Ring! Ring! Ring! My alarm startled me awake at five thirty in the morning on Monday. Almost falling out of bed, I headed to the bathroom to pee. After washing my hands, I went to my siblings room to start waking them up for school.

I started at Ethan's room, his room was filled with posters of girls and rappers. On his desk chair he had a basket of freshly cleaned and folded clothes that still hadn't been put away and on his nightside table he had a mess of different trinkets, his wallet, his charging phone, and several water bottles.

I flip on the light and pretty loudly I say, "rise and shine princess you've got work and school to go to". As I approach his bed to yank the sheets off of him and I get a groan in response. I yank the sheets off of him and to my surprise I see his feet where his head should be on the pillow.

He hisses at me from the abruptness and tries to steal the covers back but I toss the sheets to the middle of the room far away from his reach. He turns around and puts another pillow over his head to shield his eyes from the light and curls into fetal position.

    "Leave me alone and get out of here", shrills Ethan.

    I get closer to him and start shaking him while saying, "never in a million years will I leave you alone and I know better than to leave here before you get out of bed. So get up and go brush your nasty teeth."

    He turns to try and swat at me but I've already moved out of his way and exasperated he gets up and heads to the bathroom. Mission accomplished, I think to myself, two more to go.

    I go into Elaine and Eloise's room and flip on the lights, "rise and shiiiiiine," I singsong to them. Repeating what I did to Ethan to both girls. I was met with the same attitude and shrill and I repeated the same words I said to Ethan. Both girls tried to throw their pillows at me but I missed both of them. I then grabbed one of their pillows and started smacking each of them with their pillows. Aggressively one by one they got up and headed to their bathroom.

    While they were getting ready I went to the kitchen to get started on breakfast. Before getting out the ingredients I turned on the tv and flipped it to the news. The newscaster that was on was talking about the weather and the forecasted hurricane season. I grabbed a bowl and started cracking eggs to make scrambled eggs.

    The newscaster for the weather turned into the regular early morning reporters giving updates about the upcoming election and giving a run down of each candidate and the debates that happened the night prior. I grabbed some bread and put it in the toaster to start toasting and started stirring the eggs in the pan.

    My second alarm started ringing to let me know that it's five forty-five, and I got the coffee pot started. The reporters continued droning on about the presidential debate and I started on making some pancakes.

    "Good morning, Ester", I jumped at the sound of my mom's voice. She usually doesn't finish getting ready till six.

    "Morning, mom. How'd you sleep?" I asked.

    "Good honey and you?"

    "Pretty good, I actually had some weird dreams last night but I don't really remember what happened in them."

    "Ahh, I hate when that happens to me. But that's how dreams are sometimes."

    I nodded since that was the only thing I could do as I flipped my second pancake and turned off the burner that the eggs were on.

    The coffee pot beeped cheeringly and my mom grabbed a mug for me, herself, and my dad and poured out some coffee in each one. For mine and hers she added some French Vanilla creamer and three scoops of sugar. For my dads she added half and half and two scoops of sugar.

    Then my dad and siblings came downstairs, my mom handed my dads coffee to him and they all sat down as I finished up the pancakes. I grabbed a plate and served myself two pancakes, a scoop of eggs and toast. I placed my plate and coffee on the table and grabbed the butter and grape jelly from the fridge and placed it on the table as well.

    My family always has breakfast and dinner with each other for as long as I can remember. Before the aliens we would talk about the upcoming day and joke around. Before the religion ban we would also take turns praying for each other for the day. Now me and my siblings are the only ones who talk and we don't pray out loud anymore.

    I don't know about my siblings, but I still pray for them as I make breakfast, in my head. Our next door neighbors, the Stones, got arrested a three years back for praying. The mom, dad, and two kids were all arrested for praying in their homes and having religious contraband. Ever since they got arrested, they haven't been the same.

    The day that the Stones came back from prison, their eyes were hollow and their once olive skin paled. They returned in the clothes that they left in and the clothes hung loosely on them. My sisters were close to their children but since they've returned they haven't taken any visitors. The Stones come out for work and for school but they've turned into recluses since their return.

    When they were taken my parents became even more timid, jumping at every truck and car that passes by our house that even remotely sounds like the one that took the Stones.

On that day our parents made us burn anything we had about our religion, our necklaces, our books, our pictures, everything. What they didn't know is that under a loose board under my bed, I still had a copy of one of our sacred texts. Each night after everyone else went to sleep I would take out the text and memorize one chapter. So far, I have memorized 52 chapters of the text.

    "Ester, what do you think about it?" Asked my sister Elaine who interrupted my thoughts.

    "Think about what?" I asked.

    "About getting another job other than working at the store?"

    "What about school?"    

    "I can still go to school and work two jobs, plus I'm bored in school. My professors are teaching us things I already know from high school." Elaine huffed.

    I looked at her analyzing the words she just said and the face that she gave me before saying, "honestly Elaine you have enough work at the store and you have to help out at home too. If you get another job you'll just neglect the work at the store, your schooling, or things here at home. And right now we can't really afford for you to get another job. How would you get to it anyways?"

    Rolling her eyes and filled with attitude she replied, "I won't neglect any of it. I can still help at the store and at home and like I said my professors are going over things I already learned in high school. Like Biology and Algebra, been there, done that." She sighed and gave me puppy dog eyes. "Please Ester it'll only be a part-time and I promise none of my chores or grades will drop."

    "Fine Elaine. But the moment you stop pulling your weight you quit that job and no arguing about it either-"

    "I'll quit the job no questions asked if I stop pulling my weight," Elaine interrupted. "Eeeee thank you Ester, thank you!!" She piercingly screamed as she got up from her place at the table to come and hug me.

    My 6:05 alarm blared alerting me and the family to wrap up breakfast and to finish getting ready for school and work. My siblings cleaned up breakfast and the table as me, my mom and dad went to get ready for the day. I brushed my teeth and got changed into a pair of jeans and plain black t-shirt. I tied my curly hair into a ponytail and grabbed my bag and shoes and headed to the living room.

    I sat on the sofa and put on my shoes as my siblings did the same. My 6:30 alarm begins to ring and I grab my bag and keys and walk to the door. I shout, "It's 6:30 people, we gotta get on the road or else we're going to be stuck in traffic for longer!"

    At that everyone comes to the door and my parents grab their keys and I open the door to the front door. My parents get into one car, Ethan and Elaine get into Ethan's car, and I unlock my car for Eloise to get in and I lock the door behind me. I get in the car with Eloise and I take her to her school.

    "Ester?" Eloise asked.

    "Yes?" I responded.

    "What's it like going to the Center to get your card?"

    "Well, you know that you have to make an appointment about a week before your 18th birthday. You have to take your birth certificate and social security card with you to the Center and they'll ask you a few questions."

    "What kind of questions?" Eloise asked.

    "Questions about your school, your childhood, your family, things like that. They're really superficial about the questions they ask." Because they already know everything about you since the day you were born. I thought to myself but didn't say aloud as to not freak her out.

    "Oh okay, not too bad."

    We made it to Eloise's school by seven and I drop her off. "Ethan and Elaine will pick you up today okay?" I tell Eloise.

    "Okay, I'll start dinner tonight after I finish my homework." She responded.

    "Got it, have a good day at school. I love you." I shouted out after her as she raced out of the car to meet up with her school friends. I leave her school and head over to the store.

    As I sit in Miami traffic I look at the cars around me. In almost every car there is an alien in the car with them. Some of the aliens in the car are gruesome looking with large teeth and hundreds of eyes. While other aliens were eerily more human looking but something just not right. Five years ago when I was 18, aliens landed on earth. Two aliens landed in each of the major cities of the world from Sao Paulo to New York to Buenos Aires to Tokyo and was broadcasted all over the world.

    One alien of the two that landed in each city all wanted to meet with the leaders of the country they landed in, as cliché as that sounds. As both aliens were taken to secret governmental locations to be questioned, the world held its breath. For weeks we didn't know what was happening. We didn't know if there was more coming or if we were on a brink of an invasion. Then suddenly, before an outbreak of protests, each leader for the nations came out to speak about our visitors. In their own words they all pretty much said "the aliens come in peace and they want to help us. They have seen the state of our planet and the scars that we have made on our hearts from wars, famines, and plagues. The aliens have came to give us a second chance at life. If you have sick family members bring them to one of our Centers. If you have lost a family member in this past year come to the Center with a picture of them and an alien will go with you to their grave to raise them up again.

    If you are sick yourself with any disease please come to the Center as well. The aliens have technology far more advanced than what we have and have medicines that our scientist have only surface level understanding of. If you don't believe me, please turn your attention to my family. My child as many of you know was severely sick with cancer and look at them now."

    Then the camera would pan to a child between 8 and 16 years old who looked very healthy dancing, running, or jumping. Then it would begin a slideshow of the same child with dates and times posted of them in the hospital, including news articles of the sick child and the poor congressman or political leader distressed over their child in the hospital.

    After that speech, thousands of people from all walks of life came to the Centers to receive their very own personal alien that provided healing and brought their dead loved ones from the dead. Then those people would give interviews of the amazing miracles the aliens did for them. Everyone who had a sick or dying loved one came to the Center and left healed and with their own alien.

    What eventually led to almost everyone on the planet getting one is what happened after the original aliens landed.