A family of five it was, and all five of them did not like each other, which made living together a literal hell for them.The father was a plumber. Recently, they lost their house because he was unable to pay the mortgage, and so they moved to this hotel. Since then, the wife was never polite with her husband. And the teenage daughters were too busy fighting for the mobile that they couldn’t care less about their parents’ quarrels.Their son, Bosner, was about nine years old. And he would look at others as if they were to be blamed for his hardships.Currently, Bosner was sitting next to an adult stranger in the cafeteria built on the southern side of the hotel. He gave gooseberries to this man and asked for his mobile for playing a game. The adult gave his mobile. Bosner played the online game, challenged his sisters and defeated them and got a good laugh out of it.“Can I take this mobile?” Bosner asked the adult man.“You want to take what?” The adult man was shocked. “You’re stil
Benjamin’s friend, Shadow, reached Teresa’s house on foot, but he was moving so fast he appeared as nothing but a faint black blur in the CCTV cameras.The dogs outside the estate didn’t even sense him and were busy eating their breakfast meals.Shadow entered the building. The first person he saw was Jennifer who was busy checking the new jewelry she bought.Arnold was sleeping in his room. Viola was quarreling with her brother.It didn’t take long for Shadow to find the hidden entrance into the underground base, and when he entered it, he was surprised by how big it was.“Damn, this base looks like it was built over two centuries ago…” he thought. As he explored the chambers, he noticed that there were many animal kinds there, as well as some humans being experimented on. Shadow had seen much more gruesome things, so what he saw now did not faze him.He noticed a particular cell, where people in white suits and masks were experimenting on a child who looked about five or six years o
Benjamin stopped at a small house to deliver the pizza. The young lady that was standing outside took the pizza but began to walk into her house without paying.“Excuse me, you didn’t pay yet, ma’am,” Benjamin reminded her.“I know,” she said, turning back. “But a few weeks ago, I was walking down the road, talking with a friend on my mobile. Some guy riding a scooter came in my way and then snatched the mobile from me and left quickly.”“So?” Benjamin looked confused. “What does that have to do with paying for the pizza?”“It has everything to do with it because you also came on a two-wheeler and reminded me of that terrible experience I had,” she blurted. “So, for compensation, I took the pizza for free. To be honest, this isn’t enough for compensation, but I’ll settle with it.”“Ma’am, everything you just said is being recorded with the camera in my helmet,” Benjamin said. “If I go to court with this, you’ll be forced to pay a few thousand dollars for wasting my time and effort.”“
“Mom, if I tell you that there’s a group that operates from the shadows that wants to control and subjugate humanity for all the wrong reasons… what would you say?” Russell asked his mother right after coming to the room and sitting on the chair.“Did you read some nasty news column or something?” she asked back.“No.” Russell kept staring at her.“Well, if there really is such a group, then the common people would know it sooner or later, don’t you think?” Elora opined.“What if they don’t know?”“Then… humanity is doomed, unless they can resist with their guns and their sheer number,” Elora said. “Nothing beats numbers, so it won’t be easy for the worldly powers to subjugate humanity in this day and age even if all the governments join hands and try to oppress them.”“Yeah, I think the same, but these people in the shadows do not operate in public,” Russell said as he remembered his talk with Benjamin that happened not long ago. “They have been hiding in the shadows and are ruling
Gage was adding new fish to the aquarium in Regan’s office. “When are you going to tell Russell, Boss? You are going back and forth on this decision these past few days. It hurts me to see you struggle so much for everything even at your age.” He said these words, knowing just how many pills Regan was taking everyday just to keep his old body going. “Though I don’t believe Russell is capable of succeeding you, he’s still your grandson. He’s got your blood in him, so I will give him my full support no matter what.”“You’ve got your father’s loyalty in you, Gage,” Regan sipped on some wine. “I appreciate that, even though I don’t say it to you directly. You know that, don’t you?”“I do,” Gage softly said.Regan looked at the fish in the aquarium which kept opening their mouths as widely as they could. “Look at those fish, trying to breathe oxygen, working so hard to keep their little lives going in that small aquarium. If those meager fish got so much tenacity, then how much determinati
“Didn’t you hear me? He stole money from my counter!” the owner yelled, raising her hand in anger, trying to slap Russell.However, Russell’s cold gaze suppressed her ego and made her pull her hand down. “I don’t care what he did. Even if he’s stolen some money, you shouldn’t be beating a kid like this,” Russell said. “Do you not have kids?”She frowned.“Thought so. No wonder you have no restraint at all,” Russell blurted. “Apologize to him. It’s not a big deal, or I’ll call the police and tell them about the whole laptop thing, if you know what I mean.”“Y-You…” She got so angry, but she couldn’t do anything. “I won’t apologize to him. If you want to call the police, then do so!” Saying that, she went away into a different room.“She’s so stubborn,” Russell shook his head and then looked at Bosner who had a couple of bruises on his face. “Don’t steal, little bro. If your time is bad, worse things can happen. People get shot for trying to steal a dollar from others, you understand?”
Gage began to look for Russell without Regan’s knowing. And it took him only two hours to find out the hotel where Russell was staying at with his mother. Surprisingly, this hotel was not far from the school both him and Russell studied at. Russell brought his mother to the school to show her around. He looked very happy because his mother never came to the school and only saw it through pictures. They met the principal, who was still the same guy. And he didn’t give them more than a minute. He didn’t even give them coffee or anything, but they weren’t offended by it because Russell knew what kind of a man the principal was, and he already warned her mother beforehand. Had Russell been a bright student back in school days, he would have received a different treatment from the principal now, but Russell was a forgettable student. The principal just didn’t want to waste his time on them. Because it was a working day, Russell couldn’t show her all the classes, but he was happy with wh
“To tell me something very important?” Russell smiled a little as he offered an apple to Gage. “Alright. I don’t have a clue as to what you want to talk about, but I’m all ears,” he sat down in another chair and bit on the apple.“I’ll be frank. We don’t hate each other, but we don’t quite like each other, either,” Gage said. “Why don’t we change that?”“Change what?”“Change into becoming buddies that will do anything for each other,” Gage added.Russell blinked twice. “What?” He didn't know what to say. “Did some dog bite you or something? You came here out of nowhere and started saying something stupid. You didn’t drink and then come here, did you?”“I didn’t drink because I don’t have a friend to drink with,” Gage pitifully said. “And I don’t like drinking alone, which is why I brought beer with me. You left those cans at the door, though.”Russell believed his words as Gage really did not have many friends in school. Even though he was good at sports, he was always to himself. “I