Number 5

Chapter One.

    The place was dark. Dwayne opened the door in his red football jacket, black T-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers and his bag hanging around his right shoulder. He had a digital watch round his left hand wrist. He had blue eyes, nice dark hair, he was tall, well fit with a white and beautiful set of teeth. He looked around confusedly as he heard some quiet moans behind the back sit.
      "Hello?" he began and he reached for the switch near the door. No one was answering. "I'm reaching for the lights now and I'm really good with hitting people with a bat... which I don't have. " He went for the bat that was near a window not far from the door. Then got back to the switch and reached out for it.
       "Baby it's me!" said his mother who stood immediately with some special binoculars that could be used in the dark.
       Dwayne let out a girl scream and switched on the lights as he looked at his mother who made her top that had raised.
        "Mum, don't you ever do that again, " said Dwayne placing his hand on his chest. "I almost died of a heart attack. "
        His mother looked at him confidently and in wonder. "You're seventeen!"
        "I'm still human. " He dropped the bat and closed the door.
        "I'm a scientist and I know the kind of people that get heart attacks, " she said and added, " and obviously I'm responsible because I did not let an experimented rat out of my lab, " she said sarcastically.
       "What?" Dwayne said in shock.
       "We need to find it ASAP or whoever comes in contact with it will get seriously sick, " she said drugging the couch backwards to see if it was there. But it was not. It was a beautiful bracelet on the floor. She smiled as if to forget about the rat and reached for the bracelet. "Oh hey, I found my bracelet. " She took it as Dwayne went to check in the dining room and under the table and chairs. As if to talk to a human, she said, "I missed you. "
     Dwayne got out and looked at her. She was busy admiring the bracelet. "Mum, the rat. We need to find it. "
      "Mm?" she looked at him absent mindedly. "Oh right, the rat. I've been looking for it for the last two hours all over this large house but I can't find it! The only place I didn't look is the dining room and you've checked and you've not found it. So, " she headed for the stairs. "I'm going to take a nap. "
       "What? What about the rat?" he asked.
      "It's probably out of the house. We'll get a call that someone got ill two hours from now so I'll go make  an antidote then sleep, " she said heading for the stairs as he looked at her in wonder.
        "You know I don't get you at times mum or ever, " he said to her. "What are the symptoms?"
       She turned to him. "The first would be a dry and painful cough, then rushes. The rushes turn into huge pimples that make you very uncomfortable when the wind blows you know when it's cold and by then you would have already pet the rat for at least four hours now. The symptoms are slow and you become numb right before your death. In short, master the first two symptoms and the last one. "
       "Why not all of them?"
       "It's a long list, son. Even I will be bored to tell you. "
Dwayne shook his head and remained silent deep in thought for a moment. "Wait, you said four hours now. You lost the rat fours hours ago and started searching two hours later?"
      "I may have accidentally left the cage open and went to watch Puss In Boots. It's a good animation. "
    Dwayne raised his eye brows and remained speechless tongue-tied unaware of what to say. And he shook his head. "Unbelievable. That's all I can say. "
         "This is the only mistake I made in my life, you know that. And something else I will never say. "
  Dwayne looked at her in wonder. "That rat loves radishes. It couldn't have gone far. Help mummy find it as I make an antidote. I'll give you whatever you ask for if you do. "
        "Okay fine. "
        "Oh, I better bring you the special gloves you should wear if you find it. "
     She headed upstairs quickly and brought him the gloves. Then on his way to the kitchen which led to the back door, the main door was opened and his older sister entered.
           "Hey bro, " she said and he looked at her as she went to the couch. "I am so tired. Have you seen Thomas?"
          "No, I have not, " he said as she sat on the couch.
          "I so want to watch my favorite show. 'Jack and Flinn' I'm totally in love with Jack, " she said mischievously as she stitched on the TV using the remote. Dwayne stood there speechless. "There's an audition for a new girl. It could be Jack's love interest and it's tomorrow. I'm going there and why are you standing like that?"
     She looked at him.
   "Because I'm going to find one of mum's experimented rats. Wanna help me?" asked Dwayne.
    "I regret why I asked, " she looked at the television and switched to the show. When she saw the handsome Jack, she supported her cheeks in admiration. "Oh Jack, I'll be with you Mi Amor. "
      "She promised to give me whatever I want if I find it. Maybe even you will get whatever you want like auditioning for that show, " he said mischievously and she looked at him with interest. "You know how much she hates acting especially for you. I'll give you the credit. "
       "Even if I find it, she will not accept it. You're her favorite. Tell you what?" she stood and walked over to him. "You get me to audition for 'Jack and Flinn' as your request and someday, I'll grant you a really good favor. Something I can do not mission impossible like the things you ask me to do. "
      "I do not give you mission impossibles. "
      "Wanna start with me Champion?" she said jokingly.
     "Okay fine. I'll go find the rat and you will do me a favor when I please and when I do so, do not deny me or I won't do you any favors ever. "
      "Deal. Now go, my show is starting. "
     Dwayne left for the neighbor with the radishes as she got back on the couch.