Self-imposed Solitude

"Good afternoon, Heat!" Debbie greeted.

"Afternoon, Debbie."

"Greetings, person," Dan followed up.

"Afternoon to you too, Dan."

Dan threw his bag on the couch ran into the kitchen.

"You're done with dinner already?!"

"Yeah, I gotta study for something, so no one should bother me for the rest of the night."

"Do you have a test?" Debbie asked.

"Yeah."

"I didn't expect you to have an all-nighter for a high school test."

"It's not a high school test; it's an online university course."

"See, that's why I tell people not to mess with me, 'because I have a brother who can beat them up, but with books."

Debbie chuckled. "Stop it, Dan."

"Very funny. Now get out, both of you."

When he was done with the food, Heat entered his room to study. A couple of hours later, he unknowingly fell asleep.

He woke up in a strange environment. Around him were homes and shops which looked like they pre-dated the industrial revolution—he was in medieval Europe. He looked around and saw dead bodies; people were crying and setting bodies on fire. The street was smelling terribly, there was sewage on the road and people continued to dump dead bodies inside the growing fire at a junction. Suddenly, the place felt much hotter and the temperature rapidly rose. From behind him, Heat could hear a river in the middle of street, the sound getting closer with each passing second. Still unable to wrap his head around anything, he looked back only to see a river of lava rushing down the street. He ran as fast as he could from the lava. Behind him, people getting swallowed. However, no one aside him was running. He briefly paused; when he did, the lava rose like a wave and crashed down on him.

Heat's back jerked off the ground. He sat up, panting and sweating. He looked at his skin, his sweat was black. Hoping he was not seeing right, Heat rubbed his eyes and looked again—it was normal. He took in a deep breath.

"I'm fine, everything's fine."

It was after he uttered those words that Heat realized he was in the forest. He didn't understand why the forest floor felt like a bed till he heard a hiss. Alarmed, he scrambled to his feet and leaped to a tree branch. Beneath him, in a roughly ten-meter radius, there were snakes all around him.

"H-h-h-ow, how? How did I sleep in that?"

He sat on the tree branch with his face in his hands, his body shivering and his thoughts uncontrollable.

"What's going on? What's going on? What's going on?"

Heat stayed still for several minutes until his heartbeat calmed close to normal. Quickly, he rushed back home to his siblings.

****

The next day Heat went to school like nothing happened. His day proceeded normally. When the bell rang to signal the end of school, he quickly grabbed his bag pack and walked out.

"Heat!" Zainab called when she met him at the car park.

"Hi, Mira."

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean with your gang."

"That obvious?"

"Very much so. You're three guys; the only thing I could think of is you arguing over a girl—Aquila. But, does makes no sense, a sane girl would straight up for Supido."

"Thanks a lot for the vote of confidence, I needed that."

Zainab chuckled. "Sorry, I don't think before I talk sometimes."

"That's a fair excuse."

Zainab stretched her neck to look behind Heat. "Oops, gotta go, the chauffeur is in."

Zainab entered an expensive car that pulled up next to her. Heat waved as the car drove away. He paused and looked around. He saw Aquila with two girls, standing beside her car. It was also an expensive, luxurious one. He looked at Ursus holding a rugby ball, while leaning against his car chatting with other guys; he preferred American muscle. He looked behind him and saw Supido who was trying but failing miserably to ignore three girls who were trying to get a ride with him in his sports car. After failing to say no nicely, Supido just drove off.

"Maybe in another lifetime, Heat, another lifetime."

While walking, he heard a car reverse from its position in his direction. After he got out of its way, he sensed a movement which was going to collide with the car. Heat looked behind and saw a girl running, completely unaware of the approaching car. Just before it could hit her, he quickly grabbed her hand and jumped out of the way; the car's driver sped off. Heat placed her gently on the ground.

"Thanks a lot," she said.

She was panting, and seemed focused on something urgent, probably late for an occasion.

"You're welcome. Just make sure you watch where you're going."

Riza was a red-haired girl the same age as Heat, but slightly shorter. She had hazel eyes and was a shy character that was always busy. The only person Heat could think of aside himself, to have had a tough childhood was Riza—that's how rare such a thing was in Zion. However, with Riza, it was almost impossible to tell. Her face always beamed with a smile.

"Sorry, for disturbing you. I was running late and kinda lost track of my surroundings."

"Oi, don't go giving me an explanation. Let's just be glad that you're safe. Oh, and tell your kid siblings I said hi."

"No problem," she said and ran off.

Heat began to walk away but stopped when he saw a piece of paper with a Japanese writing on it.

"Must've fallen from her pocket," he looked around, but Riza was nowhere in sight. "I'll just give it to her tomorrow," he looked closely at the paper. "Too bad I suck at Japanese."

"Oh really?" a deep voice asked.

Heat's heart skipped a beat. He looked around but didn't see anyone talk to him because as he suspected, the voice wasn't from outside.

"Summer hut in Togo!"