Returning home with his lonesome drunk self, Ethan stuck his hands in every one of his pockets in search of his house key.

Only for the door to be swung open by his mother, Kylie Rosewood who had a similar but older visage of Julia.

.....

CREEK! CREEK!! CREEK!!!

A few moments before Ethan arrived in front of the dilapidated door, Kylie suddenly heard treading of footsteps on the old planks of wood outside their dingy apartment.

She guessed that it was her son returning from work, but it was a little late from his usual time.

Opening the door with squeaky hinges, Kylie witnessed with her dark lilac eyes a sorry-looking drunk version of Ethan.

Kylie exasperated a sigh and continued "Again? If you keep doing this every other day; I won't help you hide this habit of yours from your father for long."

Ethan doesn't seem to understand as he only heard it as a slur and simply tagged along his mother with an arm on her shoulder for support as without it, he would definitely plant his face on the ground.

If only you could stop worrying about our little clique and live truly for yourself for once. Sigh!

Kylie uttered these words with a heavy sigh of frustration.

Kylie supported her son to the spread-out mattress on the floor; and gently laid him down on the mattress next to his father's snoring.

Since they didn't have a separate bedroom and had to sleep their restlessness away in the living room while sharing the limited cramped space.

.....

The night passes by, and so do his father's snores. The sun seemed ready to get back to work.

Painful!

My head hurts so badly!

Waking up from his dreamland from the throbbing pain in his head, Ethan was suffering from every heavy drinker's horror 'hangover'.

Eh? Why doesn't it seem to hurt as much as before? But it's still oh! so painful.

This is some fucking authentic headache!

How am I to show up for work today? I don't want to hear that woman's grumblings again.

Wait hold up a second! After the stunt I pulled on her, I basically fired myself from my job.

Yippee! Ouch! Ouch!

With the end of the internal monologue, Ethan sat straight up resting his head on his palms and massaged his temples.

His father had noticed this weird little act.

Denver questioned him with suspicion in his eyes, "Why are you holding your head first thing in the morning?"

Ethan still remembered the day, when he returned home drunk last time and the beating his father gave him with his trusty leather belt.

Ethan felt beads of sweat drip down from his scalp when his father asked him that question; he hurriedly wiped it.

Feeling the danger of good ol' belting, Ethan replies with a "Nothing" and hurries to escape the merciless beating he was expecting if he got caught.

Denver still seems suspicious but leaves it be and goes on to get ready for work. After all, for the poor, there is never a day off at work.

Ethan still hadn't changed his clothes from yesterday, the unwashed red bomber jacket over the brandless plain yellow cotton shirt with a pair of blue jeans.

Ethan sprayed some deodorant on himself so, as to not make people think he just came out of a sinkhole.

He passed through the dingy corridor with a lonely window at the end of it for the stairway.

The main corridor of the 1st and 4th floor remained dim during the day as limited sunlight shone in through the forsaken window.

The management committee for the building couldn't care less about the flickering tube lights in the corridor.

Phew! I managed to escape before Dad could suspect something.

Ethan exclaimed, he quickly went down the stairs without waiting for the elevator to arrive and left the apartment.

Before, taking in the warmth and brilliance of the sun.

Although, it was almost January the mild sunshine still gave the body a soothing sensation.

However, the streets and alleyways were awash by filthy water and strewn with junk lying everywhere the eye could see.

This was not a rare sight to see in low-income communities, even though sewers and garbage cleaning trucks were sweeping through the area regularly.

KACHINK! THUD!

Tsss-POP!

Gulp! Haaa! Much better!

Ethan bought a can of hot coffee along the way from a vending machine around the corner of the alleyway to relieve his migraine.

New Year wouldn't be New Year without some celebration and what is required for a celebration you might ask.

Of course, it's a cake!

Thinking this through Ethan strolled around the business streets looking for a way to earn a quick buck and found one as an 'authentic' costumed reindeer in a famous chain of cake bakeries in Los Angeles, Reissmann cakes & pastries.

The street lights were switched on as it was about to be dusk, Ethan finally managed to get his commission for the work to buy a chocolate cake.

He lazily walked through the cluttered streets to his house to find himself in the comforts of his home and enjoy the chocolate cake with his family after the exhausting day.

Ethan pushed the 4th-floor button in the elevator where his family apartment was with excitement as their family didn't get to celebrate New Year last year due to having no extra cash on hand.

Ethan opened the door of his home with the key tucked in his jeans pocket and called out to his parents.

His dad seemed to have arrived home early as his botched-up leather shoes that had lost their texture were left uncared for at the entrance.

His parents don't seem to have noticed him arriving home, so he sneaks up to surprise them.

Just as he was about to enter the living room with the cake in his hands, he heard his mom, "How long do we keep this up for dear? We have only gathered about half the money for Julia's surgery."

Ethan leaned on the faded wall as his mood plunged into gloom as his father replied, "We only have to endure this for about another year and our daughter will be cured. Without Ethan's help, it would have been a tough time managing the daily expenses."

"After all this is over, we should help him get into college and get a proper job. Besides, one day he will also have to start his own family." Kylie stated.

Why does my family have to suffer from this never-ending cycle of grief every day?

I just wish to live a normal life in peace with my family.

Ethan shed a single tear but wiped it away with the scaley back of his hand

Ethan came out from behind the wall with the cake in his and said "Happy New Year" to his parents with a fake smile on his face and melancholy hidden deep within his heart.

His parents also seemed to have forgotten the conversation so, as to not dull the mood and join him to partake in the cake.

The radio also lightens up the spirit with some country music.

Just as Ethan was about to take a bite out of that cake,

TREMBLE! BOOOOOOM!

A single tremor hits shaking their body to its very core.

They try to find a place to hide when suddenly the quakes seem to have stopped, only to be hit by waves of shock one after another causing them to convulse.

TREMBLE!!! BOOOM! BOOOM!! BOOOM!!!

The aftershocks of the quakes rock the building back and forth.

Ethan's mother held her hands over her head and hugged Denver for a sense of security but Denver himself doesn't know what to do in this situation even so says "It's all going to be alright. Don't worry!"

Ethan looked over at his parents in the corner of the room safe and sound only with a few bruises and scratches from the unexpected tremor.

Then, at the squashed cake upside down on the floor.

"No, my chocolate cake!" shrieks out Ethan for the wasted effort he put in for it.

Why the heck are you more about the cake than himself?

Denver was dumbfounded as he saw his son bending on his knees in front of the splattered cake.

The framed family photo from when Ethan was in elementary school was in pieces, only left with the picture intact.

The place looked like a mess that no one would be willing to clean up.

The household members heard loud screaming from a throng of folks gathering outside.

Ethan looked over from the dirty window only to witness a blur of people shrieking at the sky which he couldn't make out as he couldn't find an angle from where he was.

So, he sprinted past Denver consoling Kylie, to take a look at whatever the hell was going on downstairs.

Before he left, he doesn't forget to give his mother some comforting words so, that she doesn't drown in her grief.

Denver glanced at him sprinting for the entrance, after some assurance Kylie at least calmed herself.

All Denver could do was urge his son, "Don't rush, be careful while I look after your mother."

After making out what his father said he made an okay hand sign only to rush down even faster to take a look at whatever the heck was going on.

This damned brat, Sigh!

Denver sighed heavily thinking of all the little stunts the 'cheeky bastard' had pulled since he was little.

Ethan dashed through the stairs with his flip-flops as he couldn't get the elevator to work.

Arriving at the foot of the Agera Apartments, he saw a small mob of humans pointing at something in front of themselves, and a few gawking at the sky with a look of horror.

Then finally Ethan got to witness what would be termed the beginning of the worst nightmare humankind has ever faced in the books of Earth's history.

WHOOOM! WHOOOM!! WHOOOOOM!!!

Pillars of Blighted Light as wide as kilometers descended to Earth with the crescent-like sun about to set, it appeared like a lunar eclipse which made out an ominous and eerie-looking scene.

Ethan was startled by the columns of light with swirls of all the colors one could imagine, perforated into the earth and left without any trace or semblance.

It was as if the northern lights had migrated from the southern hemisphere to their neighborhood for a friendly light show except that it definitely didn't feel like it was friendly.

It seemed as though the Heavens were crying as the lances of light impaled the earth.

Ethan whipped out his Nokia Brick Edition and immediately dialed 911.

"This is 911, please state your emergency." Ethan was about to tell the operator about the psychotic stuff he was seeing and ask him to send an ambulance to take him to the hospital.

That was when Ethan heard the operator say, "What the fuck did you just say?"

That's all Ethan needed to hear to know that the world they live in was in some deep shit, then proceeded to cut the call to disturb the call center any further.

Ethan got to witness why the people around him were so hysteric.

As he nervously observed the ever-changing light blue blurry silhouette that floated in front of him defying physics like a glitch in the matrix.

So, he wondered why he felt a tinge of excitement, he waved his hand expecting it to be a hallucination and disappear, but his limb just passed through it.

Then,

POOF!

The blue holographic screen disappears without a trace. Just when he thought it would be the end of the unreal revelation.

Another rude awakening drops on them, as all the living beings on Earth hear a voice that echoes out from their very souls.

[DESCENT OF THE AKASHIC RECORDS HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL!!!]

.....

Somewhere in the unknown Universe near a bright-looking star. the levitating figure of a 7-foot burly man with Dark silver hair and white albino pupils snaps his fingers.

As the star explodes into a supernova at his gesture, the titan-like human speaks to apparently nowhere, "Quite a bold move, *******. To reach out to the entire universe so abruptly without any warning."

I wonder how my descendants will react to this little charade of yours. No matter, one day you will serve under me, and with your own will help me leave this accursed bird cage you have put up.