Location: Solar city, Sun country
Time: 7am
I woke up early. I brushed my teeth and put on a nice outfit: an off-the-shoulder apricot orange dress that ended with wide bell sleeves and a pair of light blue flip-flops. I looked down at the flip-flops again. Nope. this wouldn’t do. Though wearing flip-flops on Bright-Day was a family tradition, I was retrieving someone today, and they lived a bit far. I had to prepare to walk. As I put on a pair of blue mesh sneakers, I saw my sister Sunny enter our walk in closet. I looked up at her.
“You’re up rather early.”
“So are you.” she answered, avoiding my gaze.
Though I was finished tying my shoes I remained on the floor, leaning back on my arms. “What’s wrong with you? Still sad about yesterday?” I was referring to when mom had a knife pulled out on her by some Moon Central Intelligence Agency officials. Sunny had looked so scared it seemed she would’ve burst into tears at any moment. Luckily, I had enough courage in me to snatch that knife and run like crazy, saving my family, even though that action had put me in danger in the process. I had thankfully been saved by a boy. Fog. I couldn’t wait to see him again today.
“No, it’s not that, just got a place to be.” Sunny answered, picking out a green bell-sleeved dress to where. Nice choice.
“Oh, where is it now? This will be the second time you’ve disappeared somewhere early in the morning. Where do you plan to go?” I asked her, equally concerned and curious.
“I’m just going to take a walk sis, jeez stop grilling me.” she then turned and glared at me. “And where are you going today Mist?”
“Oh, to grab a friend.” I said quickly. “Me and this friend of mine are going to spend Bright-Day together.” This was at least partially true.
“Still. You know it’s tradition to wear flip-flops today. This ‘friend’ must love running.” said Sunny. I could tell she was as suspicious of me as I was of her.
Still, I wasn’t gonna tell her that this ‘friend’ was Prince Fog of Moon country. Sun country and Moon country never got along and never EVER visited each other's countries. Though Fog saved my life, I was from Sun country, and he was the PRINCE of Moon country. He had to set an example for his people, and I’m pretty sure hanging out with the enemy is not a good example. But I promised I’d show him what it’s like here, in Sun country. How we weren’t as barbaric as the Moon people thought we were. And what better day to do that than on Bright-Day, my country’s sacred national holiday?
I walked past The Plains, my city’s spot dedicated to growing plants of all kinds. Instead of the sun up high to compliment the bright blue skies, the welkin was a shade of pink and the sun was long behind me. Then, black.
I gasped. Just like yesterday, the sky had gone from blue to pink to black without me noticing. I turned behind me. Surely the pink sky of The Plains had not disappeared. I was right, the pink sky was still there, and further down Solar city had a sunset-yellow sky. I knew Solar city’s sky hadn’t really turned yellow, but my distance from the city and the sun that was anchored to it made it look that way. The earth’s trick. Each color in the sky was fading into each other, and I kind of liked it. How naturally the yellow melted into the pink, then the pink fading into purple then the black that was Lunar city’s sky.
I walked up to the gates that marked the entrance to the city, only to find out that the locks I saw yesterday had been replaced with a touchscreen of some sort.
“Aw, must’ve learned they’re lesson and put new locks on this gate.” I said aloud. Despite my complaints, I was a tad thankful for the new locks. Yesterday, there were three locks on the inside of the gate, which made it easy to get out, but impossible to get in. today, there was a tiny tablet on both sides of the gates, which at least made getting in achievable, be it unlikely.
I tapped the screen. “Enter password.” an automated voice told me. I clicked a few random numbers, as if that would work out. It didn’t even say the whole ‘access denied’ thing. It just showed me a big red X and brought me back to the home screen.
“Looks like you're trying to hack the security system.” a voice said.
I looked up to see it was Fog, looking sleepy as ever, slowly making his way over the gates. He looked beyond tired. He opened the gates with ease.
“FYI, The code’s 1234.” said Fog.
“Why’d you tell me that?” I asked him.
“Y’know just in case you ever want to come back here, for whatever reason,” He answered. I couldn’t tell if he told me that for informational or mischievous reasons. It was hard enough for me to be here, since our countries were deep rooted enemies and we technically couldn’t go to each other's countries under ANY circumstances.
Unless we wanted a war.
“Didn’t you get any sleep last night?” I asked him sincerely.
“Well, this is Moon Country. We sleep in the daytime, so I ended up taking a long nap last night despite my confused parents, and woke up to sneak out really late to meet you here.”
Uh…
“Okay I can tell I’ve lost you.” he backtracked. “All that is equivalent to you going to sleep right after dinner, only to wake up at 11:00 p.m. to go to a forbidden country.”
“Oh.” there was nothing else I could say.
“It’s fine.” Fog waved this off, but the bags under his eyes told me otherwise.
I reached into my pocket and grabbed the bag of coffee beans I’d bought from some kids at the Farmers Market. “Here, maybe you can use these later or at some point.” I handed the bag to him.
His face seemed to light up when he saw the coffee bag. “Thanks. How did you know I like to grind coffee beans myself?”
“Honestly, I didn’t even know you drank coffee.” I said honestly. “But I’m glad you do, since you look like you could really use one. No offense.” I told him.
“None taken,” Fog told me, and we headed for The Plains and it’s bright pink sky.