Stay Alert Youth

The night went by fast, as always. I woke up to hearing someone calling my name from downstairs. I rubbed my eyes, trying to focus on the voice. I checked my calendar to check the date, Monday, April twenty-two, two days till my eighteenth birthday, so I got up and headed down the stairs. Then suddenly I remembered my dream. As I walked downstairs, I tried to process what happened in that dream. It was almost too real. I walked down the steps to be greeted by my mother's warm smile. I felt relieved. I'm glad it was a dream, so I gave her a long hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning, mom," I said while still hugging; I am glad she was here. Even though we still have problems together, I still love her.

"Good morning, hun; what's up with you this morning? Is something wrong? You usually don't give me hugs in the mornings," she said as she chuckled.

We let go.

"I'm just a bit out of it this morning," I explained.

She asked me what was wrong, and I explained my dream to her, and she sat there in silence for a second. 

I don't know what she was thinking so hard about; it must have been a silly dream. She was about to open her mouth to talk to me, but then Mark walked in, who was the horrible boyfriend. 

"Why are you two sitting around, Phen! You need to be in school in fifteen minutes." He yelled at us. 

Mark approached me and slapped my cheek. He had a long nail that sliced a bit of my skin on my face. 

'You fucker! You have no right to do that!" I yelled! "Mom?'

She sat there in silence, knowing that she wanted to do something but couldn't.

"If you don't go to that school right now, hitting you won't be the only thing you have to worry about." He screamed, "This is the last time we will be seeing you for a while, you better be on your best behavior there, and you, Patricia (my mother), go get the car ready!"

As he said that, chills were sent down my spine, knowing what he was capable of. We both just nodded and went to do our jobs.

School… 

School… 

School… 

SAY

Stay

Alert 

Youth

That's the name of the school.

It's tough to get in and highly impossible to get out. 

The program itself makes it sound like it's a military camp. They put you in intense physical and mental training through extreme tests, and if you don't make it out on top, you're dead.

As I walked up the stairs thinking of ways to get out of this school, I heard something; I walked into my room and checked to see what was there. 

I stopped in my tracks. It was my brother, Ron.

"Ron!" I ran up to him and hugged him," tears were forming in my eyes, "I thought you were dead?"

"Who are you talking to up there, young lady." I heard Mark screaming from downstairs.

"No one!" I yelled back.

It was silent, and then I heard creaking on the stairs for one second as if someone was walking up. Judged by the sound, it was probably Mark walking up.

"Hide! Hide!" I whispered to Ron.

As Ron found a spot, mark came through my door.

'Who the fuck were you are talking to," he said with a snarl.

"No… No one", I said, standing my ground.

He walked over to me, pushed me against the wall, and said. "If you don't tell me whom you were talking to now, you know how this will end."

"I was talking to no one," I said and shoved him off me. 

Everyone in our family thought Ron was dead. He went to SAY quite a few years ago. We got a call saying that he passed on one of the physical tests, and they were "sorry" that they didn't inform us sooner. We had a funeral and everything for him a few years ago.

I looked back at Mark, wondering if he knew Ron was alive. Then a split second later, Mark started choking me. I couldn't breathe; everything was getting heavy and dark. Then right behind Mark, Ron stood up and was right behind him. Ron put his hand on Mark's shoulder. Mark let go of me and then looked at Ron. His face dropped, then a split second later, he fell and was unconscious or dead.

I backed away from Marks's's body, grinning. Why was I? What's going on? I looked up at Ron, confused. 

"What's going on?" I said.

"Phen, I am here to pick you up to bring you to SAY.' Ron explained.

For example, my brother, who is alive now, is where my school is where my parents want me to go. 

"First, you die, then you come to pick me up and expect me to go with you! You died! You lied to us!" I yelled.

"I understand your feelings right now; if you go with me, I will explain everything to you on the car ride to the school," Ron said with a cold face. 

I looked down at Mark's body. But, I thought to myself, what could be better than here. Any place is better than here with Mark, especially if I have my brother. I did have one question, though, "Is Mark dead?"

"No, he has passed out; he will wake up in 24 hours," he explained.

"You promise to tell me everything," I asked.

"Yes, I promise." He said earnestly.

I nodded and walked over to my stuff and picked it up as he was waiting for me at the doorway.

We walked down the stairs in silence as I looked around the house I grew up in, soaking everything in. The wall where we measured our heights when we were younger, me and Ron that it. I was always taller than him, but now he towers over me. Ron has grown so much, his facial features have matured, and he looks fit and very physically active. He is twenty years old, about two years older than me. I am currently seventeen, almost eighteen…

It's crazy to think that I have been in this house; I wondered if I'd ever see it again. 

We reached the door, and he opened it for me as my hands were full from carrying all my stuff. I walked out to see my mom's car next to this expensive SUV parked next. I saw her get out, and she just stood there, watching me and Ron walk to his car. Her demeanor completely changed. She nodded to me as I got into his car. I sat there amazed, his mom in on something with Ron? Did she know he was alive? What is going on?

Ron turned on the car and was pulled out of the driveway; my mother and I made eye contact. It felt as if everything was in slow motion; she wasn't showing any emotion compared to her usual self; it was such cold energy from her. Finally, Ron was entirely out of the driveway and was driving away. We didn't speak for a couple of minutes, and my stomach grumbled.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

I realized I didn't eat breakfast; I nodded yes.

He pulled off onto a familiar road, and we went down it for a little bit and stumbled into a diner.

"I'll answer any questions you have, but first eat." He said.

We pulled up to a diner.

We went in and sat down at a corner booth table. I looked around, and I felt as if I vaguely remembered this place, then I remembered. "We went here for your 15 birthday, didn't we".

He nodded in silence. I was about to ask him a question when a waitress came up to us and asked if we were ready to order. Ron ordered some fries, and I ordered a burger. With our orders now placed, it was time for us to talk.

"How are you alive?" I asked, which felt like an appropriate question to start with.

He took a deep breath and sighed, "There is a lot to that answer, but I will give you a brief explanation. First, it was to ensure your safety."

"My safety?" I said, interrupting.

"There are many things that you will get to know in time. As for I promised to tell you everything, there are still classified things." Ron said while analyzing our surroundings.

I sat there for a second trying to understand; I felt like I was in one of those action movies; it all felt unreal.

"Is that all you can say about the fact that you are alive?" I asked.

"There is one more thing for me to make sure that you were safe. We had to cut contact; death was the easiest. Many people come after me because of my special gifts and powers. You are the key to everything, the most important part of this current world. We needed to make sure no one would come after you to try to interrogate me. We had a special person there to protect you at all costs—"

"Let me guess, mom," I said coldly.

"Correct, she is in the Alpha team; they are people that have mastered almost every skill in the world you could think of. Thus SAY needed to put her with you to keep you protected, but we needed someone ordinary to come into your life to create a fake family facade," Ron said.

"Let me guess, Mark," I said.

"You catch on quick."

As I was about to ask another question, the lady gave us our food. My stomach grumbled again. I was so excited to eat. I was about to pick it up, and then Ron smacked it out of my hands.

"What was that for?!" I said.

He picked it up and smelled it, "it's poisoned."

We need to get out of here now. We both picked up our stuff and headed out for the door. I ran to open it, and it was locked. I turned around, and there were five people with guns. I looked at Ron, who looked unfazed. He put me behind him to ensure my safety, I'm assuming. 

"What do you want?" Ron asked.

"We want her," the lady in the middle said.

All five of those people looked insanely strong. The woman was in the middle of the five, two on both sides. She was taller than all of them and was insanely muscly as they all were. 

"What If I refuse." Ron threatened.

"You're not bulletproof, so we will have to see," She chuckled, "Get ready to fire."

I looked at Ron again to see what he had planned; he once again looked unfazed. They all were about to pull the trigger. 

"Do you trust me, Phen?" Ron said.

"Yes, I do." I mean, what else was I going to say? No?

Then the click, the sound of a trigger, bullets were flying. Ron stood in front of me and lifted his arm to show his palm to the five people. The shots paused in mid-air. I stood there in awe. Is this the identical nerdy older brother that I once had? The five looked terrified, as if they didn't expect this to happen, as if they didn't expect someone like him to be with me.

He dropped the bullets and said, "Either you guys tell me whom you work for, or it will be over for you."

They all chuckled at him and turned around, and started walking away. 

Ron grinned; he looked excited about what was about to happen, he lifted his hand again, and the five stopped in their tracks. They started to turn around as they were being controlled slowly. He pulled his wrist back, and they came flying to him. Then they all began kneeling and then ended up in a bow. He stepped over to them and grabbed the woman's chin, and held it to his face.

"You tell me to know or die." Ron threatened.

"Never," she said smiling.

Ron then stood up and snapped. The guy on the farthest right had dropped dead. The lady in the middle then looked up in amazement. 

"Now, will you say something?" Ron said boldly.

"No!" She said, shaking now.

He snapped again, then the guy on the far left dropped dead. You could see in her eyes the sheer fright she was experiencing.

He snapped again.

And again.

All that was left was her. 

"Are you ready now," Ron asked, "Who sent you?"

"You want to know so bad?" The lady chuckled. She said something to him, not in any language I had heard of.

He stood there, shocked after hearing what she said, unable to move as she stood there laughing hysterically.

Ron looked confused and angry; he paused, stared at her, then snapped his fingers again, causing her to fall to the ground. 

Three people at the dinner were standing there, too stunned to move.

He snapped again.

"RON! You can't kill innocent people!" I said and hit him.

He chuckled and shoved me, "They're not dead; they're unconscious for twelve hours."

I sighed in relief.

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a cellphone, and pressed a button, and the phone started reading. The call went through.

He started talking to someone in another language, it seemed. Then went back to English.

"We need a clean-up at my location; I'll send you the coordinates." He said to the person on the phone.

"Let's go," he said.

He somehow unlocked the door. So we walked outside to the car and got in. 

"I bet you have even more questions now," he said, chuckling.

"Oh boy, do I."

We were both laughing together, I mean, laughing or crying. I'd rather laugh.

"Ask away." 

I took a deep breath and asked, "Why did you come back?"

There was silence for a few seconds. Then a response was uttered, "Because it's time."

"Time for what?" I asked. 

"You'll see," he said smiling, "everything will make sense with time."