Amelia's face had already turned a bit red upon the mention of her sacred weapon—the flying slippers—something she used to punish this duo of father and son.
Just as she was about to fly off in a rage, Marcus's words calmed her down, as he hadn't told all the things that had actually happened and had instead twisted all of it a bit.
And just like that, Anthony had fired a barrage of questions, making both of his parents almost forget what he did and what was going on in their minds about it.
little.
"Hehe, so it was like that," Anthony replied sheepishly while scratching his head, then continued with an explanation to help douse some of the anger in both his parents. "About me sleeping like there was no tomorrow, there was a reason for that, Father," he sighed.
"Oh, now this is something different. Now you have a reason for it, too? Do tell then, little brat. Let's see what you've come up with in that little brain of yours," Marcus said.
Hey, are you mocking me? For God's sake, I'm your son! Can't you be a bit gentler with your words? Dammit, were a few words that ran through Anthony's mind, but he dared not say them out loud.
"Hey, what's with that tone? It's not like I'm making some excuse this time, really. Let me tell you, I was really, really tired today, you know," Anthony insisted. "There was this final mock exam today, and that, too, of Math and Physics, and that already took a bit of a toll on my brain.
And then there was some homework, which wasn't really homework but another go at the mock exams. It was full of hard questions that I have to solve, as the submission date is tomorrow."
"So I had to complete them, today at that. And so that I did, after I returned home. While yes, not all of them, but the majority was already completed by me. But doing that made me even more tired and sleepy.
Knowing it would be hard to finish the rest of the work with sleep and the 'realms of dream' inviting me—and after a bit of struggle—I had to fall in front of that temptation. So, after falling for it, I clocked the timer to wake up before dinner and do the rest of the work after it. But doing that, I fell asleep," Anthony said with a straight face, a bit of mischief showing through.
It was a kind of mischief his parents were well used to, yet they couldn't help but twitch their lips when he mentioned the realm of dreams and sleep inviting him in. After his brief struggle, when he finally gave in to the temptation, they rolled their eyes, exasperated as always.
Amelia and Marcus exchanged a look before shaking their heads, silently telling each other to forget it—to not dwell on whatever fantasy their son had just imagined—and instead focus on the last few words he'd spoken.
"So, clocking the timer, huh? Son, do tell, for what time have you set it up?" Amelia asked as she looked toward the alarm clock sitting on his desk. Its dials had already stopped and were not moving at all, stuck at one place. She then turned to her son and asked him with a smile that was actually not a smile.
"Mom, you are misunderstanding me! I really did set the timer for about 7:30 PM."
"Oh, what misunderstanding, huh? Tell me then, why are the clock dials not moving at all? Doesn't that mean that you haven't changed the batteries the other day and are now making excuses for sleeping long and like there's no tomorrow at that?" she said as she pointed at the clock and then back at him.
"Ah, that's where the misunderstanding is originating, Mother, for I really had the batteries changed! Just look behind the clock—the old batteries are still there. I haven't thrown them," he said with a bitter face.
"Hmph." Amelia did what he told. There really were old batteries lying behind it. She then picked up the clock, opened the enclosure behind, and saw the batteries were installed there and was not empty. She realized that Anthony was indeed speaking the truth here.
After that, she closed the enclosure of the clock and put it where it was, and suddenly, the non-working clock began to work, its second hand moving like normal, as if nothing had happened.
Seeing that, Amelia muttered, "Looks like the clock here is defective, and that's why what happened had happened."
"Anyway, get up already. Clean your face and do come down to have dinner, and be quick!" Saying that, she walked towards Marcus, pulling him out of the room while speaking with a sigh, "The evening was weird today, really."
With that, she left Anthony in his room, stunned and speechless over what happened, and he couldn't help but scratch his head, muttering, "Really weird..."
Sighing, he stood up from the bed and walked towards the bathroom. "Hmm? What's this? Why do I feel so light-weighted? And am I dreaming, or what? My vision... why is this so clear? Huh?" As he was now alone, he noticed this strange thing about him. While walking, he felt light as air, while at one instance, his eyes were acting like a magnifying glass, and at another, he could see things in more detail and clarity.
"Did I awaken some godly body or something?" he said speechlessly while shaking his head. He then clenched his fistas he felt a newfound strength. While not too much, he felt vastly stronger indeed.
"Umm, let's try this," he thought, looking back at his bed, his eyes lighting up, and he walked back towards it.
Stopping in front of his bed, he put his head downward and pulled up. Surprisingly, he was able to lift the bed with very little effort and wasn't struggling even a bit. Anthony felt like he could hold it up in this position for quite a while without any problem at all.
"This... what the hell?" Anthony spoke out loud in surprise. It wasn't that he was unable to lift his bed like this, but doing so would usually require most of his strength. After all, the bed was made of heavy teak wood and was quite large.
But now, after waking up from one evening's sleep, he was suddenly able to lift such heavy furniture without struggling, and quite easily at that. His surprise was completely warranted.
"Damn, dude. Looks like I really awakened some OP god body or the like," he muttered. "But how? What happened? Is this a dream? Am I still dreaming? Is all this a dream?"
"Nah, it can't be. All this is too real," he reasoned. "My father's broken nose? And my mother's anger? All of that was real, and even this—me lifting up the bed. All of this is far too real compared to my visits to the dream realm."
"But then again, how the hell did this happen? Where is this strength coming from?"
While he contemplated, Anthony missed that his thought process was happening at an increasingly faster rate. All of his contemplation didn't even take a second; it was as if time had slowed down just for him.