woke. | II

alex

"That was pretty crazy, wasn't it?"

We were driving back home and the buzz from this afternoon's events felt like electric currents pulsing through my entire body.

"His dad sure knew how to make an entrance." Cam answered me, a twinkle in his eye. Both of us high off adrenaline.

"Hady?" I nudged her with my elbow. She had been quiet since we left, no doubt with a million thoughts running through her mind. "Penny?"

One for her thoughts. Although we don't use money anymore, but I liked the sentiment. Money was such an archaic system though, back in the day, people could steal and would even kill for paper and bits of metal. Now there are security measures to prevent such blind acts of violence.

"You and your weird obsession with the old fashioned." Hady grumbled, prompting a protest.

"Hey! I'm Asian!" I chuckled. Stereotypes had also died out, due to babies being born to multiracial families and the reach of technology cross-contaminating cultures. Some, like my father, tried to hang on to what he thought as his roots. Stubborn in his beliefs that we should not let heritage disappear. But it's hard to keep colours separate when you mix them in a bowl. Although, I don't let that stop me.

"What has Asian got anything to do with-" Hady paused for a moment, figured it wasn't worth it and continued, "Never mind, it's just a lot to take in. Daniel's dad knowing about the eversleep. The first adult we know who don't treat it as a joke. All the information we found. Everything we learnt. And that- that glitch? Friend or foe? Alex, wasn't that in our dreams?"

"Okay, first of all. Asians, especially the Chinese," I gestured to myself, "Used to be notorious for their conservative ways. And that glitch? Yeah, we got a note in saying exactly that. As for everything else, it's pretty exciting, I think."

"Exciting? How do you find this exciting?" She answered dubiously.

"Kinda like an adventure, I guess?" Cam said.

"Like a conspiracy." I agreed, "Like, we're part of something huge. It's exciting, discovering something new."

I saw my house creeping up from the distance and got my things. Phone, schoolbag, notebooks.

"Alex," Hady called from the passenger seat, "How about what happened from last night? Aren't you afraid?"

Her grey eyes met mine and I looked back in defiance.

"I'm not going to let a little thing like that spoil all the fun."

I got out from the car and watched as my statement sunk in.

"See you tonight!" Cam called before driving off, with Hady still looking concerned. As always. Hady had always been a lot more serious, and I enjoyed that side of it. She showed me perspectives I didn't give much thought to, but she had gotten a lot more withdrawn since we woke ourselves from the eversleep.

But worrying and analysing is her job. I didn't like having any of that weighing me down. What's the point, when things will unfold however they are meant to, anyway?

After I locked the front door, my father's voice called out from the kitchen, asking why I was home late. I yelled back about doing assignments in the school library and he mumbled something else at me.

Deciding it would be easier and more respectful to talk to him face to face, I turned the corner and was confronted with a bizarre sight.

My father stood at the counter slicing onions. But while that was a rare occurrence, it wasn't the fact that he was making dinner that stopped me in my tracks, it was how his skin looked silver and his limbs eerily long.

"爸pa?" I said hesitantly, taking a step back. I tried to clear my head and focus on my father, willing the hallucination or whatever it was to disappear but it didn't. He looked up from what he was doing and his eyes were completely black.

"怎么了zen me le?" He answered, sounding exactly like himself. I told him I'd go wash up and help him with dinner, breaking into a run the moment I was clear from his line of sight.

I wondered if this was what murderers dealt with, if their victims did not stay dead and haunted them. I ran to my dresser and pulled out the last drawer, looking at the assortment of knives, displayed lovingly. My collection started about the time when my mother left us, but I've always been fascinated.

Perhaps this is when I put them to use. Maybe my obsession was good for something after all. I shut my eyes for a moment and thought about what I was thinking. Was I going to arm myself against my father or an illusion? I decided to mull it over in the shower.

I went to the drawer again once I was clothed and fingered my first and favourite. It was more of a switch blade, really. I got it from China when I visited my mother, that one rare occasion when I had seen her after the divorce. I picked it up and felt its weight in my hand, admiring its carved dragon head, fashioned out of some kind of golden material. Two black stones were set as eyes, and a discreet lever camouflaged as one of its horns released an ebony steel blade.

I sheathed it back into place and tucked it into the waistband of my pyjamas. At least tonight, I would be ready. Another surge of excitement rippled through me as I slid my shirt over it. I never knew my passion would turn into a practicality. It felt justified, it felt right. Perhaps this is my destiny.

With my heart in my throat and a readiness to flee at any moment, I descended the stairs and found my father sitting at the dining table with dinner spread out before him.

"You've finished cooking? " I tested in Mandarin, wanting to see how he would respond. From my vantage point he looked normal enough, but how could I trust myself when I couldn't trust my eyes?

"Friend or foe?" He echoed back at me, freezing me on the stairs.

"Wh-what did you say?" I asked, again in Mandarin.

"I said come and eat! Dinner is getting cold." My father responded in our native tongue, and for a split second I wondered if I was going insane, if everything which has happened was all in my head and I was just mentally unsound.

I shrugged it off and joined him, comforted by the cold steel pressing against my hip.

"Alex?" I heard, halfway through the meal.

"Hm?" I intoned, glancing up at my father.

"Hm what?" He asked in Mandarin, "How was school?"

Confused, but not eager to press on, I answered him and we made comforting small talk. It wasn't before long I heard it again.

"Alex."

It was an unfamiliar voice, feminine and soft. Furthermore, my dad never calls me by my English nickname. I finished up as quickly as I could and rushed through clearing the tables and washing the dirty cutlery, pots and plates. My hallucinations from earlier forgotten, I ushered my father into the living room, turning on the television and prepared some fruits for him before fleeing back to the comfort of my bed.

thgs r weird nw

I texted Hady, but I was impatient for her reply which did not come as quickly as I anticipated, so I called her instead.

"Hady!" I almost cried with relief as her familiar voice greeted me, "I think I'm losing it." I recounted what I experienced and heard it again. Unmistakably.

"Alex."

"Shhh, shhh! Hady, it's happening again." I whisper slowly, not wanting to miss the next words.

"What?" She answered through the phone.

"Someone calling my name."