Along with new-found knowledge of their family knots, Louis and his so-called cousins walked with him back into their room without uttering a word. Alec held onto the new puppy who didn't stop licking any part of Alec's body he could find. The rest held onto the goods Uncle Henry brought. It was when the door closed shut before Allen and Louis burst into tears. Alec put the puppy down and run to them to console them.
"Don't cry Louis. That's immature for a man like you." said Alex weirdly examining
"Hello? Mental patient here. I can't help it sometimes" Louis sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Uncle Henry was right. My dad's not easy to cope with. The only time he was happy and fun was when mom was around."
"Your mom was white?" Alex asked.
Louis nodded his head.
"That explains why your white and not black like your dad"
"Yeah" whispered Louis.
"Where's your mom?" enquired Allen. He had stopped crying.
"She was murdered. Got cut into pieces, like your parents. My dad's been so serious investigating the murder. You know what? I think the same person killed all of them."
"I don't disagree" Alex yawned. "I need to get to bed. I'm exhausted over all this drama"
Alex skulked to his bed and fell asleep immediately.
"Domi. The dog's name is Domi" declared Louis as he slumped to his room to sleep.
Alec whistled towards Domi and the dog, wagging her tail, happily followed him to the balcony. The place was dark, with all the lights off in an around the juvenile and Alec looked around the area, which was now covered in total darkness. Birds chirped quietly and frogs croaked in the pond, followed by the sound of crickets far away from the gates of the juvenile. Domi heard the sounds too and yelped joyfully, prancing around the place. Alec took a deep breath and went inside for a pillow. He began work and after an hour, he had made a small doggy bed for Domi who chewed on it in delight and fell asleep soon after, drooling on its sheets. Alec laid down on his bed and was off too after a few minutes. Only the sound of snoring from Louis's part of the room and Allen's sleep talking was heard.
The headmasters' office was cold and uninviting. Alec sat on a hard, metal chair, which was cold to the touch, passing his hand through Domi's fur nervously as he held onto her. Allen sat next to him, fidgeting with his yo-yo and Alex sat beside Allen, staring at the flag of the school which was put on the center of the table with it facing down, no wind to blow it upwards. Alex could just make out the flag's symbol. It was a six-pointed star painted grey in a white background. The same as the one pasted on his shirt as a badge on the left side of his chest. The room was quiet and eerie as a well-built man (obviously Mr. Alford's bodyguard) stood at the end of the table, admiring his gun with his face serious, like Alex's.
Louis decided not to come. "No. I'm not going" he hissed in the morning as Alec woke him from his king-sized bed. He covered himself in his sheets and trembled at the thought of seeing his indifferent father. "Hope you come back alive. I can't lose my cousins right away" he said as Alec left the room feeling uneasy.
Now the five of them sat in the office (Alec had invited Kobby and Kweku Baah to play at witnessed in case anything went wrong). This time Kobby held a tarantula, which flexed its legs in pure joy each time Kobby looked at it. Kweku was busy reading a book, trying to release himself of the many phobias which he had found in this room.
His fear of guns, bodyguards, cold offices, weird headmasters, tarantulas, dogs and large open spaces were all brought to him in a single serving. He tried to read in peace, but his fear was getting a hold on him one by one. He put his book away and breathed in and out dramatically.
"Where's Headmaster Buttface" yelled Allen, impatiently.
"He's on his way, and don't you dare call my boss that way you worm!" hissed the bodyguard.
Allen glared at him in rage, and was about to scream in anger when the door opened slightly. A man, wearing a black suit with a tie and big grey gloves on his arm entered the room. He was handsome, large and well-built, and his bald head shone in the light.
"Welcome" he boomed. "Why do you disturb my peace boys"
"Uhm…uhm It's just that…. uhm" stammered Alec, awestruck by his uncle's presence.
"What do you want!" he bellowed. When no answer came, he turned to his bodyguard. "Grateful, who are these boys"
"Alec Kwashi Ashish, Alex Kwashi Ashish, Allen Kwashi Ashish, Kobby Baah, Kweku Baah" the bodyguard said in a voice very much like the male Siri's, the phone assistant.
"Yes, I know all of them. I meant why are they here?"
"Ah! The triplets claim to be your nephews, boss"
"Oh. Yes, I've known they're my nephews. Sorry for your loss kids. Your father was a good man, in fact he was too good. Probably what killed them"
"Shut up you psychopath! How dare you speak of my parents like that" screamed Allen.
"Hush boy. I was just speaking my mind." Mr. Alford cooed. "You may still remain in the school as I am now your legal guardian. Stay out of trouble, and maybe I won't ship you to Ghana to stay with poor old Henry, who would probably lose all his money to take care of you brats. Clear?"
"Yes sir" Alec reeled off.
"So… I'll be taking your mother's school, right? Hmm....how about I make it bigger"
"It's not yours. Our Uncle Ferdinand owns the school now, so keep your hands out of it, sir." said Alex.
"Ok. That's a downer. So…. uhm. Get out of my office now. Grateful show them out"
"Yes boss" Grateful grunted. "Boys. Please follow me". Kweku stood up immediately while the rest got up reluctantly. "And please get me my espresso Grateful" he continued.
The reply was "Yes boss"
"Because we're related. I'm giving you permission to keep that animal."
"Her name's Domi" Allen huffed. "So be a good Uncle and respect our pets"
Mr. Ashish ignored him. "I'll have you know that because you are fortunately related to me, your sentence has been exterminated, but you will remain in this school as normal students."
A pause.
"No one shall know I'm related to you. Clear"
"Whatever" Alex closed the door behind him. The five boys, and Domi all sighed at the same time as the door was shut.
"Well, at least we survived." said Alec.
"Yeah, I think the only reason he didn't choke you guys to death was because he had a little relative love left." Kweku commented.
"Love is weak and stupid" muttered Alex. "Only thing it does is makes you vulnerable to useless stuff."
"Close your mouth you evil, self-absorbed dweeb" shot Kweku. "Love is strength dude"
"You heard that from the Private hippie app on your phone, right?" Alex almost laughed.
"Yeah duh! Mr. Gimmicks encourages me in this life bruh. You're just a sad, lonely soul."
"I can neither feel sad nor feel lonely. Now stop bugging me. You have no idea how emptiness feels in your soul."
"I do" motioned Kobby. "I fell empty all the time."
"Well at least you can feel stuff." said Alex. "I don't know how it is to be happy. So don't get on my nerves." He paused and mumbled.
"If my nerves even work"