The Immortal's Gamble

Chapter 5 Backyard fun

"You wake her, you're the one who decided to knock her out."

"You gonna play this card? You bring her in and let her continue sleeping, God knows what she's seen today. I want her to rest as much as possible." 

There was a loud sigh followed by barely a minute of silence before I felt a whisper against my ear.

"Awaken." 

In flight or fight response I threw out a punch, the image of the dead man fresh in my mind. 

"My nosh!" Alex's strained voice followed by Arden's laughter jolted me.

Startled awake and fully aware of my surroundings the image of the man faded away and I started fumbling with the seat belt trying to get to Alex. Apologies were flying out of my mouth as I tried to get out, but an arm stopped me.

"Oh just leave him be. He'll be fine. Now sit properly I got to park the car." Still chuckling, he closed my side of the door before reversing into the garage. After he was done, we went into the house which was eerily quiet and Alex was nowhere in sight. Walking ahead of Arden, I turned the corner and let out a gurgled scream, kicking the ghoulish mask that appeared around the corner.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god." Alex's form lay curled up on the ground cupping his family jewels. While I looked on apologetically, Arden let out an uncharacteristically loud laughter

An hour later, we were seated on the sofa with Alex being three pillows and one Arden away from me. Clearly amused by the situation, I reached out innocently towards Alex and he hissed at me like a cat.

"Come on, what can I do to make you feel better. It wasn't like I did it on purpose." I groaned closing my eyes. 

"Well, you can start by telling me about what happened." Just as the words had left his mouth, Arden pounced on him and whispered something then dragged me out to their backyard.

"What did you do to him?" I asked, looking back at a dazed Alex while Arden continued dragging me.

"Nothing. He'll be fine. Oh wait let's  grab some drinks then we can go to the back." He detoured, grabbed the drinks and went back on route out to the back, not letting go of my arm at all.

"So how do you feel? Honestly." Arden asked after a few minutes of silence. Annalise had a nice backyard, lots of blooming flowers that I don't know the names of, a swing that we're sitting on and she even grew some of her vegetables like tomatoes.

"Scared? I don't know." I shrugged, "how do you feel?" I shot back. And he genuinely looks surprised.

"Me? Well, no one ever asks how I feel. I'm fine I guess. I'm a big strong man, who fears nothing." He pumped out his chest with a cheeky grin which made me laugh.

"Oh great one, what do you truly fear?" I drawled and shot him a sly grin. His face turned into one of false horror.

"Oh the horror, do not mention any foul creature to me." He covered his eyes and moaned. At that moment, Alex stepped into the backyard and Arden stayed true to his character giving off a girlish scream and used me as a shield.

"What's up with him?" Alex asked confused. Oh the poor boy.

"Oh nothing you foul creature. Begone or the mighty one here shall eradicate you."I boldly told him, holding back my laughter as I felt Arden's fingers dig into my arms, he was trying to hold in his own laughter. In that moment something clicked in his head and he went into a character of his own.

"Begone you ask, that I am unable to do. But oh beautiful one, let me rid the world of one foul best at a time. Starting with the one behind you."

And that started a cat and rat chase between the two while I sipped on my glass of lemonade.