The Mind Games

17

I won't bore you with the shopping details. Thal would pick something out. Throw it at us. We'd go try it on. If we liked it, we were done. If we didn't, we'd keep going.

When we came back, I looked at Maddie.

"How was shopping?" She asks.

"Real riveting," I say as my voice drips with the sarcasm I layered it with.

Maddie nods, and presses her lips into a thin line and smiles," As I thought it would be."

I notice something about her that I hadn't before. Her brown eyes were old, aged far beyond the girl who has them. They are tired, slowly dying, dispute her actual age. The kind of eyes that have seen the world die a thousand times, and watched it grow each and every time. The kind of eyes that have seen true evil, and can see how it brews. The kind that has seen the worst. The kind that once sparkled with childish hope. The kind that knows all too much.

I rip my eyes away from her's before I am sucked down the rabbit hole with her. But I can't help but think- but know -the sadness they hide in them. It's dangerous to play that game too long.

"-pizza?" Naomi rattles off something to Grandma, but I only hear the important words. Pizza.

"Sure, sweetie, what kind shall we order?"

"Oh! Oh!" Naomi bounces on the balls of her feet, "WeshouldorderpepperonibutIdon'tknowifMaddiestilllikespepperonibutIknowEmberdoesbutIdon'tknowabouteveryoneelse but I do!!!"

Grandma chuckles. Wait- Can girls... Chuckle..? If they can, Grandma certainly did.

"A little slower. I can't hear as well in my old age," Grandma smiles, and Naomi says it super slow like a child. It's cute to watch Naomi act like a child for once. The kid's got a good heart.

Grandma sends Naomi to fetch the phone for her, as Grandma calls in the order or a large cheese and a large pepperoni.

I walk over to the living room and sink into the super comfy couch, and Cole rolls onto the floor and sluggishly pulls himself over to the cabinet that hold the a gamer's heaven.

"What's this?" Cole looks down at a box with lots of blues and a little orange.

"Throw it here," I put my hands up, and Cole tosses the box to me.

"Portal 2," I read aloud. Portal? Doesn't sound too hard. I flip the box over and look for how many players it allows.

I see 'co-op' and assume that's more than one player, because it doesn't say 'single-player'.

"Alright," I return the box back to Cole, "Let's give it a shot."

Cole pops open the box and removes the disc, sliding it into the mouth of the Xbox.

Cole brings me a controller, and flops down next to me. We fire up the game, and as soon as we begin I hear someone yelling.

"HIDE," Grandma hisses at Cole and I, and I hear scrambling from the other four crawling in cabinets, sliding under beds, and shutting closets.

A spark of panic flares in my chest, and my mouth gapes as Cole flings himself off the couch and inside the closest room.

Panicked, I throw myself into the kitchen, nearly slipping on the tile, and shut myself into an empty cabinet underneath the sink.

I'm the dark of the small space, I see the slightest movement to my right. The harder I look I find myself looking at a small young girl with gorgeous blonde hair. Naomi.

I heard pounding on the door. Not the weak, childish kind. The strong adult kind of pounding. The trained kind.

The kind that they would send to hunt us down.