The day of Aemot

Harry stood there, rubbing the sleep off his eyes.

"You're that girl from next door?" He asked. Obviously, he didn't even know who he had been speaking with for the past few minutes.

"Yes" Yvonne answered. She wished he'd just stop asking questions and acting up. All she needed was just for him to get get his mother up.

"Wait, why are you outside. I thought you had a big sister or something" he asked.

Yvonne suddenly became tired and frustrated.

"Oh, Harry" she said, giving up on Harry and his mother.

"Wait, what are..."

She returned back to knocking on Mrs Chuan's door, loudly.

"What're you doing!?"

Yvonne ignored him now. However, it only took a short time for Harry to come around.

"Okay, okay, you said your sister's not waking up" he said as soon as he put it together.

Yvonne stopped, hoping he'd just leave at that instant to call his mother whom she actually needed urgently. She stepped out again to where she could see him.

"My siblings are not waking up" she told him again.

"And I don't know why or anything at all. Everything's just weird this morning and my alarm or wall clock can't even tell the time correctly so sorry if I didn't know it was too early and I'm sorry if I'm being a nuisance but I need your mother's help, please"

She poured out with desperation, which, in her voice, it was so obvious.

"Alright" Harry said, finally obliging without further questioning.

"I'll go get her"

He returned back inside to wake his mother up.

Yvonne feeling a bit relieved and expectant that she was already getting help, waited quietly for Harry's mother to show up any moment.

That was Harry, and in their neighbourhood, he was just like any other stubborn and difficult teenage boy. At least, that was what everyone thought. Perhaps they misunderstood him too.

His mother, who earned double pays from both of her places of work was able to afford a nice school in the city so he seemed well to do.

But, from what Yvonne could tell about Harry; he was also elusive, quiet, more reasonable than one would expect, and nice to an extent, often spending more time indoors when he was home. Since he didn't attend the only school in town with majority of the town's children, none of the kids could actually say they knew that much about him except the few who also went to the same school with him in the city. And at school, they knew he often got in trouble, getting in fights with students that dared cross him.

And that made him a loner most of the time since he probably didn't keep a lot of friends. And a lot of people, especially his peers, avoided him too.

But still, he wouldn't hesitate to fall out with anyone who deliberately troubled him and though it wasn't usual, but he'd also do the same for anyone who couldn't really stand up for themselves as well.

Yvonne knew him better than a lot of people since they were neighbours. She could read his disposition a bit clearer. His habitual mood; like someone who faced the world alone without really budging and inch, and he was very good at it. It was admirable, she thought, but it also probably kept a lot of people away from him, even herself.

Yvonne remained there, waiting for Harry's mother to hurry out. It was taking a while. Perhaps she could already tell what the problem was and was getting ready.

She stood there waiting quietly. Then came muffled sounds from Harry's place upstairs. She could hear him calling out to someone repeatedly. She never imagined…

Yvonne remained where she waited, longer than she had expected. And after that much time had passed, Harry came back out, not his mother or with his mother.

"What happened?" Yvonne questioned with concern. Those sounds she had heard from inside, was something really wrong?

"Ha" Harry sounded confused and speechless. She could see him stand there, with one hand on his face.

"Harry, what's wrong?"

Harry didn't respond. She could tell he tried to be calm. After a few seconds, he returned back inside. Yvonne was already confused. Did something bad also happen to his mother. After he went inside, she could hear him again from inside calling someone.

Time passed as he took a while before he returned outside. This time, with a sweater as well.

"Harry, what's wrong? What's happening with your mom?" she asked. "Isn't she coming?"

"What did you say about your alarm clock again?" he finally spoke up, asking. Yvonne couldn't tell why he was suddenly curious about that. And though her patience was already waning out, she could tell he really meant the question, so she answered him anyway.

"It broke or something, I don't know"

"And what was the time?"

"Twenty minutes past six by the time I left. But I guess it was really broken. Why?" she asked, wondering what these questions really meant.

Harry remained still a few more seconds before he walked down the staircase in front of the house.

"Harry, what's the problem?" She asked as he walked from the left side of the house where the staircase touched the ground to Mrs Chuan's front sit-out and then her doorstep. Yvonne also climbed back there. She couldn't tell the expression on his face since it was dark, but she could tell something was definitely wrong. Before she could ask again, Harry began knocking on Mrs Chuan's door as well.

"Yo! Old lady!" He called out, beckoning even louder than she did. Obviously, being Harry, he really wouldn't care if it disturbed the whole neighborhood.

"Old lady Mrs Chuan!"

He was loud enough for anyone inside to hear and wake up but still, there was no answer. That was when Yvonne began to realise.

"Tch. She's not responding" he said. "No one there's that of a heavy sleeper. Especially the old lady"

He was referring to Mrs Chuan and two of her adult children living with her at that time.

"Yo Mark! Nancy!" He called out again to her children this time. Still no movement inside.

"Harry what's happening?" Yvonne asked slowly.

"Don't tell me...your mom's not waking up too"

Harry stopped knocking. He now walked away from the door, down the couple of stairs from the sit-out to the entrance of their front yard.

"Mrs Chuan" Yvonne knocked again herself. She tried a few more times, perhaps Mrs Chuan had ignored Harry's call. He was indeed a disrespectful kid.

"Mrs Chuan, please, Claire's not waking up. I've tried to wake her but she's not waking, please"

Yvonne pleaded but the house remained very quiet. She was beginning to have a vague picture of what the situation was with Claire, Hugo, Harry's mom and Mrs Chuan's family. That vague picture was also beginning to look like a dream.

"My mom's not too" Harry said from where he stood. Yvonne turned to look at him. She could see him better outside now. His hands in his pocket and his scruffy unpacked hair bulging out of the hoodie he had put on. Yvonne could tell the colour of his hair was brown since she had seen him often as neighbours do. Of course, it was too dim to see it from there. But then, that appearance made him look more gentle than he actually was.

"My mom's not waking up too"

"That's...no way" Yvonne said, refusing to believe that.

"What did you say about your clock again?" He asked her this same question again. Yvonne, taken aback was still trying to process everything. But then, it seemed there was something more. What was he trying to imply now?

"I said it was broken" she said, slowly walking down towards him.

"It read twenty minutes after six when I checked it last before coming out"

She waited for his reply which, he let out a short dry laugh before giving. This was definitely one awkward and absurd morning.

"Well, mine's fifty minutes past six" he said. "You still think your wall clock's broken?"