"We... escaped?" Gershwin barely managed to utter through her panic shocks and the drastic change in weather she was used to... when she could remember.
"What... happened? Where are we? Where's Agent Dioxide? What happened to you, Agent Caits?"
She took in the decrepit room and it was no longer the UNARM rooms of immaculate condition. The ambient temperature was terribly cold, and it felt like even the shivering was starting to hurt her, cause her great discomfort. She did not feel like her normal self - and that wasn't from her dream; her being bare-clothed was getting to her.
Viccar knocked on the door of Miss. Jordan's office. From what he observed, the lady never left the room ever since they got started. She really was a machine when it came to getting what she wanted. Any kink or malfunction in her moving of her gears and the progress of her work, and she will brute-force her way through them. He was about to give her a loose gear:
'Miss Jordan. Uhm. Just got a call... 3 pm Video conference with the political advisers of the US, China, France, and Russia. Computer channel feed 15... About 10 minutes before then.
Uhm... do you need anything?"
The twins, ដរា កែវ and ទី កែវ (Dara Keo and Thy Keo) woke up abruptly to the sound of dad slamming the house door hard. They did not own a clock other than the watch on their dad's wrist and his old mobile phone. They did not own any fans so they had the windows open to let the wind - and insects - in. The window shut hard when the door hit the rickety stability of their poor house. Dara, the older one of the two, flipped out of their thin quilt - careful not to wake her little brother Thy up - and slipped into her worn-out slippers. The twins share these two slippers, though Thy always did prefer walking barefoot. These slippers are perhaps the last bit of memory that they have of their mother. She thought back to that day when they were returning back home late at night, a whole family for once. Dad had been saving up money working as a tuk-tuk driver, bringing tourists to places for an average of 3 US dollars. They were planning a night together and that night had come. It was a joyous night, and they did some late night shopping though it was just the one pair of slippers. It was the same night a gang had decided to rob them. Dad thought he could fend them all off... and simply put, the family was never the same afterwards.
Dara snapped out of her lapse, and walked out of the room. The bedroom door never really swung so Dara lifted it up and placed it aside. It was amazing how she lifted it up anyway - Thy usually did all the heavy lifting, and Dara was the more malnourished of the two. The door opened out immediately to the biggest room of their ill-maintained house, kitchen, living room, and bathroom all at once. The Cambodian moonlight was shining through the spaces in the roof. The light illuminated her father's frame, sat upon his big chair.
Dara placed her hand on her knee and said emphatically:
"ខុសឪពុកជាអ្វី?" | What's wrong, father?
"វាជាការខូច។ តុតុរបស់ខូច" | It's broken. The tuk-tuk's broken.
Dara knew this was bad news. Dara and Thy were barely twelves years of age and were in an expensive school for the gifted. They were able to make ends meet when mom was alive. After she was gone, dad had been able to catch up but his depression spawned bad habits of illegal gambling, drinking, and working shifty jobs that did not pay back on time, if at all.
"ងដរមិនគួរឱ្យជឿ" | Unbelievable assholes, the father said.
He almost never swore. This really was a devastating thing to them all.
"វានឹងក្លាយទៅជាមិនអីទេ" | It's going to be okay.
Dad doesn't say anything because they both knew. Repairing the tuk-tuk was going to be as expensive as buying a new one, and with the school fees coming up, they were never going to make it.
Dara tried to pull her dad back to his room, to the large bed that used to keep the happily-wedded couple comfortable and warm, but he would not move. It was late at night, and they both needed sleep.
She told herself she wouldn't do this, but she had to, for the sake of both of them. Dara focused, and soon enough the dad got up and walked to his room, laying still in his bed and was in deep sleep almost instantly.
Dara forgot when was the first time she and her brother realize they were gifted with gifts from the Gods. The twins could do so many things, but fixing this... this was... she didn't know.
She went back to bed, and cried to sleep.
Member
Mixtape Ghost N