"Dadda! Dadda! Come and look!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. It was the middle of a cool spring day, and the sun stood high. So nobody, except for the kind of people who were bothered by literally everything on this earth, would be bothered by the joyful screams of a child. However, it was still pretty embarrassing, so Aqua hurriedly listened to his daughter to "come and look."
He entered his spacious living room and looked around. His daughter stood right next to the glass door, which led out onto the balcony. She had a red crayon in her hand and a big grin plastered over her face. "What is it?" Aqua calmly asked as he stepped closer.
"Look what I can do!" She shouted excitedly as she dropped the red crayon to the floor and made her way closer to the door. She looked back once for reassurance before she first knelt down and then clumsily placed her hands beneath herself. "Look at me," she laughed as she pushed herself up till she stood on her hands, leaning against the glass door.
Her head was as red as a tomato as she looked at Aqua, expecting not just a bit of appraisal, but a whole truckload of it. I mean, a handstand is really impressive for a 4-year-old. "Hoppa," Aqua smiled as he, instead of praising her, pulled her up on her legs till she hung in the air.
She giggled uncontrollably while Aqua placed her on his shoulders and began to walk. At first, he walked through the living room, eventually entering the hallway and then the kitchen. Butterflies formed in his daughter's stomach. All the things she usually saw from beneath were now so far below her, she felt like a god on earth.
"And here we are." Aqua placed her down on the floor and kissed her forehead.
"Again! Again! Again!" she shouted while jumping up and down.
"But Papa is tired now; I also need a break for once." Aqua stood up again.
His daughter groaned, annoyed; her face, which had begun to turn pale again, suddenly turned redder once more. However, much to Aqua's pleasure, instead of falling into a fit of rage, she just said, "Okay, if you want to play again, I'll read my book now." With that, she ran off. Aqua could still hear her door shutting loudly before he turned away.
He slumped down on the couch and put his AirPods in. Sure, perhaps it was a bit irresponsible, but Aqua, like he said, also needed a break for once. 'Little Girl Blue' by Nina Simone was the first song to play as he shut his eyes. Aqua had by now spent not less than 60 years on this planet, but even for him, this song was old.
He had his arms crossed behind his head as the sun shone down onto his head. His eyelids were tinted red-golden from the inside, and his head was filled by mundane tasks, which turned quieter and quieter. "UAGH," he suddenly yelped as he snapped forward, feeling the air being pushed out of his stomach.
He looked down and saw his son, lying on his stomach and grinning up at him. He must've climbed onto the backboard of the couch without Aqua noticing and jumped down onto him. Anyway, it hurt. "Ouch," mumbled Aqua as he lifted his son off and rubbed his stomach.
"How often did I tell you that it's not okay to hurt others?" Aqua scolded. He had accepted that in this household, he'd never get to sleep peacefully, so he put his AirPods back into their casing and stood up.
"I know, I'm sorry, but you didn't reply when I spoke to you," his son said as a hint of genuine sadness flashed over his face.
"But that's no reason to hurt me," Aqua responded.
"I know…" His son mumbled as he looked down at the floor.
Aqua sighed loudly. "It's alright. What did you want anyway?"
His son looked back up, his blue eyes sparkling. "I wanted to ask if we could go to the playground. I wanna go on the swing."
Aqua looked down at his watch. It was 4:30 pm. "But Momma comes home soon."
"I know, but I wanna go on the swing."
"If Momma comes home, then she will be hungry, and if there is no food, she will be really mad."
You could virtually see the conflict in the eyes of Aqua's son. "Just a bit, pleaseeeee."
Aqua sighed, "Just a bit… And your sister will come along."
"But-"
"No discussion," Aqua said firmly.
…
The playground was conveniently located near their home. Also, Aqua lied; their momma wouldn't be mad if there was no food. The twins were still young enough to make every bit of anger melt away if they gazed at you for just a moment.
So there they were: Aqua on the bench and the two children playing on the playground. His daughter just slid down the slide as a man sat down next to Aqua. "Can I help you?" Aqua asked. He wasn't a noisy person, but due to this he was more attentive. Thus, even before the man sat down, he had noticed that he came alone. "It doesn't look like you brought your children," Aqua added before the man could respond. He had never before seen this guy; however, the fact that he looked so familiar made it just more confusing.
The well-dressed man didn't look away from the playground as he replied, "You have two really cute children, Aqua."
"Do we know each other…? Do you mind reminding me of your name?" Aqua stared at the man intensely enough to almost burn a hole into the side of his skull.
"You can call me ******************."
"Pardon?"
"My name. My name is ******************."
Aqua wasn't the kind of person that gets easily startled, but the moment the man said his name, it just sounded like something was blurred out. No matter how hard he wanted to understand it, he just simply couldn't.
"Could you please leave? Otherwise, I'll have to inform the police about a suspicious individual on a children's playground," Aqua said.
For the first time, the man looked at Aqua. But where his face should've been, Aqua just saw his own stare back at him; the man looked exactly like he did. Well, that statement wasn't really true, at least not anymore. The man looked like him, or more accurately, like he did 10 years ago. Aqua remembered that time of his life exceptionally well, especially the time he killed his father, so he also remembered the way he looked back then just as vividly.
His legs felt like jelly as Aqua tumbled backwards. The man just stared at him with a blank expression while his own probably looked more like that of a swan cornered by a hungry fox. However, when his eyes looked for what was most precious to him, his heart fell even further. The playground was empty, void of any life. Even the other children who were enthusiastically playing just moments ago had all disappeared.
Aqua fell down. He yelped, half in pain, half in fear, as his eyes darted back to where the man — he — sat just a moment ago, now void, too. He looked around frantically — left, right, behind, even above — just in case. Then he found him. In the distance, about 20 meters away, half hidden behind a tree, he peeked at him. Aqua 2, that was at least the best thing Aqua's mind could come up with, didn't look like he knew that Aqua could see him. Yet, whether he saw him or not wasn't that revolutionary anyway. Aqua would've actually probably preferred to not see him.
The way Aqua 2's face contorted wasn't natural, barely human, even. A faint giggle came from him, which made Aqua freeze in shock, unable to run, fight, or even think. Then, with an inhuman jump, he leapt at Aqua. "AHHhh-HHh," Aqua screamed as his eyes snapped open.
Soaked in sweat, with the sun still in his eyes, Aqua sat on his couch.
Ragged breaths escaped his lungs and fled through his lips as he felt his body up and down, checking if every limb was still there; they were. But that didn't answer the question that arose in his mind as he did: How could a dream feel this real? But he didn't have much time to think about his question, either, as he heard the key turn in the lock.
He quickly fixed his messy clothes before he went to the front door.
"You are stupid!"
"NO, YOU ARE!"
Aqua sighed as he turned the corner to a far too familiar sight. His twins were fighting again. Behind them was 'Momma' carrying two heavy bags of groceries. "Why didn't you call me?" Aqua asked as he was already halfway across the hallway. His offspring had, by now, disappeared into their respective rooms.
"I tried to, but you didn't pick up," she groaned under the weight of the bags.
"I'm sorry; I must have fallen asleep again." Aqua took both bags off her and carried them into the kitchen.
Together, they began to empty the bags and put the groceries where they belonged. "You were awake all night again, right?" Aqua's wife asked, almost too upfront about it all.
"Yeah," he murmured.
"You should really see a doctor, Aqua. I'm concerned. How long has this now been going on?"
"I dunno," he was still murmuring.
…
"You think you can sleep tonight?" His wife asked, genuine concern in her voice. The night had long fallen by this point.
"Can we just stop? I'm fine, alright?"
"You know… Whatever… I don't care anymore," his wife groaned as she turned around in bed and turned the light off.
Aqua lay there for a lot longer than he wanted to admit. But eventually, he too probably fell asleep.
"Dadda! You have to wake up!"
"Just a bit longer," Aqua groaned.
"Papa, wake up!"
"Just 5 more minutes." His eyes remained shut.
"You have to wake up."
"Just give me a mome-"
"WAKE UP"
Aqua snapped upright. His head felt like he had just been beaten like a dog. The entire world around him spun as he tried to coordinate himself. His rock-hard mattress didn't help his pain one bit. It even added another layer, since the headache he already had yesterday was now paired with a stinging sensation in his upper back.
Aqua looked around himself, yet his vision remained blurry while the only thing he heard besides his own groans was a quiet news report from somewhere outside: 'The massive nationwide blackout that happened in the night from the 11th to the 12th of January was caused by the biggest solar storm in the past 250 years, so experts say. Most of the country is by now back to how it was prior to said incident.'
Aqua's bed looked sad. It was drenched in sweat, even though it was the middle of winter and no blanket was in sight. His walls were plain and looked like their last restoration was long before his second birth, perhaps even prior to his first one. The window was too small for proper air circulation and too high and small for lighting, filling the room with a stale odor and not nearly enough light even in the middle of the day.
Then, once he had looked at these things long and hard, he remembered where he was.
How could he forget?
He was in jail.
Or, to be more precise, a holding cell, awaiting trial for attempted murder.