I went to the living room and brought out a movie. Actually, it was a Disney cartoon, but still, I loved Disney movies. I turned on the TV and DVD player and opened the disc holder, carefully putting the old disc into the disc compartment. I closed it and then it began to load. I put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and waited for the popcorn seeds to pop and become delicious and edible. I heard the movie start, so I had to run back and pause it. The microwave beeped and I went to the kitchen to get the popcorn bag out.

I opened the bag and heat greeted my face and I could smell the salty and buttery deliciousness awaiting inside. My phone vibrated again and chirped. I put the popcorn in a bowl and set it on the coffee table in front of the couch. I got my phone out of my pocket, flipped it and opened the text message.

:I'm here in 5.: Amanda's text said. That was odd, because normally it would have taken her another 15 minutes to get here. My blind guess is that she hitched a ride. I shrugged and put the phone away and unlocked the door. Even if I did have 5 minutes to spare, I used them to clean the living room, even though it was pretty much pristine, courtesy of my mom's handiwork.

No less than 5 minutes have passed and the doorbell rang. I opened it and let Amanda in, as she immediately put her bag on the floor and took her shoes off. I offered her slippers, but she didn't take them. I locked the door behind her. "Ugh, you can't believe how boring it was today." She whined and I chuckled silently in turn.

She took the popcorn bowl in her arms and sat down on the comfortable leather couch, putting a handful of popcorn in her mouth. I giggled at the actions she was making, but then I frowned when she started to make a mess, the popcorn eventually falling out of her mouth and onto her clothes and the couch.

"Easy, piglet, leave some for me." I scolded her, plopping down on the couch next to her.

"Sorry, mom." She snorted. "Where's the remote?" She looked around for it on the couch, but had no luck in finding it.

"Jeez. You're sitting on it, you swine." I laughed as she tried to move her butt, trying to get the TV remote to get out on its own. I took the remote and pressed the play button. This was one of the movies I knew by heart. Every look, growl, line, every single thing that happened in it, I knew by heart. When I was bored at school I'd recite the lines in my head to pass the time.

And it always worked.

And it was no other movie than 'The Lion King'.

I walked over to the windows, pulled on the curtains, because it was about 10:30 in the morning and the windows were letting the sun rays through them, lighting the whole apartment. By the time I was done, the movie went to the part where Mufasa was explaining to Simba the Circle of Life.

"Everything the light touches is our kingdom." Mufasa's voice echoed through the speakers our Samsung TV.

"So what did the English teacher do to make you almost kill me for not being in school today?" I asked.

"You're lucky I took the popcorn as truce, otherwise you would have been lasered three times by now." Her 'robotic' way of telling me I was supposed to be dead. Why'd she take the popcorn as truce? I shook my head. Only Amanda.

"Count me lucky, then." I said as the doorbell suddenly rang and I exchanged a weird look with Amanda. I stood up from my seat and walked out of the living room. It could have been mom returning from her trip to the market, I mused as I went to the door, looking through the little spyhole in the door. It was mom, just as I guessed. I unlocked the door, letting her in with those massive, white plastic bags she was holding in her hands. Before I had the chance to take the bags from her, she put them on the floor, causing some of them to fall and other items fall from them.

Mom wiped her forehead and sighed, as she went to the kitchen to treat herself with a glass of water.

"Hey Uncle Scar! Guess what!" The TV echoed.

"I despise guessing games…" I whispered and smiled to myself. I picked up some of the bags and left them in the kitchen. I went back and put the items back to the bag from which they fell out from. I took those bags and left them next to the ones I just left on the kitchen counter. Seeing mom was still cooling off from the heavy weight she was carrying, I took matters into my own hands and started opening the fridge and cupboards to put the items where they needed to be properly placed.

"Amanda's here?" My mom asked, panting. She must have been walking for quite a while, especially with that added weight on her hands.

"Yeah, she kind of skipped school today."

"I don't suppose it's because you didn't go."

"No. Maybe." I said, trying to bring myself to smile. "She was really bored, so I asked her to come over."

My mom huffed and shook her head once, before drinking more of her water, finally being able to cool her body down. "You're not skipping school again, young lady. Not you or Amanda, or I'm calling her mother." She put her glass into the sink.

"Mom..."

"It's how it goes, Mel." She gave me a sharp look. "Now, don't keep your friend waiting." She said, walking over to me and taking over the placement of the products. "Go watch your movie and I'll take care of this. By the way, the wind outside is crazy."

"Alright mom." I said, disregarding the wind part completely, and returned to the living room, but by the time I made it back, the movie had quite moved on.

"If you ever come near my son again!" Mufasa's angry voice said.

I slumped on the couch and saw that there was no popcorn left for me. I wanted to make a grimace and pout about it, but somehow didn't. An unknown feeling stopped me. I became entranced with the movie suddenly. I know I saw it a billion times, but this time, something inside me seemed to be different. I didn't know what.

"Dad, I…" Simba said.

"You deliberately disobeyed me." Mufasa's deep voice echoed.

I had a feeling like… Like this was déjà vu.

"Dad, I'm… I'm sorry."

"Let's go home."

I shook my head, earning a glance from Amanda. I shrugged, for I never had a feeling like this. 'Déjà vu' feeling? What kind of a feeling is that? It was just so weird…

By the time the movie ended, it was already noon. I made Amanda clean up the mess she made on the couch and suggested going to the park. She loved the idea and we went out, bidding my mom goodbye. My mom said something about not going out because the weather seemed bad, but we didn't listen. We didn't get our phones or jackets either. We walked and talked on the sidewalk until we reached the park. We've been talking about boys and seasons and bathing suits and whatnot. Well I have, now it was her turn to bore me to death.

"Okay, so here's what I learned about robots." She excitedly said as we sat down on a bench. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. The wind seemed to be picking up, blowing more strongly by the minute. We were sitting on an empty bench in the empty park.

"Go ahead, laser me right now." I said. She rolled her eyes, but continued, nonetheless.

"Shut it, I told you about the... and the non... right?" She said as suddenly, the wind blew hard, whipping our hair into our faces and as it blew directly into my ears, I couldn't hear a thing.

"What?" I repeated. Where the hell did this wind come from? I shoved my hair away, as it found a way into my mouth and eyes. It started becoming really windy and cold.

I turned my face so that the wind was facing it, not letting the hair get in my mouth anymore. It also started to rain ever so slightly.

"So then you have all of these-" She wanted to say something but stopped. It was odd, so I looked at her and I saw that her eyes were so wide. Her pupils were thin and small as a tip of a needle. Is she having some kind of attack? The wind blew even harder and I had to yell for my words to get to her. What was with the weather?

"Amanda! What is it?!" I yelled.

If it was possible, her eyes widened even more in fear and her mouth hung agape, forming a big 'O'. She didn't move.

What is happening to her?!

"Amanda!" I yelled, shaking her.

She wasn't noticing me. She was looking at a dot behind me. I took my hair away from my face, because the wind was shoving it into my eyes again, making it harder for me to see. I turned around, narrowing my eyes and squinting.

Oh no… I felt my eyes widening in shock.

No... not now… this has to be a nightmare, it has to… God, please this has to be a nightmare…

Except it wasn't.

It was as if the wind was going 50 miles per hour, and that it was twisting itself in an evil whirl, ready to take us all out.

I grabbed Amanda's arm and dragged her away from the park. We had to run back home. We had to hide. Or we would die.

Going in the direction of the malicious tornado, because that was where my home was, I let go of her arm and we ran side by side. After gaining some conscience, she began to run after me, adrenaline pumping in our veins. It started raining more heavily and it became harder to see where we were going. We were running like hell, and I could hear Amanda panting from not being able to fill her lungs with oxygen. She was slowing down, but I quickly grabbed her hand and dragged her.

Making such a sudden and jerking movement got Amanda to realize the situation she was in. She looked in front of herself, seeing our death before us. She stopped immediately, making her hand escape my grasp. I immediately stopped and looked at her, her eyes wide as she was panting a little.

"Amanda, what the hell?! Come on, we need to find shelter!" I yelled, flailing my arm for her to come to me, while rain started to become a full on storm.

"We're going to die! We have to go back!" She yelled in fright, her blonde hair flailing around her face and frightened green eyes.

"We can't go back!" I yelled back and took her arm. We started running again in the heavy rain, with leaves, branches and random trash flying around us. I felt as if Amanda gave me the whole responsibility of saving her life, as she ran only as fast as I dragged her, and offered no suggestions on how to reach my house more quickly and safely. She was completely lost, and by the look on her face, she was totally depending on me to save our lives. Could I handle the pressure?

Thunder cracked around us, echoing nefariously.

Now's not the time, Mel.

We managed to reached my home and we ran back inside, soaked from head to toe.

"Mom!" I bellowed through the house, panting heavily while at it, as the water dripped from our clothes and hair.

"Oh, Melissa!" She ran from the living room and hugged me. I hugged her back so tightly.

"Mom, where's dad?!" I asked in fright.

"Don't go near the windows!" Mom shrieked as Amanda tried to hide under one. "Amanda, come!" Mom took her by the arm and ran with her to a small backroom of the apartment where we kept stuff we never used. She managed to put Amanda in the fridge, which luckily, contained no shelves and it was off for quite a while. It would keep her safe. I just hoped Maddie wasn't claustrophobic.

Mom got me to the bathroom, but I refused to go in.

"Get in!" Mom yelled at me.

"No! Where are you and dad going to hide?!" I yelled back. I have to know they're safe!

"Don't worry, Mel!" Mom said calmly, despite the circumstances, and dad showed up beside her as the apartment started to rattle. The storm was getting stronger.

I looked at my parents with tearful eyes. The bathroom was too small for the three of us to fit in.

Where were they going to hide?

Suddenly, a trashcan flew straight through our window as thunder echoed loudly through the city. The storm was nearing. I screamed as the trashcan broke through our window, sending glass particles flying through the house dangerously.

My dad shielded my mom from the glass, as my mom screamed as well in tremor. My parents quickly leaned in and kissed me on the cheeks at the same time and hugged me. "We love you." Dad said and pushed me into the bathroom.

"No-" I was cut off by him slamming the bathroom door in my face. The apartment began to shake and rattle even harder, as the light inside the bathroom started flicking. "Mom! Dad!" I screamed for them, but my cries fell on deaf ears. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, and my heart pumped so loudly in my chest that I felt it would jump out of it. Everything was shaking and I could hear the windows cracking and breaking. I tried opening the lock, frantically pulling it with hot tears burning my eyes, but no use… They locked me in. My heart sped up even faster than I thought was humanely possible.

"Mom, Dad, please come back!" I screamed from the top of my lungs, as I saw the ceiling and walls crack above me and the plaster dust fall on me.

The floor began to rumble beneath my feet and I fell uncomfortably on the floor, losing my balance, hitting the left side of my ribs painfully against the toilet. I also hurt my hand from the fall and as the light went out, I tried to get up as quickly as possible. In the heat of the moment and in the completely terrifying darkness, I hit my collarbone on the brass door handle full force. A shriek escaped my throat and I felt huge pain erupt from where my collarbone was. Uncontrollable pain.