I woke up to the sound of my dad calling me from the door to my room. I got up sluggishly and sleepy as usual before looking in his direction as I walked closer.

"Hey, sleepyhead, I have something to give you. But why don't you go take a shower first? I'll be waiting at the dinner table" he said as he patted me on my head and left before I could say anything to him as my sleepy brain wasn't fast enough to think of something to say, so I just decided to take a shower like he said.

I entered the bathroom, undressed and turned the water strong enough for it to be cold to make me awake properly. After a few seconds of cold water to shock me awake, I slowly closed the faucet to decrease the water pressure for it to warm up as the electric shower's heat began to win over the cold water. I let the warm water wash over me and warm me up after the initial cold water as I looked over at the mirror above the sink, seeing my own reflection on it.

I didn't exactly know when it first began, but as long as I could remember I couldn't really see myself in the mirror. Of course, I could recognize my body in the mirror, for the last few years that is, but I always felt the image I saw wasn't really me, even though for all that matters it was me. My parents took me to a million different doctors and psychologists, but they all reached the same conclusion, that is, they had no idea what could possibly be wrong with me. At first I thought the reflection I saw in the mirror was an entirely different person, but then I learned to recognize it was an image of myself, but the feeling of not really seeing myself still lingered.

"Marcos? Is everything okay?" I heard my mother calling me as she knocked on the door, shaking me back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just needed to use the bathroom" I said, not really thinking of what I just said and where I was.

"I mean, yes. Where else would you take a shower if not for the bathroom?" She laughed, only then it dawned on me that I said I needed to use the bathroom, while in the bathroom.

"That's-That's not what I meant!" I said, embarrassed as to how silly my response to her initial question was.

"Don't worry, little tiger. Just don't sleep in there. We're not made out of money to pay for the water bills" She said and walked away from the door.

I finished showering, changed to my high-school uniform and went to the dinner room, where my dad and mom were already there, eating a small breakfast that consisted of a toast with cream cheese and a cup of coffee for my mom and a plate full of eggs, sausages, cheese, three pieces of bread rolls and a jar of orange juice for my dad. I always asked how he managed to have a lean body while eating so much food like that and he always answered with "I use a lot of energy maintaining this form" and refused to elaborate further than that, so I eventually just gave up asking.

I sat down at the table, where waiting for me were a cup of orange juice and a plate with a slice of chocolate cake and another of carrot cake with that hard chocolate icing that I always loved. Right next to the two pieces of cake was another plate, this one filled with slices of ham, cheese and strips of bacon next to a pair of bread slices. There was yet another plate at the table, this one full of meat. I looked at the three plates silently and then I looked over at my mom who turned her head to my dad's direction.

"When I caught him in the kitchen he had already made this much" She said. "I at least prevented him from making more of the beef. Though I arrived late as he was already preparing to make more"

I looked at my dad and said "do you plan to fat me up or something?" His response was just a shrug as he smiled with a sausage sticking out of his mouth. Thankfully he tore it in half and swallowed the one in his mouth before speaking.

"I couldn't let today pass. It's your birthday after all!" He said as I blinked in confusion.

"And that's the only reason I allowed him to make this much food for breakfast instead of making him throw it in the fridge" my mom said before getting up and Majin her way to me before hugging me tightly. "My little tiger has grown so much. I can't even believe today you'll be making 19 years"

"Mom!" I said as I struggled to breath as her hug was strong enough to asphyxiate a lion. "I told you already to stop calling me little tiger!" I spoke embarrassed at her nickname for me.

"You say this now, but I still have the marks your little teeth have done on my breasts. And I do remember how anything you put your little hands on would immediately go to your mouth as you tried to bite them" She said before finally letting me go.

"I know we settled on making a small birthday party at a pizzeria with the family and your friends on the weekend, but I prepared something for you" My dad said as he placed a small box in front of me.

I opened the box without thinking much but when I saw the box's contents I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow as I looked over at my dad and said "did you maybe mistake the box you were supposed to give me with a gift for mom?" I said as I picked the box's content.

Inside the box, now in my hand, was a light blue crystal bracelet that had a dark blue, green and golden stripes intermingled inside of it.

"Hmm, no. That's for you" He said.

"Dad…" I said, looking at him dead in the eye. "I'm not into jewelry…"

"Don't worry" He laughed. "Think of this as a family heirloom, it's older than this country" He continued.

"It's from your home country? You never talked about it" I said, and my mom agreed.

"It's true, honey, you never really said anything about where you were from" My mom said.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

"Maybe another time, today is Marcos' day" He said, looking at me with shining eyes.

"I-... okay, then. If it's a family heirloom" I spoke and began to put the bracelet back into the box, but my dad interrupted me.

"But first, you need to wear it" He said, causing me to look at him with a dumbfounded expression. "It's a family tradition. The one receiving the bracelet must wear it for at least one day, as you need to understand the importance of it"

I kept looking at him, but he kept his smiling expression without wavering a single moment, making me let out a long sigh. "You do realize people will make fun of me if they see me using something like this, right?" I asked, but my dad just kept smiling. "...fine. I will wear it for today" I said as I picked it up again and put my hand through it. It somehow was the perfect size for my hand to slide easily in and to not fall out. "There, are you happy?"

"Very much, thank you. It's just for today, don't worry" My dad said. "Now, finish your breakfast. You don't need to hurry, I'll take you to your school today"

After eating my breakfast and gathering my things, I left with my dad for my high-school. The trip there went without anything worth mentioning, but it was a slow trip, taking up to about an hour, due to the traffic of São Paulo, but we got there in time before my classes started. As I was leaving the car, my dad stopped me for a moment.

"I just wanted for you to remember that, your mother and I love you. No matter what happens we will be waiting for you" He said.

"...Why? Did something happen? Will something happen?" I asked, confused with the strange thing my dad spoke, but he just smiled before speaking again.

"I just wanted to make sure you remember this simple fact. Good luck out there. Me and your mom will be waiting for you to get back" He said and left. I stood there for a moment, looking at the car as it drove further away until it turned in a crossroad and vanished behind a building.

"...What…What just happened?" I said to myself as I walked to my class.

As I entered my class, only half the people were there, as expected as the bell for the beginning of classes hadn't gone off yet. I sat down in my chair in the middle of the classroom as I waited for the class to start.

"Hey Marcos. Happy birthday" Leonardo, one of my best friends, said as sat by his side.

"Thanks. Where's Alex?" I asked him. Alex, my other best friend, was missing from her chair.

"She went to the bathroom, I think she'll be back in a bit. By the way, what's that on your arm?" He asked, pointing his finger at the bracelet.

"My dad gave me. Apparently it's a family heirloom and it is tradition for the one receiving it to wear it for a day" I answered as I showed him the bracelet.

"It's pretty. If I had one I would gift it to my girlfriend" Leo said as he looked at my bracelet, examining it as he imagined the face his girlfriend would make if he gave it to her… or I thought he imagined, tho it's pretty obvious what's passing through his head right now.

"Oh, Marcos, I heard it was your birthday today" I heard Vinicius' voice coming from behind, causing me to internally sigh as I turned to look at him.

"Yeah, it is" I said.

"I wanted to congratulate you for being a year closer to death today, and… oh, what's this? Finally deciding to give up your masculinity and turn into a girl? Will you place breast implants too? Will you cut your dick out?" He began trying to bully me after he saw the bracelet.

"...Vinicius, the United States in 1990 called, they want you back" I said after his failed attempt to bully me. No, really, I think he watched too much American television and adopted the personality of those generic bullies from the 90s.

Vinicius was about to begin a discussion, but the bell signaling the beginning of classes rang, making him leave to his chair with an angry face and sat down quite violently. Alex then appeared suddenly as she bolted into the classroom and sat down moments before our teacher arrived.

"Hey Marcos, happy birthday" She said as she gave me a hug. "What's with the bracelet?" She asked and I told her the same thing I told Leo, but our talk was cut short by the teacher beginning his class.

During the long and boring class I began to notice white lines forming on the ground. They looked like geometrical shapes and weird drawings.

"Hey, do you guys see that?" I quietly asked Leo and Alex if they could see it, but they both looked around and shook their heads.

"I don't see anything. Why?" Alex asked after looking around to where I was pointing.

“I swear I’m seeing a bunch of glowing white shapes and-” I was speaking when Ricardo, our teacher, noticed us talking and dropped five heavy books on top of the table, creating a loud sound that startled everyone who wasn’t paying attention, including me.

“Marcos, I see you already know the subject I’m currently explaining, as you ignored my explanation to talk with your friends. Would you mind coming to the front of the class and teaching your classmates?” He spoke in an angered stern voice.

“Sorry, Ricardo” I spoke as I looked downwards where I kept seeing the white lines forming all around me.

He returned to teaching us about our independence war and I just kept quiet during the rest of it, just looking at the ever increasing shapes. It kept increasing until the class ended and the teacher left the room, when it stopped increasing in quantity and just stood there. I noticed it was all around the classroom, except in one spot right in the middle where I was sitting.

“So, what we’ll do abo-” Alex began but stumbled backwards as she brought her hand to her face. “Ouch, I hit something”

“Are you al-” Leo tried to walk towards her but also stumbled backwards after trying to pass where there was a circle around me. My heart sank when I thought about what it could possibly mean.

As I got up to test if my theory was true, that there was an invisible barrier keeping me inside the circle without lines in the floor, the classroom door slammed shut hard, surprising everyone in class. The nearest student to the door went to it and tried to open it, but struggled to do it.

“Guys… I think it’s stuck” He said as he tried to pull the door open, but it wouldn’t budge.

People started to panic and crammed together to open the door, but it was sealed shut. A tremor shook everyone and everything inside the room, causing some of the students to fall to the ground and some of the stuff in the shelves to fall, increasing yet more the anxiety levels of everyone except me.

The moment the tremor started, I was assaulted by immense pain in my whole body. The pain was so intense that I threw up and fell on my knees on the ground almost immediately after it started. My vision became blurred and my ears were ringing in a deafening manner. I could barely resist just dropping down as everything I could feel burned with pain, even places I didn’t know could hurt hurted like it was being torn apart by a meat grinder. My mouth was open in a silent scream as I didn’t even have the strength to actually scream. Through my blurred vision, I saw columns rising in the corners of the room and beginning to shine.

My mind barely registered the columns, but I noticed people looking at them and at the floor, meaning it became visible for everyone and they were panicking and tried to open the sealed door and even break the windows, but nothing worked. It was like the room became separated from the outside world, and I became separated from the room as I saw Alex trying to reach me but being blocked by an invisible barrier, she even tried throwing chairs at it but it didn’t work.

I heard a cracking noise and all the air around me rushed to somewhere I couldn’t see, leaving me in a literal vacuum chamber. I began asphyxiating almost immediately and I knew it wouldn’t last long enough, but even that was cut short when I saw space around me breaking apart and vanishing into a dark nothingness. The last thing I saw was the whole room being engulfed by a bright light, then everything faded to black