Fall: Remembrance That Begets; Slothfulness... PT. 2/5

[Some Time First Grade]

"You two have fun now!"

My twin and I waved our mom goodbye before walking into our elementary school.

"Wanna race to class Minor?" I asked my twin, and he grinned.

"Last one there's a rotten egg!"

We weaved our tiny bodies through the adults walking around, some of them yelling at us to stop running in the halls.

I managed to touch the door right before Minor did, and I grinned triumphantly. "Haha, I'm better than you!"

"Nuh-uh! You cheated!" He was pouting, angry at the fact he lost.

I frowned. "How did I cheat!?"

"That's enough out of you two boys now." We both looked up to see a teacher, a young woman, kneel to our levels to ruff up our hair. "Siblings shouldn't fight like that. Besides, it's time for you two to hurry on to class."

"It's his fault for being a sore loser!" I said, getting the last word.

"You provoking him doesn't help either," the teacher retorted, and I could feel my face growing red. "Now that you two are even, say goodbye to one another."

How do they manage to shut me up like that? I thought to myself as I waved my twin goodbye and walked into my classroom. "Adults really are smart."

After learning some math (or arithmetic. Big words are fun), it was time for lunch. I grabbed my plate of chicken nuggets and fries along with chocolate milk and sat next to my best friend Lachesis.

"Hey Major!" She said, giving me a wide grin. "Wanna play together at recess?"

I nodded eagerly, stuffing my face with food. "Mmhm! Shonds gode!"

She wrinkled her nose. "Gross!"

I laughed, gulping down chocolate milk. "You're no fun Lachy! Try it, it's fun!"

She frowned, looking down at her own plate. "But, I don't wanna ruin it…"

I stuck two fries into my teeth, pretending I was a monster. "Look, it's cool right!?"

Her eyes lit up. "Whoa, let me try!" She put her own two fries in her mouth, looking like a vampire.

"You two should eat and not play with your food," a warm yet stern voice said behind us, and we both turned around, baring our teeth at the teacher.

She smiled before messing up our hair. "My two little vampires, eat, or you'll be hungry later alright?"

"Yes ma'am!" we said, and we continued to eat, while goofing off at the same time.

After lunchtime was recess, where we built a sandcastle together before we went back inside to learn some more, and then we walked back home with our parents.

My twin and I walked with our mom in the middle, holding each of her respective hands.

"Did you two have fun?" She asked, swinging her arms.

"Yep, I did! I built a sandcastle at recess with Lachy; the biggest one we've made so far!" I exclaimed, my small arms struggling to keep up with her arms.

"I played tag with my friends, and I wasn't It at all for the entire game!" my twin said, also struggling.

"Well, what wonderful accomplishments! Oh, am I swinging my arms too far?"

"Yeah, shame on mommy for not noticing!" Minor said.

"Yeah, shame on her!" I agreed, and we both looked up towards her as she rolled her eyes.

"Sorry. My bad munchkins, I'll try to remember the height difference next time."

We both nodded at her words, and she just shook her head, chuckling. "How did I get such cheeky sons at such a young age?"

"Cheeky?" I asked, and she giggled as I said it.

"Yep, it's used to describe troublemakers such as you two," she said, poking us in the ribs.

"Hey, that tickles!" we said as we started to laugh.

After our walk home, Minor and I played together until dinner time, where the entire family ate together in the dining room. Daddy would say grace, and then Minor and I dug in, eating the delicious food our parents cooked for us until we were stuffed. Afterwards we took a shower together before watching some cartoons until Mommy told us to go to bed.

"Do we have to go to bed?" I asked, putting toothpaste on my toothbrush.

"Little boys who don't sleep don't grow. Do you wanna stay small forever?"

I shook my head. "No way! I'm gonna grow taller than Mommy!"

My twin nodded, agreeing with me. "Yeah, I have to be taller than Major!"

"No, I'm going to taller than you!"

"No, I am!"

My mother just shook her head, a relaxed smile on her face. "Oh, hush already. Hurry up and brush your teeth so you can go to bed."

We did as we were told, and after brushing our teeth and using the bathroom, we crawled into our beds, and our mom gave us each a kiss and a hug before walking to the door.

"Goodnight you two."

"Night mommy!" We said in unison, and she gave us a smile before leaving the door open just a crack, so we wouldn't be left in complete darkness.

I waited a minute before speaking. "What did you do today?"

I could hear my twin sit up in the dark as I did the same, and we began to talk to one another about our day. We had started this by happenchance, since we weren't in each other's classes, but it had now become a nightly occurrence.

We talked for about an hour before the door swung open, and our mom peered into the room, her pajamas on.

"I hope there aren't any young boys still up," she said, and that was our que for us to finally drift to sleep.

And that was an average day for me, a life filled with relative peace [Slothfulness] and quiet.

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One day while Lachesis was playing with some of her other friends during recess, I noticed a boy near the edge of the playground, holding a wooden one-edge sword, swinging at imaginary enemies.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" I asked, walking up to him, and he stopped to turn towards me, a medical eyepatch over his right eye. He used his other eye, which was red, to look at me as he stuck the sword into the ground.

"I'm practicing how to beat demons."

"Hey, that's cool! Um, what are demons?" I asked, tilting my head and tapping my foot.

"Oh, they're bad guys," He responded, and I nodded.

"Oh, does that make you a hero!?" I exclaimed, getting up into the strange boy's face, and he pushed me away, scowling.

"Don't get so close! Besides, I've never heard of these 'heroes' before. Are they strong?"

I nodded, pumping my arms as I started to explain. "Of course they're strong! They never lose against bad guys, no matter how tough things may get!"

He frowned, scratching his jet-black hair. "So they never lose? But what happens if they face against a really strong bad guy?"

"Duh, they bring in their teammates! Then they become even more unbeatable!" I proclaimed, raising my finger in the air. "Aren't they super cool!?"

"Uh, you keep saying this, but what is this 'cool' thing? I've never heard of it before."

"Huh!?" I leaned forward, grabbing both of his shoulders. "Whadda yah mean you don't know!? You do cool stuff all the time like fighting demons, yet you don't know what cool is!?" My brain couldn't understand this development as I collapsed to my knees. "I thought everyone knew…"

"I-is it that well known?" The boy shifted his feet, his face filled with worry. "They never taught me stuff like that…"

I got back to my feet, grinning to myself. "Well, it'll be alright! I'll just have to join you in beating demons!"

"No."

"Eh!? Why not!?"

I wasn't expecting that. The boy grabbed the sword from out the ground and rested it over his shoulder, shaking his head. "You have to be strong to beat demons."

"Oh yeah, how strong!?"

He took a few steps back before swinging his sword down onto the ground, causing the ground beneath my feet to vibrate along with a small dirt cloud rising up. I coughed and covered my eyes, waving away the dirt, and as it cleared, I could see a crack in the ground from where he swung the sword.

The boy stuck the sword back in the ground before wiping his hands together. "That strong."

"That's so cool!" I yelled out, grabbing the boy's shoulders again. "You're so strong, just like a hero!"

"That wasn't meant to, oh never mind." He scratched his cheek, his cheeks pinkening at my compliments. "But you see, unless you're that strong, you can't fight demons, okay?"

I nodded, my excitement at an all time high. "Okay then, where did your sword go?"

"Oh, it's right-!" He cut himself off as he noticed the sword had disappeared, and he looked around before noticing my expression. "Did you do that?"

"Hehe, see? I can do cool stuff too! So, you gotta let me join you uh, actually, what's your name?"

He ignored me, staring at the place where his sword should be. "That's amazing…"

I looked at the place where the sword vanished and patted him on the shoulder. "That's what cool is!"

"I, I see…" He trailed off, lost in thought before nodding to himself. "I don't much about 'cool' stuff, but would you mind teaching me?"

I gave him a grin and a thumbs up. "Of course, as long as you let me train with you!"

He let out a small smile, the first one he had done since we had started to speak. "Thank you. Oh, what's your name?"

I introduced myself before continuing. "Oh, but everybody calls me Major since I was born bigger than my twin brother!"

"I see. Well, I'm Erebus, pleased to meet you!" His red eye gave off a wicked look as he looked at me. "I can't wait for you to teach me about 'cool' Major!"

After that, we spent all our time training together during recess, and soon a week passed before I noticed something strange.

"Hey Erebus, do you not go to school?"

We were taking a break, sitting at the outskirts of the playground, near the forest. Erebus had stuck his newly found sword in the ground before sitting next to me.

"Oh, my mentors think school is a waste."

"But I thought everyone had to go…" I said, scowling as I kicked a rock across the green grass. "That sucks, I was hoping we could spend more time in class together."

"Isn't this enough?"

"Of course not!" I shot up to my feet and pointed at Erebus. "This isn't nearly enough to teach you about the art of cool! There's so much, and 30 minutes is not enough!"

He stared at me blankly, blinking before giving me a slight nod. "R-right. Well, even if I wanted too, my mentors won't let me."

"And you're saying you don't want too!?"

"Th-that, um…" He trailed off as he closed his uncovered eye, thinking to himself before giving me his answer, nodding. "I would like to spend more time with you…"

"Great, now we need a plan to convince your mentors!" I yelled out, falling back into the grass. "Do you think it'll be easy to convince them?"

"If it was easy, I wouldn't have this," he muttered, touching the medical eyepatch across his right eye.

"What happened to it?" I asked, sitting up.

"It's an injury I got when I argued with my mentors. They don't like it when I go against their orders." He clenched his fist, his red eye glaring into the distance.

"Hmm, that is bad then," I said, laying back down into the grass. "Oh, I know!" I sat back up, grinning at Erebus. "You should show them how much you've been practicing with me! Show off those really cool moves I've helped you with, and they'll be so shocked they'll have to let you come to school!"

"C-could that really work?" Erebus asked, his red eye widening.

"I dunno."

"Then why tell me about it!?"

I laughed and laid back down into the grass. "Well, I just thought if they see how hard you're working, they might give you a reward."

He looked at me before laying down into the grass with me, and we both stared up at the sky together. "I-I'll give it a shot if you'll think it'll work Major."

We spent the rest of recess chatting to one another, and after that, it wasn't until a week passed until I saw Erebus again, being introduced in class as a transfer student.

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"Hey Major, who's this?"

It was lunchtime now, and Lachesis, Erebus, and I were all sitting together at a lunch table. Lachesis was looking at Erebus, she being the one who had asked the question.

"Oh, this is Erebus! He's a new friend I made!"

"Eh! F-friend?" He looked flustered at my words as he tapped his fingers together.

I nodded, grinning at him. "Of course, we're friends!"

"I-I see. My first friend…" He trailed off as a smile appeared, swaying back and forth.

"Anyway Lachy, we've been helping each other slay demons! It's super cool!"

"B-but, isn't that dangerous Major?" She asked, holding her shirt to her mouth as her eyes darted between the two of us.

"I dunno. Is it dangerous Erebus?"

"Eh!? Oh, yeah, really dangerous." He started to sway back and forth, his smile growing wider. "First friend, ehehe."

"So cool! That makes what we're doing all the more cooler Lachy!" I said, and she shrunk down into her seat.

"I don't like it," Lachy said as she poked at her food, and a teacher behind us noticed.

"You shouldn't be picky Lachesis. You have to eat to grow big and strong."

"Oh, but I don't like vegetables," Lachy complained, but she tried to eat them anyway.

"Oh, so what should we do now? What should our, um, I think it's called eh-pee-tets, be?"

I pulled out a notebook I had made earlier that day fittingly named "The Coolest Notebook" and placed it on the table.

"What's an eh-pee-tet King?" Erebus asked, and Lachy scowled at hearing that.

"King? Who's that?"

"It's a nickname I decided to call him. It's way cooler than Major."

"Yep, King is way cooler than Major!" I declared, writing it down in my notebook. "Oh, I got it! I know a cool nickname for you Erebus!"

"Hey, let me look," Lachy said, trying to peer into my notebook.

"Hey, no girls allowed! You wouldn't understand anyway, so go do girly stuff or something."

"You're mean Major!" Lachy declared, and she refused to speak to me for the rest of the day until I apologized.

I turned back to Erebus, barely able to contain my excitement. "Your nickname should be Slayer!"

His eye widened as he heard me say his ultra-cool nickname. "Whoa, Slayer… What does it mean?"

I had just recently learned the word, so the definition was still in my head. "It means you're very good at beating stuff up!"

He nodded to himself, a smile rising on his face. "Yeah, I like that! Erebus, Slayer of Demons! Oh, that is pretty cool!"

"Isn't it? That can be your eh-pee-tet!" I declared, starting to write it in my journal.

"Oooh, can we make it longer?" Erebus asked, really starting to get into it now.

"We can make it as long as we want! It just always needs to sound cool!" I declared, and we continued our training in fighting demons and learning the art of "cool."

The days passed on, and we continued training in our imaginary fights against the demons, coming up with awesome move names and cool combos until our "Coolest Notebook" was filled up with our awesome moves.

Afterschool I would tell my mom all about our adventures about slaying demons, and at first she looked worried, telling me to stay away from any demons I could potentially see, but after telling her enough times, she seemed to be alright with it now. Oh, and I told my twin Minor about it as well during out nightly talks together.

One day after we finished training early, Erebus stuck his one-edged wooden sword into the ground and surprised me by bowing down, almost making a right angle.

"Th-thank you!"

"Eh!? What did I do!?" I was taken aback and nearly fell on my butt by this sudden change, but Erebus wasn't finished yet.

"You really helped me out! So, so much! I don't think I'll ever be able to repay this!"

I frantically looked around, waving my arms. "I don't get it, but you don't need to bow to me! I was just helping a friend! C'mon, get up already!"

He finally raised his head, nodding. "Sorry, I just, I just-!" Tears started to come out of his unbandaged eye, and he started sob. "Thank you, just thank you King!"

"No problem, really! Oh, I'm gonna start crying now…" I sniffled as tears fell from both my eyes, and we both hugged each other, one crying tears of heartfelt gratitude and the other tears of understanding.

After we finished crying, we released each other, both our eyes puffy from crying so much. "Hey Slayer, if you ever need help slaying demons, I'll help you, okay?"

"Y-you mean it?" he asked, wiping his face clean.

I nodded, giving him a grin that would make anyone smile just by looking at it. "Yep, let's make it a pinkie promise!"

"P-pinkie promise? What's that?"

"Eh!? You don't know!?" My brain couldn't comprehend how someone couldn't know what a pinkie promise was, but I managed to push through. "Just do what I do, okay? It's simple, first hold out your pinkie."

He nodded. "Like this?" he asked, and he held out his pinkie. "Now what?"

"Now you do this," I curled my pinkie around his, and he proceeded to do the same. "And then, you say the phrase."

He nodded, and he repeated after me as I said the phrase. "Cross my heart, hope to die, swallow a thousand needles if I lie!" We finished by connecting our thumbs at the top, sealing the promise.

"There, it's done," I declared, and we released our interlocked pinkies. "You can never break a pinkie promise no matter what, so I'll always be there no matter what!"

Tears started to flow as Slayer started to cry again, and I could feel the tears starting to well up in my eyes as we hugged each other tight once more.

I'm glad I was able to help, like you would've…