Angel and Max
"Oh," Angel laughed. "I guess this is how it works."
"And then this part goes into here." Max continued to click the remaining pieces into the globe, which is standing on top of its tiny little pedestal. He patted the pieces downwards the stand itself, before dropping more pieces into place.
"Doesn't it stick?"
"It sticks, Angel. It sticks. It comes together because there's friction." Her brother's voice faded out as Greenland joined Earth. "Have this."
He handed the Magnetic North Pole to her. The Earth is one piece away from being complete. A small chrome circle in the center of the pole shone as the light hit it and bounced off.
"Click it in."
She held the edges of the piece close to the globe itself, where magnets yanked it from her and attached it to itself. It began spinning slowly on its axis, the same twenty-two degree axial tilt as the real thing.
"Something even better."
He tapped on the stand to wake it. It glowed with the current date, time, and weather, as well as lighting up the locations of major cities on the planet. The rotation of the globe forced the motor to spin up with it, and generated power to run it.
"Should we put it somewhere?"
"Um, okay. I want to put it near the window."
"Will it keep spinning?”
"It will, at least that's what it says.”
“I’ll get it.”
The orb spun slowly in her hands as she went up the stairs, when her socks slipped her foot off of a step, causing her to tumble forward slightly.
"Ah!" Angel held onto that very steps once she touched the ground, sparing her from further damage. The globe wobbled out of the tiny crater that held it in place, they watched as Earth rotated itself back onto a stable position, and continued spinning as if nothing had happened to it.
"Are you hurt?" An innocuous Max asked from behind her.
"No— I guess I'm alright." She stood up again and carried on.
The siblings moved through the second floor. A move to the right off of the end of the staircase. The door to his room slid open for them, and the lights turned themselves on. The candlelight glow dyed everything in his room amber. The computer lit up and signed itself in, yet the owner didn't need it yet. Angel crawled across the bed after the leaping off of the carpet, and left the globe off of the giant window overlooking the city.
Just as she noticed the small tumbler wiggling next to it. Right next to a series of collections he has accrued over the years. Rocks, planes, ancient stuff "from many, many years ago, like the stuff dead grandpa would have". The steel ball embedded within grind against the plastic, which grind against the carbon tabletop upon it rocked. Angel stared at it longer, and it stilled back again. It sat all alone.
"Max, you have to go sleep now. Come." His sister heaved him up by the shoulders, and gently placed him down on the bed before pulling the covers on him.
"Angel, the fat kid next door says he wanted to see the—“
“You guys have some place planned or—” The sister smiled as she realized the disconnection between his plans and her thoughts. “I’ll… uh… Well, it’s not the best, well.”
Some trait of her boyfriend rubbed off onto her.
“Best time? Mrs Perkins called all of us into the gym one time and we listened to the police guy talk about how should we defend ourselves and what to do when a bad guy wants to hurt us."
"Hurt... you?"
"Yes."
She looked away in slight disbelief. She wrangled her visual emotions away before turning back to bid him good night.
"Listen to your sister, okay?" Max nodded. "I'll turn off the alarm for you. Don't go anywhere tomorrow until either Alex or me told you to. Ignore your friends if they invite you to go anywhere. I don't want you to get hurt. We'll see if it gets better before we let you go again. Promise me you would stay... safe— okay?"
"Okay. Will do."
She held onto her brother tightly before planting a kiss on his forehead.
"Remember."
The front door unlocked.