"Can you go check the fruits for a while, Keith?" his mother asked.
It was 3 a.m. on a Saturday, and the family were preparing to go on a vacation to another city. Keith, who was on his computer, said, "Alright." He was an obedient child, who would listen to whatever his elders told him, and would try to act kind, although he hid a layer of student's stress under his smile. He closed his computer, and walked over to the front door, where he put on his sandals. He opened the doors, and in front of him were a parking lot full of cars, along with a little mango farm opposite the house. He walked across the parking lot, and opened the gate to the little farm. He walked around, checking the fruits to see if they had ripened. To his surprise, only one was ripe. He thought of plucking it off and showing it to his mom, but at that moment, he heard a hissing sound from inside the house.
He immediately ran for the house, but at that moment, it exploded, starting from the kitchen all the way to the roof, which broke into multiple pieces and rained down from the top 30 meters above. He jumped to the right to avoid one, only to find that the ruined house was on fire. Neighbors were woken up, cars were blaring, and the family of Keith's was no more. The only thing he could salvage from the ruin was his old sketch notebook which he kept for more than a year. His family was gone, but before he could lose all hope and take his own life, a car pulled up to the road just outside the house gate.
He knew at once it was his paternal grandparents, who weren't caught up in the fire, and tears streamed down his face as he took the notebook. Most of his clothes were burnt or destroyed, but he took the few which didn't get completely destroyed, and walked towards the car. They already had his passport, and as he got in, his grandpa asked, "Did you save anyone?"
He shook his head, putting the clothes on the side, and stared out the window. He mourned for his family, but there was nothing he could do now.
The trip to the airport felt like an eternity, although it only took half an hour. They did the normal check-in process, the normal security processes, and they got onto the plane. He stared out the window as the streaks of sunlight came up. A stranger sitting beside him asked, "You okay, kid?"
"Not really." he answered, "Just a little tired, that's all."
He dozed off after looking at the light for a while, unaware of the heavy dangers that would come in the future...