Going For The Dream

Chapter Five

     The whole weekend I hung out with Charly and his family. We mainly stayed at the house. If we did go out, it was really quick trips and right back. It was almost like Charly was paranoid about something because he would not stop looking around. Even if I wanted to stay out and hang he would rush me and it got to the point I stopped asking to hang out outside.
     Birds singing woke me up Sunday morning. I got out of bed and walked over to the window. I opened the curtain to look out to find a blue jay sitting on the railing of the balcony, singing.
     Smiling, I turned around and went to the bathroom. I stepped into the luxury shower, and began to lather my skin in expensive body wash. After a while I turned the tap off, I stepped out to brush my teeth and hair. I got dressed in dark gray skinny jeans and dark blue t-shirt with a jean jacket over top; finally, I slipped my combat boots on.
     I was going back home today. I walked into the kitchen and noticed everyone wa already waiting. The table had a banquet on it. There were so many different kinds of breakfast foods; from eggs with cheese to pancakes and french beignets.
     "What is all this?" I asked, looking at all the food.
     Hanna looked up at me from her spot at the table and smiled. "This is our way to say thanks for spending the weekend with us and see you later. We know we will see you again. You are part of the family now."
     I sat down and looked at Hanna, confused. "Part of the family? How?"
     Mason looked up. "You are Charly's best friend and that makes you part of the family."
     "It does?" I looked around and my gaze landed on Charly. He was beaming and I couldn't help but crack a grin myself.
     I grabbed some scrambled eggs, bacon and waffles. We ate with little conversations here and there. Afterwards I went back up to the room to collect my bags and made my way out to the car, bracing myself for my return home.
     When I got home I took my bags up to my room and put everything away. I then walked across the hall, beelining into my art room. There was paint and canvases everywhere. Unfinished art leaned against the left wall and finished art against the right wall. In the middle stood my easel. A canvas was on it, waiting to be painted on. Next to the easel was a table with tubes of paint, pencils, palette, a palette knife, paint brushes and turpentine. On the far wall are bookcases full of art books.
     I walked up to the middle bookcase and removed a thick book to reveal a keypad. I typed in the code and a section of the wall began to move. I stepped through it to enter my secret office. I called Charly's company, GoldFang, to renovate the room while they were creating the art room. When I asked my family for an art room I looked at the houses blueprint and I noticed there was a room on the other side that had a back entrance that was closed up years ago. To make sure the room stayed hidden, I had them alter the blueprints so my new office didn't show.
     As I went into my secret office the wall closed up. I looked around. There were monitors everywhere with a constant feed of the house. One of the top ones featured a video feed of my art room so I could see if someone entered, another once was the hall. Yet another one was of my room. I had to be prepared if anyone came around. I can't let anyone know about my office, plus the cameras provide extra security for the house in case of intruders.
     I sat down in the chair and turned on all the monitors centered on my desk. Every one had something running on them. Unlike the other monitors in the room, these had games I developed running on them. I was contantly tweaking them, making them better.
     I looked at the far wall. It was covered with bookcases full of books about computers and games. The bookcase in my bedroom had very few books on the subject. That's because I wanted people to know I had a healthy interest in the subject, but nothing that would draw suspicion. I'm actually well acquainted with it and I've mastered the art and science of computers through hours of intensely studying every book in this room.
     The monitor right in front of me was my current project. Each monitor had a game I developed running on it. Unknown to my family, their best games were actually developed by me. I was hired into the company at the ripe old age of 10 when the Lead Game Director noticed a game I developed and released on newgames.com.
     The game was 'Home On The Range'. It was like any typical survival game but set in the wild west. The characters had to build homes, craft everything and hunt for food. The ingredients for crafting were all over the map so they had to travel. In order to travel, either had to go on foot or tame animals. My favorites were the giant eagles and white tigers. Most of the animals were tameable. The only ones not are the typical ones for food: deer, bison, squirrels, small birds and rabbits.
     Initially, SilverHeart wanted to meet in person but I told them that as part of my contract I only work from home and don't meet up with anyone. To this day no one in the company has met me. They only know my username. After looking at all of the games to see the progress I turned to another monitor that had the chat I used for my team. I looked at the previous messages and saw they were wondering why I wasn't on all weekend. I normally get on at least once everyday. No one was on since it was a Sunday and I had told them they could take them off.
     Closing the chat I turned back to my new game and got to work. I began to make the storyboard, the characters and settings. I tend to send the more intricate details to the Graphic Designer of the group. I just have to tell them what I want and they give it me perfectly. Same with the locations. I normally do the outline and then pass it on and it gets filled in, and every time it comes back exactly how I envision it in my mind.
     Suddenly I hear a ping. I look at the monitor and see that the program I had running on one of my other games ended. A notification popped up saying that something within the code needed to be fixed.
     Hours later I leaned back in my chair and let out a breath. I stand up and press a button on the wall to open the secret door. A section of the wall moved toward me a little then slid to the side. As I walked through I pushed the book back into place causing the wall to seal shut. I then went to the kitchen to get some dinner. When I got to the kitchen I could smell that the chef had made lobster with mac and cheese. I grabbed a bowl and started to head back to my room.
     "Keke," I heard a whine from behind me. I stopped and turned around, smiling as I looked down to see who it was.
     I quickly put my bowl down and crouched down, opening my arms. "Come here, little one." My little sister, Lorina, ran into my arms. I stood up and spun around. She laughed.
     Lorina was my little sunshine. When my days were gray I could always turn to her and she would make me feel better. She was like my daughter even though she was my little sister. Our parents weren't home while she was growing up. They were always off doing something for the company. I don't really know what they did. All I knew was that dad's the CEO and busy. My mom always accopanied him. Our big sister was always off doing her own thing, and Kiela didn't want to be bothered by the baby. So that left me, even if I was only 12.
     I may have joined the company when I was 10 but it was only as a hobby. Lorina became my reason to make it a career. I wanted to provide whatever she needed. I became very successful so everything that she needed I got her.
     I gazed down at Lorina. "Have you eaten?" I asked her.
     She shook her head. "I was waiting for you. I missed you while you were gone." She whined.
     I rubbed her head. "I'm sorry, little one. I'm home now. Let's go get you some food." I picked her up and walked back into the kitchen and got some lobster mac and cheese for her. We went back out to the dining room and ate together. Afterwards, I took her to the bathroom in her room, instructing her to shower and change into pjs. I then brushed her hair before tucking her into bed.
     "Keke. Can I sleep with you tonight?" She asked, grabbing my sleeve and giving her best puppy eyes.
     I giggled and picked her back up, "of course you can, little one. You can sleep with me whenever you want." I walked out of her room, holding her in my arms, and went to mine. I laid her on the bed and got changed into pjs before slipping under the blankets next to her. She quickly snuggled up to me and fell asleep. I ran my fingers through her long light gray hair, humming as I closed my eyes.