Dietrich opened his front door to see his mom serve her little sister cereal at the kitchen booth. She waved her spoon in the air delighted to see her brother return from school.

“Hi Dietrich! How was school today?”

“Candice, make sure you don’t have food in your mouth or in your hand when you get excited. You make a big mess!”

“So, good right!?” She smiled with a piece of cereal sticking on the side of her cheek.

“Your sister is just happy to see you Dietrich; do you want a bowl off cereal as well?”

“Sure mom, can I get a bowl of cereal too?”

“Have a seat and I’ll get your cereal.”

Dietrich made his way to the booth seat on the right of his sister. His mother walked over, gave him a bowl of cereal, and poured some milk into his bowl.

“You look like you had a rough day at school, want to talk about it?”

“No I’ll be fine.”

“Done!” Candice had finished her cereal and had a content look on her face.

“Candice baby, it’s not a race! Go get into some more comfortable clothes and practice piano, your piano instructor is coming today.”

“Okay mommy!” She leaped off her seat and dashed up the stairs on all fours.

“I’m done too, I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

“Okay Dietrich, just know your mother is here if you want to talk. I have some things to finish for your father so I’ll be in his office. Cheer up!”

“Thanks mom, you’re the best.”

Dietrich kissed his mom and hugged her and made his way up the stairs. His sister came careening down the stairs in a green dinosaur jumpsuit that she used for her pajamas.

“Roar! Make way for the dinosaur!”

Dietrich shook his head and did his best to hug the wall. He walked up the rest of the way to make his way to his room. He pulled his Navi out and threw us bag next to his desk. He put his Navi on the dock and the wall lit up revealing his boot screen.

“Activate Voice Link, Open Schedule.”

The Navi  flashed *Voice Link Activated*  in bright bold letters and automatically shifted through its content to open his scheduler.

“Synchronize homework”

A bar counted off the transfer between the school server and refreshed to show a new screen with all the homework that the teachers uploaded into the site. He looked at the screen and noted that there was math homework and a few readings he had to complete before the next day.

“Well let’s get to work.”

Dietrich sat at his desk and pulled out his homework from his backpack.

Day had turned into night and Dietrich looked out of the window. He stood up and stretched. The homework had taken him longer than he had expected, and he had trouble concentrating. He looked out to see the nearby park. There was a strange mist floating on top of the grassy field, suddenly the street lamps flickered to life. Something didn’t look right. The cable van that had been parked at the end of the street had moved in front of the house. His brows flicked up. A man got out of the truck and started to fiddle with a phone box in front of his neighbor’s house.

“That is weird.”

He walked out of his room to look into his sisters next door to catch her napping. The telephone rang. He knew exactly who it was. He heard his father pick up the telephone. He continued to walk slowly down the stairs to get into a better position to hear what they may have been talking about.

“Hello?” a pause. “Oh Mr. Jamison! What a pleasant surprise! Excuse me? Hold on something is wrong with the telephone, let me switch you to the phone in the office.” He heard his dad walk into the office. Somewhat of a chill ran down his spine. “Yes Mr. Jamison… Hello?” He heard his dad fiddle with the phone. “Hey is something wrong with the phone? We don’t even get a dial tone…”

At that moment the sound of windows breaking downstairs resounded through the house. Dietrich heard his mother scream. He caught a glimpse of the door being smashed open and two men running in. He froze then ran back upstairs. He ran into his room and for some reason his first response was to grab his Navi. He grabbed a jacket and put on his shoes and started to climb out the window. He didn’t know what was going on. He was scared they were getting robbed. He closed the window and moved on top of the roof to hear more men swearing and the sound of his father trying to fight them back. He heard men break into his room then his sister’s. They were fast. He heard them grab his sister and make their way down the stairs.

He looked into the window, and since it was well lit inside the men that were ripping through his room frantically looking for him couldn’t see. They all had guns and their faces were covered. They almost looked like swat agents, but something was wrong. All their guns had silencers on them. He made his way to the top of the roof and dropped into the backyard. He was out of sight but had a clear view of what was going on.

Dietrich saw his mom and sister in a corner. His mom was being restrained by a man and his sister was holding onto his mother’s leg. His dad was forced on his knees and a man had a gun to his face. Dietrich didn’t know what to do. He was so scared. He pulled out his Navi and nearly dropped it because he was trembling so hard. He pulled emergency but the screen only read error. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.