Wall *The Outbreak*

1. The beginning

"Enrico, wake up".

"Yes mom". I watch the clock and see that it's only 7am. I still have an hour before the bus is here. I sit up. I feel a bit dizzy, but also tired. But hey, what did you expect. It's Monday morning again. I remember we had homework of math. But I was too busy playing games so I 'forgot' to make it. I see my little brother Roberto opening up the door.

"Good morning Enrico" he says.

"Good morning Roberto" I answer.

"I hope you don't mind but I'm going to the shower first".

"Yeah it's fine, I'll go after you". For a 6 year old he really takes fast showers. While getting up out of bed, I trip over my schoolbag I dropped Friday evening. I hit my head on my nightstand. I don't know for how long I was unconscious, but I do know that my mom and brother were here around me.

"You okay son?" my mother asks.

"Yeah yeah". They both help me get up.

"Thanks" I say.

"You're bleeding" Roberto says. I put my hand on the place where it hurts. I feel something. I look at my hand and I see that I'm indeed bleeding.

"Go clean that off" my mom says.

"I'm on to it". I walk to the bathroom and go in it. I looked in the mirror and watched the wound. I put my boxer off and get in the shower. I screamed a little of the hot water.

"Damn it Roberto. This is the third time you put the water as hot as possible!!" I hear a few giggles and then hear someone running down the stairs. Oh well, we all did such things when we were young.

I make sure the water is tepid before I start to shower. I make sure I clean my head very well so there's no blood anymore. After I'm done showering I get out of bath and start to dry myself. I want to walk out of the bathroom but I remember I forgot my clothes. I open the door a small bit and stick my head out.

"Nobody? Good." I open the door and quickly rush to my bedroom, almost tripped again. But this time it would be weird if I lay naked and unconscious on the ground. I open up my closet and stare at it. I grab a blue boxer and put it on, together with black socks. I hear my mom going downstairs.

"Hey mom" I ask.

"What is it son?" she answers.

"How's the weather for today".

"Hot" she says, "If I was you, I'd put on a shirt and a short, nothing more".

"Okay, thanks mom".

"By the way, how is that wound going?".

"Fine mom, it doesn't hurt and it stopped bleeding". When I'm done saying that, I hear the sound of an 2 year old crying.

"Great", I hear my mom saying with a sigh.

"Guess someone is hungry. Now we're hundred percent sure that he's yours". We both start to laugh and then my mom goes downstairs to feed my little brother Thomas. I hear my mom closing the door. In a few minutes, Thomas is calmed down and isn't crying anymore. I look back in my closet and think about what to wear today.

I look at the stack of shirts and search for one of my many band shirts. I grab my black Nirvana shirt I bought this weekend. It was actually a fun weekend. I went with Jimmy, well everybody calls him Jim though, and Andrew to the mall. It was the perfect time to go there because it were sales and nobody was there because there was a concert from a new boyband. That wasn't music for us. We rather have some grunge, or hard rock, or punk rock. All those kind of things. But I think that we're the only one that listen to that in school because everybody is going to that concert. Even the boys, except the nerds. They rather die in a zombie apocalypse then leaving their books behind, but yeah, their choice. Jim and Andrew are my best buddy's since we were in the kindergarten. We always did everything together. Doing karaoke evenings, staring at girls, gaming. Because that's one of our hobbies. And the best thing of all, having a band.

Since we were 12 we started a band, it's called The Blue Angels. It was just me, Jim and Andrew that played in it, me as the drummer, Andrew as the guitarist and Jim as the bassist. We didn't wrote our own songs, we weren't good at it. Covers were something we were good at. Especially songs from Green day, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys.

I take the shirt and put it on. It fits perfectly. I look at the stack of shorts and pick a fitting black short and put it on.

"Ready to go to school" I say to myself. Before I leave I grab my phone and look at the time. 7:35am. Still got time to eat. When I put my phone in my pocket it starts to vibrate. I look at the screen and see my dad is calling me.

"Good morning dad". I say with a smile.

"Good morning son, I was just checking in on how you are" he answers.

"I'm good dad, what about you"

"I'm just a little bit busy. How's your mom and brothers doing?"

"They're doing fine, happy like always."

"Enrico, I'm actually calling you to say that I won't be able to call for a while. We are busy here with a new project and it takes a lot of time and effort."

"What project are you doing dad?" I ask concerned.

"I can't tell you son." I can hear on his voice that there is something wrong.

"What about a small detail?" When I'm done asking that I hear an alarm going off in the background of my dad.

"Dad, what's happening?" I ask concerned.

"Look son, I got to go now. Just make sure that you take care of your brothers and your mom. Promise me that son."

"I promise you dad, but wh-". Before I knew my dad had hang up the phone. I stood there, thinking of what could have happened and what still can happen. I just said to myself to not think about it that much.

My dad is a scientist at the Scientific Research Centre. He doesn't talk much about his job, that's because he's not allowed to he says. The only thing I know is that he's working in the After Life research facility. He's not home much, and that's really harsh. Especially for my 2 little brothers, they really miss their dad. Normally he's always home for the weekends, but the past weeks he practically lives at his work.

After the call I saw I still had 20 minutes before the bus I came. I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs for breakfast. I threw my bag against the chair and took a seat. The kitchen was busy as always, mom feeding Thomas, Thomas hungry but still crying and then Roberto, who was playing with his food instead of eating it.

"Dad called" I said

"Well well, what was his excuse to not come home this time?" mom asked.

"He said he was very busy with a new project, when I asked what kind of project, he didn't want to answer"

"That's normal, it has always been like that"

"Yeah I know mom, but this time was different. His voice sounded a bit panicked. And right before he hung up, a loud alarm got off"

"Oh Enrico, its only Monday morning and you're already filled with imaginations. Eat your breakfast son, you'll be late for the bus"