Thirty-Two

Mom was already back when we got home. She was early getting home these days. I asked her about it then she mentioned that their boss changed their schedule. From her 8:00 AM-9:00 PM schedule, it is now 5:00 AM-4:00 PM.

She had our breakfast ready every morning and when we come home she's already preparing dinner.

Archer took a nap and I decided to just watch a movie to spend my free time without me realizing that I actually fell asleep. Alexis woke me up, saying that dinner is already prepared and I'm the only one they're waiting.

So, I stood up and went to the kitchen. Then we all ate our dinner.

After eating, same day, same routine, the three of us did the household chores. Mom still helped us because she said that she's still not sleepy. Then after doing all the household chores, we all went to our bedrooms.

I still have homework to do and the worst part is it's mathematics. God, I hate calculations.

Solving a problem in my notebook, a crumpled paper was thrown at me. I looked at the direction where it fell and saw plenty of crumpled papers on the floor. My eyes widened after realizing that I made a complete mess.

"You're cleaning that up, right?" Archer blurted, dumbly looking to the floor then to me.

He was laying on the couch where he sleeps, he was facing me sideways. I pursed my lips out of annoyance and continued solving the math problem written on my notebook. Another paper was thrown at me again and this time I glared at Archer.

He then threw one at me again. "Stop." I calmly said to him. He didn't mind my word and just threw another paper again.

"Dude, I'm not in the mood to mess with you right now." I said again, controlling my emotion. He didn't say anything and another paper hit my face.

I snapped out of my focus and faced him, "Okay, seriously, stop!" I shouted. He raised his eyebrows at me and stared at me silently. He wasn't affected by the shouting. My hand flew to my face then I returned my attention to my homework and exhaled.

"You need to lay low." he then said, breaking the sudden silence. I took a deep breath with my hands covering my face because of frustration. "I can't."

"Why is that?"

"Because this shit is due on Monday and I have 15 fucking problems to solve and I'm stuck at number 1."

"Dude, tomorrow is Saturday."

"So?"

Instead of answering, he reached for his phone, scrolled through it, then handed it to me. Confusion ran throughout my mind as I stare at the phone then looking back to him.

"I'm not looking at one of your 'Yo Mama' memes again." I shook my head.

"What?" he exclaimed. "No, it's not a meme. I stopped making those a few weeks ago." he added. Then I took his phone.

He's right. It's not those annoying memes that he always shows me. Instead, it was a message from Irish.

Irish: Hey, Arch. Please do tell Asher to not stress himself out in the homework again. Our math prof told us that she gave us the wrong sheets so she's going to give us another set on Monday.

After seeing the message, I think my soul just jumped from my body because of happiness. Though, still, I'm still going to answer math problems on Monday.

I gave Archer back his cellphone and closed my notes, then I threw it into my bag. I scooted my chair closer to my bed then let my body fall to the soft foam. As I close my eyes, starting to fall asleep, I felt a painful slap on my back.

Of course, it does hurts. It fucking hurts. The slap was so hard that it made me grunt and mumble in pain with my face buried in the bed.

I slowly put my right hand on my back while peeking to glare at Archer. Of course it's him who did it. He was standing up and reaching out for his jacket. He wore it immediately and then looked at me. I raised an eyebrow at him and he did the same thing to me.

"Get up." he ordered then fixed his jacket.

I slowly got up while enduring the fiery pain that is triggering at my back. I groaned after fully standing up. "You gotta pay for this." I warned him, but the bastard just chuckled.

Confused, I looked at him again. He was now putting on his shoes. "The hell are you doing?" I dumbly asked him. He looked at me and let out a loud breath. "Just put on your clothes." he blurted.

"I have my clothes on."

"Well, okay. I guess you'll walk outside with your nipples freezing."

"What?"

"Put on a jacket, dumbass."

"Specificity is a necessity, Archer." I was dumbfounded but did what he said anyway. I put on my black hoodie and wore a pair of shoes. I followed him outside the bedroom and went downstairs.

Lights are already out. Blackness field the entire house, instead for the street lights peeking from the windows. We made it to the front door then we went outside and locked the door immediately.

Archer was right. It is freezing out here. Well, it does makes sense because it's near to November and after that, holiday seasons are coming.

"Where the hell are we going?" I whispered to Archer when we started walking.

"You'll see." he smirked. We continued walking from afar until our shoes felt a soft ground. I noticed that my shoes are now slightly covered with white sand. So, I shook them off until I got rid of it then glanced through the amusing view in front of me.

We are on a small beach. Waves were dancing with the wind guiding. Cold fresh air was hitting our body like a sword piercing through our clothes. Counted people are seen at the place.

Most are a group of friends, some are love birds, and some are alone.

"What are we doing here?" I asked him while we walk closer to the small waves.

He didn't answer and just continued walking until we got to the shore. He stood there, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He felt the atmosphere roaming around him as he slowly opens his eyes then looked at me.

He let out a chuckle as he sees me looking at him with a confused face. "What?" I asked.

"You're looking at me like you're judging me." he said, grinning.

I squinted my eyes and flinched with disagreement. "I'm not judging you." I countered.

"Right." he sarcastically muttered. After moments of silence, I didn't notice that I was also staring at the pitch black view of the sea. The sound of the waves is filling my ears. We fell silent for a moment.

"I go here whenever I wanted to be alone." he broke the silence. I looked at him sternly, his face was covered with smile. "The spot at the rooftop, where I first saw you-well, not actually the first but, anyways, I didn't mean to be rude." he stated.

That made me softly chuckle and look back at the pitch-black view of the sea. "Good to know. I actually thought that you're a war freak." I joked out and laughed. He also cracked a laugh.

"I also go here for one reason." he then stopped laughing. "Whenever I wanted to be alone, or a me-time as everyone calls it, I go here. Also some memories are built in here, with my brother-so it's kinda hard trying to forget every time I go here." he then added.

"Forget what?"

After saying that question, he went silent. At first, I thought that I triggered something he doesn't want to remember anymore. I actually thought that I have said something that'll take him down or what, but then he took a deep breath before talking.

"That my brother once existed." he stated. The tone of his voice is slowly breaking. I can hear it well properly said, but there's a crack coming from his voice.

"He must be really special." I muttered, trying to keep up.

"Yeah." he nodded. "I told you he was also my partner in crime. We were best friends."

I didn't respond to that last sentence. He was getting emotional and I don't want to get deeper or he will start crying. We let ourselves stand on the shore for a few more minutes then we left.

Walking triggered a pain on my right side, it's actually getting worse by time, but I'm sure it's just because of too much walking. I noticed that we are arriving on an unfamiliar street.

"Where are we?" I asked him as I look around while walking.

"On the way to.." he had that cliffhanger tone before stopping in front of an elegant looking house. "..here." he finished.

I glanced at the big house in front of me and stared at it. It was big and modernistic and it has a lot of lights. "Why are we at a mall?" I muttered, still astonished at the good looking house.

"What?" Archer exclaimed and laughed. "This is Roller's house you dumbshit."

I looked at him with disbelief as my eyes widened. "Roller?" I unbelievably exclaimed. "As in Rolandro Vein Daige's house?!"

He nodded to me as answer. "Wait, what?" he then snapped. "What's Roller's last name again?" he asked me.

"Daige." I answered.

"And Justin's middle name is Daige too, right?"

"Yeah. How do you know?"

"Well, we do talk."

"Ah, getting along pretty well, huh? Yeah, they're cousins."

"Oh."

I was still shocked knowing that Roller lives in this mall-like house. We entered the gate and reached the front door. And just so you know, the door is 3 feet taller than me.

My height is at five foot eight and I literally have to look up so just I can see the whole door.

Archer pressed the doorbell and just a second after, the door was unlocked and we saw an eye peeking from the small gap. He then leaned forward to have a look.

"Roller?" Archer called then the door opened widely. There stood Roller then he greeted us with a wide smile painting his face.

"Archer and Asher! My boys!" he happily greeted, he was holding a controller on his left hand. He gave Archer and I a pound hug each before going inside their house.

Just by looking at the house from the outside, I can barely say a word. But now, finally going inside, I'm pretty sure my vocabulary just went outside of my brain. The house is really big and the types of furniture are surely expensive.

I was looking around like a little kid going to a park for the first time. Roller walked us to a separate room or it's like a modernistic cabin located at the pool. The cabin is right at the center and is being surrounded by its large infinity pool.

They have a small bridge-like walkway from the outside of the pool to the cabin.

We went inside of that cabin and the whole team was there. Shouting, cheering, playing at the console with beers. "Woah, is this a pool party or something party?" I muttered while nodding at everyone that is greeting me.

Roller chuckled, "Actually, this is just a little get along. We do this for at least once a month." he said then handed me a bottle of beer.

"Nah, I'm good. I don't drink." I grimaced. He shrugged and gave Archer the beer.

"Yo, Ashy! Come play with us!" I heard Jason shouted. I looked at him and walked towards them.

"Alright, whatchu guys playin'?" I said and squeezed in on the couch that was facing the television.

"Call of Duty." Jared answered while looking at the screen. I can say that he is an expert at this game. His hands are so fast that he can literally press every single button on the controller in just 2 seconds.

I looked at the cover of the disc and noticed that it is an unfamiliar game for me. Then my eyes widened after realization hit me. "Roller, you have the latest version of Call of Duty?" I asked him, he was talking to Archer at the counter.

"Yeah, just right after the release, my Dad gave it to me as a gift." he responded. I nodded at him with an agreement and put my attention back to the game.

We spent the rest of the night there. We stayed for at least 3 hours at Roller's place before deciding to go home.

Archer is not drunk, which is a good thing, and we don't smell like beers so I think we're good. I just hope that my mom is sleeping by now because if not, I'll be spending my nights on the couch and not have my phone for a week.

We got home and thankfully everyone was asleep. We both went to the room without mom noticing. I took my shoes and my jacket off then immediately went to bed.

Here I am again with my thoughts.

Archer was lately talking about his brother. He started opening up to us and talks about life. And by that, I also can't keep myself from thinking about my brother too.

About Alexander.

He died when I was four-years-old and I can't forget that day. My whole body was broken into pieces, knowing that my comrade no longer exists. I can't even go to his funeral, or my parents didn't want me to go to his funeral.

I was just in the house by that time.

I don't have the courage to go to my brother's funeral. At a very young age, I experienced devastation that broke me. I encountered a heavy problem that my shoulders cannot handle and carry anymore.

To be honest, I don't want to remember my brother again. I don't want to remember every bit of memory that I had with him again.

I'm lying.

With my thoughts roaming and wandering around my head. I came up with an impossible question that I asked myself.

What if Alexander is still alive?