The Devil's - Chapter 2

I slowly open my eyes as my body is shaken. In blurry and sleepy, I try to adjust my eyesight. It was Elena who shook me up.

"What time is it?" I think I raise my voice a bit because Elena's expression turn to shock and fears can be seen crawling filling her eyes as she says, "Slow your voice. You gonna wake them up."

I rub my eyes. "Get up, I think we should head to our room back." I give her a nod and slowly get up. "And it's 6 a.m."

I'm still giving out yawning, she walks up to the staircase as I follow her. "We gonna need to tiptoe to our room, okay?"

I look at her and smile. "Don't worry, I'm good at it." She facepalms as she hears my statement sound like I'm a little boozer. "Whatever you say, AJ."

She takes the lead upstairs as I followed from behind. We did tiptoe lass Sofea's and Christine's room. She stops as she reaches her room, I also stop and wait for her to open the door.

"You can go to your room now." She opened the door, I make my step to enter the room. "Eh! Not my room." I stop. "I thought you said 'let's head back to our room'."

She facepalms again. "I didn't mean 'our room' by that word, I mean each other room which both of us have a different room, idiot." She points to my room.

"Fine, fine. I'm going but can I get a warm hug just like we did last night?" I give her puppy eyes.

"N-no, go now." She turns her look away and covers half of her face with her right arm. I give her a soft chuckle. "See ya in the morning, cupcake."

I make my walk to my room. As I reached my room,

Tanisha got out of her room and says, "Did you sleep, AJ?" Her voice makes me look at her with a shocking expression.

"I did, I just got up to get some water. How about you?" She looks at me and nods. "I just woke up to the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs."

That me because the way I climbed up the stairs in a zigzag way might have caused the sound even though Elena told me to slow down my steps and remains calm in each step I take. "Oh, that must be me, sorry to wake you up."

I rub my head, playing sleepy and silly acting. "Aye, it's okay." I give her a silly bow of mine and an apologetic smile. "I'ma head back to bed since it's still early."

I look past her to see Elena's room shut, and a ping of relief hits me smoothly. Phew, almost got caught being a night owl. "Yeah, sure. Goodnight, AJ." I turn my door knob and reply, "Goodnight, Tanisha."

I slide myself inside with a huge ping of relief because she bought up the lie I just make spontaneous without a second thought. "Damn, that was close call."

I take my steps to my bed and lazily fall into the middle of the bed. Before I know it, time already passing fast as night turned to day.

I woke up to the feeling of a presence sitting at the edge of my bed. I open my eyes to see Tanisha by my bedside, really close to me, staring deeply into me. "Good morning."

She said but her eyes are twitching a bit, seem like she was thinking about something or having something that she seem to want to get done at the same time. I shake my head off to dismiss the question and reply to her.

"Good morning, what time is it now?" She looks at her watch that wrap tightly around her right wrist. "It's 7.34 a.m." My expression changed to shock as I hear her mention the time. "My god! I'm gonna be late!"

I quickly stands up and went to grab a towel as fast as I can. As I reach my door, I turn to look at Tanisha. "Thanks for waking me up." She gives me a nod but her emotion is completely blank even her stares.

I smile and take my step out of the room, leaving my door open as I walk to the bathroom. I was caught off guard as I was thinking about how is she in my room.

I can be awake by the sound of an opening door. But how am I didn't wake up? I start to feel a bit weird with Tanisha but I quickly dozed the question off the trail. Anisha was in the hallway.

"You good?" I assumed she had been staring at me awkwardly as I was walking while thinking at the same time. "Yeah, sure." I give her an apologetic smile and walk past her. "You better hurry, AJ. One more thing, I will assist ya so soon!" She said in an excited tone.

"Cool." One, Tanisha acts weird and creepy but Anisha on the other side, is a pretty funny lady with happy go lucky face. "See ya soon."

I go inside the bathroom, placing my towel by the sink as I stare at myself a bit in the mirror. "What's have gotten in me?" I shake my head and just take off my clothes.

I take a quick rinse, don't want to be late. After wiping my entire body, I tug the towel around my waist and goes out of the room to be seen by Christine, who's taking her steps to the staircase.

We stares at each other for a few seconds and I decided to say something to break the stares and silent situation. "I thought everyone was already when downstairs." 

I rub my head through my wet hair. She turns her look away and replies. "Not all yet." She rushes downstairs leaving me upstairs with her sudden moves, rushing down the stairs.

But I'm glad it's Christine, not Sofea herself. I take my steps forward to my room. As I entered my room, I noticed there was a pair of clothes on my bed.

I walk to my bed, leaving my door open with only a few gaps. As I reach my bed and examine the clothes.

Suddenly Anisha came up at my door. "I pick those for you!" Her voice shook me cause I didn't hear any sound of footsteps approaching my room. I turn to look at her, she was standing in my doorway smiling as I say "T-thanks Anisha."

I can say, I'm a bit stuttering. Her face changes as she walks toward me. My heartbeats get uneasy. She stands in front of me and suddenly placed her palm on my cheek.

My blood run cold and slowly kept my breathing pace. "Get ready, we don't want to miss the training." She smiles as she softly rubs my cheek. I give her a nod and she takes her hand off my cheek.

"I will be downstairs." I only manage to give her nods only. She went out of my room. I sit on my bed. "What the hell just happened? I didn't hear anything."

I slowly adjust my breathing to normal. I let out a few sighs. "Let's just get this done." I wear the clothes on and grab my phone from the side of the bed. I make my way toward the staircase. I hold my phone tight in my hand as I go down the steps to the first floor. I was greeted by Rachel.

"Hurry take the breakfast, your father already waiting for you in the backyard." I went to the table and grab a slice of bread only to be stopped by Elena.

"Don't just take that only, grab something else too." Her voice calms me a bit. I chuckle and reply to her. "Sure, darling. Maybe after the training."

I give her a smirk and a wink as I walk to her right behind her back. I slowly wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her closer to my chest from the back, giving her a warm hug.

Footsteps approached us in embracing each other in the kitchen. I quickly let go and walks past her. It's Rachel. Damn, why does mother need to come at the wrong moment?

I sigh and smile like an idiot as I walk to the backyard. As I reached the backyard, Mike seem to set up something on the table that was set under a pretty shady tree not so far from the back door.

Anisha was next to him, waving eagerly at me. I give her a weak wave. Mike turns around as he sees me coming in his direction. "Did you eat yet?" I take my steps slowly and reply. "Yes, father."

He gives several nods to me. "Let's begin then." I look over at the table to realize that we doing archery. Before I could ever ask for further information, father handed over an archer. "We learning archery?"

I got confused and I never use it before or even get to take a hold of it with my bare hand. I can tell my face said I'm stunned by this whole situation now. "It basic lesson for you. All you have to do is shoot directly at the target."

I look up to see the target quite far and was hanging on one of the branches. "And what if I miss it?"

I questioned again as I try putting the arrow that didn't even sit still, making me look dumb for trying hard. "Then you will need to improve more so you don't miss it again, AJ." I nod in agreement.

"Anisha will teach you how to shoot perfectly." I turn to look at my father with a shocked expression.

"What's wrong with you?" I think my father can see my eyes which shows I'm not okay and does not agree with his decision of letting Anisha accompany me. "Don't worry, I will be watching you."

Anisha let out a groan. "Man, I thought I could have some time with him all alone." Mike shakes his head. "Not on my watch, Anisha. He's my son."

I feel relieved knowing Mike ain't leaving me with Anisha all alone in the backyard. "Get started, AJ." I take a deep breath and slowly exhale all the air that I have sucked in through my throat as I straightened my arm forward pulling the string with all my strength.

It's just like video games but this shit is real. You can do it, Adrian. I focus on the target and point my aim at it. I let go of the string and the arrow flew fast, hitting the target straight up. I hit the target without missing on the first try.

Mike was surprised also Anisha, who's been watching my movement as I aim. "That was a score there! I thought you couldn't hit it perfectly." He came to me and give me a pat on my back.

"Well, you have beaten Anisha, she never gets the circle on the middle of the board. She missed it many times till now." Anisha didn't respond but instead, she went to the table and grab the bow and a couple of arrows.

"I'ma beats ya." She then extends her hand and starts shooting at the target. Truth be told, she did miss it by a few inches. "Ugh! Why it's so hard to hit it." She groans some more.

"How do you do it?" I look at her face, her face kinda redder with anger, reminds me of my mother. "I don't know, I never actually do archery. This is the first time." She looks confused by my statement.

"But how's your aiming that good?" Mike was also shocked knowing that I never played archery. "If your aiming is that good, there must be somewhere you have learned it."

He reply and I was wondering if they both will believe me if I say that I only played video games but not archery things. It's a gun game.

"Uhm—from games." They were both shocked and were taken by my answer. Still couldn't believe it. Rachel comes to give us water and was also shocked to see their response and the frozen look plastered on their face.

"What happens here, AJ?" Rachel asked as she set the tray down on the table. I turn to look at Rachel and answered her. "Uh. I was just telling you how I get my aim that good from a video game."

I rub my head as I let the information out of my mouth, thinking she won't believe it also. She does a little thinking and suddenly lets out a laugh.

"Honey, Anisha. You both can stop freezing there and get back on earth." They both snapped back. "I still couldn't believe it." Mike said while looking at Rachel and me.

"Well, nowadays kids play most arcade games like in action movies, honey. So it's not that weird to know that our son is highly trained." He nods also Anisha who kept her eyes on me.

"Anisha you can quit staring at AJ." She looks away as soon as Rachel admonishes her. "Well I'm proud of you, son." Mike hugs me and pats me on the back again. I'm glad at least, I didn't disappoint my new parents.

"Well, it's the beginning before I let you hold much better equipment, son." I do a little thought. "Don't worry, you would love to hold it once your training and lesson archives good results."

Rachel captions it, making me eager to know what's exactly I'm getting in the future ahead of mine. Mike takes his hand off my shoulder and says, "Now let's try aiming at a far distance, shall we?"

He makes his moves to the table, and Rachel follows him to the side. Anisha kept her look forward, looking at me only with glares and by the eyes corner.

She didn't speak nor give me a long stare. I guess, she got anxious to do so around Rachel. "Now AJ, take 15 steps backward." I do as I have been told. I take 15 steps backward, and now the target got a bit blurry from my eyesight.

"Whenever you are ready, just shoot." I give Mike a nod and adjust my breathing as I stretch my arm pull the string once again with all my strength and fix my aiming right on the target.

I let out a few breaths and focus my eyes on the target. I will make sure I pass it. I take the shoot but as soon as I let go of the string, I shut my eyes close afraid to see within I'm gonna miss or hit it. Mike's voice shock me, while Rachel clapped in applause.

"Well done. You did it again." I open my eyes to see where my arrow have landed and to my guess, I thought I will miss it by a few inches but crossed my mind, I hit the center once again. I hit it perfectly just as I did on the first try.

The target board still swinging by my hit. I was taken by surprise with my shot and aiming. I turn to look at Mike and Rachel, all of us didn't notice that Elena and the others are already at the back door, watching everything. Elena smiles at me. I flushed a bit just by seeing her smile.

Rachel turns her back to look at the girls and says, "Done already?" All four of them give her several nods to Rachel. "Good." Her voice changed to serious mode. Her tone even changes to a deep voice.

I wonder why she changed her expression suddenly. It's weird. "AJ, you train some more. Then come in to take the lunch, okay?" I nod and say, "Yes, mother."

She then stands up and walks away from the girls. "Anisha, come with me, dear." Anisha looks at Mike, making faces so she gets to stay with me a bit longer. But he says, "Go."

Mike also uses a serious tone too. Anisha stands up and walks lazily to Rachel. Her mouth seems to mumble some words way too quiet as she walks. "Don't give me that attitude, young lady."

Mike's words seem like a warning signal almost high tone. She shuts and walks faster entering the house leaving me with Mike in the backyard all alone.

"Now, let's try shooting at moving thing, I will throw this apple and you will shoot it." His tone changes without caution. I can say my face making a weird expression as I look at him.

"What wrong?" To be honest, I feel weird calling Mike, a father because my father passed away when I was about to start getting my feet in high school life. "Uhm—nothing."

He lets out a sigh and says, "If I'm pushing you so hard, just tell me, okay?" His looks tell me he is wary and worried. "Sure, father. It's just been a couple of years since I called or even utter the word 'father'. Sorry."

I look down at my feet. Mike walks up to me and hugged me tightly. "Don't worry, I understand you, Justin. I never will wish for any other son than you." I hug him back. We hugged for quite some time before we continue back our training.

I miss a couple of shots but manage to get six apples out of eight apples. It was fun and defying, it bring back memories I have with my father.

I couldn't lie that I miss him so much. Having Mike as a father, really makes me feel full of happiness and love. "That was awesome, can we do that again at another time?" I asked Mike.

He nods and replies. "Sure, anytime you want." I pumped my fist in the air. "Yes!" He laughs to see my reaction. Rachel came at the door, watching us doing father and son moment.

She smiles at Mike, who turns to look at the door and gives her a little wave. As I noticed Rachel at the door watching, I rub my head feeling bashful at my childish manner. She chuckles to see me being a silly shy boy and says, "Come one in, it's lunchtime."

I walk to the table to set the bow and arrow down. "Let's go fill our belly up, soon you will be going to get some groceries with the girls."

I nod a bit and the shock. "Wait just me and the girls only? How about you and mother?" He chuckles and says I return. "Well, we both want sometimes alone too." That makes me laugh. We both laugh as we walk toward the door and enter the house. "Sure, father. I will let you know when the girls bullied me."

As we reach the table, dishes are already being served. "Mother, why do you cook so many different dishes?" I was amazed by Rachel's skills.

"Well, you make me proud of you this morning. "In return, I will cook much delicious food for my dear son." I was totally out of words, my eyes start watering. I couldn't believe she cooks all of this, to make me feel like I'm home and her child.

She sees my reaction and tears that slowly fall from my eyes, dropping little by little and running down my cheek. She comes to me and gives me a hug and a small rub on the back.

"Don't cry, I'm here for you anytime, you need me.Shh." She loses the grip and cups my face. "For now on, you are always my boy, one and only." She smiles as she wipes my tears away. "Thank you, mother." Everyone watching me and Rachel.

"Now, now. Let's eat before the food gets cold." The girls are already at their sit. I went to my place and take a sit. There a lot of many different types of dishes from normal level to spicy.

Even salad and fruit slices too. As I sat down, Tanisha passes me a tissue to wipe the remaining tears on my face. "Thanks." She nods and changes her looks to Anisha, who's staring at her with dissatisfied looks planted on her face.

Christine looks up at the two of them and decided to quit staring by pinching Anisha's arm. "Ouch.What was that for?!" Anisha turns to look at Christine with anger, not knowing why Christine suddenly pinched her arm.

"Quit the staring and judging, we are eating now." She says as she turns to look at Mike. Mike has already been watching them both. "Do it or Mike will do something to both of you."

They both look at Mike, who has been watching them with a silent death stare. "Eat." Mike said to the girls in a deep voice. Rachel suddenly stands up and walks to the kitchen in rush mode.

"I forgot. I make an orange juice." I grab my spoon and fork, placing them by the side of my plate. I look up to see Sofea looking at me, she smiles and gives me a wink.

My shocked expression seems to catch Mike and Christine's attention. Christine slowly kicked Sofea's leg as Mike stared at Sofea. "Stop the flirting, Sofea."

Rachel reaches the table back. "What's happening here? AJ why didn't you eat yet?" I turn to look at Rachel, who was pouring the orange juice into Mike's glass.

"I was waiting for you, mother." I give her an apologetic innocent smile of mine. "It's okay, you need to eat. Soon you going to help me out."

I give a nod and start taking some food and placing them on my plate. As I take the step, everyone seems to be following me and start eating. I picked mostly salad. "You like a salad that much?" Sofea asked me since my plate was full of vegetables.

"I'm a veggie guy." I reply in a proud tone. I look up to see Mike and Rachel looking down at their plate, while Christine and Elena turn their look to the right side, holding their laughs.

"You are free to let it out." All of them burst into laughter. "Nice tone, son." Mike said as I look at Elena, wiping tears that came out from her eyes cause of holding a laugh.

The one who didn't laugh was Sofea. She seems can't take some jokes. Cause she says, "What so funny?" In a very serious tone. Lucky me, I rejected her earlier. After everyone calms a bit down and we all continue eating again.

As soon as I finished my meal, I stands up and push my chair back into its place, slowly walking past Tanisha and Christine. Rachel stops me as she says, "AJ, do you want dessert? I do a little thinking and answer.

"Sure, mom. What kind of dessert shall we make?" She turns to face me and sees me holding my plate in my hand with a fork and spoon sitting perfectly on the plate. "I told you to just leave the plate. And how about we make some lasagna, you can pick the flavor." I look at the plate I'm holding.

"I don't like leaving my leftovers there and having someone else to clean it for me. It's just not me, mom. The flavor, I think oreo will do just great." I smile and make my way to the kitchen.

Someone came in as soon as I places my plate inside the sink to wash it off. It was Christine. "Just leave the plate to me, I will wash it off."

I look at her and shake my head. "No. I will wash it. And sorry about this morning." She seems frozen, I think I just make her remember it again. Elena came into the kitchen to place her plate but Christine's situation stops her.

"Christine, you okay?" It took about 20 seconds before Christine answered Elena's question. "Yes, I'm okay. Excuse me." She makes her moves past me and quickly washes her plate. As soon as she did, she just left us.

Elena's face turned into a confused expression as she sees the reaction and weird manner that Christine gave to both of us. "Um. Well, where are we going soon?" I asked Elena.

She seems to snap back to reality. "Maybe Walmart, Rachel says she will hand you the list." She moves to the sink and washes the plate that I have placed in the sink.

"Eh, it's okay. I can wash it." She turns to me and smiles. Oh God, I'm already dying by just seeing her smile. "Don't worry, I will do it for you anytime."

I gulp some air in, trying to stay normal but I can tell that my face is changing color by now. She continued washing the plates as I still stared at her with no response at all.

After she placed the plate on the dryer and turn back to shoot me with a cute face. My eyes widen and I quickly turn my look away. I place my hand over my face to cover my red cheeks.

She gets closer to me, standing right in front of me with just a few inches. "Ady." She says slowly and looks down to the floor. I turn around to look at her. "Yes?" She looks up at me. "That's your nickname while you are around me."

She gives me a wink and goes out of the kitchen, leaving me flushed red. "Oh my God, what just happen?" I laugh and wipe my face.

"She sure something that testing someone patient especially me here, who starts becoming her victim."