Clouds thundered and storms roared. A young Nickel made his way through the waterfalls of rain and skidded along the slick sidewalks.
Nickel scowled at the rain as he carried an envelope in his mouth. It was getting wet. He didn't like the rain. Despised it, even. Treading over puddles made out of mud and water seemed unnecessary. That's probably why Tennis Ball sent him out to get the mail. To torture him. Nickel kept his gaze on the drenched concrete, trying not to step in them. It just meant more to clean off if he did.
Bang.
He crashed into a mailbox, slamming into the metal flap. A soft cry of pain he heard, too, but it sounded fuzzy and distant. He groaned, stood up, and spotted a dark brown, shiny blur. It was the exact same height he was. A penny.
"Sorry," the penny said. "I wasn't watching where I was going.
"Oh! Uh...it's alright," Nickel replied distantly.
The scent of smoke quickly arose around them. He searched to see where it was coming from, but did not find the source.
"We're on fire!" came a shout from the penny.
"But it's raining!" Nickel hollered back.
Boom.
Nickel sucked in a breath. He had the sixth sense he was in his room, even without opening his eyes yet. Breathing other than his own filled the room.
Wait.
His eyes flew open. The penny stood there at his bed.
"Hi," she said.
"What happened?" He jumped out of bed and started pacing. Why had he been on fire with a stranger?
"Your friend Tennis Ball went outside to see what took so long," the penny answered. "and found burn marks on our dead bodies. He recovered us and concluded an explosion happened."
"What? How?" Nickel leaned in a little.
It was weird and an odd occurrence, but not shocking.
She flinched and took a large step back. "He said we have a curse if come too close for more than five seconds, an explosion happens."
"Oh." Nickel frowned. He had a condition with his Battle For Dream Island teammate, Coiny, that if they stepped too close, a portal of money would appear. He didn't want something else to deal with. "Who're you, anyway?"
"Penny. And I assume you're Nickel because you're one."
"Clever," Nickel said. He really meant that. He didn't see the need to ask for names then if they're named after their objects. "You...gonna go now? It's kind of strange to have someone you barely know in your house."
"I'll go," Penny said. "But you wanna see each other again, meet me at the mailboxes tomorrow."
"See you," Nickel called out as she walked out his bedroom door.
Curse or not, he wanted to see her again.