Jace
It's 6:15am. I have about 45 minutes before I have to come back and prepare breakfast. I put on my running shoes and go downstairs. When I open the front door, I'm startled to see someone who is just as shocked as I am. "Cupcake?"
"Jace?" We call simultaneously. "What are you doing up this early?" I ask her. "I couldn't sleep so I wanted to go see the forest, but then I realised that I might get lost."
"Smart girl. Returning was the best decision; this forest has a region that is prohibited because of the dangerous wildlife. And..." I pause, close the door behind me, and step unto the porch and point at a blank screen next to the door. "This is the house lock." I place my right hand on it, and the screen comes on. "Welcome, Jace Wynknight." A voice calls from it and the door opens.
"From the moment you walk into the premises, everything about you is scrutinised by the system. Your posture, walking speed and mannerisms. If they don't match that of a member of my family, the system becomes more sensitive, and the screen goes blank like it was before now. You see, if you had touched the door handle, 500 volts of electricity would've been sent into your body."
"And you're telling me this now!?"
"Sorry, slipped my mind." I chuckle. "If you want, I can take you to see a bit of the forest." "Really?" Her eyes are like a child's when pleading to follow their mother somewhere.
"Yes, let's go." I show her around the paved pathways and hiking trails. We cover a little distance for some exercise. "There's a mountain not so far from here too. You should see it sometime." She keeps to herself a lot, but I can tell that she's happy to be in the forest. I spot something moving in a bush nearby. "Wait here, I have a surprise for you." I tell her and when I return, she's watching ants trail down a tree. "Cupcake, look what I have." She looks at me, and her eyes widen. "A white bunny!!" She almost squeals. "Yes, they're common around here. Just like the forest in-"
"In the white rabbit! That movie was bone chilling!"
"Right? The opening alone will have you hooked on it." I look at the time. "Alright, we need to get back so I can make breakfast." She holds on to the rabbit, then almost sets it down to go back, but I can tell she wants it. "Wanna go back with her?" She looks up at me. "Can I really?"
"Of course. We'll buy feed for her later when we go to the city." "Thank you so much." She doesn't smile, but her reaction is better than one. She holds it tight, like she's holding unto life. "First pet?" I ask. "Mhm."
"What do you want to name her?"
"Hmm, let's call her snowflake."
"Like the main character?" I smile. "Yeah." We talk all the way home, and I don't even realise we've made it back. I couldn't go on my run, but this was much better.
Luke
The door opens and Jace walks in with Tori. "Where the heck were you two?" I ask. "Calm down. You sound like an old, nagging mother." He drags. "We just went to see a bit of the forest."
"Джейс, я обязан заботиться о ней." "Jace, it's my responsibility to take care of her."
"Я не подвергаю ее опасности." "She wasn't in any danger.
"Да, но ты должен сообщить мне, куда она направляется." "Yes, but you have to let me know where she's going."
"Ладно, ладно. Я так и сделаю." "Alright, alright. I'll do that."
"You two will make me learn Russian one of these days." Tori cuts in. "I can teach you if you'd- why in the world would you bring that in?!" My eyes move down and stop on the white creature she's summoned. "It's just a bunny." She steps forward. "Don't bring it closer!"
"What's wrong? Are you-scared?" An evil grin spreads over her face. "I'm not scared, just uncomfortable."
"Why?"
"It's a funny story actually..." Jace starts.
Flashback
"Happy 7th birthday, Luke!" Jace holds Luke's shoulder. "I don't need one from you, Jace. And it's 10pm, my birthday is basically over." He shrugs.
"Come on, but I have a birthday present for you."
"Oh, really?" His eyes lit up.
"Yes, but I hid it under your bed, so Aunt Irina doesn't see."
"Okay, I'll go check it out." He beams and runs to his room. He crouches to look under his bed and sees nothing. "Um, Jace, there's nothing here." The door closes and the lights go off. "Jace?" Suddenly, a pair of red eyes stare back at him from under the bed, then four and six. He runs to the door and screams, "there's something under the bed, Jace! Get me out of here!!"
"That's payback for the prank you pulled last month."
"I'm sorry, I'll never do it again! Just please!!" The eyes come closer, and he screams louder. "Jace!!!" One of the 'creatures' lunges unto him and he almost faints. Till the light from the outside begins to gleam in. Sweet vindication. He runs out as fast as he can to meet Jace rolled over laughing. "Why did you trap me with monsters?" Tears glisten his eyes.
"Hey, I broke a rib when you made me fall off that treehouse. This is mercy." He wipes tears off his younger cousin's eyes. "Calm down, they're just rabbits." He turns on the lights and shows white, red-eyed bunnies hopping around. "I put something that attracts them on your shoulder earlier, and they can't kill you anyways." He snickers.
And Luke was traumatised ever since. Well, more or less.
Historiah
"And that's why I hate them." Luke folds his arms. "Quit being a baby." Jace pats Luke's shoulder, which makes him flinch by instinct.
"Muscle memory much?"
"Heaven knows what you'll put on me this time." It makes Jace laugh. The sound is rich and warm. It's just then that I realise that he has dimples. They're just a bit deeper than Luke's. "I'll go get breakfast ready." He leaves to the kitchen. Luke and I sit in the living room, the only sound being the clicking of the keys on his laptop's keyboard as he sits on the couch adjacent to me. The cold breeze tickles the nape of my neck exposed by my messy bun. "It's only 7 am, but it seems like we'll be in for a storm in a few hours." He lets out casually.
"Thank God." I whisper. "Why do you enjoy the rain so much?" He doesn't take his eyes off his screen.
"It gave me a hug when I needed it most." Judging by the look on his face, he probably didn't expect me to answer that. I don't know why, but I continue. "When I was in the fourth grade, I was bullied a lot. But you probably already know that." He stops typing, looks at me. "And one day, I fell asleep in my class, and they locked me in. More and more time passed, and it got darker and darker until it was night. I feared the dark already, so the only thing on my mind was to get out of there as fast as I could. I screamed, begged, pleaded. Nobody showed up. That was the day I learned how to pick a lock in pitch blackness." I pause. "I ran out and stood under a streetlight, trying to let it 'sink into me.' My dad was out of town, and my mom didn't bother coming to find me to take me home. Then, water came down. The rain poured and soaked me to the bone, but it didn't make me sad, no. It was cold, but the way it was around me was like a warm embrace. That's when I developed nyctophobia. And that day, rain was all I had." The wind whistles and the scent of petrichor starts to fill the air through the open window. Nothing but silence sits between us. I've always loved it, appreciated stillness. But he makes silence sweeter somehow. Makes it more liveable.
"The rain doesn't have to be all you have anymore, Tori."
"Is that right..." His eyes. They're full. Not with pity or mere sympathy, but something different. Something I've never seen before. They're almost speaking to me.