Reclaim

Shudders

                             Morgan
                             Indiana
                               1/1/27
The ride was long, so long in fact, I nearly fell asleep at least a dozen times, and after a while. I wasn't even tired, I just needed something to pass the time, so I tried starting up a conversation, hoping the other two Instigates were awake.

"You two come around here often?"
"Morgan."
Matt said condescendingly, as if I was totally wrong for talking to strangers after getting in a stranger's truck on our way to a mystery location.

"I'm just buttering up our guests."
"Great idea, why don't we go around the truck saying our name with one interesting thing about ourselves."

"I like that idea. Name's and one interesting thing. I'll start. My name is Morgan, and my favorite color is Red."

Matt gave a long, exasperated sigh, knowing he had nothing better to do.
"My name's Matt, and I like... I don't know, building stuff... you know with my hands... and whatever... who's next?"

The truck was quiet for a moment before one of them sighed and continued on.
"My name is Lyle... and I... I dunno."
"You don't know? Come on, something interesting, something cool about yourself, literally anything."
"...my dad's in prison..."
...

Oh... that's definitely interesting, interesting enough to keep the cab quiet before Matt broke the silence.
"And the other guy?"

It took him a minute, but he eventually cleared out his throat and picked up where we left off.
"Names... so they really matter?"
"Just say it, man, none of us care."
"Then why are we even -"
"Just say it! Geez."
He cleared his throat again.
"Z, happy?"
"Is that your interesting fact as well?"
"What?"
"Your weird name."

I wasn't being salty... really, but if saying your name was so hard, pretend you're mute or don't speak english or something.

"Well... sorry it doesn't meet your standards."
"...look, I'm sorry... your interesting fact?"
"...my favorite food is enchiladas."

Alright, so I'm on a truck with an enchilada lover and the son of a convict. Nice line up.

I heard Matt chuckle, which caught me off guard in the moment.
"What's so funny?"
He just kept chuckling until his flashlight flickered on pointing up at his face like he was about to tell a scary story. He pulled on his best grandma voice and said,
"My name's Marthine, and your kids were on my damn porch ringin' the doorbell again."
Z laughed, the first form of genuine emotion I heard from him since we joined the Instigate brigade,

"What? Why is that making you laugh? Why did I laugh?"
"Cus... I'm a comedy genius."
He said with the light still pointed up at his face. In spite of his performance, I put on my best British accent and said,
"Please, Matt, you couldn't make a flea laugh from a donkey's ass. Also, leave my wife alone, you rapscallion."

Clearly, I was the comedy genius because even Lyle laughed.
"It's not even funny."
He said, trying to keep his voice monotone and mysterious despite his chuckles.

Life felt kinda peaceful right now, a lot more peaceful than usual, at least. It was enough peace to make me forget how screwed everything was.

Matt stood up shakily because of his sleeping legs and grabbed his backpack, throwing it at me, I caught it carefully as he grabbed mine. He reached into his backpack and brought out a deck of cards.

"Me and Morgan used to play this game when we were younger. It's a little confusing, though, so it'll take a minute to explain."

Egyptian Rat Screw, the game of many hurt hands. I really didn't feel like getting having red marks on my hands, so I would sit this one out as he played a couple of games with them.

The two shuffled towards him. He had the flashlight pointed towards the cards as he explained the rules. I zipped open his bag, and at the top was dad's box.
I had completely forgotten about it.

I grabbed my flashlight and pointed it at the box as I pulled it out and set it between my legs. Carefully, I plucked the top of the shoebox off reading "-From Dad, to Morgan and Matt--- I love you guys."

It made me feel all sentimental and gooey as I saw the insides. At the top was a video camera and a couple of video tapes with scotch tape on the side with dates and titles. I tried turning on the camera, but the batteries were dead, and my backpack was the one that had the batteries, so I just continued going through the box. There were Polaroid photos of us together as a family when we were younger.

2021, 2019, 2016, 2013, and 2010, when I was born, but there wasn't any more pictures after that, none of Matt, none of just mom and dad, nothing but a letter and-

"Morgan, wanna play a round? Z's sitting one out."

I put everything back in the box, then pushed it to the side before filling in for Z. It's been a while since I've played Ehyptian Rat Screw, but that's not what bothered me most. What was brewing in my head was much worse.