I couldn’t believe my eyes. My brother Roger with an unusual knife. There was a weird noise coming from his bedroom! When I left my bedroom I saw him through the half-open door of his own, making some strange movements with that weapon. There came a strong icy air from his bedroom, like the air conditioner was on 32° F, which caused the door to slam. I felt like coming in and know what was happening, but I didn’t dare.

In the beginning, when I came to live with Roger and dad, I was still a little scared and happy to know I had a family. After I discovered that, I was always asked the question of how I ended up at the orphanage and asked our father, but he didn’t know how to answer either. He’d never imagined that he’d had twin sons. The answers were few and the only thing he told me was that mom had died in childbirth.

I went back to my bedroom and stayed for a while wondering. I heard my brother leave his bedroom. But what should I’ve done? Going there to know what he was planning? He wouldn’t talk to me anymore, and he wouldn’t talk at all after the fight we had yesterday. That had been the worst of all the fights we ever had. I never thought I’d get to this point with my brother, but the anger was greater with what he did and always does with Desirée.

After much thought, I decided I wouldn’t let Roger get into trouble. Although I have nothing in common with him, I’d only like to be accepted as I am. I should leave the fights aside and talk to him.

I left my bedroom and looked for him in the house, but he wasn’t there. I saw his note in the refrigerator that read:

I went to New York to Grandpa Charles’s house. I’ll be back for the weekend.

Roger.

"What would he do at Grandpa’s? What was he planning?"

He almost didn’t communicate with us, let alone invite us to visit him. He liked being alone and hated being annoyed.

I rushed to try to reach him, opened the door and:

"Desirée?"

"Hey, Romeo. Is Roger there?"

"No, he left. He went to our grandfather’s house in New York."

Desirée began to cry. Not knowing what to do, I went in with her and offered her a glass of water.

"I was harsh on him. That’s why he left."

"Stop it, Desirée!"

"He left and just texted me. He didn’t even say goodbye to me in person."

"Do you mind if I see the message?"

"Of course not! Here you are."

I took the 6" DS-Tab Phone from her. For a second I was distracted by the super slim 8K screen. DS-Tab (Direct Screen-Tablet) was a screen that received video signal among others from their Central Smart Box (CSB) through Wi-DIV (Wireless-Direct Instant Video) in up to 300m or online via Wi-Fi or 6G. CSB is a small box that held all processing hardware, storage, some sensors and connections. It was an ingenious and somewhat contradictory idea that changed the telephone market and mobile computing businesses. You had in your CSB all the hardware and software that was kept safer in one single place, and would carry only DS-Tabs that existed in several types and sizes ranging from 3’’ to 410’’. If you broke it, you just had to buy another, so that nothing of your data and systems would be lost. Many had more than one DS-Tab for various types of occasions. Some specific for reading, others for games or video editing. It was possible to connect several DS-Tabs simultaneously to a single CSB. Life was much more practical with this and you didn’t need to switch devices constantly as in the days of smartphones. This all fascinated me.

I returned to the situation and began to read the message:

My angel, something weird is happening to me. I need to find answers. I’m going to NY. Don’t know if I’ll be back. Love you and happy birthday.

[3:15 PM]

"That crazy boy!" I thought.

I went to the fridge quietly to get more water and took out the message Roger put on the door so it didn’t make things any worse.

"Don’t cry anymore, Desirée. He’s doing all this to be able to give you the best."

"You think so?"

"Believe in him. And one more thing. Happy Birthday! Let’s not let this day go unnoticed. Let’s get something to eat."

"I don’t think so, Romeo. I’m not on my best days."

"Cheer up! Let’s go!"

"I don’t know."

I tried hard to convince her. I couldn’t let her birthday be a bad day. I got dressed and went over to her house so she could get dressed too. It looked like I’d been waiting for hours at her doorstep, but every second was worth it. She was gorgeous. Her dressing up only enhanced her beauty.

I reached for her and we left, but still very worried about Roger, ‘cause it was already dusk.

I called an app driver, which by the way arrived quite fast. The (fast shuttle) took us to a restaurant, not very fancy but with great food.

We sat at a table on the second floor that gave us a street view. The order was made at an interactive ordering table that showed the menu and in some cases it was possible to see the cooking process of the meal live. There was even a streaming video account that could be accessed for free if you wanted to follow your favorite series while tasting the restaurant’s delicious food.

I discreetly grabbed my 5.2" DS-Tab Phone and hacked into the restaurant network and with a little maneuver I got the contact from the manager who was at the counter touching his DS-Tab Work. I sent him a message:

Sorry for the inconvenience, but would it be possible at the end of our meal to bring us a cake? Table 16? It’s the birthday of the lady who accompanies me and I wanted to surprise her. Thank you.

[6:42 PM]

The manager looked at me startled. I figured he’d call the police ‘cause of my attitude of hacking into the restaurant’s private network and with that, I immediately sent another message notifying him of the security flaws in their system. The manager looked at me again with a suspicious face, but confirmed by message that he’d comply with my request.

In a short time what we ordered arrived and we started to eat. I observed that as Desirée ate, the sadness on her face began to fade. I wanted to be able to say everything I had seen about Roger, but even I didn’t understand what was happening.

"Romeo?"

"Say it, Desirée."

"I never understood why you and your brother don’t talk to each other. He thinks you’re a very mysterious boy, even being his twin brother."

I didn’t know what to say to her. I didn’t know the real reason we didn’t talk either. We always had our conflicts. I felt he was a showoff full of friends. Maybe it was just plain jealousy since I hadn’t had everything he owned before.

"In fact, Desirée, I don’t know either. It must be ‘cause I’m too shy and not used to have a twin brother."

"But with me you’re not shy. You’re kind and considerate. And you always show up when I need it most."

I was speechless with what she said about me. I smiled and kept eating.

Some seconds went by in the silence and soon Desirée...

"Tell me about yourself. We’ve known each other for a while, and I know almost nothing about you. What were you doing before you moved in to live with your brother? As far as I know, you came from an orphanage."

Again I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t have many good memories until I’d left the orphanage.

"I don’t have much to say about myself. I can only say that it was difficult and lonely times in the orphanage."

"Hmm. All right. The food is great!" said Desirée, trying to change the subject.

I felt she didn’t want to go deeper into my past, which on one hand was quite comforting to me, as I was embarrassed to talk about the loneliness I had in that place.

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At the end of the meal, which was marvelous, I realized that Desirée was always looking at her Tab P like waiting for someone to reply. From far away I saw the waiter waving at me. He wanted to know if he could bring the cake. I looked at him and nodded. Desirée looked at me and asked:

"What happened, Romeo?"

"Uh... nothing, Desirée."

I laughed. She looked back, and before she saw him, the waiter hid himself. Soon after, he came slowly bringing a cake filled with candles and began to sing...

"Happy birthday to you!..."

She was embarrassed, and at the same time the look of happiness bloomed in her beautiful face. She looked at me:

"You’re crazy, but thank you!"

The waiter put the cake on the table and Desirée blew out the candles. She thanked us and we ate the delicious chocolate cake.

"I don’t know what to say, Romeo!"

"It’s a special day for you, enjoy it!"

"Thank you, you’re really great!"

We stayed a few more minutes. I thanked the waiter with a good tip, transferring it straight to his account. By hacking into the system I had gotten all the employee data.

At the front desk I greeted the manager and offered free service to improve the order table and an interactivity system.

After leaving the restaurant we went for a walk and took the time to talk for a while. After a few minutes I called a fast shuttle that would take us home.

Arriving at the door of Desirée’s house, I dismissed the driver ‘cause I didn’t live that far from her.

As we said goodbye, Desirée approached me, giving me a hug and thanking me for what I’d done that night, finally gave me a kiss on the cheek.

Without realizing it, our faces were getting closer and closer and at a glance that made us come back to reality, Desirée began to cry.

"I’m sorry, Romeo! Thank you once more. Good night!"

"Good night!"

I realized she was remembering Roger. I wanted to tell her about everything I thought, but I couldn’t blame her for liking my brother.

We walked away, she turned around and entered. I came home thinking about Desirée’s suffering and what Roger might be doing.

I got home and went straight to my bedroom.

"Roger! I have to find out what he was doing at Grandpa’s."

I grabbed my Tab P to make a voice call and talk to grandpa, but it was too late and he didn’t like being annoyed. I even thought about texting, but grandpa didn’t like these things. In fact, he hated the modern world and its technologies.

I reached the contacts, selected my brother and typed some angry-face emoji and then a short text asking if everything was all right and if he had arrived well at grandpa’s house. I looked at the message reviewing what I’d just written, but gave up and deleted it. I accidentally sent him some angry faces.

"What the hell did I do?" I thought, annoyed as I was.

I was going to erase it, but I left it. I waited for a reply staring at the screen and was startled by the tone of a new message. I thought it was Desirée, but when I looked closer I saw it was a message from:

"Grandpa Charles!"

I opened the message that said:

Hello! Roger has arrived here. Good night.

[9:47 PM]

How could it be? Grandpa was texting. What was happening? Everything was very suspicious. I wanted to go out right away and go there to find out what was really going on. I was still uncomfortable with the idea that Roger was carrying a kind of weird knife and now that of grandpa, but I was very tired. I threw the Tab P on the bed and went to the bathroom.

After a having shower and lying down, I kept thinking about the things that were happening. My eyes were getting heavier and heavier...

Kids were playing and I wanted to play too. I approached them and they suddenly walked away. It was night and I was lying in bed in fear. I looked around and saw more beds, only they were empty. I looked at the ceiling and saw the stars. I saw a shooting star and made a wish:

"Don’t leave me alone!"

I wandered aimlessly trying to find something. I saw a light at the end. I ran to it, but I never reached the end. I looked at the light and saw someone calling me and telling me not to stop. I hurried, but fell. The voice said:

"Get up, Romeo! Where is your brother?"

"Hmm? Clara?"

"Yeah, it’s me. Where is your brother? It’s 6:00 AM and your brother is not in bed."

"Roger went to Grandpa Charles’s in New York and he’ll only come back over the weekend."

"That irresponsible boy! He could’ve left an old-fashioned message on the fridge door like I always do, but you with these technologies don’t want to write on paper anymore."

"Sorry, Clara! But he left a message, I got it."

"OK. And as I woke you up, I’ll make breakfast."

"All right, Clara. I’m going downstairs shortly."

Still sleepy, but with a long day ahead, I decided to get up soon and went straight for a shower to wake up. I went downstairs for breakfast.

"Good morning, Clara!"

"Good morning! I’m preparing eggs with bacon."

"Great! I’ll help you by making an orange juice."

I grabbed some oranges from the fruit bowl and prepared a jar of juice. We had breakfast and soon after I went upstairs to the bedroom. Clara started doing her house chores.

Still thoughtful about what Roger was doing, I walked into his bedroom to see if I could find anything that could explain his plans and that strange weapon.

I went in and looked in detail at everything. Under the sheets I saw the mattress sliced by the knife. Then, I turned it over to hide the cut in case Clara came in to clean the room. I looked everywhere and almost under the bed found a slightly wrinkled piece of paper that said:

A gift left for those who have inherited the power

I tried to imagine what that meant. I imagined there might be a connection between this piece of paper and that object which turned into a weapon that Roger had. I felt it’d be a problem.

"I need to go after him and help him."

I packed my bag, but I had nothing to say to Clara.

I thought of something and went downstairs.

"Clara, I’m going to a friend’s house and I’ll come back on the weekend."

"What are you going to do at your friend’s house?" asked Clara, suspiciously.

"As I’m already on vacation, I’ll work at a school project that we’re doing for the final year."

"Okay, but come back on Friday. Your father will be coming home. And, Romeo, will you have lunch? It’s almost done."

"No, thank you. Contact me in case you need. Bye, Clara!"

"Dad is coming back. Very cool, but bad if I don’t find Roger by then" I thought.

Leaving the house I met Mr. Wood at the gate. He stopped me and asked:

"So, have you made up with your brother?"

Unable to tell the truth I said:

"Yeah."

"Great! Brothers must be united. Only then they’ll have a greater force."

Without understanding much I answered:

"Of course! And, Mr. Wood, if you allow me, I must leave."

"Yeah, but just do me a favor? Can you call your brother? I want to talk to him."

Surprised by the situation, ‘cause Mr. Wood never stopped to talk to us, I answered:

"He’s not in. He went to our grandfather’s house in New York and he’ll only come back over the weekend."

"Hmm. I understand. Thank you, Romeo."

"Any time, Mr. Wood."

Intrigued, I turned around and headed in search of Roger, and in the third step I hear:

"You shouldn’t go after your brother!"

Startled, I stopped and thought:

"Impossible! How does he know?"

I looked back and saw Mr. Wood with a smile.

"Come to my house and you don’t need to be afraid! I have things to talk to you."

Without much of a choice, very curious and scared, I went to his house.

Entering and setting up my Tab P, I was getting the panic button ready to call the police, activating my location. Although I’d known Mr. Wood for a long time, I couldn’t help but warning myself. He could be some psychopath who’d been watching us for a long time. Inside his house I kept looking everywhere. It was a cozy and very spacious residence.

"Wait here on the couch and I’ll bring you something to eat and drink."

I waited for Mr. Wood to come back and kept looking everywhere. I saw an old picture frame on the table with a picture of him and some friends in uniform. He must’ve been a Marine. Although he looked about the same age as my father, his body looked like an MMA fighter. I was scared, but when I looked into his face it seemed harmless.

Mr. Wood came back from the kitchen with a jar of grape juice and some appetizers. At first I thought it was wine, but when I put the glass in my mouth with the drink, I saw that it really was juice. I would’ve hesitated to accept, but I don’t know what went through my mind that I eventually accepted.

"I bet you have a lot of questions running in your head?" said Mr. Wood.

Thinking carefully about what I was going to say, I said:

"Yeah, really. What do you know about Roger?"

"Do you mean... About Roger and you?" said Mr. Wood.

"How come? What do you know about us and especially about me? I haven’t always lived here."

"I know many things you don’t need to know."

"Answer me!"

"Calm down! I will clear up some things for you."

"I want answers."

"When you are nervous you look like your mother."

"Hmm? What do you mean? Did you know my mother?"

This conversation was making me feel even more frightened than I already was, but then I asked:

"How’d you meet my mother? Tell me about her. My father never talked to me in detail about her."

"He really wouldn’t talk" said Mr. Wood with a smile.

"Tell me about her!"

"I don’t have much to talk about your mother. I can only tell you that she died giving birth to you."

"But that I already know."

"Romeo! Pay attention to what I have to tell you. What is happening to your brother really is an incredible and dangerous thing, but he has to find the answers himself. Trust him. He will return home safely."

"But Mr. Wood..."

"Just trust him. Everything is gonna be all right. Now go home and get on with your tasks."

Still scared and surprised by Mr. Wood’s revelations, I decided to trust what he said, ‘cause despite everything, I felt at heart more comfortable knowing that someone else knew what Roger was going through and worrying about it.

"Bullshit! What am I saying to myself? How can I trust a man who’d never spoken to me before? What secrets does he hide? How does he know what Roger’s doing? I need answers! I’m going after my brother!"

Mr. Wood got up and walked me to the door, but before I left, I asked:

"What do you know about that weapon my bro..."

"Go, Romeo. Do not worry. Just trust."

"Ok, Mr. Wood. Thanks and see you!"

I left and headed back home when Mr. Wood:

"Romeo! Just one more thing. You can call me Rougan."

"Is this your first name? Rougan? Rougan Wood?"

"Yes, Romeo, and don’t forget: Just trust and good afternoon!"

In thought I said:

"Trust? Who? Him or my brother? Certainly not him."

I sat in the square near my house for hours thinking about a thousand things. Then, I took a decision.

Willing to go after Roger, I wended my way home. I passed my house, but suddenly I heard a message alert. I grabbed my Tab P and saw a message from my brother.

"What’s this? He never texted me," I thought, confused.

I opened it and to my surprise:

It’s all right. Soon we will contact you.

[5:31 PM]

I was more surprised.

"Roger? Was everything really all right?"

I wanted to call or reply the message, but what should I say?

Standing for almost two thoughtful minutes, I decided to trust my brother and see where things would go. It was late afternoon and I returned home.

"Wow!"

Time went by so fast. Another Wednesday left and I didn’t even notice. I went in and Clara was preparing something for her to eat.

"What happened, Romeo? Weren’t you going to stay at your friend’s?"

I didn’t like lying, but I said:

"My friend had to go to his grandmother’s with his parents."

"Hmm. What a pity! Then I’ll prepare something special for you."

"Thank you, Clara! I’m going upstairs, have a shower and come back here."

I went to my bedroom, got some clean clothes and went to the bathroom to have a shower. In the shower, still very thoughtful about everything Mr. Wood had told me, and what Roger might be doing, I took too long in the shower. I got dressed and went downstairs.

"What happened, Romeo? Why are you looking sad?"

"Nothing, I’m just tired. Sorry I’m late."

"That’s OK. Eat something and get some rest."

"Thank you, Clara!"

I finished my meal and went upstairs. I lay down still very thoughtful, and what bothered me most was the fact that Mr. Wood mentioned my mom.

Too many questions scrambled on my mind and nothing seemed to fit. I wondered how I was going to look through Mr. Wood’s life and find something to answer my questions, but for a moment almost all of my thinking was gone and the only thing my mind went through was Desirée.

"How is she?" I thought out loud.

With the thought of her my eyes began to close and…