Jason quietly unlocks the apartment door. He saw his brother's beat up 2003 Chevy impala downstairs and Jason knows Kyle is here earlier than he should be. Jason was walking through the door before Ana was off from school and Kyle would be on his way to pick her up. The door to the apartment creaks open. It's old hinges needed to be oiled again, another thing on Kyle's long list of things to take care of.
"Well look who is here?"
Jason's back straightens and looks towards his brother's voice. Kyle is sitting in his computer chair facing the door. His arms are crossed showing off his large physique. Although Kyle hasn't been able to go to the gym like he used to, he still has the build of a professional athlete, a consequence of his college days. Jason hides into his black hoodie and back pack as much as he can but Kyle's eyes are on him.
"Heyyyy, Kyle what's up man? You are here early." Jason tries to play it cool. Nothing about him is screaming cool.
Kyle squints his eyes at him. His arms crossing even further into eachother. Jason's inner voice is screaming out and begging that Kyle isn't about to confront him for his week long skipping. Please please please he begs in his head.
"I got off early!" Kyle jumps up excited. Ana does her best to crutch out of her hiding place and shouts suprise. Jason almost jumps out of his clothes in shock but Kyle continues. "Plus i've seen how hard you've been working and wanted to get you something." Kyle bends down behind the seat and grabs a gift bag with a bunch of blue tissue paper falling out of it.
Kyle passes it to Jason and he grabs it unsure what to say. A white envelope sits in the top of the gift and for a moment a tinge of guilt wells into Jason's stomache. He hate's that he is lying to them, but how could he even explain the system.
"Thank you guys.. really." Jason doesn't open it almost afraid that they went over board when they struggle with the rent and bills already.
"Open it! Come on don't be scared." Ana shouts in encouragment.
"It's nothing much compared to the hard work I've seen from you lil' bro. Just open the damn thing already." Kyle nudges him scruffing Jason's hair.
Jason opens the gift to find a watch. One of the watches that their Dad used to wear. The one that Jason always loved. A few tears began welling in his eyes.
"I found it shortly after going through his stuff, I thought now was a good time to give it to you. With just how well you've been doing recently."
Jason wipes his tears and reads through the letter. Ana and Kyle wrote from their heart. Each word screaming how proud of him they both were. Jason almost wanted to laugh from how low the bar was, but he set it. Jason's tears roll down his cheek knowing how much he worried them.
"Thank you guys." Jason hugs them both, almost knocking Ana over in the process. "I love you both."
Jason wants to just stay there hugging them but he remembers quickly that he wants to invite Vivian over tomorrow.
"I know this is sudden but Kyle.. Could I have a friend over tomorrow? To play games? She's never played them before and well she's helped me with my studying. So I thought it would be fine." Jason fumbles his words together like he isn't graduating highchool in just a semester.
"Yeah no problem.." Kyle stops his sentence short, "Wait. She. A girl. Is this a date?" Kyle squints his eyes at Jason.
Ana and Kyle are shocked enough Jason is inviting someone over. Jason doesn't have any friends afterall, but a girl. That's another level.
"OOoo Jason's got a girlfriend." Ana chimes in teasing him.
"Woah. No No. She's a friend. I met her at the library after school. Very nice. Way out of my league and just a friend." Jason quickly knocks down the suggestion but not well enough to stop his older brother.
"Look. It's alright lil' bro, just take your time. No girl is out of your league with a little charm." Kyle flashes his winning smile and Ana audibly cringes.
"Yeah whatever you say Kyle. I'm going to go to my bedroom and study for the night. I love you guys."
They let him go with a little push back but it was hard for Jason to face them with the guilt that still hung in his stomache. He feels like all he does is lie to them now. Even if it's for a good cause it eats at him a little. He promises himself that he will make it up to them.
Jason sits at his desk and sets his father's watch down right beside his notebook and Programming book. The watch stares at him, taunting him, and reminding him what his final goal was. Jason remembers seeing their cold bodies and how thankful he was that Ana was still in the hospital.
'Those damn loans. If only Kyle knew about it. If we knew about it.' Jason's rage washes over his guilt that he hides so much from his siblings now. A rage that rushed in like pyroplastic flow. A destructive force that fuels his every move now. Jason steels himself as he pulls out the watch.
'I can't forget. I won't.' He latches the watch around his wrist. The cold metal sending goosebumps up his arm and down his spine. His thoughts run cold with hell fire from the ninth circle of hell and he gets to work.
Jason closes the python programming language book. Sticky notes hang from the edges and his notebook is filled to the brim with notes on syntax and possible situations to use certain code.
He looks down at his father's watch. Frozen in place at five o'clock.
A shiver runs down his spine again.
He pulls out his phone. It's 11pm.
'System allocated Total time to both skills.'
[Congrats Host. 2x Exp bonus]
[Idle System: Lvl 2] [Exp:4.3/25]->[Exp:6.3/25]
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[Slot 1: ] [General Programming: Lvl 0][Exp: 0/25]->[24/25]
[Slot 2: ] [Information Security: Lvl 0][Exp: 0/25]->[24/25]
[Skills: Speed Reading Lvl: 2 ; Improved Memorization Lvl: 2 ; Gaming Lvl: 1; IT expertise lvl 0; Python programming language lvl 0; General Programming Lvl: 0; Information Security Lvl:0]