The fall of our secrets

Chapter1

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.
From an Irish headstone"
― Richard Puz,

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Ethan:

I reached over and turned off my alarm before it even started ringing. I smiled in satisfaction at being awake without any prompt from my father. Maybe Jasper's brutal training had paid off after all.

After spending half an hour in the shower, I exited my bedroom and changed into my workout clothes.

My next direction was my little brother's room, who sleeps like a bear in hibernation. As expected, Hunter was sprawled across his bed with the sheets a pile around his feet.

I smiled as he groaned and turned the other side when I shook his shoulder.

"Come on Hunter we will be late for the session with Dad,"

The only response I got was another groan and unintelligible words. I sighed and went to his bathroom, filled a glass with cold water, and with a cringe, threw it on him.

Hunter shot up and looked around the room, frightened. He glared at me, and I was rewarded with a pillow smashing into my face.

"Sleepy beauty, wake-up. Dad will have our necks if we are late."

Hunter's eyes enlarged comically, and he ran to his bathroom. I decided to sit on his bed and wait for him to finish his morning ritual.

Fifteen minutes later, we rushed across the halls of the mansion, doing our best to avoid the vases and pricy decorations scattered around.

I sighed in relief when I looked at my watch. We made it just in time, at least, we wouldn't earn any penalty laps.

Hunter and I were goofing around the fountain when we heard footsteps approaching us. We turned around, standing at attention with our feet apart and hands behind our backs expecting father's presence, so you could imagine our surprise when Mother's figure appeared instead. She was wearing her gym clothes with her blonde hair in a high ponytail.

We relaxed and smiled at her. She was so beautiful and lively to the point that Her presence can make anyone happy and comfortable.

"You weren't expecting to see me, were you?" Mom asked with a genuine smile on her face. Her green eyes were shining under the morning sun rays.

"We were looking forward to Dad's scowling face," Hunter answered cheekily.

I cuffed him behind his head while Mom laughed at our antics.

"What are we going to do today?" Hunter asked, ignoring my scowl. He was too excited to stop bouncing on the balls of his feet. Mom chuckled and shook her head.

"We are going to play football today," she said casually, eliciting a shocked gasp from Hunter and me.

"We never played football before, even when you supervised our training." I voiced my confusion.

"Yes, I know. But I was successful to convince your father that we should have fun today instead of training," Caroline said with a smile.

"No way, Father would never agree to us missing training," I said in disbelieve.

"Well, let's say I made him feel guilty. I and your siblings will spend the day at Disney land, it would be fair for you to have fun too,"

"What? Come again. Are you going to Disneyland? Did he agree?" I asked in astonishment. Today proved to be full of surprises. If only I knew how far today would go in throwing surprises my way.