Project: Socialize (Chapters 198-Continued) [Hiatus]

277. Intermission

Saturday morning soon arrived, and  the annoying sound of my phone alarm ringing dragged me out of my slumber, forcing my consciousness to return to the physical realm. With my mind feeling rather hazy, I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling before turning my head to gaze at the few slivers of sunlight that spilled in from the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony that was covered by the curtains.

Slowly, I forced myself to sit up, and with a yawn, I left my bed. I walked over to the curtains, parting them to the side with my right hand as I looked out at the morning city. The brightness of the outside world was rather blinding, causing me to squint as I quickly allowed the curtains to cover the glass door once again to protect myself.

Still feeling somewhat drowsy, I stumbled over towards the closed door leading out of my room, and upon exiting, I turned towards the restroom in order to prepare myself for this day. I stared at the sink and at my reflection in the wide mirror, taking in my disheveled hair and tired countenance for a few seconds before I started brushing my teeth.

Alvelyn soon entered through the partly closed door. Like me, she was still dressed in her sleeping wear, which consisted of a light tank top with a pair of white shorts. Her hair also seemed as if they required some attention as her face was characterized by a sluggish appearance.

I finished my morning routine before Alvelyn, so upon exiting the restroom, I walked straight down the hallway, through the living room area, and went directly to the kitchen. I opened the refrigerator door, peering in to see what was available for me to make a simple breakfast from. My eyes quickly caught sight of the carton of eggs, package of sausages, and pancake batter. Reaching into the refrigerator, I retrieved two eggs, the pack of sausages, and the premixed pancake batter. Then, I walked over to the electric stove and activated it by awakening the touchscreen with a gentle tap of my finger and selecting the correct prompt.

I opened the kitchen cabinet and retrieved a pan. Then, I began the breakfast preparations. The cooking process was rather simple, taking me about ten minutes to finish preparing a breakfast meal for two. After plating the freshly made pancakes with egg and sausages on the side, I walked back to the refrigerator to grab some ingredients for a simple salad. The main ingredients of this salad will be lettuce with slices of cucumber and small tomatoes mixed into it with all the ingredients being topped with a light salad dressing. After washing and cutting the vegetables, the salad was quickly assembled as well.

Just before I was finished with the morning meal, Alvelyn emerged from the restroom, walking up to the refrigerator and grabbing the milk carton. Then, she poured two glasses of milk, one for each of us. Afterwards, she helped bring the plates and salad bowls over to the dining table where we both sat down to eat.

I looked over at Alvelyn observing her as she took a small bite out of the fried egg that I had made. With her right hand delivering the food to her mouth using a fork, her left hand was tasked with keeping her long hair from coming into contact with the food items. By the looks of it, she had brushed her hair, straightening them.

After finishing our morning meal and having cleaned the dishes, the two of us returned to our rooms in order to get dressed and prepare to leave for Destinyland. As it would seem, Alvelyn had texted Muria about going together, which I have nothing against. There are still a couple minutes before our agreed upon meeting time, so I took this opportunity to get dressed.

I walked past Loriana's closed door as I made my way over to my room from the living room. She is probably still asleep at this moment, as she usually wake up at around 8:00 AM during days like these where she does not have to work. Since it is currently only 6:45 AM, I quietly crept into my room so as to not disrupt her peaceful slumber and approached my wardrobe.

My clothing of choice for today is rather simple, as I know we will have to walk for quiet some time in the theme park. Therefore, I picked out a black button up shirt and a pair of navy blue jeans. As for shoes, I opted to wear the pair of basketball shoes that I had bought for myself earlier this year as in my opinion, these were simply more comfortable to walk in. Although I used to wear sneakers during these situations, I've come to prefer basketball shoes. I just feel a greater sense of security with the higher shoe collar that protects the ankle as this makes it so that it is less likely for one to twist their ankle.

I waited by the door and waited for Alvelyn to arrive. My wait wasn't long as she soon approached while dressing in comfortable looking apparel. With both of us present, I checked my phone for the time once again before I turned around and opened the door.

When I opened the door, it would appear that Muria was doing so at the same time, as when I pushed the door open, I saw Muria appear almost at the same time as I did. She gazed at me with a rather surprised countenance, but that look of shock soon dissipated as she quietly nodded as a way of greeting me.

The three of us rode the elevator down to ground floor, and from there, we exited our building. The plan is to reach Lumina Station and ride the express train to Destinyland. The theme park is located in the south of Kardia, one of the sixteen districts of Palisia. Therefore, from Lumina Station, if we were to ride the express trains, then it should take us about forty or so minutes to arrive at Destinyland Station since we are closer to Destinyland in Lumina than the others are in Nocsinis.

Upon exiting our building, I was immediately greeted with the comfortable and cool temperatures of the morning. Although the temperature is rather pleasant right now, it will probably only rise later in the day. However, since the season has only barely transitioned from Spring to Summer, the temperature will be more manageable, maybe even pleasant.

The sky overhead was rather blue with few clusters of white, puffy clouds here and there. An airplane flew by in the distant sky, leaving behind contrails that marked its path. On ground level, I can hear the familiar sound of the outside world with the humming audio of automobiles moving nearby and in the invisible distance where the road is shielded by the concrete buildings. Numerous cars rolled by on the large road and many pedestrians were already walking on the sidewalks as the city of Palisia is never truly quiet with constant activity.

At Lumina Station, after passing through the ticket gates and riding the escalator to the underground platforms, we boarded the express train headed in the direction of Destinyland. Since it was a Saturday morning and Lumina Station is one of the more heavily used stations in Palisia and since Lumina is one of the major population centers in Palisia, this train is already rather packed despite this early time. However, this is still better than the congestion one would experience during rush hour.

Since all the seats were taken, the three of us resorted to standing. Our journey will take a rather long time, so we chose to find a comfortable spot in the train car that is away from the flow of outgoing and incoming traffic of passengers getting on and off, but...it's not as if many people will be getting off, as this train is almost exclusively used by people wanting to go to Destinyland. Normal people who need to use this line would choose the normal trains as those will be less packed. The spot we decided on non-verbally was near the corner of the train car. Alvelyn and Muria stood in the corner, while I stood facing them, using my body as an aegis to shield them.

The train soon left the station, driving smoothly on the underground tracks as it steered in the direction of the world renown Destinyland. The three of us were rather quiet in the journey, but I really didn't mind. As I grabbed onto the nearby handrails with my hands, I had my earbuds in, listening to music in order to pass the forty minutes of this train ride.