Grinning at the camera, I could feel Miss Hughes’s hands clutching my arms, her hair sweeping behind my neck, and the barely there feathery touch of the paper she was holding against my arm. I hold onto the urge to shiver, my neck burning with a prickly feeling. Shifting my head slightly to the side, I hope the picture didn’t catch my swift movements.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Daniel holding onto his precious surfboard, checking to see if there were any scratch marks on it. It was his prized possession, ever since his dad gave it to him as a present last year, he has been bragging bout it all school year. Beside him, his mum was trying to comfort him, assuring that there weren’t any scratches seen on the board. But I could tell Daniel wouldn’t let it go, he would check the whole board at least ten times before he left it.
The chatter of the students around me seemed to grow and the increasing volume was starting to overwhelm me as I waited for the flash of the camera to go off. My mouth was starting to get tired but I forced my lips to go as wide as it could, showing my all-front teeth. They just grew out in the past week so I wanted to show them off in the photograph. I remember my dad telling me, the best smiles are the ones where all your teeth could be seen. Lost in thought, the whiff of Miss’s perfume floats into my nose, engulfing me and soon my nose begins to itch but I restrained the need to scrunch my nose or make any other movements. I wanted this picture to be perfect.
As the flash goes off, I breathed a sign of relief. I can finally scratch my nose. I turned around and looked up saying my thanks to Miss Hughes for taking the picture with me. Skipping out of the gym, finally escaping the overpowering smell of sunscreen and sweat, I breathed in the fresh air. The grass felt wet and soft beneath my feet as I walked towards the entrance of the school. Dad was behind me, yelling at me to wait, irritation ringing through his voice.
It was the last day of school. Dad passed me my yearbook and I glanced at it, it was filled with signed names with hearts and wishes of a happy summer. Signing names with hearts was the “it” thing this year and that’s why everyone had similar signatures. I smiled, it was cursive last year, and I wondered what would be popular next year. Bouncing towards the car, I waved good-bye to my friends as I passed them. I was eager to start my summer off with pizzas and a movie marathon of sci-fi movies. Dad huffed; annoyed that he had to run to catch up to me. I squealed, hopping around, oblivious to my dad.
As I arrived home, the aroma of homemade pizzas flew towards my sensitive nose. Running immediately to the kitchen, I caught my mum putting the pizza back into the oven. Pleased, seeing that indeed this year I would be getting pizzas on the last day of school yet again. Walking to the lounge, I put in the DVD of “War of the Worlds” and sat on the couch, impatiently waiting for it to load. I loved this movie. I loved any end-of-the-world movies; especially the idea of aliens invading the world but this movie was my favorite, because Tom Cruise was in it and he was my favorite actor of all time.
Everyone my age in school was into High School Musical, dancing and singing along to the songs while I was the weird one, interested in the horrors and supernatural of the world. Curiosity got me into investigating it through the world of movies. What if we weren’t the only ones on earth? What if there was other, whether it is spirits or aliens that live amongst us?
In the middle of the movie, I overheard my dad on the phone, listening to his tone, I knew he was upset, angered wit whoever that was on the other side of the phone. I shook my head, that was adult business, I shouldn’t be eavesdropping. Turning back to the screen, I pushed away my worries and focused on the movie.
After a while, I heard the whisperings of my dad and mum talking, just quiet enough that I wouldn’t be able to hear what they were saying. Soon after, they both walked to my side, calmly and with the hunch I'm having, I knew that something bad was going to happen.
I see my mum and dad having a silent conversation, discreetly nodding to each other. Suddenly mum spoke up ad informed me that something happened back home and we have to fly back tonight. My mind was going overboard, imagination going wild, thinking about aliens and how they have invaded the country and we have to leave it immediately. My mind filled with all the possibilities and all I could think about was the chance of seeing real life aliens. I was that crazy.
That night, mum booked the plane tickets and packed our stuff, getting us ready for the flight. I made surer to bring a camera so that I could take a picture jut in case if I see any aliens. I also checked to see if it had full battery, just in case it would die during the most crucial moment. On the drive to the airport, I sat by my window, staring out into the night sky. My eyes flickered around; watchful of any UFO’s or alien spaceships flying around. When we arrived at the airport, I was disappointed; I couldn’t spot any objects flying around that seemed suspicious. All I saw was the blinking lights of the stars and the moon.
On the plane ride, I pleaded my mum to let me sit beside the window so that I could continue my lookout of spaceships. But all I could see were stars and more stars. As the plane lifts off, groggily, my eyes started closing by itself, tired, I fell asleep with my head propped on the window. In my dreams, I saw aliens and spaceships and everything supernatural. As I fall deeper into the realm of space, I can distinctly hear someone calling my name at a distance.
I frowned. I wanted to stay longer in my dreams, shrugging I tried to indicate to my imposter through my actions that I didn’t want to be disturbed. But to no avail. They kept trying to wake me up. Blearily, I opened my eyes. The harsh light seeping through made me closed them again. As I slowly opened them, I saw the eyes of all 24 of my classmates staring at me. Moving my head slightly, I could see the yellow sundress of my teacher and moving my head upwards, I see the unforgiving frown on her face.
I must’ve fallen asleep again. I had pulled a all-nighter last night, studying for the test next class. The dream was weird though; it felt just like yesterday that I was back in primary, that I was the carefree kid whose only concern was sighting aliens in the night sky. Time passed very fast, and in a blink of an eye, I was in high school, studying hard for a seemingly unending stream of tests and exams, never finding a free moment where I could once again indulge in the mysteries of the supernatural.
