Murrrr… Something burns. I open my eyes from my sleep only to be blinded by the sun.

“Ah!” I screamed out, flailing. I ended up falling out of bed onto my floor.

Stupid sun, burning so bright. Go supernova already! Who even needs the sun! I stomped over to my window to close my curtains. I peered outside first though, I could see some of the local kids getting off the bus. I guess school time is over already. How long was I asleep for? Oh well.

I closed my curtains, bringing my room back to its dark state. Or slightly dark state. It wasn’t dark enough! Didn’t I hang a sheet over my curtains too to really darken the room last night? Where’d it go? In fact, who opened up my curtains to begin with? That’s when I noticed my room wasn’t as dirty as it was the night before.

There was only one culprit.

“Mom!” I yelled, coming out of my room. No response. She must be busy down stairs. I need my sheet! The sanctity of my room depends on it!

“Hey No-no.” I heard a voice say. I turned to see my brother, Jade coming out of his room. He was the four years younger than me, and also my youngest brother. Jade was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, so he must have just woken up himself.

“Hey! Have you seen mom?” I asked.

Jade only shook his head no, before walking towards the bathroom. Grrr. Okay! Downstairs!

I flew down the stairs, I just woke up and thus am full of energy! Dad always said I’d vibrate out of existence one of these days. I keep telling him that’s not possible, that’s like that information paradox! Then he calls me a smartass when I say something like that. I don’t take it to heart, since I am smart thank you!

Anyway, I looked around for my mother. Still, no sign of her in the living room, Just my other younger brother, Bryce. He was two years younger than I.

Bryce was sitting on the couch, eating while watching some show. I waved before dashing off to the next room.

The kitchen? I peered in. It was spotless, the mess I made with the orange juice disappeared. …I probably should have cleaned it up myself in hindsight. Oh well, I’ll apologize later. No Mom though.

The basement?

I looked down the stairs, leading into the deep dark abyss. I used to be really afraid of the dark. But now? I’m not a baby anymore! I bravely march down the stairs, reaching the lightswitch at the bottom.

The basement was empty. I probably could have pierced that together due to the fact it was so dark. Where are you mother? I flicked the light switch off, leaving me alone in the dark.

…

I went up the stairs a bit faster than I came down them, I wasn’t afraid, I swear!

Anyways, That’s all the locations in the house for the most part. Mother tended not to wander outside of those areas. I ended up looking outside, peering at our front lawn. Her car was gone. She must have went to the store or something.

That solves that mystery. That’s okay. Not like it really mattered. I went to the room with our family computer. It used to be my older brothers room, but he left. So now there’s just really a bed and the computer. Some of his stuff is still around but he explicitly told me not to touch it. …I still wanna take a peek of his secret box though.

But yeah, time to play some games! I’ll just spend the rest of the day playing Airant. I gotta make Chop proud and become the strongest after all!

I turned on my computer. It always took so long to boot up. I wish we could get a new one but we can’t afford it. Dad says he’ll get us one when Mom stops taking all of his money, which I take as it never happening.

Sigh. Did they have to fight all the time? Clayton, my older brother, hasn’t come back since the last big fight between Mom and Dad. He’s living with my grandma at the moment. So now it’s just me, Jade and Bryce left in the house, leaving me as the oldest brother!

Not that I really want that title, I don’t want to talk to the police if Mom and Dad start fighting again. Clayton did it before which means it would be my turn next!

The computer finally booted up, which meant I could start doing things! I clicked the icon for Airant, which was a tiny little picture of the Goddess. Praise her name!

It slowly started to load, bringing me to the login screen. I entered my details and clicked enter.

No Internet Connection Found.

Huh? What?

I looked at the corner of my PC and sure enough, the little connection thing had zero bars! What’s going on! I got up and made my way to the living room, which is where our router lived. Maybe I just need to restart it? I tried that, and went back to my computer.

No Internet Connection Found.

Urgh! What’s going on!

“Hey Noel, Mom got rid of the internet.” Bryce said, entering the room.

“She did what?” I screamed.

“But Mom! I need internet to play my game!” I said to my mother, she just got back home with some groceries on hand.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t afford it at the moment, your dad is behind on his payment.” Mom said, walking into the kitchen.

“But but-“

“No buts. By the way, what did you do with the juice last night?” Mom asked, putting away the new bottles of juice she just bought.

“I drank it?” I tried.

“All over the floor?”

“I may have a spilled a bit.”

“I keep telling you to be more careful, and I also told you not to drink the orange juice. You know that’s the only kind Jade will drink.” Mom scolded me.

“What else am I supposed to drink then?”

“I don’t know, we have iced tea, water…”

I groaned. “I like juice too though, it’s not fair to only have Jade drink that.”

“He’s a peanut, he needs all the calories he can get.” Mom said.

Whatever. I don’t even care about the stupid juice. If I can’t have any I’ll just stop drinking it.

“Anyway, when are you gonna turn the internet back on?” I asked.

“Whenever child support comes in.”

“When’s that?”

“Ask your father. Feel free to call him and tell him that you’re not doing well because he hasn’t paid yet.” Mom said in a bitter tone.

And that was the end of that conversation. I knew better than to actually ask such things to Dad. Last time I wanted to cry after I got yelled at.

“Okay, assuming that doesn’t work out with Dad, when would be the soonest?”

“Next month, I suppose.” Mom simply said, finishing up putting away the bags of food. She then exited the kitchen, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

A month? What am I even supposed to do without internet for a month! I can’t play Airant, I can’t watch videos online, I can’t even play flash games!

I mean, I guess I can go outside? I haven’t been out in a bit.

Hmm… I think I will. I ran upstairs to go get changed into outdoor clothes. I was still just wearing pajamas before, like I always wear.

T-shirt! Check! Jeans! Check! My favorite Spider-man Hoodie! Check! I was ready to go! When I left my room, I ran into Jade once more.

“Are you going somewhere?” Jade asked.

“Just outside. I was gonna walk to the park.” I said.

“Can I come?”

“Of course! Let’s get Bryce to come too!”

“Yay!” Jade ran into his own room, coming out seconds later with a half a shirt over his head. Ha!

“Bryce!” I called downstairs. “We’re going to the park! Get dressed!”

“Okay!” I heard him reply.

We ended up outdoors, Fall had just started, so the orange leaves crunched under our feet as we walked. We lived in a small community, my mother rents the house from the complex people. There’s lots of families who live here. Even a few kids who live nearby.

I haven’t bothered to know any of them though, I didn’t really see the point as they spent half the day at school, while we were at home. My brothers and I were homeschooled, but we didn’t really do any school work. My Mom bought some practice books for us but we don’t ever touch them.

Also, in regards to the local kids and why I don’t talk to them, I also doubt we would live here for very long. So it feels like a waste in that regard too. This is the fourth move we’ve made in the past two years. My mother says she hates staying put in the same area, not to mention her moving back in with Dad before too.

I kinda wish they could just not fight for a bit. I didn’t really like moving out at all.

On the bright side, at least this place has a cool park. We ended up on our destination.

The park! It had slides! Swings! Jungle Gym! The spinning thing! …What is that thing called anyway?It doesn’t matter, the point is this place had everything I could want!

“No-no, can you spin us around?” Jade asked.

“Of course!” I said.

We went over to the spinning thing. Bryce and Jade hopped on and gripping on tight.

“Alright! You ready? I’ll use my ultimate move! Reversal!” I said, grabbing on to the bar and running in a circle.

“Whoa!” Bryce cried out, as he held on.

“Don’t go falling yet, this isn’t even my full power! Grah!” I yelled, giving one last push as I then leap on my self.

The autumn view of the neighborhood turned into a blur of orange and yellow, the world warping from the fast speeds we were twisting in.

I’m sure the adults in the buildings could hear us laugh as we spun. It was so much fun!

Eventually, the rotation came to a halt.

Jade looked dizzy as he hopped off. I guess my A Rank Reversal was a bit too much for him! Ha!

“So fast…” Jade muttered.

“I wanna go on the swings!” Bryce said.

“Yeah! The swings!” Jade said. They both ran off towards the swings. There was only two of the swings. So I just sat down for a second, mostly to catch my breath from spinning them so hard.

A whole month… It’s gonna be a long wait. At least I can have fun in the meantime.