"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.
"Oh what in heaven's name is going on here?" An amused voice came from behind me and I jumped out of my skin.
"Oh relax dear. Although if I were you I would use that hose over there to split the two apart and you could water my flowers." She carried on with a wink and took a seat beside me, sipping on Arden's glass as though she didn't say anything to me.
Walking over to the hose I looked back to Annalise, who nodded so subtlety only I saw, coupled with the gleam in her eyes I set my mind to it.
"In three.. two.. one.." And I turned the hose on and the shot of water enveloped the two. A moment of silence passed over until Annalise started laughing.
The boy's faces were priceless as I whipped out my phone.
"They always say, take a picture it'll last longer. I guess I now understand." I murmured and took a picture. That snapped them out of their daze and they started to advance on me. But I ran to sit next to Annalise and that effectively stopped the pair.
"Hi Anna." They greeted simultaneously.
"He started it!"
"He started it!"
They pointed to each other and stared, then turned to me, "she started it!" I pouted. How dare they make me the scapegoat.
"Well whoever it was that started it, you two clean it up and water my plants. Then we'll have a drink with some cakes I just made. Come along now Laura." She waved the boys off and started walking towards the house. The boys, at the sound of cakes, lit up like Christmas trees and started watering the plants like their lives depended on it.
Inside the house, I sat at the table sipping on my lemonade while Annalise arranged the cakes and cookies. She moved around fluidly with the grace of a woman far younger than her age. Her numbers, 100-120, made me think, that's an impossibly long time to live. But then again Arden and Alex didn't have any numbers.
"So how are the cakes dear?" She asked, my numbering thoughts disappearing. She nestled herself into the bigger chair with fluffy pillows with a slice of her own.
"They're good. I'm Laura Holland and I'm-" I started to reach out to shake her hands and introduce myself proper.
"Oh no need to introduce yourself, I know you." She winked at me, "How's your mother?" Annalise questioned, and all I could do was stared at her, nothing coming out from my mouth.
"Cakes, where are my cakes?" Alex stormed into the house eyes darting everywhere till they landed on the plate in my hands.
Before he could make another move, Annalise wacked him on the head with a wooden spoon.
"Hey, can I have a bite?" Arden whispered and reached out to take a bite but his hand was slapped by the same wooden spoon. The lady welding the spoon chiding them for their manners before sitting next to me.
"So where were we? How is your mother Laura?" Annalise asked without skipping a beat as she set down the plates for the boys.
"She's fine." I replied politely and reached for my own plate of cake. The boys oblivious to what was going on, and Annalise looked at me with sharp eyes, her knowing look returned. But it disappeared just as fast, "oh if that's the case then all's good." She gave a ghost of a smile and got back to cleaning the kitchen
'I heard about what you and Arden saw.' Annalise started, I could see Arden visibly tense at the subject. But I felt Annalise's hand on mine. 'Are you really feeling alright? Mind telling me what happened since Arden is all clammed up like an oyster.' She smiled gently, I lowed my eyes and started by how we had left Alex in the shop and found the body and then ended up here.
A blanket of silence covered us and Annalise put her hands over mine. 'I'm sorry that you had to witness that my dear. But I hope you are able to put that behind you. He was dead when you were there and there wasn't anything you nor Arden could have done.' She patted my hand then turned to the boys. Those were some pretty weird words, but all I could think of, was the changing numbers while I stared at the body.
"Now, I expect you to be better behaved and take care of Laura." She instructed them, while I fiddled with my cake, I didn't want any more questions to be asked.
'Yes m'am. They stood up picked up their plates and dragged me up the stairs, Annalise giving a little wave before she stood up and walked away from the table.
We were now seated in Alex's room and posters adorned the walls clothes were scattered everywhere and to enter he just kicked them away to clear a path.
'Welcome to my humble abode, my dear friends.' He drawled, his arms opened wide as I took in the messiness.
"I'm your brother." Arden rolled his eyes.
"and I'm an acquaintance." I winked and Alex looked so offended at that while Arden looked at me and nodded, offering me a fist bump.
"So almost a week now till school starts huh?" I moved over, leaning against the cupboard, it was the cleanest place in the room. The boys nodded.
"And we'll be graduating this year." I murmured quietly.
"Hey Laura, are you really okay?" Alex asked more seriously this time, I sighed and closed my eyes at his question.
What is the meaning of being okay?