As soon as the policemen lead the boy out, Lucia ran into the store and towards Freddy.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" She immediately bombarded him with questions while at the same time checking around his body.
"I'm fine aunty" Freddy smiled gently as he saw the concern in her eyes.
"Wow Mom, you should have seen uncle Freddy he was totally awesome. He intercepted the robber right when he thought he'd escaped and...." Sophie immediately launched in explanation, describing the whole event and even spicing up some details.
"That was absolutely reckless, when you saw he was leaving, you should have let him go. If anything happened to you, I won't be able to forgive myself"
"It's fine now aunty, I promise I won't do it again okay?" Freddy interrupted and smiled lightly.
"It seems I've made aunt worry" Freddy smiled at this thought and his mind couldn't help but recall.
Lucia was their mother's best friend. After losing his parents early in life, Freddy and his little brother kelvin were all alone in the world.
However, Lucia did everything possible to take care of both of them till he started working.
Despite being a single mother, she never complained or faltered as she provided for them together with the then little Sophie.
"Don't worry aunty, I'll try my best to protect you and everyone from now on" Freddy swore inwardly as he recalled difficult times.
"I'll be going back home now, Kelvin's at home alone" he said as he grabbed the take-out and grocery bags he handed to her and started heading for the exit.
"Okay, I'll also be closing the store early in today. It's already a hectic day today" Lucia replied and walked Freddy to the door.
"You should reconsider your decision and play the game uncle Freddy, I heard people who knows how to fight will find the game more easy" Sophie's yell sounded from behind them.
"Do I look like I know how to fight?" Freddy thought as the corner of his mouth twitched.
"You don't want to play the new game?" Lucia question in surprise.
"I won't have the time and energy to play, plus it doesn't arouse me at all" Freddy replied, they were already at the door and he was about to leave.
"I would suggest you play the game, playing casually is okay as well. Even I already bought a VR headset for myself" Lucia said.
"I'll think about it, have a good night aunt and you too Sophie" Freddy replied, yelling the last part so Sophie could hear.
Lucia smiled and replied"Good night dear, say hi to kelvin for me"
"Night uncle Fred" came Sophie's voice from inside.
Lucia gently watched Freddy manly figure gradually disappear into the darkness of night before returning into the store and closing the door.
After walking to the end of the street and before turning the corner, Freddy glanced back at the store.
The lights in the store were already turned off, while the once on the upper floor were now on.
"Luckily for aunt Lucia, her house and store are together" Freddy smiled and walked away.
The reeks of garbage and decay assaulted Freddy's nostrils as he walked through the streets.
Five minutes later he arrived before a shabby looking apartment complex.
He walked up the pavement stairs and entered the building, stopping at the second door to the right. He reached for his keys in his pocket, opened the door and entered.
"Hey Kelv, I'm home" he announced as he closed the door behind him.
However, after taking off his shoes and jacket, there was still no response.
"Kelv? Where are you?" Freddy asked in surprise at the same walking into the house.
"I'm in the bedroom" a low, cracked voice finally resounded from a door at the side.
The apartment's simple layout unfolded from the entrance, where the living room stretched out to the right, connected to a parallel passageway by door.
In the passageway was a door at the right that led to the kitchen, after that was another door that led to the bedroom, and finally at the end of the passageway on the left were two doors that led to the bathroom and toilet respectively.
After walking into the passageway, Freddy quickly walked past the kitchen and pushed open the bedroom door.
Inside the bedroom, there were two moderate sized beds opposite each other, a wardrobe in the middle and a study desk with a laptop on top at the corner.
A young boy or around eighteen was sitting on a wheelchair near the bed to the left. He had a head of dreadlocks, but his weren't long, making it look like a normal haircut from afar.
His lowered head lifted along with the sound of the door opening and his ocean blue eyes landed on Freddy who stood at the doorway.
This young man was Freddy's younger brother, Kelvin Ocheme.
"Hey, what's wrong Kelv?" Freddy immediately walked to him and knelt beside him.
Being his elder brother, Freddy could immediately tell that Kelvin was in low spirits.
"Welcome back big bro, it's nothing much so don't bother yourself" Kelvin replied.
"I still want to hear it though, is it about your gaming guild?" Freddy asked and received a nod of confirmation.
"Its complicated, but long story short, the vice-guild leader gave the order to offend a powerful guild and made take the fall, I was killed back to level zero" Kelvin gave a quick, short explanation knowing his brother wasn't a fan of his guild.
"Well that was disappointing, though I can say I'm surprised. A guild formed by rich a*sholes you can expect less" Freddy replied.
"I was this close to hitting the top 1000 of the Silviot alliance ranking" Kelvin muttered, his bitterness reflected in his voice.
After the calamity, video games industries received a massive boost and became a stable carrier choice, with some professional gamers earning even more than movie stars.
This brought about the creation of a ranking for every alliance where the top 1000 gamers in that alliance are recognized and receives various benefits.
"Forget it, you'll strive for the ranking in the new game coming out tomorrow, I'll get you the VR headset tomorrow. For now let's eat and retire early, you've got medical checkup tomorrow remember?" as he spoke, Freddy got up and slowly pushed the wheelchair towards the living room.
"I won't play that Beacon online if you aren't play big bro" Kelvin suddenly said out of nowhere.
"Come on Kelv you know I'm no one for games, I'll try to get you the headset tomorrow. In the meantime, lets eat" they'd already arrived at the living room as they spoke.
As Freddy served the takeouts, Kelvin's determination was clear "I'm serious, I won't play if you won't"
"Why don't we talk about this after your checkup tomorrow, it's been a long day and a lot has happened okay?" Freddy said, deciding to bury the matter for the night.
And so both brothers ate their dinners peacefully while watching television. Freddy also told Kelvin about the robbery incident at Lucia's store, of course omitting some details.
The clinking sound of utensils and the aromatic smell of roasted chicken filled the air as they ate their dinner.
After dinner Freddy wheel Kelvin back to the bedroom and helped him onto the bed on the left before retiring to the one on the right.
As Freddy fell asleep, the sound of wind outside his window blended with the distant hum of a car engine transported him back to a memory from childhood.
"Let go Kelv, it belongs to me"
"No it's mine, you let go"
Two little kids sitting on the back seat of a moving car were dragging a little toy.
The car engine roared as a man with dreadlock hair tied into a ponytail stepped on the gas pedal.
"Fred, why don't you let your brother play with it for a while" a woman on the front passenger seat, who bore a striking resemblance to the kids said.
"But mum it's mine, he won't give it back if he plays with it" the little kid who looked older yelled in anger.
"Hey what did I tell you about yelling at your mom huh?"the man spoke.
He swerved to the side of the road and parked the car there before turning to face the children.
"I've told you to stop..."
"Watch out!!!"
Craaasssh
Freddy quickly opened and sprang up panting.