" …and little red riding hood, was reunited with her grandmother again".
I am being snuggled while being read a story, being kissed on the cheek, being sang to a lullaby as one of my brothers cries and the other giggles. The woman's voice was not of the mother I have always known, but of another one, a graceful white woman. Her lullaby is cut-short when a man enters the room.
I cannot see him, he's blur in my eyes, but the knife he holds is far from blur. He walks in grinning evilly, pointing the knife at 'mother' and shouting like a maniac. The knife plunged upwards...….
"Don't be a murderer like him my son!" the woman screamed at me as the knife came down.
Lowering speedily towards her chest...
Alex woke up suddenly, panting.
"Blasted dream!"
He looked around, all his brothers were tucked in their beds, and he could hear Louis snoring in his room.
"I've had this dream five times!"
Alex slumped out of bed and headed to the kitchen. He poured himself some moringa and lemon tea and drank, enjoying the sourness of it as he stood in deep thought of the dream he had. He put the glass down quietly when he heard a sound from Louis's room.
"….. Mr. Ashish you woke me up...."
"Oh, just a call from Father. May have gotten Louis's number somehow." Alex thought
"Yes, they're fine, they're asleep. Why do you seem to care about them more than me. I'm your son after all, I shouldn't follow them everywhere...…Fine, sorry I was not at the auditorium with them"
"Huh, how's my dad, his dad? I don't understand, my dad and mom are both black. He's white."
A muffled voice is heard from the phone.
"Yes, and you haven't answered my questions about Aunt Emma and Uncle Nathan. What was they doing here on Saturday?"
"Emma? That's Mother's name and Father's a called Nathan. There's something fishy happening with Mother giving Louis a kiss and all. I don't understand what's going on, but I don't think Allen was lying"
Alex reached for his glass when it toppled over and fell, smashing and making a shrill noise.
"Gotta go, I heard something. Bye!". Louis dropped the call and crept slowly into the kitchen.
The place was empty and dark, but smelled highly of lemon and moringa. Louis noticed that the bin was filled with broken glass, and the mop had not been where he had left it.
He rushed to the triplets' room. They all slept on their beds, Allen sucking his thumb, Alec cuddled up with a large stuffed paintbrush and Alex lying on his bed with his eyes closed, motionless.
He returned to his room, sighing in relief.
Alex smirked and sat up when Louis left. He knew he wouldn't fall asleep again. So, he pondered over the night as the sun came up slowly.
Alec woke up stretching, feeling lazy to get off his bed. Then he remembered.
"It's Monday"
He jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom, emerging with a towel around his waist. "Alex! Get your butt up. It's our first day of actual school" Alec almost screamed in delight. "Wake up Allen, ok? It's your turn". Alec run out of the room carrying a bag filled with his phone, his new laptop which he retrieved from the wardrobe and his paint supplies. Alec rushed ahead checking his schedule on which class he was meant to go to. It took a couple of twist turns and merry-go-rounds, but finally! He was there; Mental Level 9. He rushed in the room, doubling over to pant as he watched the classroom. It was painted in a uniform shade of blue, black and white with different kinds of posters pasted elegantly on the wall; the map of Russia, some posters of famous people and events held in the school, a large picture of a man dressed in a black suit (probably the headmaster) with the bolded words "ВСЕ ДЕТИ ЗАСЛУЖИВАЮТ ГНИТЬ/ VSE DETI ZASLUZHIVAYUT GNIT'" under it, which was apparently Russian for "ALL CHILDREN DESERVE TO ROT" after Alec had it translated on his phone.
There was one last detail to the classroom. It was quiet, as there was no one present.
"So much for punctuality" Alec mumbled and slumped onto his chair. He took up his phone and began to fumble with it, trying to find anything entertaining to do with it, but then there's one thing about boredom, it makes you react to anything that might bring up adventure. That's exactly what happened to Alec Ashish when he heard the scream.
He rushed out of the classroom and cocked his ears, debating on whether he imagined the sound or not. His mind was made up when Truth came rushing towards him. "Help! It's Brick. He's totally fine!", she then burst into tears.
"Ok? I'll go check" Alec run up the stairs, checking on his schedule for Brick's room.
Aha!
Brick Bullhawks and Randy Bill shared a room. He run towards the room directed by his schedule map. He bumped into many teachers and screamed HELP! on his way there. He burst into the room with many teachers on his trail and he gasped.
There was a ten-year -old boy crying over a body on the floor. Alec presumed that he was Randy. Brick had a red mark all around his neck and he was motionless, lying in a pool of Randy's tears. Alec saw the rope tied into a loop above his bed and understood all that had happened.
"Alex" he whispered to the air.
"Everything going to be Ok" Alec said to Randy and shot him a weak smile. Randy felt entranced by my smile and got up, smiling and brushing the tears off his cheeks. "Oh, I'm already ok. Now let's go play!" said Randy and he skipped gleefully out of the room. Everyone stared at the boy in confusion as he ran out of the room clutching onto a football as he screamed the lyrics of a song about flowers and sunshine.
The door opened lowly with a click and Alex emerged. "What happened here" he grunted. A piercing feeling stabbed his heart when he saw Brick on the floor and the rope tied above his bed, and he did the unexpected. Alex blacked out.