Chapter 2: Chet-Meeting

-The Middle of August 13, 2021-

-Afternoon-

I worry for him but then again it wasn't something he can control. I've been Harper's friend for a while now and I'm glad to be his friend. He's quite the adventure, he doesn't have a favorite food nor movie. Enjoys playing video games and hell, he's one hell of a beast when it comes to RPG games in general. At first I wouldn't take him as the type but he proved me wrong. He always does. Though when it comes to academics.

"Screw Math!"

"Damn dude, calm down."

He doesn't have the brain power for it. I laughed as I watched him threw his pencil to the side of the bed and went face first into the pillow. He let out a strained sigh then turned to whine as his voice was muffled in the aftermath. Lifting his head a bit, he began to speak.

"I can't do this. This subject isn't even the worst I deal with."

"Well, maybe if you were a little more patient, your problems wouldn't even be this problem."

He scuffed then had a sour frown on his face.

" I would rather play Mysterious Raja."

Sighing while getting up, I set my eyes on the pencil he had thrown and placed it on his desk. His study booklets were lined up as college level classes. I can admit I was jealous of him at first but as time went on, I grew to feel bad for him. It was mainly because of the pain he's going through. I never truly see it but he would talk to me about it though, times where he had come over to my house covered in bruises. I can't help but to swallow my own spit trying to think of other ways to help. I plan on being a doctor, that way, I could help him much more with the physical pain.

"You alright Chet?"

"Huh- Yeah. Just thoughts. Figuring out what we could do during a break."

Harper nodded his head and turned towards the ceiling. I walked over to the bed and sat down beside him in silence. We both shared one thing in common. It was the cult and family problems in it. My dad is one of the nobles who followed Mr.Trevis thick and through. Even towards the way marriage and child-like bonds went. My father always told me at the age of 5 that if Harper was a girl he would've arranged a marriage. I never liked the idea of my father trying to force me into things, however, that was the least of my worries. I've grown to understand the cult in Harper's eyes a bit. I can only say a bit though because I'm not truly him. His eyes work differently than mine and that's what is keeping our friendship at the moment.

"Hey, Harper, I have a question."

He turned to his side and faced me as I sat down in the chair. "Yeah?"

I looked at the door, making sure it was quiet. No footsteps to be heard, no low breathing to catch my ears. I turned back to my dear friend and leaned in to whisper.

"Do you know what their plans are for your 19th birthday?"

His expression went all sorts of off. It was like it was nothing but a disrespecting thought. I can't even fathom how much he must hate it.

"It's bad isn't it."

"No, I'm certainly happy to get married to someone I don't even know. Of course it's bad."

"You don't know who it is?"

"Nope. Do you?"

"I wouldn't be asking if I did now would I?"

Both of us gave each other a look. Sarcasm was Harper's favorite way to answer a question, despite trying to not be rude, he ends up being a smartass in my book. I sighed and got up then picked up a stuffed animal he had on the floor.

"You still keep these?"

Harper got up and opened his closet. "Yeah, that's not just the only one. My mom kept giving me these. As much as I didn't want her to, I couldn't get rid of them."

He let out a small frown, pained and sadden as if his mind was clouded by something else. His mother wasn't always in the best position and I agree with him. It pained me to come by and hear screams and even pleading. It's worse when you realize it's all part of the cult's way of treating 'people who must bear children'.

Just want to escape. It's written all over his face, for his mind, all he plans to do is run away and be freed from this cursed life. I took a moment to get up and sit next to Harper.

"You know, how about we take a break and play Mysterious Raja?" I spoke while having a smirk curl up against my lips.

" I thought you never asked"

A couple of chuckles and we both got up to get our bookbags pulling out our laptops and boot up the program. Raja is an rpg game where we create our own characters that fit the game's choices. We roll dice to help choose how effective our actions are and even beat bosses or enemies depending on the quest we are given. Give it or take, it's fun and challenging when you have a host whose purpose is to make your team suffer. Harper's character was a warlock while I'm a tank. As we got online, it only took 4 hours to get lock into the game. We didn't even hear the knock on the door, breaking our focus and looking up to see the individual.

"Hey kiddo's, what's got y'all so distracted?"

"Oh, sorry dad. Didn't mean to ignore you. We were just taking a break from studying."

My father stood smiling while shaking his head. He's nothing more than a goofball in an adult body. Childish too. I still don't see how he got into the cult with his personality.

"Well before you leave, Mis.Trevis had prepared dinner for everyone since we all came to visit. Come down to eat alright." He spoke with an energetic energy, as if something good was going to happen. As he left, me and Harper shared one expression. The thought we shared was matched with the same energy.

'Their hiding something and it's bad.'

Harper got up first while putting his stuff away. I logged out of the game to put my computer away but something caught my eye within the group chat.

'Obsession is nothing more than curse.'

"What?" A simple whisper left my mouth causing Harper to turn towards me with confused eyes. "It's nothing. Let's hurry up and get down there." With that, we set off downstairs after putting everything away. Both of us held on to a rope of emotions, it was like walking on a plank off of a ship. We sat down at the table with each of our parents. Fathers we're talking while smiling while our mothers. They look dead inside.

As we locked hands to 'bless' our food, I noticed the grip in my mother's hands. My eyes took a glance towards her,puzzled by the emotions she had displayed. She lacked the fear and anger from the years she was around my dad but it wasn't just her. Glancing over at Harper's mom, she genuinely smiled. This is not right. Something's off. We all detached our hands from each other and began to eat. I looked at Harper who seemed to have already taken note of what was going on. Staying quiet while taking our first bite.

"So to get this out of my hair, we have something to tell you both." My father spoke with such enthusiasm that it was going to break him apart. Me and Harper tilt our heads as our emotions sync with theirs.

"To start off." Harper's dad took hold of his hands and smiled. "We have found the perfect person for you. And you won't believe who it is."

"R-really? Who might I ask?" Harper held in the urge. He looked frightened and yet hid it well with his smile.

Without warning, Mr.Travis smiled widely. I honestly don't like the look of it. Cursed yet triggering both relief and betrayal.

"First of all,Your wedding will not be on your 19th birthday but on your 25th." Once he spoke of that, me and Harper looked shocked and confused. Relieved of the extended time but confused on the change.

"Secondly, the person you're getting married to will not be from the cult. It's tradition that we seek someone out of the cult to be wed. However, we thought for a bit and figured why not let you pick who you will be engaged with."

The smile that grew on Harper's face was one of the most beautiful things I saw. Taking in the information I guess was surprising but.

Something's off.

Way off.