Peace Signs and Property Damage

        “… I see.” Bradley nodded as he listened to Zenyr’s explanation. Honestly, even he was shocked by the sheer amount of patience he had. But patience, like all things, had a limit.

“ARE YOU AN IDIOT!?” He bellowed as Zenyr cowered from his wrath.

It wasn’t just the television that was broken. The AC, refrigerator, fan, toaster, oven, microwave and countless others had been disassembled beyond repair and their body parts lay in the room.

“Why couldn’t you just stay still!? I leave not even up to an entire day and you destroy everything. What the hell is your problem?” tears appeared at the corners of his eyes. Whether it was out of rage or sorrow was unknown.

“I know. I just-” Zenyr tried to speak when Bradley looked at her with red eyes and she instantly shut up.

“Get out.” Like it evaporated, all the rage disappeared and he said in a cold voice.

“Yes?” Zenyr’s blood ran cold as her brain struggled to process his words.

“I’m not saying this twice. Leave.” Bradley completely forgot the identity of the other party and walked past her and headed to his room.

BANG! The sound of the door closing echoed in his room as he threw his bag to the bed and punched the wall of the room repeatedly until the skin on his knuckles peeled off.

‘How in the world am I supposed to explain this to mom and dad?’ Bradley was just grateful that his parents and sister were out of town.

“I’m sorry. I thought I would be able to fix it.” A voice hesitantly said. Bradley ignored her and slammed the walls as if to say, ‘go away’.

“Can we talk? Please.” Zenyr pleaded and Bradley simply walked away from the door and made exaggerated snoring sounds.

“Fine.” Zenyr seemed to have given up and Bradley collapsed into his bed.

“I guess for every upside, there’s a downside.” He had just celebrated patching up his relationship with Penelope when he discovered the appliances in his house had been destroyed.

“Should I call the government on her? I wonder if I can use that to get a replacement for the stuff she broke.” He muttered as he tossed and turned. Eventually, he grew tired of thinking and his breathing evened out as he fell into a slumber.

….

“I really did it this time.” Zenyr muttered as she slumped against the wall of her temporary bedroom and hugged her knees.

Her landlord kicked her out but she knew that nothing would resolve itself if she were to leave so she decided to stay and see if there was anything she could do.

“And it was so fun too.” Dismantling it bit by bit and seeing how it operated, how it worked and how they compensated for the gravity that was higher than her home world was so interesting she was absorbed.

“Why did I think it would be a good idea to do it? Oh, because I underestimated them.” Zenyr was from a higher-level planet so she might have subconsciously underestimated their technology.

“Honestly, midway through dismantling the TV, I lost track of what I did. And it didn’t help that I had the smartwatch’s camera on selfie mode.” The main reason she was confident in being able to assemble them back was the recording feature of her smartwatch. Unfortunately, it was accidentally set to front camera mode which botched her plans.

“This is the worst. Is there anything I can do?” She looked up at the ceiling and what came to her mind was the renumeration she originally wanted to give to Bradley.

“I see! I can trade that for money and use it to replace the stuff I broke!” She nodded at her brilliant plan until she realized a crucial fact: she first needs to find a place where she can exchange it.

“If only I could borrow a cellphone.” She had just finished sighing when she remembered someone very close to her that would have one.

“No. I can’t do this. Not after I’ve already betrayed his trust once.” Zenyr shook her head and decided to find another way.

….

“I’ve done it.” Zenyr sighed as she gazed at the rectangular device in her hands that was currently unlocked courtesy her planet’s tech.

It took a lot of fumbling and opening the wrong apps but she navigated her way to the phone’s search engine and snapped a photo of the mineral she was holding.

In a few seconds, the result was displayed and she noted down the name and searched for the location of the nearest shop she could exchange it.

“This was surprisingly easy.” The closest shop was only a few kilometers away. With her speed, she could make it in a few minutes.

“I’ll make things right.” She gazed in the direction of Bradley’s room and muttered with a firm conviction.

…..

“What a nightmare.” Bradley muttered as he rubbed his eyes, waking up from sleep.

In his nightmare, his parents had made a surprise visit and discovered the broken appliances and became mad at him.

‘Knowing them, they would only be slightly crossed but the dream still felt real.’ Bradley’s parents would only be frustrated but they wouldn’t blame him too much even if he was the one that broke it.

“I’m going to have to pick up a part-time job as soon as the holidays come about. Let’s just pray none of them come back home before that.” A ringtone came from the phone he placed on the desk next to his bed and he picked it up and saw it was his sister, Audrey, that was calling.

“Oh shit.” Don’t think of the devil and he will never appear. Well, he just discovered that the saying was true.

‘Don’t worry. She doesn’t know.’ He reassured himself over and over and picked up the call.

“Wassup little bro!” a peppy voice came in over the speaker and Bradley winced from its intensity.

“Don’t just yell first thing in the morning. It’s just half past six.” He grumbled. From the background sound, Audrey was probably at one of the parties her friends organized.

“Oh, its morning there? I’m currently overseas so its just midnight here.” Audrey yelled over the sound of music and cheers and party sounds.

“I want to ask why, but I won’t. Why’d you call me?” Bradley tried to keep his anxiety from his speech and spoke in his usual manner.

“Can’t I just check up on my lovely little brother once in a while?”

“I’m doing fine. Then goodbye.”

“Wait! You can’t just end the call in less than a minute! Besides, you still haven’t told me how it’s going with that girl. What’s her name again? Penelope?”

“Why do you know that name?”

“I exchanged contacts with your friends the last time I came. Jason provides me with updates.”

‘That guy!’ Bradley unconsciously tightened his grip and swore to give his friend a piece of his mind.

“I asked her out. She rejected me. We’re still friends. Goodbye.” He decisively cut the call before she could say anything else. When it came to communication freaks like her, the best thing to do was end the call before you got dragged into their pace.

“Isn’t she supposed to be in school? Why is she overseas?” Bradley sighed and got up from the bed.

“Time to get ready for school.”

Like most teenagers, Bradley’s schedule in the morning was quite simple. Bath, brush, dress, cook and eat and then set off for school.

There was a bathroom in his room but because of a lack of bathtub, he preferred to use the general one outside the room.

Exiting his room in a bath towel, Bradley froze as he looked at the living room that seemed a little different compared to the previous day.

‘Scratch that. When did it become this fancy?’ most of the devices were destroyed but even before that, the total price of the room would have amounted to a million at maximum price. And now, he was probably looking at ten million or more.

“What in the world…” It was then he noticed the purple alien flashing him a peace sign with a grin on her face.

“Good morning. Lovely day, isn’t it?”