Planet Expo: Origins [Book One]

Chapter Three

[A.K.A 'Normal' Weekend]    

    Looking out the living room window, Lisa saw the white-greyish dust, the brownish-black dirt, and small, loose random objects wildly flying about as it was picked up by the strong wind. Despite the darkening clouds and the sun beginning to set, she could tell that the neighbor’s neon flower garden, which gave the illusion of a soft, colorful glow in the moonlight, wouldn’t last long in this weather. Lisa just hoped everyone was staying safe and that the storm would be over soon. With a sigh, she turned her attention back to the movie that was currently playing, the wind outside trying to drown out the audio of the comedic action-adventure film. 

    Noticing his sister was looking a little distraught, Nathaniel decided to speak up. “C’mon, the movie isn’t that bad.” Lisa mockingly laughed and aimed for his face as she threw a white square pillow, which had a simple black striped design, that was near her. “You’re such an i***t sometimes.” Laughing, Nathaniel shook his head at his sister’s words while he caught the pillow before it would hit him square in the face. Placing the pillow next to him, he gave his sister a curious glance, momentarily looking away from the film as the actors on the ‘screen’ ceased conversating. “What am I the other times then?” Lisa paused, hand to her chin as if she was seriously pondering the question. Nathaniel then drew his attention back to the movie, smirking; he had gotten used to Lisa’s antics to get an idea of what she was going to say. “Probably… the world’s biggest goofball.” 

    Nathaniel then threw the pillow right back at her. “Yeah, right. IF anything, you’re the goofball, you goofball.” Lisa scoffed as the pillow hit her legs; she was now watching the movie and looking away from her brother. Firmly pulling the coral blue blanket wrapped around her, Lisa then placed the pillow that was once thrown at her behind her head as she laid down on the long rectangular gray sofa. “Oh! That had to hurt.” The twins simultaneously exclaimed as the main character, who was quite handsome in Lisa’s opinion, fell from the air ducts in a poor attempt to spy on the villains. Suddenly, as the main character was fighting off 5 of the villain’s grunts, the villain sneakily tried to escape. “Oh, that’s not gonna boat well with Jenny.” As soon as Lisa said, the movie’ sidekick and the main character’s wife showed up on the scene. Her red hair flowing behind her as she jumped down from the skylight and arrested the villain while he was distracted in one swift move as her husband knocked out all the grunts around them. 

    “Thanks, sweetie,” the husband said, taking notice of his wife. “I told you,” Lisa said in a sing-song voice as she watched the movie unfold. Nathaniel laughed; it was always fun watching movies and shows with Lisa due to her commentary, jokes, and theories about the storylines and such. “You called it.” Lisa nodded her head proudly, not seeing nor caring if he saw her head gesture as she reached for the coffee table where her movie snacks and sodas resided. Letting her blanket fall loose around her as she picked up the bowl of gummy bears, she then leaned back into her spot on the sofa and enjoyed the delicious treat. 

    As the movie droned on, the twins enjoyed it as they both laughed and occasionally made comments about what was happening. This type of side conversation continued even after they switched movies; Lisa got to pick the next one they watched. Nathaniel, as always, had some complaints. Lisa rolled her eyes as he made his sarcastic remarks; he didn’t mean them, of course, but what kind of sibling would pass up an opportunity to tease their fellow sibling? 

    “Nate, just accept your fate. Look, this one is a musical, but it has action in it. A perfect compromise. What is there to complain about?” Pouting and crossing his arms, he turned his head away from her. She just rolled her eyes and pressed the play button on the remote. Lisa also decreased the volume of the movie before setting the remote down on the coffee table. She didn’t know why Nate disliked musical-like movies, but Lisa personally enjoyed them. “I know you’ll like it, and even if you don’t, it's late, so you’re probably going to end up snoring on the couch. A win-win of me,” Lisa said while quietly laughing in a jokingly evil way. 

    “Yeah, yeah, just pay attention to your dumb cartoon movie. It’s starting.” Lisa stifled her laughter at his actions. She didn’t know why she was laughing so much. Maybe it was because it was almost 2 am, and she was delirious from fighting off sleep? Or could it be that the sugar in her choice of snacks had started to take its effect? Or maybe she was just in a good mood and felt like laughing at the chaotic yet lovable ways of the sibling bond she and Nathaniel shared?

    She couldn’t be sure. All she knew was that she was perfectly content, watching a movie with her brother. At the same time, the lure of sleep and peacefulness of the self-created relaxing atmosphere tempted them to shut their eyes for the remainder of the night before the sunlight could make its appearance.

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    Waking up as a result of harsh sunlight in your eyes is a very surreal and highly annoying experience. For one second, you are emerged in almost complete darkness, only exposed to a soft glow that emits from the dark gray projector box and sounds softly playing from the movie you were watching yet forget to turn off before sleep took hold of your conscience. The next second, the sunlight slowly enters the scene until it blinds the back of your eyelids, forcing you to open your eyes; to awake from the pleasant dream you don’t remember having. Yet, a pleasurable feeling still lingers. Maybe remnants of a pleasant memory or dream? Perhaps the feeling of being well-rested? As you crankily open your eyes, ready to face the day, a sweet millisecond of bliss overwhelms your body before you start to feel the urge to get up yet lack the proper motivation to act upon that urge. 

    It was Nathaniel who found himself in this particular situation described above. Of course, like any other typical teenager, he wanted to sleep for just a few more hours, although he would settle for just a couple of more minutes. However, life was not kind to his wishes, and mother nature was calling. Groaning, he finally got up due to his urge to use the bathroom. 

    Meanwhile, Lisa was already up, as she is used to waking up early to take Ares on walks around the neighborhood before school. She was eating her breakfast, which consisted of fruity cereal with milk and a cup of sugary coffee that tastes like vanilla and cinnamon. She was watching a movie on her phone as she ate when Ares paddled over the wooden floors to her and put his head on her thigh, with a pleading expression and let out some whines (almost like the actions of a child who didn’t get the toy they wanted from a*****e). 

    Scooting the light grey upholstered chair away from the table’s edge, allowing more headspace for Ares, Lisa stared down at the sadden dog, who kept whining. “Aw, Ares, what’s wrong, buddy?” Pausing the movie, Lisa checked the time before giving him her full attention. Realizing what was wrong, she smiled sadly at Ares and started to calmly stroke his head. “You wanna go on our walk, don’t you?”

    Suddenly, the Golden Retriever in question perked up at the mention of ‘walk.’ Lisa chuckled at this while petting him more playfully. “Well, bud, let me finish eating first, and I’ll see if it’s  safe for us to go for a bit.” Letting out a soft bark and nuzzling his head on Lisa’s leg, Ares then walked over to his bed, where he patiently waited for Lisa to be ready. Cleaning the dishes and putting them away, Lisa finally walked over to Ares’ spot in the kitchen after she grabbed the harness and leash from the two-toned countertop of the medium-sized storage unit that the family used to store away any of Ares’ items. Wagging his tail, the dog got excited as he heard the leash jingle in one of his owners’ hands, and as Lisa came into his field of vision. Lisa chuckled as he jumped up from his resting position out of excitement; the soft jingling of his red collar filled the air around them. 

    Bending down to put on his harness, Lisa realized she forgot to put on her running sneakers. With a sigh, she attached the leash to the harness and walked toward the front door, bending down yet again to put on sneakers. Quickly taking out her phone, Lisa opened up the weather app to make sure the storm was indeed over and done. The typical weather woman appeared on the screen and began to say the weather updates. “Good morning. The current time is 8:06 AM, the current temperature is 70 degrees, but feels like 63 degrees due to winds of 15 miles per hour. A windbreaker or warm sweater recommended for outdoor wear. Please be mindful of any debris from last night’s storm. Thank you, and have an excellent day!” 

    The weather woman disappeared from the home screen app with a soft “bing boop,” and the other options that came with the app appeared; features such as weekly forecast, hour by hour predictions, rewatch today’s announcements, settings, and a few more. Luckily for Lisa, she was feeling somewhat chilly when she woke up and so she was already wearing a soft, light grey cotton hoodie with white strings to tighten the hood if needed. Panting, Ares walked in a circular motion, somewhat curling into himself, as a way of showing that he was done waiting and wanted to go out. Ares’ excitement was evident enough, and Lisa then ensured she had her phone and headphones before finally opening the front door to continue their routine of morning walks.

    Despite that the door wasn’t even halfway open yet, Ares squeezed through the door, and Lisa rolled her eyes as she chuckled and continued to open the door. Ares had always been quick to get excited by walks and the outdoors, always sniffing everything and being curious about the world around him and new sights and places that he discovers as the Archer family often invests in traveling and vacations.

    Locking the door before closing it, Lisa and Ares began on their usual route during their walks around the neighborhood. Usually, during their morning and afternoon walks, they tend to walk to the park. Yet, due to the current winds and the storm that occurred last night, Lisa figured that the park would be closed, or at the very least would be a complete mess if it wasn’t closed for the caretakers to clean up any debris. Nevertheless, the duo was still able to walk around the neighborhood at least, since the aftermath of storms in the region wasn’t as bad compared to others. 

    Stopping as Ares sniffed the grass, Lisa saw Clancy on a skateboard just up ahead on the opposite sidewalk. With a smile, Lisa waved and shouted his name as a way of greeting. Clancy smiled back, of course, and waved as his faded yellow wheeled skateboard took him to the other side to where Lisa stood, still waiting on Ares. “Heya Clancy! I didn’t know you skated.” 

    With his skateboard in his hands at his side, Clancy had a gleeful expression, almost as if he hadn’t seen Lisa in months, and nodded his head before reciting the story that he had found his old skateboard when cleaning up the garage. “Whoa, that’s so cool! I don’t think I can handle riding one. Ares here would just pull me along into places I rather not be in.” They shared a laugh about this, and as they conversed, Ares finished his business and ready to walk again. 

    The friends parted ways, seeing as Clancy had to go home real quick before going to work. Continuing on their walk after a few minute delay due to the unforeseen meeting, Lisa finally went back home after walking nearly for a half hour. Entering in the passcode, which was 8152019, she quickly took off Ares’ harness and leash since she knew Ares would be quick to go to his bed for a quick nap. After Ares ran once the leash was off, Lisa sighed and decided she would take off the harness a little later. Putting her shoes away and the leash away, she then walked by Ares to see him sleeping; not wanting to disturb the dog, she settled with removing the harness after their afternoon walk. 

    With that, she ventured into the living room where she noticed before that her brother was sitting down on the couch, an intense look on his face as he was focused and consumed by his phone. Lisa’s curiosity got the best of her, and she looked down at the phone, which was upside to her as she was standing right there in front of him. From her upside-down perspective, it appeared that Nate was yet again watching those conspiracy videos as he so often does from time to time. Lisa never really saw the appeal in that seeing as she knew most of the conspiracies revolving around Planet Expo were fake due to their grandparents’ stories, first-hand accounts of what happened. Those stories especially came in handy during history class. Since Lisa usually took advanced level history classes during both this school year and previous ones, her teachers, as well as some students who enjoyed the subject, would ask questions about the lives and personalities of the pioneer astronauts. 

    “Again, with those videos, huh?” Nate then looked up at his sister then back down at the video, too engrossed in what the person on his screen had to say. With a sigh, Lisa tried to question him again. “What’s it about this time? Going back to Earth or that our whole lives are a lie and none of this is real?” Nate rolled his eyes, “it’s not a conspiracy video; it’s more like a theory video about that show I’ve been watching.” By now, he had paused the video since it was nearly the end, and usually, only the credits would show at the end. “Oh, the one you’ve been trying to convince James and me to watch? Did it finally have its season finale or something?”

    Nate nodded his head to both questions. “Maybe I can catch up before they release the new season then.” Pondering the statement, Nate narrowed his eyes in thought, “yeah, I think you’d be able to do that. The episodes aren’t that long, and there are only two seasons as of now.” Nate then got up to go to the kitchen, seeing as he was beginning to get hungry since he had ignored his natural urge to eat something for breakfast because he was focusing on conspiracy theories thus far. Shrugging, Lisa headed up for her room, seeing as she wasn’t able to complete everything yesterday. Luckily for her, it was still an early Saturday morning, so there was ample time to get stuff done. Once again, sitting at her marble-patterned golden orange laptop, she quickly re-read the assignments to ensure that she was following instructions as well to make sure it wasn’t re-doing work she already completed. 

    Typing away, Lisa solely focused on the screen and questions in front of her. It was during this intense focus that time seemed to move faster, and before she knew it, just as she pressed submit to the last assignment she was assigned, her mother shouted to the twins that lunch was ready. Quickly glancing at the bottom right corner of her screen, she saw it was 1:34 PM. With a sigh of relief, Lisa turned off her laptop and quickly plugged it, since she saw the battery level was only 27 percent and went downstairs to have lunch with her family.

    Noticing that the kitchen table was empty of the promised lunch, Lisa groaned, realizing they were all eating lunch outside on the patio. Now, Lisa rather enjoyed the outdoors, especially on a day like today when the sun was shining brightly, yet there was the occasional dark cloud here and there since it was going to rain tomorrow. As of now, Lisa didn’t want to go outside to eat. She tried to take her food up to her room and watch some British show or maybe watch a Japanese animated show that she is currently watching. Yet, because of her dad being home, she pent up all desires she had to take a plate of food and hide away into her room and instead went outside where a plate of warm food awaited. 

    Sitting down in the spiny outdoor chair at the white metal outdoor table they had, Lisa pulled her plate a little closer to her as she took a breadstick from the middle of the table and began eating her plate of 2 slices of pizza and a breadstick. The table had more on it than a box of takeout pizza and breadsticks; there was also a 2-liter bottle of soda, multi-colored tall glass cups, napkins, and a tray of Mrs. Archer’s famous home-baked cookies. 

    The family continued to converse here and there as they ate. Enjoying the time they had together, and living in the moment, Mr. Archer, smiled fondly at his family as he ate since he knew more moments like these would happen. With his recent promotion upon arriving back from his business trip, Mr. Archer was made the promise from his employers that he would be taking much fewer trips for the company. While some may grow saddened by the news of not being able to see further and experience the other regions of this new planet, Mr. Archer was ecstatic by it. After all, he was a family man, and he deeply loved his family.

    Even as their family conversations died down, Mr. Archer enjoyed the presence of his family. Smiling, he took out the living room’s ‘TV’ and put it on the table and turned it on. Lisa notified the beam of light emitting from the projector as her father passed down the controller to Lisa to pick a movie. With a grin, Lisa picked a superhero movie from the early 2010s by the name of ‘The Avengers.”

    The family then enjoyed their cookies and leftover pizza slices as they enjoyed the film, making comments here and there as questions were asked, laughs were shared, and as Mr. Archer appreciated this moment with his family.