‘One…, Two…, Three…, Four…,’ Ash saw Blake’s lackeys pass by him and Noah, at the same moment, Ash tied the final knot on Noah’s shoes, and stood up.

Only that he didn’t.

‘I knew nothing would go wrong-’ Ash thought when he felt something tug at his shoes, and the next thing he knew, he was falling on the ground, his muscles tensing at the moment of impact.

“Big brother!” Noah exclaimed, his voice heavy with concern and worry.

‘What happen- Ughhhh, Stupid shoelaces!’ Ash internally screamed, immediately recognizing why he had fallen.

What happened was, everything was going smoothly. Until Blake's lackeys finally passed by him, and Ash was done pretending.

He finally stood up, but his own shoelaces weren’t tied, and he tripped over them.

So much for going smoothly.

Ash immediately stood up, tucking his shoelaces inside his shoes, tilting his head front so that they didn't see his face.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Your shoelaces are untied, kid.”

Many voices emerged from his surroundings asking him to be careful and look where he is going.

‘Man, I’m toast now.’

“Big brother, are you hurt?” Noah asked, suddenly looking a bit too worried.

“I’m -”

“Hey, isn’t that the runt who challenged Sir today?!” Someone shouted at the top of his lungs.

Screw that, it was Liam.

“Noah, come on!” Ash took a hold of Noah’s hand and started to hurriedly walk away, dragging Noah with him.

A part of Ash wanted to assure if that someone was Liam, he wanted to see if the universe was just playing with him, and he hadn’t heard this voice. If he was just hallucinating it.

It’s almost ironic, how your fate plays with you sometimes.

How your fate shows you things you never wanted to see, and forces you to accept them.

Maybe, it was all nothing but a coincidence.

Maybe, he was assuming things.

Ash was also fighting the fact that maybe he didn’t hear this voice. Yes, this voice was the reason Ash suddenly started to sprint towards the exit.

The exit that doesn’t even exist.

‘Maybe, I assumed I heard this voice, I need to see if it’s actually Liam. I did fall-’ Ash looked to the side to see the source of the voice.

One eye contact was all it took him to assure his mind.

‘It is Liam, and he actually saw me, and Hell, is he fast or what?’ Ash now was running at full speed, Noah running along with him, and Liam and Carter sprinting at their heels, while also shouting for Ash to stop.

“Hey stop, you runt!”

“Ooh, are you scared?!”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today was one heck of a day.

I was in the supermarket with Carter, to buy the things Sir asked us to.

He can be such a crybaby sometimes. Ever Since he got beaten by his junior, he is walking left and right.

He might not show it, but I know that junior cracked his shield of confidence, he carries it everywhere with him.

He is now acting bossy, and pouring his anger on us. Even asked us to buy his house groceries, who even does that?

But I know he does. He has to buy it himself, since his father is a politician and is rarely home.

His mother is an old hag, has been sick for over a decade, and isn’t getting better nor is dying.

Sir lives alone, his mother at the hospital, his father at his office or business tours to other countries.

But sometimes, Sir shows there is someone else in charge. Like he is just some puppet, and the main master of our bully-group is someone else, someone we don’t know.

Or at least I don’t.

I hate it when he orders us to do his stuff, but no matter.

I’ll fulfill his needs, so he’ll do mine.

I need power too, for my own purposes, and I’ll go to any lengths to do so.

I’ll even go barefoot if I have to.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Talking of foot, that guy in front of me has his shoelaces untied, but he is tying some other kid’s shoes.

Isn’t he trying to be nice, eh?

I don’t have to waste my time on that idiot-guy-behaving-kind and alert him to tie his shoes, let’s just finish this stupid grocery list and go back.

But when I passed by him, he fell because of them.

What a Loser.

Carter looked over to him and I did too, and I caught a glimpse of his face.

“Hey, Isn’t that the runt who challenged Sir today?!” I shouted at Carter, because of the noises of the vehicles around us.

Carter didn’t respond. He continued to look at him.

But then after a few moments, he looked back.

We made eye contact.

It was him, the junior who squared a blow on Sir’s face.

And at that moment, I knew I had to beat him up for what he did.

Sir was going to pay me extra attention than stupid Carter if I beat that idiot up, and so I chased after him.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘Crap, crap, crap- I've got to do something. Take Noah to safety, barge into the supermarket, and hide somewhere. Or maybe beat them up? Crap, this is bad. This is terrible, horrif-’

“Big brother, wh-why are we r-running?!” Noah loudly asked, while looking at Ash’s face.

“Noah, run. No time to- ah! explain!” Ash replied while jumping off a small pebble.

Liam and Carter were still running towards them, with Noah, asking stupid questions like why were they chasing after them, and why were they running? Were they racing?

‘Ah Noah, bless your soul, you’re so naive. How do I tell you that we are in big trouble?’ Ash thought when the gates of the supermarket came into his view.

Ash opened the doors of the supermarket, chill air of the air-conditioners brushed past him. Ashpushed himself and Noah into the nearest food cafe.

“Noah, sit here, and-” Ash was interrupted.

“Big brother, why are those two people chasing after us? Did we do something bad?” Noah asked, his voice slightly trembling.

“No, They are just some…classmates.” Ash did his best to assure Noah.

“Then why are we running from your friends?” Noah asked, tilting his head a bit.

‘Ahhh! Noah, just shut up and understand, you are … in trouble.’

“Listen, you just stay here, and I go to meet them, okay?” Ash replied instead.

“I wanna come too, there are so many people here, I don’t wanna stay here.” Noah replied, his eyes full of… fear.

“No. You stay here.” Ash stood up and started to walk away, while ignoring Noah’s angry protests.

Once he was out of that food cafe, he thought.

‘Now that Noah’s safe, I need to take care of Liam and -’

“Hey! Peek-a-boo! I found you!”

Carter exclaimed, while jumping from a nearby alley.

‘Okay. What the he-’ Ash started to run towards that very same alley Carter came from. He had a plan this time, and it was going to work.

He knew it would.

‘Hey, where are you going?!” Carter shouted while chasing after Ash.

The moment Carter entered the alley, he was welcomed by a huge bowl of sand. Ash had just thrown an entire bowl of sand on Carter, that he took from the construction area nearby.

“Hey, it’s in my eyes! What the hell did you do, stupid! You’re gonna pay!” Carter shouted, at the same time rubbing his eyes.

“Why are you after me? I know I hurt Blake’s gigantic ego, but come one, isn’t this a bit too much?” Ash asked, keeping watch on Carter, as he walked backwards step-by-step.

“You, You’re gonna-” Carter was interrupted when Ash took a hold of his collar.

“I said, Tell. Me.” Ash asked again, his voice had a dangerous edge to it.

Carter smirked.

“You know, Sir was pretty busted when you punched him. Not that I care. But, you know what, Sir is pouring his anger on us, and I’m pretty mad about it, So you’re gonna come with us, apologize to Sir, and he won’t be angry at us.”

“Yeah? And who’s gonna make me apologize?” Ash asked, mockingly.

“Liam.” Carter replied coolly.

“What?”

“Don’t you like your little brother? Eh?” Carter’s smirk grew wider.

“What do you mean?”

‘There’s no way on earth Noah is in danger. He is safe at a caf-’ Ash tried to assure himself, but his heart was beating erratically in his chest.

“You’re really stuuuupid. Don’t you wonder where Liam is?” Carter asked, clearly impressed by how stupid Ash was.

‘No. He was safe- He was okay-’ Ash’s mind was running wild.

“Well, let me tell you, Liam is in that food cafe your brother was in. What was his name, …Noah, I presume?” Carter smirked again.

‘No, there’s no way- there’s no way-’

Ash was furious.

He wanted to take Noah to safety, that’s why he played along. He wanted to keep Noah safe. He wanted to make sure Noah was safe and sound. He wanted to make sure Noah stays with him forever.

Noah was meant to be his first priority.

Ash was wondering, why did he think that they wouldn't go after Noah? He should wake up.

This is America. No one plays safe and by rules.

Everyone plays dirty. Everyone plays….with death.

American schools were really bad.

They had no law, or maybe they didn’t follow them.

No one was supposed to get hurt, Ash would always think. But now he knew.

This world has no cats vs dogs. If it was, then cats would die.

There are only dogs vs dogs. And Ash knew.

He had to play dirty too, to keep him safe. To keep Noah safe.

A sudden rage suddenly surged through Ash’s body. He was mad, and he was guilty.

He was gonna make them pay.

“If you even touch him, you will-” Ash’s voice was trembling with anger.

“Touch him, you say? I bet he is with Sir right now- Paying the price you were meant to pay-” Carter was suddenly stopped, no, he was forced to stop, when he felt a sharp stabbing pain in his head.

Ash had just hit him with a brick.

Carter was now on the ground, unconscious, and his temple was slightly bleeding.

And Ash was shocked. He couldn’t possibly hear what he had to say next.

He didn’t want to listen to it.

Ash’s hand was shaking, his breath was hitching every now and then, and his mind was…foggy.

His mind was foggy and it was running with countless “what-if’s”.

‘What if everything Carter said…was true? What if Noah is with Blake right now? What if Noah is…’ Ash thought, his breath stopping at the last what-if.

Ash was for once in his life…scared.

Not for himself.

For Noah.

He started to sprint towards the market door, and then for the food cafe, and then his mind stopped working.

He couldn’t feel people talking around him.

Chatting, laughing.

He couldn’t feel the cold air brush past him.

He couldn’t see. He couldn’t feel.

He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t take his eyes off of him.

Of Noah.

He was sitting right there, but not alone.

Liam was with him.