The day of Aemot

She had to get help first, she thought. They weren't acquainted with so many people here as they where with Mrs Chuan, their next door neighbours.

Mrs Chuan has lived next door long before they moved to Tenet six years ago with their Aunt Gwen. Both their aunt and Mrs Chuan had become close friends over the duration of her stay there with them.

That was until Aunt Gwen finally got married a year later, leaving to the city with her husband. She still did the most she could from there, especially paying for the house. She also helped Claire get her job at Almond city. And through all that, Mrs Chuan had always lended her support as much as she could as well.

So Yvonne went back to her wardrobe to get her sweater. She didn't want to think much about the time on the clock. Her alarm clock was much likely broken. Though she could barely say the same for the wall clock but it was most reasonable to assume it was broken as well.

"Claire" she called out to her sister as she walked into her room again. She shook her again, calling out to her and still no response. She just remained quietly asleep.

Yvonne rocked back and forth twice or thrice in brief contemplation before she got up.

The unusual weather outside made her uncomfortable leaving the house.

Standing by the door and observing through the sidelight, she could barely see past their front yard to the neighbourhood street. It was really eerie but she was more worried for her siblings.

Just as she would have grabbed the doorknob, she heard something moving outside outside. She returned immediately to the glass sidelight. Those were footsteps. Perhaps, that person knew what the time really was and she could just ask, for closure. She squinted to see this person walking by.

A tall, slender figure in the dark. Absurdly tall that it made her question her eyes.

"Huh?"

She looked more closely. This 'person' moved sluggishly but in long strides, hunching backwards, moving past their house and down the street. Of course, she didn't move a muscle until 'he' passed. 'He' must've wore a white clothing on 'his' head since it reflected the dim ambient light distinctly.

She wasn't sure she saw it well. Must have been the dark, she thought.

She waited a bit after whoever that was to pass before unlocking the door, opening it, and having the cold sip in through her sweater to her skin. She folded her arms, now breathing in chill air. It was definitely much colder outside.

She closed the door behind her, stepping on the wooden patio floor quietly as she looked around before getting off and moving briskly past their front garden to the neighbourhood street.

Out in the open, she could see and feel the weather more clearly. She looked up; no sign of the sun or dawn, nor the moon or any starlight. Just thick clouds and the dim ambient light from them. They swirled about fast, like on a stormy night, except there was no wind now.

The cold breeze slid past her bare face. Has it always been a known occurrence, for the weather to change so much overnight? She thought.

Mrs Chuan's home was just a few yards away now. She carefully looked down and up the road. If whatever it was that had passed not so long ago were to pass again now, she'd definitely have a better look at it close up.

But she wasn't waiting to find out. She turned left, down street, and almost ran all the way to Mrs Chuan's front yard. Just as she did, a flock of birds flew silently overhead. A flock of birds?

She walked through their front yard and up their sit-out right to their front door. Then she began knocking.

"Mrs Chuan" she called out not so loudly so as not to cause so much disturbance. But after third time, she began calling out to them more urgently and loudly. She had never enquired of Mrs Chuan by the early hours.

"Mrs Chuan!"

"Stop shouting, you moron"

Yvonne stopped. Someone was talking to her from the verandah above and she recognised this voice. These neighbours lived upstairs, just above Mrs Chuan.

She stepped down the sit-out, walking back a little away from the house to see him.

"Harry" Yvonne called his name.

"They're asleep right now, don't you see. Just come back by daybreak" he said, turning to go back inside. He sounded like his sleep had just been interrupted.

They weren't familiar with Harry as they were with Mrs Chuan. Though they knew his mother worked part time at the local clinic as a nurse and as a PA in another clinic at the hospital.

Yvonne hadn't intended on disturbing or waking anyone else, especially Harry's place, but since she thought it was something urgent, she wasn't really concerned about who was and who wasn't being disturbed.

And she would've let him walk back inside only to resume knocking until she remembered his mother was indeed a nurse.

"Harry wait" she stopped him.

"Is your mother awake? Please tell her I need her help. My brother and sister aren't waking up" she explained at once since he seemed impatient.

"I've been trying to wake them up but they're not responding"

"That's because it's still damn early, you idiot" He replied, keeping his voice down.

"No, it's..." Yvonne stopped abruptly. She did try to wake them up because she thought her alarm and wall clock were simultaneously wack. They both told the same erroneous time. The weirdest coincidence she had ever seen, she thought.

"But they're not waking up. My sister, she's not a heavy sleeper. I've never had to shake her to get her up but right now, she's not responding to anything"

Yvonne sounded serious. Harry, more woke now came back to the verandah's wood guard rails, rubbing his face to clear his eyes. He exhaled calmly before he asked,

"You're from next door, right?"