Beyond

ᑕᕼᗩᑭ丅ᗴᖇ 丅ᕼᖇᗴᗴ

𝓛𝓮𝓸 𝓖𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓽 ✶༄ ‧₊˚

"Dang it," Leo said as he lost yet again playing a vintage arcade game. "That was the last of my credit." He said, looking at his friend, who had just won the same game.

"What a shame." His friend replied, shaking his head in a joking manner.

"Yeah, if only I had a friend who was nice enough to give me some credits. . ."

His friend shook his head and looked at his arcade pass. "Yup," He pushed it into the slot on one of the games. "If only." He replied, using the last of his credits.

"You're a jerk," Leo said jokingly.

"I know," His friend replied in the same joking tone.

About twenty minutes later, they started home. On their way back, they were abruptly stopped by a girl from their school. She was about Leo's age. She was also oddly obsessed with hanging out with him.

"Oh hey," Leo said, not wanting to deal with her at the moment.

"Hi, Leo," She said, dragging out his name.

"Oh my god," He muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" She said, her blue eyes looking slightly mockingly at his.

"Nothing. What do you want?"

"Oh, just wondering if you were busy later or if you wanted to hang out?"

"I um- I actually do have something planned, so yeah, I'm gonna go."

He briskly walked past her with Levi, his friend trailing behind him. Once they were out of earshot, Levi muttered.

"Oh my god, she is literally so annoying."

"I know. I wish she'd leave me alone."

"Yeah, she's oddly obsessed with you."

"It's annoying!" Leo replied, turning down his street. Levi kept following him, considering they were neighbors.

They continued in mostly silence, save the occasional chirping of a faraway bird.

When they made it to Leo's house, they bid each other farewell before Levi continued one driveway later.

Leo opened the glass front door and went inside, only to be greeted by his twin sister Lexi.

"Hey, Leo," She said, closing the door that Leo forgot to shut. "Have fun at the arcade without me?"

"Sure did." He responded, throwing his shoes off to the side of the door.

Lexi rolled her eyes. "I'm so glad." She responded sarcastically.

Leo brushed past his thoroughly annoyed sister and headed upstairs to his room which consisted of a bunk bed with a desk underneath and a closet. He also had other decorations (random articles of clothing strewn about the floor) littering his room.

He climbed up to his bed and laid down, pulling out his phone and scrolling absentmindedly through his pages.

When he eventually got bored of that, he begrudgingly decided to work on his homework. Luckily it was history, his all-time favorite subject. They were doing a throwback lesson thousands of years back when there were people called the Aztecs. He became rather intrigued by the subject and studied in his free time instead of just in study hall or when he was supposed to.

He spent around twenty minutes studying before his door was slammed open by Lexi. Startled, he jumped out of his chair.

"OH MY GOD, LEXI, WHAT THE HE-"

"Dinner!" She said cheerily before leaving his room without closing the door.

He sighed heavily and shook his head before heading out of his room and closing the door behind him.

He walked downstairs and into the kitchen, seeing his mom, dad, and sister were already seated and waiting for him to sit down. He grabbed himself a burger and went to the table. His mom made the best burgers.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

"So kids," His dad said. "How was school?"

"Good." He said at the same time that his sister said. "Bad."

"Okay then," His dad said. "Leo, you go first."

"I had history class today, and I was pretty interested in the subject,"

"That's good, Leo. Lexi, why was school so bad?"

"I'm failing English." She replied, crossing her arms. Leo suppressed a chuckle, and his mom sent him the look that all kids knew.

There was little to no conversation after that, save for some talk about work between his parents.

"Well, I'm going to my room," Leo said after clearing his plate.

"Me too," Lexi said, sprinting up the stairs. Leo shook his head and followed after her.

Less than five minutes later, their parents called them downstairs, interrupting Leo from finishing his favorite song.

"Kids, come down right now!" They heard their mom shout.

Both came downstairs and were called into the living room.

"Mom, what's going on?" Leo asked.

"There's an emergency broadcast. Come watch and be quiet."

A voice was heard from the tv, and Leo's dad turned it up.

"Attention, all United States of America residents," There was a pause.

Lexi rolled her eyes, and Leo elbowed her in the ribs, causing her to elbow him. He was about to elbow her again before his mom sent him a look.

"As some are aware, there is a black hole in our galaxy. It will reach our solar system in a matter of five months. As a result, our officials have devised a plan to neutralize or check the safety and stability of it possibly."

I had no clue. Why didn't the school tell us about this? Leo thought, growing interested in this report. Leo glanced over at his sister, whose face was screaming: 'I just want to go back to my room and listen to music.' he rolled his eyes and looked back at the tv.

"The youth of our country is our future, and if the black hole reaches earth, there is not enough time to evacuate everyone. That being said, we have chosen to ensure humankind doesn't go extinct."

Why wouldn't they send some astronaut or professional? He thought before catching himself. Oh, right, they wouldn't want to send someone too important.

"So, we will pick, at random, ten girls and ten boys between the ages of ten and eighteen to be sent into an elite training program before being sent through and report back to the headquarters of its safety. Don't worry, with our advanced technology, the safety of your child is most certainly of the utmost importance."

Leo glanced over at his sister, whose face was now pale as a ghost, and her eyes were wide with fear. He leaned over and whispered to her.

"Lexi, out of thousands of girls, how would they pick you."

She swallowed sharply but didn't reply.

"Without further ado, let's announce the names, ladies first."