I walked into a children's playground, taking a seat beside the other parents.
They seemed surprised, probably thinking I was a young father.
I ignored them though, and I kept my eyes on a certain child.
Aylin.
Nelle's little sister. A month had passed since her passing. Something that I was still getting accustomed to even though I had only known her for a week.
I guess she left a strong impression.
Her sister was more mature than others her age, so it didn't take her too long to come to terms with her sister's death. However, he still couldn't mention Nelle without her getting teary.
Aylin used only her legs to travel the monkey bars, grabbing the attention of the other kids. Her smile was infectious, just like her sister.
I waited for a few more minutes before I stood up.
"Aylin!"
She turned to me and waved back seeing my face.
"Your cousin is here. It's time to go". Aylin pouted slightly and held my hand as we walked out the playground.
" I wanna spend more time with you!"
"No can do. I have a busy life as well. I wouldn't be a ble to cater for you properly"
"But-"
"No buts"
She had a point though. Every day I went to work felt more and more suffocating. I only I could just....quit.
***
I gazed out the window off my room onto the road of the incident. I had gain a new problem. I could stand in storms. The incident had scarred me I guess.
Nelle's cousin came for the Aylin, leaving me with nothing else to do, until one evening where I stumbled upon a particular video.
"How To Have Fun"
It was cheesy as hell but I bore through and checked out his ideas. Singing didnt interest me, neither did gaming. Dancing caught my interest a little, but it didn't feel, 'right'.
***
"I quit"
"Huh?"
I placed down my resignation letter and walked out, but before I could close the door, I heard the manager's voice.
"You can't quit! I-If you do, I'll make sure you can never get a job here in Cuba!"
"I don't care"
I tried closing the door, but then a figure stopped it.
"Get out of the way, prince charming"
"I'm afraid I can't do that."
I folded my arms. The situation was ironic. They treated me like a slave day by day, but now that I wanted to leave, they were putting all their effort to stop me.
"Hey. I know it's about that girl. Listen, she was a really good person, and it's not your fault she died. Right now, I don't think you're thinking straight. You couldn't possibly want to quit because of her death right? It's not like we had anything to do with it."
Seeing my unflinching stare, he tried harder. "Come on. Alright fine. What if we get you a bitch of your own, it shouldn't be that hard to arrange that, right?"
The manager smiled and backed him up. His pig like smile disgusted me.
"Of course not. I can do it anytime, even right now!"
"Naomi wouldn't want you to remain hopeless and stranded because of her-"
"Nelle"
"...Mm?"
He was confused by my interruption
"Her name is Nelle"
He raised he head to look me straight in the eyes, but I was already gone. Walking down the hallway.
"Don't forget that name"
***
'He was right about one thing. She wouldn't want me moping around like this.'
---
Aylin invited him one time as she played around in his room.
"Wanna try parkour with me? It's really sick!"
"...Parkour?"
"You don't know parkour? Wow, youre older than I thought, uncle"
My face twitched hearing her sarcasm.
"Don't call me that"
"Whatever. Wanna try it out?"
"You never explained what is was?"
"Uhh. Its like... turning the world into a playground — where obstacles become challenges, and every movement is like freedom. It's reaaally cool you know"
"Pass"
"Really?!"
I didn't want to admit, but the times I had seen her do this so called parkour, my heart raced. Not for her of course.
It wondered... Can I do something like that too?
---
"Breaking News"
'Ah, I left the television on?' My attention was taken by the sudden news broadcast.
"Uhh, is this thing on?" The presenter seemed to be fiddling around with the mic on his ear.
"We're live"
"Oh"
....
..
"Ahem. This just in. A sudden vortex has opened up in the Bermuda triangle, and according to witnesses, it's slowly expanding. By calculations, within four hours, the following areas will be affected.
Bermuda.
Miami
San Juan-"
"Well shit."
I'm in Cuba
"The Bahamas"
"Cuba"
Yeah. I knew it. Anytime something bad happens, I always manage to be involved in some way.
" Researchers are calling an immediate evacuation. Radars are incapable of getting within range. But witnesses who were nearby said it looked like a big black expanding zone. "
I turned left again, looking out the window.
'What happened to four hours? I can see it from here'
I rubbed my temple seeing the chaos that was slowly erupting. More and more people were starting to notice it.
"Anyways. The daily news broadcast will still begin at 7:00pm, so stay tuned!'
I ignored the presenter's lack of care for any of the affected places and noticed something was wrong.
My watch said it was 8:00pm, but on the broadcast, the time was 4:00pm there. The broadcast came from England, and there was a difference of about 5 hours. Five hours of England being ahead of Cuba. But how did Cuba get four hours ahead all of a sudden.
'It's that thing, huh.'
With the rate at which it was increasing, I wouldn't be able to escape it's expansion.
"Meh"
'I don't need to'
I searched up and eventually got a video that caught my interest.
"The Basics Of Parkour"
***
"Sir. Is there anything we can do to help?"
An old man rubbed his temple, frustrated by the noise around him.
"You can help by SHUTTING UP!"
...
A wave of silence swept over the room, giving him the time he wanted to finally breathe.
"There's nothing we can do about this... We can't even warn the nearby countries..."
"Why sir?"
"Because there's a time dilation space you dimwit. Everything we send there takes more time than it's supposed to. One of our pilots literally went and came back older than me!"
The old man scratched his head and leaned back into his chair. This was the head researcher for a private organisation called Oak.
"For now, all we can do is pray for their souls. We'll get to work once it stops expanding. We need to make radars and Comms devices that work in that environment."
He turned to look outside the plane they were all in. "We need to be fast, or else from the last response, this planet is doomed."