Ali was tired, but he did his best to hide it as he approached the 2 story townhouse. It had been a long day at work and his new shoes still hadn’t broken in, making his every other step slightly uncomfortable. Weather was too humid as always, forcing his sweat clogged undershirt cling to his body. Nevertheless showing his discomfort would help no one.

Approaching the weathered door of the old house, he squared his shoulders and knocked twice with his right hand. Paint was chipping at places and a faint tint of green was coloring the edges of the brass door knob. It was clear that the better days of the house were behind it, but it was the best that the young family living here could afford comfortably. Working so close to the center of London had its downsides.

He heard sounds of shuffling and a faint cry of a child from inside. That put a small smile on his face, banishing all his daily troubles that he had endured. Not a moment later, a tall young man in his twenties- his brother in law, opened the door.

“Ali! Come in, come in. We have been waiting for you, dinner will be ready any moment now.”

His brother in law, dressed in khaki cargo shorts and an off-white polo welcomed him through the door in a rush with an awkward half hug.

Ali lifted his left hand as he got in, showing the meager little gifts that he had brought.

“What’s the rush? I brought cake. And something for the little one too.”

“Oh, thanks, you shouldn’t have! I left Mary alone in the living room; you know how the little devil is. Why don’t you drop the cake in the kitchen while I make sure she is okay?” Jake said, never dropping his ever-present polite smile. With that, he rushed to the left wing of the house.

“Sure, go ahead.” Ali muttered after him, as he started taking off his dress shoes with one free hand.

When his sister had first informed him that she was pregnant, at the age of 19, he had flown into rage, ready to give a pummeling of a lifetime to the bastard, but in the end, everything had worked out well. Jake turned out not be a bastard, but a young doctor of upright character with a good head on his shoulders, so he had mellowed out a bit. Still, he had given him enough grief at the time for impregnating a teenage girl in university.

They had married 4 month later- even with silent protests of Jake’s parents, and few months later, Mary was born.

Done with the shoes, he wore the slippers that his sister had put out for him. He made his way to kitchen on the right of the stairs leading to the 2 bedrooms on the second floor. Walking through the door of the kitchen, Ali saw his sister, slicing bread for the dinner with her back turned to him.

“Hi Zahra.”

Ali called out as he put the cake and the toy down on the counter and approached her with half a step.

She turned around and gave him a big smile, opening her arms for a large hug.

“Whoa there, put the knife down first, will you?”

Her smile turned to a half-pout as she put it down, her body still facing him.

“Good? Now come on Ali, you only show up once a week!”

He took another step- kitchen was only so big, and accepted her hug. Ali wasn’t huge; barely 175, but he positively dwarfed his miniature sister.

“I missed you too, sis.”

She was all he had in this life. Well, she and Mary now. After their parents passed away, Ali had taken care of his sister 6 years younger than himself to the best of his capabilities with the help of his uncle’s family.

They separated after a heartfelt hug, her sister’s eyes widening as she looked at him.

“Crap.”

Ali realized what had happened as she rushed to wet a paper towel. His white button-up shirt was now sporting couple of brown dots, passed on from her apron. Luckily, he had left his suit jacket and tie in his car.

She tried to wipe them away, but all it did was smear them even more.

“It’s okay, Ill wash it at home.”

“Do you know how hard it is to remove worcestershire sauce is when it dries?!”

Her rubbing intensified forcing him to unhand her. It was moments like these that reminded him that she was barely 21, still a kid even if she had become a mother.

“Okay, okay, I’ll have it dry-cleaned then.”

Her eyes still glued to the stain, she murmured “fine” before returning to her tasks.

“Dinner will be done in 10. Please send Jake over will you.”

Ali left the kitchen, passing through the corridor, he came to the only other room of the floor, the living room.

The room was a bit bigger than the kitchen, decorated with 2 small couches in front of a TV surrounded by plants in a corner, a table for 4 and a couple pictures on shelves. Other half of the room was turned into sort of play-pen for Mary. More than half of the toys there were bought by him.

She was playing with Jake on one of the couches. Seeing her put a smile on Ali’s face, as always. No matter how hard life got, his niece always managed to melt the hardship away.

“Jake, Zahra asked for you. I’ll take her of off you.”

“Ah, thank you. I’ll be back in a second”

After taking a particularly giggly Mary into his embrace, He sat down where Jake had been sitting. Looking at her reminded him of Zahra. There were small differences, but Mary looked like her mother of his memories. Same tiny button nose, same brunette hair, even the tiny birthmark below her left eye was there. Only the eyes were different. She had inherited the light blue eyes of his father rather than their green ones. He had been 6 when Zahra had been born, and he had found her ugly back then. But now? Mary- almost a clone of her mother, was the most beautiful thing in existence.

Mary hardly paid attention to him, busying herself with her giraffe shaped chewing toy even as she glued her eyes to a children’s cartoon running on TV. He tried to attract her attention from the television- pinched her rosy cheeks, tried to tickle her, showed her more of her toys, all to no avail. Sounds of Jake setting the table cut his efforts short.

“So, how is work? Same as always?”

Jake asked, as he begun fixing a table for 3 and a half.

“You know how it is, accounting, writing emails, and all that. Not a moment of excitement. What about you?”

After their parents died in a car crash, Ali had shouldered a lot of responsibility. No longer had he time to take things slow and figure out life. He had tried his best at school, getting into best university at his home country at the end. At the first chance he got, he had transferred to a university at UK, clawing to get out of there. He had felt bad leaving his sister to his uncle’s family, but she had been at middle school at the time.

After finishing his university, he had managed to obtain a position in sales team in a medium sized company. With that money, he had managed to fund his sister’s education, bringing her to his side.

“Not a moment of rest in our profession.”

Jake said with a sigh. Ali could sympathize, sickness never took a break. But doctors did. In Jake’s case, every Friday was his one day off of the week. And every Friday, just like today, they had a family dinner in their house. Jake’s family lived in Manchester, so they came once a month to visit, even if that.

So far, the conversation had been the same one they had every week, but Ali had another topic to broach.

Still trying to get a reaction from the little girl in his lap with his tickles, he asked the question he should have done some time ago.

“Speaking of profession, have you two talked about resuming her education?”

Jake’s smile twisted to a pained one. Putting down the last of the drinks, he spoke.

“Yeah, but Zahra isn’t budging. She doesn’t want to leave Mary.”

She had been attending nursing school at university before her abrupt pregnancy cut it short. That had been where the two had met and fallen in love.

She had taken 2 gap years from the university, but it was about time she continued. Ali shook his head.

“We’ll talk with her after the dinner. It was fine when she was nursing a baby, but Mary is big enough now. It’s only half a day, and you two can afford someone to watch her. If she doesn’t attend university next semester, 2 years she spent there will be wasted.”

Jake continued to set the table in relative silence after a deep nod, accompanied by the cheerful sounds coming from the TV.

Moments later, now apron-less Zahra appeared though the corridor, carrying a large Dutch oven in her hands. Jake took it from her hands to set it on the table, as Ali lifted Mary, carrying her to the high chair right next to where her mother always sat at the table. Zahra lifted the lid, showing them their dinner.

“Here you go, new recipe from I got from internet. Chicken thighs with worcestershire sauce under a brick, with sides of vegetable noodles and mashed potatoes with green peas.”

They got seated after two of them gave encouraging comment on her cooking, but Ali never managed to start his dinner. In front of his eyes, a big blue box appeared, startling him.

“Congratulations! Humanity of Earth has survived and cleared the Seeding Stage. Initiating teleportation to Stage Zero in 5 seconds… 4… 3…”

Ali tried to clear his eyes as he read the words. The box blinked out, leaving behind the visage of his sister sitting in front of him, looking just as confused before her eyes widened.

The last thing he heard was his sister’s voice.

“Mary..!”

Then the world vanished from his sight in a flood of white light.