A New Game of Chess

♟seventeen♟

After my frustrating encounter with Ezra, I decided to go out to the backyard to get some air. I've been overwhelmingly stressed these days, and the feeling of fresh air on my skin tended to release some weight on my shoulders.

I haven't really been to the backyard ever since Celissia gave me a tour, and right now was the perfect time to go there.

Once I was outside, I took the time to admire the backyard's beauty. The backyard was probably as big as an acre. The massive pool was surrounded by an organized garden. The garden had an arrangement of gorgeous flowers. Tall, neatly cut bushes lined the perimeter of the backyard.

Now here's the question. Was this a chance for me to escape? Yes. Did I have the energy to make an attempt? No. Even if I did make an attempt, I knew I would fail miserably. I mean why would they give me access to the backyard if I had the opportunity to escape? Where and who would I go to if I successfully escaped? I had no one and nowhere to go to, that's the disappointing part.

I sighed, snapping myself out of my thoughts and walked towards the pool. I rolled up my sweatpants and sat at the edge of the pool. The sun reflected onto the water, creating a faint blue glow. Small water ripples surrounded my feet as they moved freely in water. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, now appreciating how calm I felt.

"You okay?" a voice asked. I opened my eyes and my head snapped towards the direction of the voice. It was Roman.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine, just needed to clear my head a little." I gave him a weak smile and I  turned my focus back to the pool water. Not long after, I felt his presence next to me. As I did, he sat on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water.

"I'm gonna assume that your discussion with Ezra didn't go so well."

I sighed and said, "I mean, I don't know what else I was expecting." He chuckled and lowered his head.

"You know, he's not that bad once you get to know em'," he said.

"So y'all are close I can see."

"You could say that. I basically grew up with him." I looked at him curiously.

"Really? Are your families close?" I asked.

"Not necessarily, my parents died when I was a baby so the only other family I know of is the cousin I went to visit," he further explained.

"So...how did y'all meet?"

"It's a long story," he waved his hand.

"I got nothing better to do," I reassured. He smiled and finally gave in.

"When I was ten, I ran away from my abusive foster home. I didn't escape with anything except the clothes I already had on, which obviously wasn't the smartest idea." he chuckled and shook his head, "The first thing I needed to do was to get as far away as possible from that home and since I didn't have any money, I climbed onto a nearby truck.

The truck finally moved and once it came to a stop, I peeked out and noticed that we stopped at some sort of building. At the time I didn't know it was a warehouse, but I wanted to take the opportunity to find as many resources as possible. So what did I do? I snuck in. But I was quickly caught by two guards and they dragged me over to this man who looked intimidating as hell." We both shared a laugh and once it died down, he continued, "I don't remember the exact words the guards said to him, but it went something like 'we found this little boy sneaking around'. The man, who by the way was Ezra's dad, took the cigar out of his mouth, looked me up and down. His final words were to get rid of me. But I protested and somehow managed to convince him not to kill me.