CHAPTER ONE: THE DREAM
*2 YEARS LATER*
I opened my eyes to find myself surrounded in pitch-black darkness. I turned my head left and right to see if I could spot something, just anything that could give me a slight clue as to where I was, but found nothing. I was more confused than scared as to what was going on but something deep down told me that I should be freaking out right about now.
'What the hell is going on here?' I thought to myself. 'Where even am I anyway?'
Though the panic was building up within me, I didn't allow myself to be consumed by it. When life puts you in a threatening situation, the one thing I learned was to never give in to panic. Always remain calm in the face of adversary. While it may be easy to give someone that bit of advice, it was never easy to follow through with it.
Just like animals in the wild, humans have the instinct, the self-preservation, to survive when they find themselves in a life-threatening situation. Any sense of panic will set off that instinct, which would result in that organism trying to escape from it. This may or may not result in sudden death.
So, I remained calm and tried to find a way out of this pitch-black darkness. Even though I couldn't see anything and there was no sign of an exit, that still didn't stop me from trying to find a way out. I wasn't going to give up that easily. If I were to just give up right now, that would be me accepting my fate too quickly, and that wasn't going to happen.
Just then, a figure emerged from the pitch-black darkness. At first, I wasn't able to tell what it was, but upon closer inspection and as it stopped about 20 feet away from me, I was both confused and shocked at what I was seeing.
The figure appeared to be some white rabbit with patches and stitches all over its body, giving me the impression that this figure was wearing a suit. It had large red eyes and a light blue ribbon tied around its neck. Held tightly in its right hand was what appeared to be a large kitchen knife that was stained with blood. Judging from the body structure, it appeared to be female.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. What was this thing doing here? And why was it holding a large kitchen knife in its hand? None of this made any sense to me. But most importantly of all, why was I hit with this powerful sense of dread by just looking at this thing?
The rabbit cocked its head to the side and stared at me for a moment. Then, it raised the knife above its head and began charging at me with inhuman speed. I stared at it as it inched closer. Something told me to run and never look back, but I didn't. I stayed where I was as the rabbit reached me and tackled me to the ground.
I grunted as I landed on my back hard enough to have the air knocked out of me, wrapping its hand around my neck. I looked the white rabbit in the eyes as it held the bloodied kitchen knife high above its head. I glared defiantly at it for a moment before the knife suddenly came down at me. I closed my eyes, waiting for it to plunge into me, but I felt nothing.
I opened my eyes and to my confusion, the rabbit was gone. I got back on my feet and looked around to see if I could spot it. As I did this, I thought I heard a strange sound echoing through the darkness. At first, I couldn't tell what it was as it sounded like it was far away. The strange sound continued to grow louder and clearer as I continued to search for the rabbit that tried to kill me.
I quickly turned my head to the right one last time and where I came face-to-face with a familiar face of a small girl.
'What the hell?' was the last thought that ran through my head.
"WAKE UP!"
I shouted in surprise as I rolled off the bed and fell to the floor on my back with a loud thud. I groaned, rubbing the back of my head to ease the pain that sparked through my head. When the pain went away, I looked at the edge of my bed to see a young girl with long blonde hair and perfect colored skin, and light brown eyes looking down at me. She had a big smile on her face seeing that I was awake.
"It's about time you woke up, sleepyhead," she said jokingly with a light chuckle. I just rolled my eyes in annoyance.
"Ha ha, very funny Lisa," I said, a hint of annoyance in my tone. "I have told you a thousand times to not do that."
She chuckled yet again. "Well, Mom and Dad wouldn't be sending me to your room to wake you up every morning for school if you didn't have a habit of sleeping in all the time."
I groaned loudly in annoyance, to which made Lisa laugh lightly in response. While it was annoying that they had to send Lisa to my room to wake me up, I couldn't blame her or any of my parents for it. If I had an alarm clock, maybe Lisa wouldn't be coming into my room all the time to wake me up. To be honest, it would make things much easier if I had one.
"It's not my fault," I argued. "I just love and want to get as much beauty sleep as I can. Besides, I can't go to school for the next 3 days because I got suspended, remember?"
To this, Lisa frowned. All everyone knew was that I got into a big fight with one of the kids at school, which of course, thanks to my father teaching me and my sister martial arts didn't end well for him. However, I had my reasons as to why I won't tell anyone.
The kid that I beat up was the local bully named Kenny Wilds. He was the kind of kid that would pick on you for anything. Have autism? He would pick on you for that. Be attracted to the same sex? He would pick on you, maybe even make your life a living hell. Just anything he would pick on you over.
For some reason, Kenny loved picking on me and doing everything in his power to make my life a living hell. Of course, no one would do anything about it, many of them seeing it as harmless teasing. But was saying things like how my sister 'will grow up to be nothing but a dirty woman on the streets' harmless? No, it wasn't. That was the whole reason I got into a fight with him.
It happened about 2 minutes right after History class ended. I was walking down the hallway to get to my next class when he started to pick on me with his friends, trying to start beef. Over the years, I learned to just ignore anyone picking on me. That's what I did. Of course, he didn't like that. From there, he began hitting below the belt. I was doing well at ignoring him when he said something that made my blood boil.
"I bet your little sister will grow up to be nothing but a dirty whore."
If there was one thing that would make me become a psycho, it was when someone insults my sister in any way. Without warning, I threw my stuff to the ground and charged at him like a wild animal, readying my right fist for a punch. He never stood a chance.
When it was over, he was nothing but a bloody mess on the floor. I got in trouble, of course. When one of the teachers went to check what was going on, his friends twisted the story by saying I attacked Kenny over harmless teasing. Seeing Kenny on the floor was all the proof the teacher needed and we went to the principal's office. When we got there, she explained what happened in the hallway. The principal was rightfully pissed at me. He gave me a 3-day suspension and called my father.
My father got to the school in minutes. He was so enraged that I envisioned steam blowing out of his ears. When we got in the car, he demanded to know why I beat the crap out of Kenny over teasing. I didn't say anything. For the entire ride, I refused to tell him everything, even with him getting angrier.
When we got home, he told my mother what happened. She got mad and demanded to know why. Like with my father, I didn't say anything. I turned around and walked away. Even with my parents demanding me to get back and talk, threatening to ground me along the way, I still didn't listen.
Not long after my sister got home, she learned what happened. She went to see me in my room, looking upset. Unsurprisingly, she asked why. It was difficult to refuse to not tell her, considering that it involved Kenny insulting her behind her back. When she realized that I wouldn't talk, she gave up and left me alone.
There's a reason why I didn't say anything. I didn't want anyone to get involved with my problems. I didn't like the idea of anyone wasting their time to try helping me when they could be focusing on something else. That and also because I was afraid of what the outcome would be.
"You know, Dad is going to keep asking you about your own account of events that took place yesterday," Lisa pointed out. "He's still pretty mad at you, you know."
I groaned. "Like I don't know that. He made that very clear many times yesterday."
"Because you keep refusing to talk," she retorted.
"And I have the right to remain silent," I said.
"Which is only making things worse," she said, getting upset. I opened my mouth to say something, but someone beat me to it.
"Lisa!" called out a familiar deep, masculine voice. "Is your brother awake?!"
Lisa looked at me for a moment. "Yeah, Dad! He's awake!"
"Well, you two better hurry up!" my father called out. "I don't want your food getting cold!"
We looked at each other for a moment before I stretched to get the blood flowing. After a moment, I relaxed, looking my sister in the eyes.
"Well, now that I'm awake, can you get out of my room?" I asked. Lisa rolled her eyes humorously.
"Okay," she said. "Just don't fall asleep on the floor or else Mom and Dad will send me up here again."
"Just get out of here," I said. "I will get up from the floor when I get the chance."
"If you say so," Lisa said before she hopped off my bed and walked out of my bedroom. I laid there on the floor for a minute before I got back on my feet. I looked around my bedroom and smiled slightly.
My bedroom was decent with a Queen-sized bed that faced the bedroom door, a wooden computer desk with a second-hand computer and lamp that stood a few inches to the left of the bed, a large dresser filled with clothes on the opposite side of the room, and a large bookshelf filled with books standing proud and tall to the right of the dresser. The walls were made out of drywall and there was a window with Sunlight shining through it hanging above my computer desk.
I had the second biggest room in the house, with the largest bedroom being my parent's room. This room had been my room since I was a baby, and I pretty much grew up sleeping in this room. Of course, over the years, the crib was switched for a bed and the computer desk was added during my second year of high school. I was also very proud of my book collection as reading is one of my favorite hobbies.
"Mihael Patel!" my father called out angrily. "Get your ass down here right now before your breakfast gets cold!"
"Coming, Dad!" I called out. I quickly went to my dresser, put on a white T-shirt and shorts, and then stormed out of the bedroom, closing the door behind me.
I entered the dining room, where my family was having breakfast together; my father and my mother sitting next to each other at the north end and my sister at the south end of the table.
The dining room itself was a medium-sized room fitted with a small rectangular-shaped table, a Chinese cabinet with glass doors where all of the wine and beer cups were stored pressed up against the wall at the left of the doorway, a wooden dresser at the right of the doorway, and a small chandelier hanging above the table. The kitchen itself was connected to the dining room at the far right end of the room.
"Good morning," I said casually. Everyone looked up from their plates, turning their attention to me. Everyone smiled, though my father's smile was small.
"Morning, Mihael," they all said at the same time. I walked over to my seat, which was next to my sister. I sat down and looked at my plate. Resting neatly on the plate waiting to be devoured were scrambled eggs with a side of 3 pieces of bacon.
"Thanks," I said to no one in particular as I picked up my fork, which was placed neatly beside the plate and began to dive in.
No one said anything. We were all just enjoying our meals before we had to begin our day. That was fine by me. I wasn't in the mood to talk, especially since my father was there. I was expecting him to start asking me about what happened at school again. He didn't. I didn't question it. It was better that way.
"Mihael," my father said suddenly. I stopped eating and looked up from my plate. There was a serious expression on his face. I felt my heart sink at this, but I kept my demeanor calm.
"Yes?" I said. He sighed before looking me in the eyes.
"Your mother and I have talked yesterday and we decided on what you will be doing for the next 5 days, as well as your punishment," he said firmly. "Until you go back to school on Monday, you will be helping me and your mother around the house. That means that you will be helping with the cooking, the laundry, the cleaning, all of it. When we give you something to do, I want you to do it without any complaints.
"And as for your punishment, you're grounded for two weeks, which means no video games, no driving unless it's necessary, and no computer time for two weeks. This is the price you have to pay for your bad behavior yesterday. Do I make myself clear?"
I thought over everything my father just laid out for me. While it stunk that I couldn't drive, play video games on my computer, and all, doing chores around the house and dealing with the boredom beats having to go to school and deal with Kenny. If this was the price I had to pay, so be it.
"Yes, Dad," I said.
My father nodded, satisfied.
"Good," he said. He grabbed his empty plate and got up. "Now, the first thing I want you to do is to take your sister to school. I would do it myself, but I have things to do at the station. Duty calls. Do what your mother tells you to do. And remember, no complaining."
I nodded. With that, he kissed my mother on the side of the head before walking over to the kitchen. After washing his plate and putting it back where it belonged, he exited the kitchen and walked out of the house, closing the door behind him.
On the outside, I was calm, but on the inside, I was dreading on what my mother was going to make me do. I could only hope it wasn't going to be anything crazy.
"Sis, come on!" I called out impatiently from the foot of the stairs. "You're going to be late for school!"
"Hang on, big brother!" Lisa called out from her room, doing God knew what up there. "Almost done!"
"You've been saying that for the last 15 minutes!" I retorted.
"I'm serious this time! Just a little longer!"
"What the balls!" I cried out in frustration before folding my arms across my chest. I was very aware I was acting childish, but I didn't care at the moment. I only cared about my sister getting done with her business so we could go.
As I waited, I thought about the things my mother would have me do around the house. She wasn't as strict as my father, but she knew when she had to put her foot down when certain lines were crossed. When she has her mind set on something, it's difficult to sway her from it. That can be both good and bad at the same time, depending on the situation at hand. In this case, I would best guess it to be mixed.
The sound of someone coming down the stairs snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked to see Lisa carrying her My Little Pony backpack on her back coming down the stairs, all dressed for school. I stepped away as to give my sister enough room to get off the stairs.
"About time you came down," I said, slightly glaring at my sister. "What took you so long?"
"I was getting ready," Lisa retorted.
"For 15 minutes?" I countered. "It doesn't take that long just to find something to wear for school. Unless you're dressing up to go out on a romantic dinner, then it would be understandable for someone to take so long to get ready."
"Now, Mihael, there's no need to be so hard," my mother said from the living couch. "She has 30 minutes before school starts, so you have plenty of time to get her there."
"The sooner, the better," I said, still irritated. "Come on, let's get you to school."
Lisa nodded. With that, I grabbed my keys from the key holder and stepped out. I closed the door behind us and we walked over to my truck, a Classic Old Chevy that my mother helped me buy sometime after I turned 16. It has been my pride and joy ever since.
As for the neighborhood, it was small consisting of at least 15 houses, most of them being a block away or separated from each other with roads leading to different sections of the neighborhood. One of the best things about it was that it was very quiet, very tranquil. Not a lot of cars drive by this neighborhood, which made it even better. The neighbors knew each other and were probably friends since they were kids.
I pushed the unlocked button as we reached the truck. The sound of the locks clicking echoed from inside. I opened the door for the driver's side and hopped in while Lisa hopped on the passenger side seat. We buckled our seatbelts and I inserted the key into the ignition. I twisted the key, the truck trembling a bit. The engine came to life
I pulled out of the driveway and began the drive to the middle school.
I drove down the road that led to the middle school. I pulled the truck to a full stop once the traffic light up ahead turned red. I waited patiently for the light to turn green. I had no idea what my sister was doing, but if I had to guess, she was probably looking out the window.
Since we pulled out of the driveway, neither of us said anything to each other. I didn't know whether to take it as a good thing or a bad thing, considering my sister loved to talk during car rides. As much as I preferred silence during car rides, I would take Lisa talking about anything right now. I had no idea what was going on in her head right now, but I wasn't going to try figuring out what could be going on.
The traffic light turned green, signaling to the cars that it was for them to go. Once the cars in front of me began to move, I began to move as well. I turned my left turn signal on to let the others behind me know I was going left. I turned the truck to the left and began down the road leading to the school.
I kept my eyes on the road, despite something urging me to take a quick look to see how my sister was doing. As much as I wanted to, I wasn't going to risk getting me and my sister into an accident. That was the last thing any of us needed right now. If anything, getting into an accident at the start of your day would put anyone in a bad mood for the rest of the day. It might even be seen as a sign that today will be a bad day.
"I don't get it," my sister said suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Don't get what?" I asked curiously, internally grateful that Lisa was finally saying something.
"On why you are so keen on not telling us what really happened at school yesterday," she replied. "I don't think you beat that kid up for no reason. I know you, and you are not one to do something like that without any sort of reason."
It took everything I had to keep myself from frowning at Lisa's response. I understood where she was coming from. I knew she wanted to know the truth of what happened. As much as I wanted to tell her everything, I wasn't going to risk making any enemies. That, and I was aware of what people can do when they are pushed over the edge. For all we knew, Kenny could be capable of doing something worse than just being an outright bully.
That was the most terrifying thing about people. You have no idea what they can be truly capable of when they are pushed past their breaking point, aka their limit. On many occasions, when someone is pushed too far, no one realizes it until it's too late. When that happens, the consequences can be deadly and devastating. Even the most kind-hearted person can turn into something frightening when pushed too far.
Plus, there was the fact that my father was the chief of police. While he was greatly respected by the inhabitants of Hurricane, he has his fair share of enemies. As an officer of the law, you are bound to make enemies, even ones who are crazy enough to try getting their retribution. Kenny Wilds may seem like a bully, but I have no doubt that he will go beyond bullying if given the chance.
I sighed. "I'm aware of that, Lisa."
"So tell me, why did you beat that kid up?" she asked, her tone pleading. "Why?"
I cringed slightly. I began to regret feeling grateful that Lisa was talking. I would've gladly talked with her about anything, even listen to what she had to say, but out of everything, it has to be this. Something told me that this was the reason why she remained silent for a mass majority of the car ride. I guess she couldn't handle keeping it to herself anymore and just spat it out.
Besides, even if I wanted to tell her, there was no way in hell I was going to discuss what Kenny called her was or meant. She may be 11 years old, turning 12 in the next 3 days, but she was still too young to know such things. God only knows how everything would turn out if I told her anything… dirty-related.
I sighed again. "As I said to you earlier, I have the right to remain silent. It's better that way."
"Better?" she spat. "You not telling any of us your side of the story is making you look like the bad guy. I don't like it."
"Lisa," I said slowly. "I'm not going to argue about this now."
"And it won't if you will just tell me," she pressured. I pinched the bridge of my nose with the index finger and thumb of my right hand, doing my best to keep the annoyance that was building up at bay.
I rested my right hand back on the wheel just in time to see the middle school coming into view. The school itself was made out of red bricks with a cement-blocked walkway leading to the front doors of the school. Imprinted on the front of the building were the words 'Hurricane Middle School'.
"Lisa, I'm not discussing this topic anymore," I said sternly as I pulled the truck to a stop by the front of the school. "Drop it and let it go."
"Mihael, I'm not going to," she said firmly. "You're my brother and I want to-"
"I said DROP IT!" I shouted angrily, turning to look at her as I slammed my right hand on the dashboard. She had a surprised look on her face. "Yes, I am your brother and we are family, but I'm NOT going to have you harass me about what happened until I crack and tell you! Now go or you're going to be late!"
The surprise on her face changed into a slight glare. We glared at each other for a moment before Lisa forcefully opened the door and hopped out. As if to express her clear anger, she slammed the door as hard as she could. The truck shook as a result. She glared at me for a moment before she ran in the direction of the school. I waited until she went inside.
I stayed where I was. It took a moment for everything to sink in. My heart became heavy at the realization. It was true on one thing she said; family sticks together and does whatever they can to help each other out. While it was good to know that she had my back, but if it meant putting her and everyone else in danger, I wasn't going to risk that.
What made this even worse was how I responded. I knew I should've handled that better, but her harassing me to know what happened wasn't helping anything. I guess I was in the wrong for my behavior just now. I despised getting angry with her, but it was something like what she did that usually got under my skin. However, that still didn't excuse anything.
'I'll make it up to you, sis,' I thought to myself before I began the drive back to the house.
I pulled into the driveway of the house, turning off the engine. I sat there, thinking over what happened earlier. Maybe Lisa was right; not saying anything was not helping my case. However, the thought of what Kenny Wilds would do if I got my family involved made it that more difficult. I love my family and I would do anything to protect them, even if it means endangering my own life.
I stepped out of the truck and walked down the walkway leading to the front door. I walked up the concrete stairs onto the front porch. I reached out for the doorknob with my right hand, ready to step inside. A feeling of dread washed over me as I grasped the knob. I knew that once I stepped inside, my mother was going to have me do some work, as part of the punishment.
I sighed. 'No use on trying to run away from it. Besides, it beats having to go to school.'
I twisted the knob and was met with resistance. I rolled my eyes, knowing why it was locked. I let go of the knob and began searching for the key. It took me a moment to find it. I inserted the key into the lock as carefully as possible. I twisted the key to the right, the knob turning as well. I pushed the door opened and stepped inside.
Closing the door behind me, I instinctively looked to the couch to see my mother in the same spot she was in when I left. She looked in my direction, a blank expression on her face.
"Any trouble getting to the school?" she asked.
"No trouble getting there," I replied. 'The only trouble was what happened on the last bit of the ride to the school.'
"Good to hear," she said. She got up from the couch and ushered me to follow her as she entered the dining room. "Come along, Mihael. We have a lot to do today."
"Yes, mother," I said as casually as possible as I followed her to do whatever it was that she had in store for me.
Author's Note:
Here is the first chapter of Robotic Night! :D
Like I said before, these chapter updates won't be as consistent as Book 1. The reason is that I'm taking time to make sure that the plot remains consistent with the plot of Robotic Love. While the next few chapters will make it seem like what Mihael said in the first book to be inconsistent, one of the future chapters will reveal why that is the case. Trust me, all will make sense in the end.
That is all for now. Keep an eye out for Chapter Two. All constructive criticism is appreciated and I will see you guys in the next chapter! :)