The Next Day - Tuesday, December 22nd. 2015, 11:37 AM
ANASTASIA'S POV:
Skeptical.
Not easily convinced, having doubts or reservations.
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I had another issue. Since Wyatt had found out that useful piece of information about our Uncle Casher being the reason for our parents deaths, and him placing a similar target on each of our heads, I've had to come to the realization that my brothers needed to know the truth.
They needed to know just who was after them. It would do us all better to keep everyone fully informed, rather than to just hide away the information until the last second.
And so for the past three days I've been trying to figure out how to tell my brothers that our biologically related uncle wants to murder us all. They would be skeptical of course, Uncle Casher had always been nice to us when we were younger before he suddenly stopped visiting after a very important person's disappearance.
Michael Smith, the second oldest Smith sibling, was kidnapped when Nathan and I were only five. Michael, himself, had only been fourteen, while James had been sixteen, Matthew was thirteen, the twins, Jackson and Mason, were both eight.
No matter how hard we all tried, how many resources were used Michael wouldn't turn up, dead or alive. Even to this day, a few months after my parents died, I placed a new search on Michael's head, in hopes of finding my older brother that I missed so much.
But if Casher had really had my adoptive parents murdered, and he was gunning for us next, maybe he was the reason why we could never find Michael, and thus, I knew the smartest thing would be to tell my brothers to at the very least be extremely watchful if they ever came across Casher again.
It had been years since any of us had seen Uncle Casher, another suspisious feat, he mysteriously left when Michael had gone missing, before resurfacing, and then he mysteriously left again a few weeks before our parents deaths.
It was something that I knew needed to be looked into, but right now, I needed to at least warn my brothers of the possibility that Casher could be behind it all: from the murders of my adoptive parents, the murders my best friends parents, the attempted (and still trying) murders of my siblings, best friends, and myself, all the way to Michael's kidnapping and maybe even our our parents deaths.
Even if the last two seem like a bit of a stretch, it never hurts to look and see the truth for yourself.
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Later in the afternoon, my biological siblings, would be showing up to hang out and get some more training in. And that is when I would have to tell them the truth Wyatt uncovered for me. I would have to tell them about Uncle Casher and all of his betrayals.
Later, That Afternoon, 2 PM -
With everyone tasked to their own personal tasks, we had been spending the past few days trying to keep up with the seemingly endless amount of work. At this point, we're three days away from Christmas and I knew it was time for the holidays to actually start.
As I finished with work for the final day before I take a break for the holidays, I went up into my room in order to change into some workout clothes, in hopes that I could get a decent workout done today, while everybody else was busy.
So I changed into cyan colored sports bra, along with cyan colored, high waisted, activewear leggings, and a pair of white sneakers. I quickly tied my hair up into a messy bun, and then grabbed my phone and earbuds.
ANASTASIA'S OUTFIT SHOWN IN IMAGE ABOVE
As I walked down the stairs and towards the basement door, I opened my phone only to see a text notification from Nathan.
TEXT CONVERSATION -
Nathan: My dearest twin sister-
Nathan: Can I ask you a favor?
...
Sent 37 Minutes Ago.
...
Anastasia: Whatcha need, dearest twin brother
Nathan: Attention. I need attention, oh, and some love from my dearest twin sister
Anastasia: I'll probably regret this but-
Anastasia: Do you want to come over to spar for a bit
Nathan: YES!
Nathan: Can the guys come too?
Anastasia: Don't see why not
Anastasia: But I won't be going easy on any of you
Nathan: Wouldn't even ask you to, Ana.
Nathan: We'll be over in 15 minutes.
Anastasia: See you then, love ya
Nathan: Love you too, dearest twin sister!
END TEXT CONVERSATION -
I sighed deeply, before muttering, "I guess I'll take a break before working out..."
I moved back towards the living room and plopped down on one of the couches that rested there, before I turned on the television, leaving it on the current channel: fifty-six, Nickelodeon, with the show: Henry Danger, playing quietly in the background.
I watched the show quietly, playing around on my phone as well, while waiting for my brothers to show up. This way I'm able to get to the door right away.
Around fifteen minutes later, the sharp sound of a doorbell cut through the television, and my phone buzzed.
TEXT MESSAGE, NATHAN (1) -
Nathan: We're at the door, let us in!
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It had been a few hours since James, Matthew, Jackson, Mason, and Nathan showed up. They had all showed up in their own workout clothes, either shorts or sweatpants with short sleeve t-shirts, tank tops, or long-sleeved light weight sweatshirts, along with their own pairs of sneakers.
Since the Smith brothers showed up, we've worked on quite the amount of work. We went over our warmups that consisted of: thirty pushups, thirty pullups, thirty curl-ups, and a fifteen minute run. The Smith brothers had all ran about two and a half miles, while I ran closer to six full miles.
Once our warmups were all completed, we moved on to our sparing and fighting skills. In pairs of two (Jackson and Mason, Matthew and Nathan, James and Anastasia) all three pairs of people began sparing with their partner.
Jackson fought offensive while Mason played defense. Mason was playing to tire Jackson out and after almost fifteen minutes of the two going back and forth, Jackson punching or kicking, and Mason easily blocking, it was easy to see that Jackson had gotten quite tired. So without waiting another moment, Mason kicked Jackson's knee, leaving Jackson's legs to collapse beneath them, and Mason to quickly pin his opponent to the ground.
Matthew and Nathan used different strategies, trying to beat one another. Matthew was using logic, seeing what move Nathan would use and then he would try to anticipate the next move coming, block it, and then strike a hit of his own. Nathan, on the other hand, had no practical strategy, making sure to leave no exact pattern that one could follow, making it hard to predict his next move. Eventually, Nathan grabbed the upper hand from Matthew and was able to swiftly bring him into a headlock, allowing Matthew to quickly admit defeat.
James and I, however, were playing different than the other two pairs. I was allowing James to throw as many hits as he wanted while I practiced my blocking skills. I was toying with my eldest brother, dragging our match out, because I needed somebody to practice with. James hadn't seemed to catch on to that little fact either.
But, once we were the last pair going, I knew it was time to end the match, so with James once again sending his fist towards face, instead of blocking it, I grabbed his wrist, using his body's momentum against him, and quickly flipped him over my shoulder, dropping him on the floor behind me.
Breathing heavily, I help James stand up, and all six of us grab the water bottle's I had brought down here, chugging the bottles quickly, as though we had never had any liquids in our lives before.
"That was great, you guys." I smiled at them, still breathing heavily.
James and I had spent the past twenty minutes sparing, and it was incredibly tiring, especially considering we had sent the half an hour before that doing our warmups.
"Alright, five minute break." I called out, laughing at the groans my brothers released, "Then we'll move onto our knife throwing and precision training."
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They had worked on knife throwing for a decent hour, each sibling taking on their own target, going up by levels.
Level one, the easiest, was set only five feet away and was nonmoving. Level two, was set ten feet away and nonmoving. Level three, was set fifteen feet away and nonmoving. Level four, was set twenty feet away and nonmoving. While level five was now back to five feet away, though this time the target moved. Level six, was ten feet away and moving. Level seven, was set fifteen feet away and moving, and level eight, the final level was set twenty feet away and moved the quickest.
The group of six took turns going in the order of: me (Anastasia), Nathan, James, Jackson, Matthew, and then Mason.
I moved with ease throughout all eight levels, hitting close to the bullseye on each target. Nathan moved with ease throughout the first five levels, before he began having trouble with the moving targets.
James slowly progressed, taking his time, but ultimately he passed all eight levels, only having to repeat himself three or four times. Jackson struggled after level three, not being able to aim properly at a target that is either too far away or moves.
Matthew progressed at a quicker pace than James, passing through all eight levels as well, and he only had to repeat the course once, before he had finished all eight levels in one try each. Mason, however struggled just as Jackson had, though with time, practice, and patience I could see that Mason was slowly getting better, hitting each target better and better.
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Shortly after we finished the knife aspect of our workout, we took another small five minute break, allowing us all to use the bathroom, have a small snack, get some water, and even hold a few small meaningless conversations.
"Ana?"
"Yeah, Nate?"
"Are you excited for Christmas?"
"I am." I laughed at Nathan's excited expression, "Why?"
"Because Christmas is only one of the best holidays around, that's why." he told me.
"True." I agreed, smiling at my twin brother, "I love watching the happy expressions on Court and Dyl's faces when they see all their gifts."
"What about you getting your gifts?"
"Yeah, I get gifts." I shrugged nonchalantly, "But nothing is as good of a gift as watching my babies open up their own. Their joy is my joy, and that's all I really need."
It was quiet for a few moments before I decided to speak again, "Would you guys like to come over for Christmas?"
"We'd love too."
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After the small break was over, and I had invited the Smith Brothers over for Christmas dinner, we quickly began working on our final part of our workout routine: shooting and precision.
Similar to the layout of our knife target course, we had targets spread across the room. However this time, as we were in lines waiting for our turn, it stayed our turn until we had fired eight live bullet rounds out of the gun.
As before, I went first and excelled rather quickly. All eight targets were shot either hitting the bullseye directly in the center, or was slightly off by an inch or so.
From there the rest of my siblings decided on going through the line in order from youngest to oldest, and so Nathan had his turn next. He fired off all eight rounds, hitting seven of the targets, completely missing one, and out of the seven shots that had hit the target, only three hit bullseye.
Jackson went third, firing of all eight rounds, allowing six of the eight to hit the target, two of which hit the bullseye. Mason went fourth, right after his twin. He fired all eight rounds with ease, successfully hitting all of the targets, though only five hit bullseye.
Matthew went fifth. After firing all eight rounds, it was found that he had only hit the targets four times out of eight, but all four times had hit the bullseye. James, who went last fired all eight rounds off, hitting the target five out of eight times, with two hitting the bullseye and the others being father away from the center of the target.
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It had been three hours since we had began working out, and now that we were finished there was no reason for me to hold back the truth anymore. My brothers needed to know the truth, and I was the only one who could give them the truth.
So as we walked upstairs and through the living room, we all plopped our butts on the comfortable couches that were littered throughout the homey, comfortable space I called home.
"Guys..." I started off, "There's been a few developments in the case between the anonymous murderer and what we've found out. And I believe it is in everybody's best interest if you know the truth."
They all stared at me and I stared back, none of us sharing any more words after I had spoken. The peaceful atmospher had been broken, and now there was nothing more than a heavy, thick tension.
My biological brothers knew that what I was about to say could potentially change everything for them. They acknowledged just how serious the situation was.
"Give it to us straight, Anastasia." James looked me directly in the eyes, maintaining eye contact.
I took a breath-
"The traitor in our gang's name is Antony. Antony was a close friend of my adoptive father, as well as my best friends parents. He's been dealt with by myself, Luke, and Jamie. He won't be causing any further problems." I informed them.
"D-Did you kill him?" Jackson asked.
"I'm not going to answer that." I told Jackson, "I do not want to burden you with the decisions I choose to make or not make, so I will not tell you whether I've killed him or not. Just know that he won't be a problem any longer for us."
Jackson and the rest of my brothers released shaky breaths at my answer.
"Now-" I continued on, "Wyatt worked extended hours and to the brink of his sanity, but he found out which gang Antony had been spreading the information he gained to. That gang is Uncle Casher's gang."
This caused outrage, "UNCLE CASHER'S GANG?!?"
"I know you might not believe me, but the evidence is over-whelmingly pointed towards Casher. He'd gone off the grid weeks before Michael's kidnapping, only reappearing after. He went off the grid again before mom and dad's death, then reappeared after, again." I looked around at my siblings, "The footprint of everything electronical points back to server's that were placed either in homes that Casher owned, or places that Casher was found at while an event was going on."
I looked at my siblings again, watching as their expressions morphed from ones of disbelief to sadness, "Y-you mean that he k-kidnapped our b-brother, k-illed mom and dad, killed y-your adoptive p-parents, a-and is trying to kill u-us?"
"Yes, Matthew, it is a high probability." I nodded my head in agreeance, "We're still investigating, but until we're done and know for sure everybody needs to be on their guard."
And together we sat there, on the couches, in a suffocating silence.
Casher, our uncle, could have betrayed us all.
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Author's Note -
Here's chapter twenty-six completed. I hope you enjoyed reading it.
James, Matthew, Jackson, Mason, and Nathan all know the truth about who their uncle Casher really is. Did Anastasia do the right thing telling her biological brothers, or should she have kept the information to herself.
Let me know what you think about this chapter. And make sure you all comment, vote (by clicking the star), and share this story with those who might like it.
Thanks for reading the chapter!
-michaelaloveswriting
Original Version Published: Feburary 1st. 2020
Edited Version Published: June 29th. 2022