Changing The Future

CHAPTER XII

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After school Alice drives Asher home. "See you tomorrow." Asher says exiting the car. "Wait." Alice turns off the car. "I'm coming with you." Alice gets out of her car and walks up to Asher. Asher was going to ask Alice why she wanted to come with him but decided against it. Asher opens the front door and they both go inside. "Hi Asher, hi Alice. How was school?" Mr. King asks, seeing the two come in. It isn't a strange thing that Alice is here. Ever since school began Alice and Asher have been going to each other's houses frequently. "It was okay. Nothing really interesting happened." Asher says, shrugging his shoulders. Deciding that the conversation is over, they walk to the kitchen. "Hi Mrs. King." Alice says politely. "Hello Asher, Alice." Mrs. King takes the chicken out of the oven. "You can sit down at the table. Dinner is ready." They all walk to the dining room and sit down. Asher thinks it's strange that Alice didn't inform him that she was going to come to his home today. Usually, she asks even though his family said she could just come whenever she wants. She Always asks because she says that it is a polite thing to do. He looks at all the food on the table. It's more than usual. It's like his parents knew she was going to come. "Thank you for inviting me to dinner Mrs. King." "It's no problem." It seems that his parents invited her over without his knowledge. "When did you invite her?" Asher asks. They stop eating and Asher's parents eye each other. "Your parents said I could come whenever I want to, remember. And my father is a terrible cook. I don't know how he survived all those years without me." Alice mumbles the last part. They continue eating until Alice stands up. "I'm going to the bathroom." Mr. and Mrs. King both nod. Alice stands up and heads to the bathroom.

Alice is now in the bathroom leaning against the sink. She's looking at her reflection in the mirror. A few days ago, Mr. and Mrs. King came to her house. They told Alice everything about what would happen when they leave. They told her that Asher would stay with her and her family. Her father already agreed. The reason Alice came for dinner today was to help Asher pack and move his stuff. And for emotional support. Asher's parents told her that during dinner she should go to the bathroom while they break the news to Asher. That's why she's in the bathroom right now. She thought and still thinks that there is a better way to break the news to Asher. But she can't blame his parents. It's also hard for them to leave Asher. And she also really needed to use the bathroom.

Asher and his parents continue eating after Alice goes to the bathroom. After a while, Mr. and Mrs. King stop eating and are looking nervous at each other. "Asher, today is the day." Asher also stops eating. "Today!?" Asher forgot about that. He was having such a good time these last few days that he forgot that his parents would leave him. "We decided that two pawns will take care of the house as they drain less energy." He knew the day would come but he just wished there was more time. "Where will I stay?" "With Alice and her family." "They already know about this." Mr. Primson says trying to ensure his son. "Is that why Alice is here?" They look away with guilt in their eyes. "..." "Yes, she's here to help you move your stuff." His mother puts a black and white box on the table. "This is for you." Asher takes the box and opens it. His cards are inside with a chess piece on every card. There are two cards he never saw. They are blank. Black Queen and White King written on them. "These are your summoning cards. As you know you can summon the chess pieces with this." Asher looks at his parents and then at the cards. "The two blank cards are where we go when we leave you and you can also summon us but it will take a lot of energy." Tears are forming in the corners of Asher's eyes. "I have one more thing to give you." Mrs. King says while standing up. Mr. King also stands up. "Follow us." Asher follows his parents upstairs. They go to his parents' room. They walk to the closet and open it. "What is happening?" Mr. King looks at Asher and smiles before helping his wife shoving the clothes aside. There was a door behind all the clothes. Asher is shocked and confused. Was that there all along? How did he never see it? When he was a child, he played hide and seek a lot with his parents and often hid in his parents' closet. Mrs. King takes out a key and puts it in the keyhole. The door opens on its own. The door leads to a secret room. Asher looks around. It's a white room. There are two suits of armor. One is white and one is black. The black one looks like a dress. They're probably his parent's armor. In the middle of the room, there is a glass table with a glass crown on it. It has tiny diamonds on it. Mrs. King grabs the crown and faces Asher holding it. "This is the crown your father gave to me when he asked me to be his queen." She hands the crown to Asher. "I want you to give it to your queen when you find her." Asher is now holding the crown in his hands. He looks at it. Enchanting.

When the kings arrive in the dining room, Alice is already sitting at the dining table. They take their seats again. "Let's have our last meal together." Mr. King says. Alice stands up. "I'll go wait in Asher's room." "Alice, you can stay." "But I'm not family." "Nonsense, from today on, you are a part of Asher's family and Asher's a part of yours." Alice sits back down looking down at her food Asher can see that she's blushing. After dinner, Alice is helping Asher with packing. "We have prepared a room for you in our house." "Thank you for taking me in." Asher sits down on his bed. "You're the first friend I have had in a while and I'm already being a burden." Alice stops what she is doing and sits down next to Asher. "You're not being a burden." She hugs him. Asher is surprised. Alice is not the kind of person to suddenly hug people. And if she would hug them, it would probably be to crush them. He hugs her back. They stay like that for a while before they both let go. "Let's continue packing your stuff." Alice stands up and continues putting stuff in boxes.

After packing all of Asher's stuff they bring the boxes downstairs. Alice and Asher are bringing the boxes downstairs when they see Mr. and Mrs. King standing downstairs in their armor. "You look so cool." Asher says admiring his parents. "Thank you Asher." Alice and Asher put the boxes on the ground. "It's almost time." Asher embraces his parents and they embrace him in a tight hug. Tears are forming in their eyes. They stay like that for a long time before they all let go. "When you summon the two pawns it won't be long before we will disappear." Asher takes the summoning cards. He chooses one black and one white pawn. "Remember we love you." Mrs. King says while kissing Asher on his head. "If you have enough energy again you can summon us." Asher's hands are trembling. He throws the two cards on the ground and a white and black pawn appear where the cards were thrown. "Remember we love you." "Stay strong." Asher embraces his parents. "I love you too." They disappeared with a smile on their faces. Asher trembles and looks up to stop the tears from falling. Alice embraces Asher making it harder for him not to cry. The two pawns are standing quietly looking down knowing their young master is crying because his parents just left him. When his parents left, suddenly a lot of energy went into him and his body wasn't used to it after such a long time. While driving to Alice's home Asher fell asleep from exhaustion.

Alice and Asher arrive home fromschool. They open the door and see A standing in the living room. "A!" Asheryells out with happiness. A had been away for a few days. Asher is happy that Ais back. So much has happened since she left and he wanted to talk to her totell her everything. Asher runs to her and they both embrace each other. Aliceis standing looking at both of them. She's feeling something, but she doesn'tknow what it is. Alice is standing in her room. Tears are in her eyes. That's unusualfor her. She hasn't cried since she was little. "I'm tired of pretending." Shesays while wiping away her tears. ''When will I finally get a happy ending? Hechose her over me." Alice walks out of her room angrily. Alice is standing infront of a metal door. It's locked. She types in a pin code and the door opens.She walks inside. There are a lot of valuable items in the room. Alice walks upto a box. She opens it. There is a glass crown with diamonds on it. "I deserveto be his queen." Alice grabs the crown out of the box and puts it on her head.Alice kicks a guy through a glass wall. He hits his head on the ground and layson the ground unconsciously. Alice seems to be wearing a costume. The room sheentered is white. Everything is white. There is nothing in the room except afloating glass ball with a black fog in it. Alice is walking towards the glassball. Her body seems to be moving on its own. She's hypnotized. Just as she wasabout to touch it her father, A, and Asher ran into the room also wearing acostume. "Alice, don't touch it." A yells. Alice was going to say somethingwhen she heard a voice in her head. The voice is saying something to her. Alicetouches the glass ball and says: "I will be his queen and you will pay fortaking him away from me!" The light goes off and a few seconds later the lightscome back on. The glass ball is empty. The black fog possessed Alice. Alice'shair is darker and instead of curls, she has straight hair. Her outfit alsochanged. She seems to be wearing a black and white warrior outfit. Withtelekinesis, Alice pushes A and her father to the ground. She lifts Asher andbrings him towards her. "I want what I deserve." A jolts awake, breathingheavily. She looks around. She shifts into a sitting position. She's still in ahotel somewhere far away from home. It was just a dream. Or was it a vision?Whatever it was, she had to get home quickly.