After a restless night, Tyrio and Korio woke up just as they had all their lives. Before thoughts of what had happened in the parking lot hit them, excitement for their plans of the day did. It was Cristiano’s seventeenth birthday, and it would be at water park in New Jersey; not too far from their Philadelphia home. After doing their usual morning routines and quickly packing backpacks of what they would need for the day, the brothers quickly went by Steve (who was still sleeping in the same position on the couch) and out the door. Just like it had been for the past week, today was annoyingly hot and sunny. It would take them almost two hours to get to the party without a car, but they both were experts of public transportation. Tyrio wiped the warm sweat from his face and looked at the basketball courts behind him.

“Glad we’re going to get in some water instead of burning up out there today,” Tyrio says with a smile. “You sure that route is all good right?” 

Korio exhales and swipes through his cell phone, bringing up his navigation app. “I’m sure, don’t ask me again.” Korio was one to be easily irritated by the heat, and probably could reach any destination without the app entirely.

Tyrio smirks. “Who are you talking to lil’ bro?” he teases, giving Korio a light shove in the head. Korio immediately turns and fakes a speedy punch to Tyrio’s stomach, making him flinch, squeal, and laugh. It hadn’t really come to the front of his mind up until then, but memories of the day before began to replay upon attacking Tyrio. Tyrio could easily see what Korio was thinking from the concerned stare he was giving his own fist. 

“We haven’t seen it today yet so, out of sight out of mind! Yesterday was make believe until it’s true again today, you know? Don’t fixate on a problem that you aren’t having.” Tyrio says, trying to keep the day about the well awaited trip they were on. Korio remains silent, trying to keep his mind on different things. The last thing he wanted to do was become paranoid of what had been going on with him. As much as he wanted to believe it wasn’t reality one way or another he knew that in truth it was. 

Tyrio and Korio finally reach the bus station where they had to wait in the heat for at least ten minutes, leaving Korio to constantly sigh. Finally, they get on the bus and take the ride all the way to the train station, opposed to their usually subway usage. The train would take them to only a bus ride away from their final destination. After a long trip full of quick naps do to such a previous sleepless night, they arrived at the water park and head to the pavilion Cristiano had rented for them. Cristiano and Zahkire were already waiting for them, Zahkire had drove himself and Cristiano was dropped off. 

Cristiano looks up from his phone with a smile. “Finally.”

“Yoooo! What’s up bro? Do you feel old yet? Ready to have some kids?” Tyrio asks, laughing and giving him a handshake followed by a hug. 

Korio smiles, and gives Cristiano a handshake next. “Happy birthday, bro.” 

“I appreciate that,” Cristiano replies.

“Hey, I’m here too!” Zahkire announces, standing up and walking over. He was the only one who was already shirtless, proud of his defined physique.

“Yeah, it’s good to see you too I guess,” Korio says.

Zahkire laughed, giving him a handshake. “Aye bro it’s hot as hell out here man take that shirt off my boy!” he insists, switching his attention to Tyrio. 

Tyrio already knew Zahkire just wanted to tease him, being competitive even about their bodies. “Why you tryna get me naked, bro? You got something to tell us?” Tyrio shot back with a smug grin. Zahkire laughs and waved dismissively at his clever reply. 

After they finish greeting each other, it was time to go out and have a good time. Although being conventionally “cool”, Cristiano wasn’t necessarily very popular due to his antisocial personality. If he didn’t know someone he was quiet, if he did, he was one of the most likable people you would ever meet. Tyrio was naturally similar in a sense. Although being extremely popular from his constant charisma, good looks, and basketball talent, Tyrio didn’t either have many genuine friends. Many people would shallowly latch on to him just to make themselves look like a friend of someone like him, without ever really getting to know who Tyrio really was. He didn’t usually mind, and was always happy to make people laugh. As long as he had a few people like Korio and Cristiano in his life, he would be just fine. 

One thing nobody had to worry about in the group, was someone being afraid of the towering water slides around the park. Tyrio and Zahkire wouldn’t let each other live it down if one of them displayed any fear, and Korio was eager to get in any water on a day this hot. Besides the long waits in line, the four were having a great time getting splashed and tossed around on every ride. After sliding down into the pool of water that wait below the twists, turns, and screams of the slide they just had been sent through, they all got out of the inflated tube they had puzzle pieced themselves into. After shaking his hair and drying off a bit, Korio has his attention snatched up by a cute girl around his age. Tyrio takes notice of Korio’s stare, and immediately sprang into action! 

“Go on and take your shot man, you got it.” Tyrio dramatically whispers in Korio’s ear from behind. 

“Nah I’m good, bro, I thought I saw something on her face,” Korio responds, caught off guard.

“Something on her face, riiiiight. C’mon man it’s about time you talk to some girls, the last time I can remember you did was back at the center. Don’t you…want it?”

“Want it? What the hell are we talking about here, bro?” Korio says, giving his brother a puzzled look. 

Tyrio burst into laughter. “I just mean the connection in general you know? It’s a great thing,” he replies, thinking of his own girlfriend. “And you know I could give you advice with this kind of thing.”

“I’m sure you think so.” Korio responds with a sarcastic squint and nod. Korio looked over to where the girl was, considering his brother’s words. His stomach dropped however after realizing she had gotten out of his range of sight. “Maybe next time I guess,” he says, relieved and disappointed all at once. 

“Definitely next time,” Tyrio says, putting his arm around Korio, seeing she had gotten away. 

Cristiano approached from behind, with his wet hair drooping past his mouth. “We’re ready to go get something to eat,” he says, pointing to Zahkire.

“Can you get me something? I gotta run to the bathroom real quick, I think the water is making it worse,” Korio says quickly. 

“Yeah I gotta go too, get me something I’ll pay you back!” Tyrio added.

“Don’t even worry about that bro, I gotchu, we’ll be back at the table.” Zahkire assures. 

Tyrio and Korio nods, and make their way to the crowded, wet restroom. After handling their business at some urinals, they turn around to be greeted by an ominous feeling blocking their path. Slowly, they make their way through the crowd and towards the door; the aggravating tension quickly swelling and unease with every step. At the crescendo of this feeling, Tyrio bumped into a kid. He was Asian and couldn’t be any taller than five foot five inches, with tousled wavy black hair. He also was quite bony, but none of these details seemed to matter to Tyrio once he saw the glare of disdain in his eyes. 

“Watch ya step bitch!” Tyrio exclaims angrily, suddenly overtaken by a screeching burst of aggression. 

“Excuse me?” the boy hisses, clenching his fists and matching Tyrio’s hostility entirely. “I’ll beat you senseless.” He follows, not a crumb of doubt or hesitation in his statement. 

“Let’s just head outside then, we don’t gotta talk anymore,” Tyrio replied coldly, making his way to the door.

The scrawny boy and Korio follow, leaving the suddenly silent bathroom crowd concerned for the safety of Tyrio’s opponent. Part of Korio also questioned why this fight was happening, but the majority of his emotions strangely felt just the same way Tyrio did. As Tyrio steps through the bathroom door oozing violent intentions, he feels an absurdly strong jolt into his back, sending him flying into the crowd of the park. Tyrio gets up slowly, filled with pain and massive shock. By the time he has recuperated, his enemy stands in front of him smiling sadistically. Tyrio smiles back, happy that he didn’t have to bear the slight guilt of striking first. He lunges towards the boy, feeling much faster than he had ever moved in the past. He swings his fist downward, hoping to critically meet the temple and end things immediately. His speeding fist is greeted by the grasp of his opponent’s palm, holding it still as a crushing hook is slammed into his ribs with a painful crack. He’s flooded by an excruciating sharp pain, but his adrenaline allows him to bear his teeth and throw a wild uppercut that connects with power. 

Tyrio wasn’t the best fighter, but he was far from the worst after sparring with his little brother. The boy’s head snaps backwards from the contact, but only to reveal a manic open mouth smile. With the explosiveness of a rocket, the boy shoots up while slamming his forehead into Tyrio’s nose. Discombobulated, Tyrio is shot back and onto the ground, leaving a thick trail of nose blood in the air. Facing away from the danger, Tyrio could hazily see that an enthusiastic crowd had formed around them. Through the frenzy Tyrio was even able to see Cristiano, who looked on with concern through his hair. This ignited another level of anger in Tyrio, despising the idea of Cristiano having to see him hurt. He shoots up from the ground with blistering speed, traces of vivid yellow lightning suddenly shadowing his movements. In a flash Tyrio dashes towards the startled combatant, gliding towards him with a concentrated gaze piercing through his pupils and into his soul. 

“I feel amazing,” Tyrio declares, ready to strike only within inches of his target. 

A purple aura around his target suddenly flares into existence, responding to the energy Tyrio was threatening him with. Tyrio’s instincts immediately gave his body one command, to put all his fury and might into this punch. His fist slices through the air, only grazing the cheek of his swiftly dodging opponent. The boy slips behind Tyrio all in one swift move, and before he can deliver his high-speed counter he feels a wave of regret overcome him. His eyes meet Tyrio’s, and as they come closer the ominous purple light around him suddenly fades to a warm red. Upon this, Tyrio’s aggression also recoils massively, bringing his body to a halt. Even within a once passionately noisy crowd, everything had become silent. Tyrio and the young man before him have stop fighting and began to stare at each other. All the animosity that had flooded the air so sickeningly, suddenly had dissipated and even been replaced by respect. Korio as a silent spectator had even felt a peaceful change in his emotions towards the situation. 

Zahkire rushes from the food stand with multiple paper bags in hand, eager to see what the crowd had built for. The circle he found was full of shocked faces, frozen in awe. Just like at the basketball courts, nobody could truly explain the displays in the fight before them. Zahkire wraps around the still crowd before finding Cristiano, who was frozen just like everyone else. 

“So…what’s going on?” Zahkire instinctively whispered. 

Cristiano slowly points at Tyrio and the kid in front of him. They both were covered in bruises and some blood, slumped over and panting. Zahkire could assume that the two had surprisingly been fighting, but had no idea why they were only looking at each other now. 

Tyrio slowly approaches the teenager before him, able to see how he was older than he once thought. A silver chain hung from his neck, with an unknown Japanese character attached to it. His thin eyes suddenly seemed welcoming and calm, opposite of the deadly intent that burned in them before. 

“It should have never gotten that serious, sorry about that, bro,” Tyrio says, awkwardly remembering his outburst that had initiated things. 

The boy’s eyes widen. “It’s alright, I don’t know what got into me either. Just been a little…off lately,” he replied, causing a moment of awkward silence. “My name is Jared Nakamura. What’s your name?” 

“Tyrio,” he chuckled. “Tyrio Boost.” 

Tyrio then looked up to the crowd, who were still standing in place, concentrating on him and Jared. 

“And thank you all for watching our light show! Nobody was hurt and a magician never reveals their secrets! Hope you enjoyed it!” Tyrio yelled out to the crowd, holding his hands in the air as if he expected a round of applause. The crowd began to slowly clap, before bursting into a spectacular roar of applause and cheering. The compliments and praise he received even gave Korio a business idea instead of deep concern. Tyrio made his way out of the crowd, receiving high fives and tip offerings. Jared followed, keeping his head low although he was in awe of Tyrio’s quick thinking. Tyrio returned to the pavilion along with Jared along with Korio, Cristiano, and Zahkire following behind shortly after. Zahkire was still beyond confused at this point, but Cristiano began to interrogate.

“Light show? How? How do you even know this guy?” Cristiano asks.

“I’ll explain to you later, can we just eat now I’m starving, bro,” Tyrio responds, not ready to try and explain the topic he barely understood.

“Can you at least explain him?” Cristiano argues, pointing at Jared once more.

“We used to be pretty good friends back in elementary school and started talking again a few weeks ago,” Jared answers.. 

Korio looks on in silence, not wanting to do any harm to the fabricated story Tyrio and Jared were cooking up. Obviously, he had put together that Jared and his brother had only met for the first time today as they returned to the table together. 

“Yeah, you’re gonna have to explain to me too man, because it definitely looked like you two had gotten into it,” Zahkire says, putting down the food and pointing to Tyrio’s face. “Really seems like he gave you a run for your money Tyrio,” he added with a chuckle. 

Tyrio forces a laugh and takes a bite of the burger Zahkire had gotten him. Tyrio had no intention of telling Zahkire what was really going on, but knew he would try and explain to Cristiano soon enough. Still feeling guilty for his hostility, he turned to Jared who looked quite out of place at the wooden bench they resided on. 

“Want some?” Tyrio offers, sliding over the tray of fries toward his new accomplice. 

Normally, Jared would feel greedy taking from the plate of someone he’d just met, but Tyrio naturally felt like a real friend. 

“Yeah, I’m hungry myself, thank you,” Jared says quietly but gratefully. He took a couple fries and ate them. 

Tyrio slide the tray over further, all the way in front of Jared’s chest. “You can have the rest bro, I don’t even want them like that,” he says. 

“You sure?” Jared starts.

“Of course,” Tyrio says, cutting him off with a smile.

Jared thanked him once more. “You guys here with your parents or something?”

“Nah, just us…well Cristiano and no Zahkire got dropped off but we’ll all have to take the train back to Philly,” Tyrio responded. “You?”

“Nope, it’s my cousin’s birthday though. Almost didn’t come but my aunt basically forced me to,” Jared says with a hint of lighthearted irritation. 

After that sentence, the waterpark loudspeakers gave the notice that the park would be closing in an hour. The bunch in the pavilion ate the rest of their meals without much conversation, ready to leave for the day. After getting their things together and rising from the table, Tyrio turned to Jared, nearly forgetting he wasn’t going to be joining them on the trip home. 

“Yo Jared what’s your number, bro?” Tyrio asks, pulling his phone out. 

Jared takes his phone and put his own number in it. The rest of the guys had already made their way ahead of the two.

“I’m guessing we’re dealing with the same thing, aren’t we?” Jared questions almost rhetorically, certain that was the case.

“I think so, my brother too. Do you have ideas about what’s going on? Tyrio replies, hopeful that he could have some answers. 

“I’m just as confused as you, but seeing someone else similar at least lets me know I’m not completely losing my mind.” Jared says. “Well, it kinda does at least,” he added, still considering the possibility everything could be in his imagination, just like Tyrio. 

“I get it, we’ll have to stay in touch for sure,” Tyrio assured, seeing Korio and his friends waiting for him. “Stay safe,” he finishes. 

Tyrio departs with his brother and friends, and returned home the same way they had come. Everyone was pretty worn out for different reasons, but Tyrio and Korio both had similar thoughts swirling around their heads once again. As they says goodbye to their friends and made their way down the street to their apartment, the conversation began. 

“Tyrio…” Korio starts..

“Yo,” Tyrio responds as if he was prepared for the conversation.

“I think it’s safe to say we’re not dreaming, schizophrenic, or drugged,” Korio says calmly. “But I gotta say, there’s not really anything we can do. What’re we gonna go to the doctor’s or something? At the end of the day, all we can do is keep living as normal as possible,” he continued. Korio knew that paranoia and worry would do nothing to help, and he could feel that this wasn’t a problem unless they got into a fight. 

“I agree,” Tyrio says with a nod as he opened the door to their apartment building. “What if we made some money off of this though?” he followed with a laugh.

“Tell me why I had the same idea, bro.” Korio quickly added, smiling at their similar thought process.

After a long day, the brothers finally make it back into their bedroom, both ready to crash for the night. As Tyrio puts his cheek into his pillow, he hears a distinct ding come from his cellphone. He picks it up already assuming it would be another question from Cristiano, and although it was him the message was instead the link to a news segment. Tyrio called over his little brother assuming it was important, who reluctantly left his comfortable position. The title of the news read: “WHITE HOUSE ATTACK says TO HAVE BEEN INEXPLICABLE.” With the theme of recent days, Tyrio and Korio could already assume where this was going. Tyrio played the video, and was greeted by the sight of the White House in devastating shambles. A reporter stood in front of the scene with a microphone.

“Moments ago, a ‘storming red flash’ according to a few eyewitnesses, came to wreak havoc on the White House. Although our president and his wife were away at the time, at least ten office members and security staff have unfortunately been found dead. There have been no suspects found or identified up to this point, all we know is that whoever is responsible surely has used an unidentified form of weaponry. Our condolences go out to the lives lost, and special forces are working desperately to get a lead pertaining to the attack.” 

Tyrio and Korio stare at the replay button that sat on the screen, once again having their minds turned into a storm of thoughts and possibilities. They knew that whatever happened related to their own phenomenon in one way or another. As they contemplated, Cristiano shot one more text.

“a lot of light shows going on amirite??” it read, sarcasm pouring through the screen.