Chapter 1
Kat; March 28, 2037
“COME BACK HERE KAT” I hear my brother shout to me. I turn around only to find myself on the floor greeted by an excited Axel licking my face. Mason tries to pry him off of me but ends up falling on the floor next to me. We lay there laughing as the atmosphere lightens up. “Kat, Mason get back inside. We have to get going” mom calls out. “And bring Axel with you” dad says peeking out from the garage. “ALRIGHT! COMING” I yell out to them. I scoop Axel up as Mason groans. “What’s wrong?” I ask him. “Nothing, I just don’t want to spend another day looking at houses” he says. Technically he’s right, I don’t want to either. All we’ve been doing for the past 2 weeks is look at houses. This was definitely not how we planned on spending our summer. “Me neither, but you know this job is important to dad” I reply, trying to change his mood. “Yea whatever” he says. He stays silent throughout the whole car ride. I can hear his fingers typing away, probably texting one of his friends. Ever since he turned 14, and mom finally let him have a phone, he’s always been on it. Like EVERY. SINGLE. MINUTE. OF. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Mom says I can’t have a phone until I’m 13, which technically IS a year before Mason got his but it’s still THREE more years. What do I do until then? I mean Mason definitely isn’t enough amusement for me. Well I do have Axel. “OH, the gates are gorgeous” I hear my mom say. I look up and see these tall, bronze gates. “They look like they compiled a million years of dust that solidified to make it look like a piece of tree bark” Mason says. “MASON, don’t talk to your mom like that” Dad scolds. This can’t get any worse, or maybe it can. You really never know with Mason in the car. “It’s fine” mom says, ignoring Mason. “Look, here’s the first house!” Dad says, getting out of the car. The house is pretty. Well I mean it’s not ugly? Me and mom exchange a look, worried dad might like it too much. He keeps aweing at every corner of the room. Even the bathroom. “This house is great for sure, ″ mom says skeptically. “But maybe we want to look at other ones?” Dad laughs. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t like it that much” “It’s not that I don’t like it-” “It’s alright Cass, there are more houses″ Mom just gives him a smile and moves on but I swear I heard a sigh of relief. We look at another house and before we know it, two hours have passed. “I’m hungry” Mason says, tugging at dad. “I bet you are, we should stop for lunch somewhere” Dad suggests. “I saw a Mcrenolds on the way here” I say. “Perfect” mom says smiling. Dad waves off the sales agent the best he can but it still takes another 10 minutes to even step out of the house. “Why is it so quiet now?” Mason says. He’s right, it seems really quiet, not the calming sort of quiet it’s more of an odd sort of quiet. “Maybe everyone went in for lunch” mom says. “Nothing to worry about ″ I should believe that, but I can’t shake the nauseous feeling from my stomach. There’s definitely something strange… and that only proves to be right when a pink haze creeps up from the side of the curb filling the road. “RUN” is the last thing I hear, before Mason grabs my hand and Axel’s barks fill the air.
