There was a high-pitched sound. Lawrence’s eyes opened, his body tensed, and he frantically looked for the source of the noise.

An alarm clock smugly rang a wake up tone. In a lonely shelve hanging above his bed that he had placed there. He cursed his own cleverness. Of course it was the damn alarm clock. In a moment of sanity (or madness) he decided the point of something telling to wake up was to wake up at that time, no rolling over and silence it again. Now, in that bed, hearing the malicious thing mercilessly screeching him out of the scarce hours of sleep he could afford himself, he wasn’t sure that was the best idea.

“Aaagh…” Giving up on the enticing prospect of sleeping any longer, he mumbled something about the clock’s lineage and rolled around, untangling himself from the cocoon of sheets making him look like a human sushi roll.

The clock kept ringing, ignorant of its owner’s predicament. The noise was growing higher and even more annoying, if that was even possible. Lawrence eyebrow twitched almost unnoticeably. “I heard you, goddammit!”

Ducking under his bed, he found a pair of bunny-themed mules and dragged them out, letting out an unpleasant groan. Stretching so much right after waking up wasn’t the greatest idea after all.

“Figures.”

After sliding the mules into his feet and turning down the damnable alarm clock, he took a deep breath, appreciating the quietness that had taken over his bedroom. A bird’s sweet chirping slightly lightened up his mood. He breathed again, this time psyching up for the long day ahead of him.

After he decided he was good to start the day, he stumbled towards the full body mirror partially hidden in a corner of the room, and checked himself on it, looking for anything out of place.

Being a freelance programmer at the age of 21, Lawrence Lakewood was pretty close to your average Union citizen. Standing nearly six feet tall, he was slightly bigger than the average, though his slim frame made him look even taller, and while he wasn’t exactly athletic, his habit of jogging and his good genes had grown a decent body out of his’. The bunch of almost-black brown hair was supposed to sport a two-block haircut, but right after waking up it was so messy it was hard to tell. His eyes, the exact same color of his hair, looked ever more tired than usual, and that was taking in consideration his friends usually joked about how he had a look like he was bored of the world.

“Well fuck you, Dean…”

His sharp features twisted in a yawn, and he decided he was relatively alright. Nothing a good hairbrush and splashing water on his face wouldn’t fix.

He threw a loose pullover over him, put on some sweat pants and, hearing his stomach growl, decided a good breakfast wouldn’t do any harm.

He was welcomed by the sound of a wakening Plaza as he rushed downstairs. Cars roaming in the streets, thick crowds of people going everywhere –or nowhere, commercials advertising products that no one really needed until they saw one, and of course, the habitual prick who just couldn’t stand listening to music without forcing half of the block to hear as well.

“I hope one of those speakers falls over you, Jordan.” He didn’t really mean it… entirely. But seriously, he though, when is someone going to tell that asshole that his shitty music sucks?

Once he got to the living room and the familiar sight of his armchairs and sofa greeted him, he relaxed. The cream color of the furniture’s fabric always managed to sooth him like that.

He turned on the television, and left it on the Worne YK morning news channel, before heading to the adjacent kitchen slash dining room.

“Tututut… Well, I’m in the mood for some toasts right now.” he said to himself over the indefinable murmur of the TV. “Marmalade…? Nah, I’m out of that. Too lazy to go out and buy more right now… So, uh… Mayonnaise then?”

“…the whole Worne YK state will be affected by the waves of cold air closing up from the West…”

“Seriously? As if the weather wasn’t chilly enough… Ah, here you are” Lawrence scoped a pot of mayonnaise and a carton of milk, out of the fridge, then waltzed to a nearby counter from which a basket with several bars of bread hung taking one and leaving everything in a cutting board.

“…Inflation for dairy products rose a 0.3% compared to last year, partially due to…

“I hope that doesn’t affect me too much” he commented. He cut some slices of bread and started the coffee machined tucked on a side, then threw the bar back to the basket and put the bread slices in the toaster’s slit, pulling down the trigger thingy.

“And now, an alarming report from our sources in the Worne YK Law-enforcing Heroes Union headquarters shows concerning waves of crime washing over the state. We will hear in detail about this with my colleague, reporter Lisa Kursk.”

Lawrence’s ears perked up. This one was interesting. He poured the coffee and the milk in a jar, added a bit of sugar, mixed all up with a spoon and headed back to the living room.

"Thank you George! Neighbors from all Worne YK are showing their unease, as Wakening Season is near its end.

It makes nearly forty years from now that the first generation of meta-humans appeared. Ever since then, people all around the world are granted new powers in this time period known as Wakening Season, starting in the early October and ending exactly in November 30. Since Wakening Season is a particular event that only happens once every five years, it naturally comes with a great load of hope for all of us. After all, who doesn’t want to be a Hero?

However, this event is is not only a cause for happiness. Over the past few weeks, Worne YK has experienced increasing waves of unmeasured unlawful activity. Vandalism, robbery, drug dealing, smuggling, these are just a few examples of the current state of our city. Even severe cases, like kidnapping and murdering, are alarmingly starting to appear everywhere, and while the police and the LHU claim they have the situation under control, it's getting harder and harder every day to handle this effervescence of delinquency. The popular hero Spyglass & Tobacco, a fourth generation hero from Law-enforcing Heroes Union (LHU for short) claims that the cause for this increase of criminal acts is Wakening Season in an exclusive interview. And I quote:

>>> It’s actually pretty simple, once you think about it. Wakening Season is that time of the year when fresh meta-humans start to pop up everywhere. And while people tend to forget, this means not only heroes, but also new Villains start to appear. Villains are a minority. They have it hard enough fighting against each other, and small villain or even plain criminal associations are always in risk of being either absorbed or wiped out by larger rival groups. For this reason, said smaller groups usually lay low, staying on their ground and avoiding the spotlight. This is what keeps the relative balance in the streets, leaving only big time organizations to cause trouble. The thing with Wakening Season is that sudden increase of meta-humans. Just like the LHU tries to scout the newbie Heroes ASAP, there are lots of people out there who would kill to get their hands on powered assets. These people naturally haves to advertise themselves to gain the attention of fresh-baked Villains. Put all those people who find themselves with metas in their ranks and let it get to their heads… And, well, I guess you know what happens next. <<<

It’s not hard to imagine, then, just what kind of threat authorities of the whole Worne YK state are dealing with, while…”

“Oh, I had forgotten. Today’s November 30, right? I guess that means tomorrow a lot of people will be really disappointed…”

The toaster’s click reminded him he was about to have breakfast, and he turned off the news to have some peace.

His mind, however was still going on about that report.

It was forty years now, in the year 2000, that the first generation of Heroes and Villains had appeared. The sudden emergence of a new group of humans with special powers took the whole world by surprise. It took a long time for people to get used to it, and then the next wave hit them five years later. According to his Meta Society Studies classes, the States Union sunk in chaos and didn’t get out for a long time.

Those dark times were over now, anyways. Life had gone back to relative normality, and Heroes turned into celebrities. You always heard of this or that Hero who catch this or that Villain, see a lot of marketing with Hero thematic everywhere, that sort of things. But no radical changes.

Most of it was thanks to the LHU. The organization had appeared in the early years of the first generation as a response to the government’s aggressive politics towards metahumans, and quickly established itself as the best alternative for newbie Heroes. In actuality, the LHU was a world-wide organization at the scale of the UN, and more than 95% of the Hero population were members. Their main rule was to stay away from any non-meta matters, which explained the relative lack of major changes in the way the world carried itself.

That still didn’t mean Heroes had a great impact in society. Just like a popular singer, or a famous soccer player, they were the model to follow for everyone. Kids wanted to be Heroes when they grew. Their opinion mattered the most for society.

“Like I said, a celebrity…” Lawrence munched his toast and downed the thing with a gulp of coffee-milk shake. Pondering about that kind of thing always got him entranced.

“Though I didn’t really share the excitement, did I?”

The chair made a screeching sound as he stood up and took all the used crockery to the sink.

“I think the last time I actually thought I wanted a power was when I was ten… I grew up too fast for my own sake, didn’t I? I mean, after I saw those odds, I got too disappointed to actually believe anything… Ups, I’m getting too dark.”

Searching for an excuse to shake the matter out of his mind, his eyes ran through the microwave… and he got a big surprise.

“Holy shit! That’s the time already?! No way! I was supposed to start working half an hour ago!”

Being a part-time programmer, Lawrence spent half of the year working and the other half idling with the money he earned. Right now, he was about to get into the second half, and he was finishing the last big job of the season. He wanted to end the raw programming today and start editing tomorrow.

His ‘superior’, Gato, owned a site from people like him who liked programming stuff but hated being bossed around. The core idea was to take new, inexperienced programmers who had no chance of getting a decent work in other sites, and accepting jobs for them, also offering tutelage for the newbiest. For a price, of course.

Lawrence was far past the ‘newbie’ level, of course. But he had decided to stick around and help Gato with the business. As of now, he couldn’t wish for a better job.

The little extra offered for finishing the job before the deadline was pushing him, so he wanted to get done with his task fast.

“But why am I idling again?! Ah, shit, no morning jog for me. Brush your teeth and straight to your studio, you’ve got to get going now!”

With a crazy run for his life, he rushed for the bathroom.

And so started another day in the life of Lawrence Lakewood.

Perhaps, the last normal day of his life.