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The sun beamed brightly in through the somewhat transparent and flowy curtains of the window, the breeze carrying that familiar and iconic smell of salt Noah had gotten so used to, though, he supposed that maybe iconic was an adjective that would only work for himself, because maybe the smell of rain was iconic for other people living in other places? Noah wasn’t sure, but despite how fantasy like this all felt, he still rolled over on his bed to hide his face in a pillow– Though, the sweet bliss of sleeping in didn’t last much for the young tan-skinned boy.
“Noah?” A feminine and caring voice rang through the room to finally reach the kid’s ear, and the latter grumbled a bit but sat up in bed, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hands, giving out a frown, or that would be the grown up version of the expression, but he wasn’t grown up, so a pout fit the description much better…
Noah Sterecra, just a kid, having turned 8 years old last year in fall, and soon to turn 9 in a few months, but for now summer vacation was the bing event of the season– Or well, many days with many events? It depended, but summer holidays usually went without much trouble, most of this child’s siblings being grouchy teenagers who didn’t want to hang out with the second youngest of the family, and the actual youngest of the family was… Well, a baby.
After that short compilation of his own life, wanting to make sure to not forget his own life story in this totally random summer morning, Noah simply yawned again “Is breakfast ready?” he asked quietly before sliding off the bed he had so comfortably been laying on with little lazy movements, stepping into the floor with a very small thud, and once that soft sound was heard, he was met with a soft and warm gaze.
“Yes, you can come downstairs to eat… Liam is still at his friend’s house, so you don’t need to worry about an angsty fit..” His mother said softly, which to Noah, the thought of ‘mom’ being named an actual name and not ‘mom’ was wild, but still, he did briefly remember his mother’s name as Aanya, but mom was much simpler, so he nodded once and watched his mum close the door behind her as she let the kid get changed and other simply things that constituted the boy’s morning routine, such as very professionally making his bed… Though, after that, he headed downstairs and sat down on the chair at the dinner table he always sat at, though, in the morning he usually found himself sitting alone, either because the mess kid, or teen by this point, had already gone out to do… Whatever it was that teens did, his mother was usually busy trying to get done as many chores as she could early in the morning and his father, sadly, usually had to go out of state, or even abroad because of work… But Noah didn’t find that exactly depressing, he got it, everyone had busy lives, but everyone did still care about one another, just like every family should!
After sitting down, he picked up the plastic container of leftovers his mom had left over the table, opening it as some steam came out, and seeing that her mother had already preheated before he came down to have breakfast, he just dug into the homemade food he was so used to, his eyes trailing to the large windows that the open kitchen had, staring at the multicolored carnation flowers that sprouted from the ground in the backyard of his house, not finding the beautiful sight not at all surprising after seeing it almost daily… Growing up in a touristic place had made Noah become not at all surprised or in awe by the sights other people paid to travel and come see, such as the sea and rocky beaches that were just a walk away from his house, and in all reality, he didn’t even like the beach so much, so nothing in town really caught his attention anymore….
At least, that was until this morning!
He stopped, with the spoon halfway to reaching mouth which was now agape in disbelief… There was another kid, one he didn’t know, in his backyard. A KID. He and his brothers were the only kids in like– The whole neighborhood! Who even was that kid? The kid was definitely not from here… Noah squinted his eyes while setting his spoon down, slowly and carefully getting down from his chair, as if he could scare the new child away like a wild animal, even if that was a dumb idea since there was a thick glass panel separating them, still, he silently snuck out from the kitchen without having yet finished the food in his plate, tip-toeing outside after slightly opening the front door, which was more often than not always let open by his mom.
Noah felt as if he was one of the explorers in the wild nature documentaries he’d watch sometimes when nothing else was on Tv– Except he wasn’t an explorer, and he wasn’t catching an animal; He was just shyly approaching a new kid he did not know from anywhere who had just randomly spawned in his backyard… The tan-skinned boy took one step after the other, feeling the long grass brush against him or squish beneath the soft fabric of the socks he wore, because in curiosity, he hadn’t bothered putting socks on, he’d worry about the grass stains later…
“Huh?”
And there it was, Noah finally got a clear view of this newly, but not identified, species… Pale skin with rosy cheeks stained by small brown sparkles he knew people referred to as ‘freckles’, short hair with bangs parted in the middle and a… Gap in his front teeth? He knew that probably had a scientific name, which he knew, but couldn’t quite remember in the panic of the moment as the tooth-gaped boy turned to look at him, staring like a deer caught in headlights for probably a full minute before the tension dissipated quickly when the new kid spoke.
“Oh, sorry… Is the hill yours?... I’ll leave if it is!” The shorter kid asked while vaguely gesturing to the grass surrounding them, though, Noah quickly came to his senses and he slowly shook his head without a word, just taking maybe one or two steps closer to this new appearance who smiled in response.
“That 's good! Who are you then? I’m Cody! You?” ‘Cody’ said while pulling his hand out from behind his back, his position becoming less sheepish and more welcoming while offering a handshake, which surprised the taller one of the two, since handshakes were… An adult-ish thing? Sure, he was mature, but he didn’t give handshakes to strangers! Still, he reached out too to slightly shake the light-skinned boy’s hand very briefly before letting go and opening his mouth to speak.
“I’m Noah… I live here, this is my backyard… And… I’m guessing you don’t? Don’t live here, I mean…” He asked, some awkward pauses interrupting his usual speech, and those pauses only served to show that he was, indeed, a bit awkward with meeting this new and unfamiliar human who looked about his age, and Cody quickly noticed that, pulling his hand back rather quickly and, once again, sheepishly smiling while twisting the tippy top of his shoe against the ground, pushing the green blades on the ground down.
“Yeah… I don’t… Mum and dad rented out the house in front of.. Your house? The red one!” Cody replied, trying to beam brightly, which just resulted in a funny and goofy look, and that managed to comfort Noah even if just a little because that meant he didn't look the dumbest out of them, even if that was a bit of a mean thought. After a beat though, his eyes widened in surprise.
"Wait… The red house? You're staying there?" Noah asked incredulously, quite taken aback by the fact that certain house he didn't remember fondly wasn't being rented out by that one rude and old couple.. That was quite a relieving fact, and the question did get a pretty quick answer back.
"Yeah! I'm staying there for the summer… I guess that makes us… Neighbors? Nice to meet you, neighbor! Or… Noah..? Whichever! Nice to meet you!" The tooth gaped boy greeted now with an actual beaming smile, and little did Noah know, that that random morning in which he left his breakfast unfinished to sneak out without shoes to the garden to meet the new kid in the block would be the start of a new chapter of his life, and the prologue of how it all began…