“Hey! Give that back!” said Emma as her brother Noah took her radio and ran off. A typical brother thing to do right? “Catch me if you can!” said Noah teasing his 15-year-old twin sister. “Mom! He’s not letting me talk to Melanie!” said Emma supremely infuriated by her brother.
“Loser,”
“Mouth-breather,”
“Honey, don’t you have your radio?” said their mom placing down the spoon she was using to mix the tea. She was a 41-year-old woman. She had blonde hair, organized in rough curls dangling just over her shoulders. She had sort of an elegant look to her. A small nose, small lips, and big blue twinkling eyes, and for her personality, she was a fair woman. And yes, she loved both her children equally. I mean, if she had the choice to choose between her children or eating cheese, she’d rather eat cheese. Now don’t get this wrong, she highly despised cheese. The only cheese that came home, came on demand by their dad, who always got in trouble for leaving the cheese out on the counter.
“It’s fun annoying her” replied Noah with a sassy head tilt, which I think he did not intend on doing. “Yes, you do. No doubt,” said Emma as she took back her radio from Noah. “Hey, Melanie you there? Over,” asked Emma in a fair amount of time. “Emma? Can you hear me? Over” asked Melanie’s voice through the radio. Emma was eager to talk to Melanie - or to continue her convo – because they had a test coming up, which Melanie forgot to prepare. So of course, it was a typical morning in the Anderson house. Full of hustle and bustle, and also, the crispy, fresh and sweet smell of freshly baked pastries; with no cheese. “Yeah, I do. Over” said Emma as she walked into her bedroom. “I’ll go into my room then,” said Noah as he tiptoed out of the living room. “You’re not going anywhere Noah James Anderson!” said his mom. “Not the full name” he muttered to himself.
“Why? I gave Emma her Radio back” asked Noah confused. “She’s your older sister, be a bit more respectful next time?” said their mom as she gave him a stony glare. “She’s only a minute or something older,” said Noah. “She still is older,” said their mom as she walked into the kitchen to make breakfast.
“Oh, come on. As always, the older by-a-minute card played off, once again,”
Noah mumbled a few things to himself, recalling that everything was in place (he was forgetful, but never forgot things he liked), and he walked into his room to get ready. After a few minutes, their dad stepped out of the bedroom, fully dressed up, but as usual, he forgot something and went back in. After some time, it was time for breakfast and their mother called, “Emma! Noah! Would you come and have breakfast! Your dad’s ready to drop you off to school”. “Coming!” said Noah as he came out of his room, struggling to put up his socks. “Careful! -” said his mom as he stumbled upon a toy on the floor and he collided with the floor with a thud. “Ouch! That looked like it hurt, are you okay?” said Emma as she came out of her room probably because her mom called or because she heard the crash of the “Noah-178” helicopter outside her room. Nonetheless, she knows why she came out.
They lived in a two-story house with a living room, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a kitchen on just one floor. The top floor had a small attic with an attached bathroom for guests or at certain times Noah or Emma sulked off and needed a place to hide – don’t ask how often that happened. But that room was the hangout spot for the kids as most visitors came and went. Just along the living room, as you guessed, was the kitchen. Along with that came the hallway which led to the main door – in other words, the door to get out or into the house. The hallway had a stand for coats and a small 80’s shelf, with radios and other things stacked in, and maybe Emma’s secret stash, which was hidden from Noah. Maybe. Anyways, a neat, red carpet was laid well through the hallway and to the kitchen where everyone had breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Well soon after breakfast the kids got into their car and went to school. It was just like an ordinary school. Nothing special – except for the drama of course, which didn’t interest anyone to be exact.
Well, the twins – Emma and Noah – were high achievers. “Gifted Kids” as the teachers called them. Noah just liked calling himself smart. “Hey Emma!” said Melanie. She was – as guessed – Emma’s best friend. She had pretty blue eyes – as deep as the ocean – and blonde hair, resting a couple inches below her shoulders. Overall, she was someone you’d enjoy – only if you liked unicorns, manicures, skincare routines, and being “top-notch” as Melanie called it.
Well, Emma wasn’t any of these. She was more of a “do or die” person. She had green eyes, almost the color of an emerald jewel. Her hair were brown and reached a few inches below her shoulder – almost over her back. She was a pleasing person to look at. She was pretty and almost everything she wore suited her – if you don’t include a clown dress that Noah made her wear. She was more into science, geography, and particularly, astronomy. For the record, she loathed Math, almost as much as her mom hated cheese. Math was more of Noah’s thing.
Noah was Emma’s 15-year-old-super-annoying-curly-haired-platinum-blonde twin. Trust me, this was how Emma introduced Noah to Melanie, other than the age of course. He was almost similar to Emma. But in some ways, he was a bit different. He was more into history and math. Weird combo, right? He was also kind of a prankster, like his best friend, but he was serious in tense situations (also like his best friend). He was an intellectual kid who was a fun person to be around. He was taller than his sister (he was about 5 ft 7 or something, whereas Emma was 5’5 or 5’4)
“Hey, Mel,” replied Emma. “Your brother really loves driving you crazy huh?” she asked with a grin, referring to what happened in the morning. “Oh yeah, tell me about it. He really loves it” scoffed Emma. “By the way, thank you for helping me with the test. I couldn’t sleep all night,” said Melanie. “I kind of doubt the ‘no sleep’ part,” said Emma pointing out the fresh look on Melanie’s face. “Okay, maybe not,” said Melanie with a slight chuckle. “But I was worried. Actually,”. “Yeah, okay,” said Emma as she opened up her locker and put in the books she held in her hand. “I just really hope Mr. Brown takes this test a bit light. He always does super hard marking. As if his oxygen supply would be cut off or something if he gave me a few more marks” ranted Melanie as she crossed her arms and looked at Emma for approval. “I mean, if you’d rant less and study more, maybe he’d be nice,” said Emma turning to Melanie as she shut the locker door. Before Melanie could say anything, the school bell rang and the duo walked to class. Particularly with Melanie murmuring and praying that Mr. Brown would be absent, or that he forgets about the test. Well, he didn’t forget. Neither was he absent. All we can say is, that all Melanie told Emma was that a piece of paper wouldn’t determine her future. I doubt that.
Well, the rest of the day was pretty boring, and because Emma and Noah were in the same class, a lot of annoying happened. And even double the amount because Noah was with his best friend, Liam.
Well then came gym class. Might’ve not told you this bit, but Emma was bullied. Not as if she didn’t stand up to them, she felt on edge around them. Particularly because she was scared. Not scared of being bullied, but scared that she might end up throwing the punch. She did that once, but it didn’t end up well because the girl that bullied her, Melissa Rhys, was a super-rich kid whose dad owned the school. Literally owned it. As Emma walked into the basketball court, the sly but stupid Melissa Rhys approached Emma. “Hey, nerd. Nice outfit,” said Melissa Rhys as she twirled her hair. She looked like a stuck-up super annoying person. And yes, she was. She had hazel eyes and brown hair. She was – or at least tried to be – chic and classy. She was mean and rude, and not liked by many kids.
“Two things Melissa: Firstly, Thanks for calling me smart, maybe because I really am or maybe because you’re dumb. Secondly, we’re wearing the same uniform. And I’d like to add a third, Goodbye,” said Emma as she turned around and walked away. Melissa stood there staring into thin air as the girls beside her snickered and made fun of their own “so-called friends”. “What are you murmuring about? Quit it,” snapped Melissa as she was full of rage, and then she walked away to join the others in basketball. Oh, how much you would’ve loved to see her face. Well, surprisingly, she didn’t try anything else and the school day ended soon.
Noah, Emma, Liam, and Melanie were close friends, so they all decided to go to Emma and Noah’s home after-school. “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson,” said Melanie as she walked in. “Hello,” said Liam. About Liam David Evans, well he was the sort of kid that would annoy you to death. Actually. Well sometimes he’d be nice sometimes he'd become the worst prankster in the world. He was a 15-year-old sleek brunette with curly hair and small blueish eyes, nose, and lips. He was also quite tall – about 5 ft 7 like Noah He might seem childish, but when they were in trouble, you’d see his mature side too. He loved certain things, such as fiddling with radios – he did that way too often –and of course, pranks and jokes were something he couldn’t spend a day without. “Oh, hello Melanie and Liam,” said Mrs. Anderson. About their dad, he was a talented police officer who loved his wife and his children. He was all for spending family time and was a tall and fit man with hazel eyes. His hair were brown - just like Emma. “Hey kids” replied Mr. Anderson. “How are you all? How was school? Do I get you anything?” asked Mrs. Anderson while she was wiping the kitchen counter. “We’re fine and school was okay and we don’t need anything” replied Emma. “Come on let’s go!” said Noah as he grabbed Liam’s arm and led him upstairs through the brown, wooden staircase.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
All the kids rushed upstairs into the hanging out spot which they called “Top Secret Party Room” – it wasn’t very secret, to be honest - which they called in short form “TSPR”. The reason they were in such a rush was that their mom would’ve started telling them about a wild thing that happened today – it happened way too often. The kids set down their bags and locked the door. “Mission successful,” murmured Noah. “Yup,” said Liam in agreement as he sat down on the red bean bag set near the door. The TSPR wasn’t really used for guests. Guests just came and went. The roof was dangerously low and anyone about 5’7 would’ve hit their head on it (like Noah or Liam). Their dad had to stoop down low whenever he came into the room. The room had an old pink and white striped wallpaper neatly put on the walls. Just opposite the door was a window, which led out to the street. Quite a nice view during the golden hour I must say. The kids had spent most of their lives hanging out in the TSPR, so it was kind of like their own zone.
“Noah. Can I ask you something?” said Melanie. “Uh yeah sure,” said Noah as he sat down on the medium bed, set with the wall of the room. “If you had the chance, to spend a day with 5-year-old Liam or 5 Liams, which would you choose?” asked Melanie with a grin. “5-year-old Liam. Tops,” said Noah abruptly. “Hey! That’s mean,” cried Liam as he gave Noah a slight nudge on his arm. “At least it’s not as mean as the bucket prank you pulled on me,” said Emma as she set down her bag. “Okay. That was an accident. It wasn’t meant for you, okay?” justified Liam. Emma just nodded and gave a little, sarcastic, “Of course. An accident,”.
“Actually. It wasn’t for you,” said Liam as he bent forward on the bean bag. “Who was it for then?” asked Emma as she bent forward mocking her brother and Liam. Liam stammered a bit, then glanced over to Noah. They kept on giving “Uhs” and “Ums” until Noah broke the silence, “It was for George,”. “George?” asked Emma and Melanie altogether. “Ye- Yeah. George Steward. The annoying little rascal,” completed Noah. “Mind yourself, Noah, there’s no such kid,” said Emma. “All right fine. It was for Melanie,” said Liam. “Mel- What?!” said Melanie as she realized they were talking about her.
“Me?!”
“Yes, you,”
“Wha- Why?!”
“I mean - you do need a break from all that makeup,”
“Not you too Emma!”
“Okay fine,” replied Emma with a snicker. After the shocking discovery, Melanie made them all apologize even though it was Emma who got pranked. The kids sat and chatted for a while (They mostly made fun of Noah because of the radio incident, or fun of Melanie, because of the prank thing). While they were all talking, Liam went fiddling with Radio channels as he came across a weird radio transmission.
“Hey guys listen up! What’s this?” said Liam gathering all the attention to himself. They all leaned closer in and listened closely and behind the static of the radio, they heard weird screeching noises. The voice went “grrrrrrrr….grrrrrrrr…..”. “Liam, that’s just static maybe someone left it on,” said Melanie. “No. It’s someone talking,” said Emma. “Dojdete kaj mene, luǵe od ovoj svet” said the voice on the radio. “Wait a minute, that’s Macedonian?” said Emma alarmingly, “or it sounds like it”. “You know how to speak Macedonian?” asked Liam. “Yeah, I do,” said Emma with a proud face. “Translate that!” said Noah. “Repeat it,” said Emma. “How? Radios aren’t that advanced yet,” said Noah. “Thanks to me fiddling with it I press this button and it records,” said Liam as he pressed the button to replay. “Dojdete kaj mene, luǵe od ovoj svet,” said the voice. “Come to me, humans of this world. And wait replay, come to me, humans of this world,” said Emma with a shocked face. “What? You sure you translated it right?” said Melanie. “Positive, we lived there for 5 years,” said Emma.
Hold up. If it was anyone else, and by that, I mean anyone else, they wouldn’t have paid much attention. These four, Liam, Noah, Emma, and Melanie, were kids who couldn’t resist something like this. “Are those aliens?” said Noah. “We need to track this to find out where it came from,” said Emma. “Thankfully I know how to do just that,” said Noah with a smirk.
They all rushed into Emma’s room to get her computer. “Okay do it,” said Liam. “I’m doing it! Okay, a little bit of this, and that…enter, uploading radio file….” Said Noah as he concentrated hard “Do it fast!” said Emma. “I’m doing that idiot,” said Noah – he received a smack behind the head after this. “Loading…,” said Liam. “And Track!” yelled Noah as he almost crushed the enter key. “Where’d you learn that?” asked Melanie. “Thanks to Dad being a police officer, I get to spend time around the offices, so I learned that from the tech guy, Dylan,” said Noah as he stretched back on his chair cracking his knuckles. “Cool,” said Melanie blandly, but she didn’t mean that - I think. “Grimson High School, Nevada” read Melanie out loud. “Well, it’s clarified that this came from Earth, most possibly by Humans,” said Emma. “If it were Humans, why would they call us humans and call it this world?” asked Melanie. “Maybe they wanted to speak like that?” said Liam trying to ease things “No, no it’s not that,” said Noah. “Isn’t that the school which was closed for years because the owner’s family said that they’d close it after her death or something?” asked Emma. “Yeah,” said Noah as he took out his map.
“Ok… This is in Nevada for sure,” said Noah as he drew his finger across the map. “And here’s the map of our town, wait, there’s no Grimson high school on here?” said Noah confused. They all exchanged looks with each other. “But that’s a real thing? Right?” said Liam. “Are you sure this map is accurate?” asked Melanie. “Of course, it is!” answered Noah with his eyebrows furrowed – he was offended. “Only one way to find out,” said Melanie.
“We are not going there,” said Emma with an annoyed look. “We have to find out that this is some kind of sick joke or are there evil people or most possibly is this an alien transmission?” said Melanie. “She has a good point?” said Liam. “But, if it is an alien transmission, we’re not prepared to fight and besides, I don’t want to go,” said Emma. “This could get us famous! Isn’t that what you want?” said Melanie. “But not in that way as a person who - Yeah, uhm, broke into a school!” said Emma. “Do you want to come or not?” asked Noah. “You too?” asked Emma. “Yes? Me too. You really are an idiot, Emma. This is a big opportunity!” said Noah. “Call me an idiot again and you’ll regret it,” warned Emma. “I’m not Melissa Rhys or something. You can’t boss me around like that,” said Noah with his armed crossed. “Ugh! You’re so petty,” said Emma with annoyance. “Are you coming or not?” asked Noah one last time, “Because either way, we three are going for sure,”. “Fine.” Said Emma with her arms crossed “But as soon as you guys find out what’s there, we’re coming back,”. “Ok, ok,” said Melanie laughing. “Hey! You should- never mind,” said Emma.
Liam and Melanie got out of the attic first leaving Noah and Emma in the room. As Noah was about to walk out of the attic, Emma said in a deep, mimicking voice, “You were rude to me - don’t think I’ll forget it or something,” Noah turned around and both the kids faced each other. Silence. Then the room was filled with stupid laughter. Another one of their inside jokes for the record.
The kids walked down the stairs and told Mrs. Anderson that they’ll be back till 8 and got onto their bicycles and started their journey to Grimson High School. Not knowing what’s waiting for them there.