| 𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚗! |

【3】One Last Time

                                                          Time Elapsed: Eight Hours

The evening following was quite peaceful, as everyone had taken a nap for good measure and was now well-rested. There was lots of excitement and chatter as well — Bruno and Shmuel on the floor, opposing one another in a heated game of Draughts, and Gretel, as one could predict, was dressing up her dolls. Mother sat glued to the couch, her main focus a scarf she had been knitting for a few weeks now, and father, who was seated right beside mother, just watched the children have fun; It was near impossible to let them out of his sight now that he was aware of the true dangers of the world.

"If I was you, I'd watch out," Bruno warned Shmuel. "I'd hate to make a mistake and lose."

"Oh, yeah, and what are you going to do?" Shmuel asked, throwing his hands up mockingly. "It's not like you can even—" He was quickly interrupted by the loud sound of Bruno's pawns moving across the board. He mercilessly snatched up Shmuel's white piece and set it down on his side of the carpet.

"Ha ha, I told you I would end up dominating you in the end!" Bruno exclaimed. "I was right! Albert Einstein does it again!"

"Ugh," Shmuel murmured. "That's surprising."

"Yes, quite an unexpected comeback from Bruno!" Father narrated, clapping his hands together. "Now, for the final face-off; King Shmuel, with a remaining two pawns, and Archduke Bruno, with a whopping five pawns remaining! Ready, set, begin!"

Bruno and Shmuel sweated bullets as they frantically moved their pieces around the board, working to make sure no more pawns would lose their places.

"Bruno, can you tone it down a bit?" Gretel asked, irritated. "You're so loud for what?"

"Quite sorry, I'm face-to-face with my greatest enemy at the time, but maybe in a few minutes," Bruno explained, getting caught off guard for a moment and then moved his black piece to the top right without thought.

Shmuel grinned as his pawn slowly moved forward.

"Oh, snap!" Bruno shouted aloud once he realized Shmuel had gotten a second pawn from his side of the board. "I can't afford to have any more distractions."

"Yeah, okay," Gretel said with a hint of sassiness and rolled her eyes. "Can you even be talking about distractions when you were just screaming in my ear two seconds ago?"

"Shut up, Gretel." Bruno said irritably.

The game progressed for several long minutes until each of them had one pawn remaining. The two boys became extremely hyper-focused. So hyper-focused, in fact, they didn't hear Maria call for their long-anticipated dinner.

"Bruno!" Father roared. This was usually what he did when he didn't catch a response. "Put the game away and come eat!"

"Huh?" Bruno wiped his foggy eyes. Staring at a black and white board did hurt his eyes quite badly. "Sorry, father. I'm coming." Bruno replied. Shmuel followed after him excitedly, inhaling the scent of the food. The alluring smell was just too hard to resist!

Mother, father and Gretel were already seated at the table by the time Bruno and Shmuel arrived in the kitchen. Maria and the butlers were carrying dishes of seafood salad and bread of all sorts of varieties on silver platters. Bruno hopped into his seat and motioned for Shmuel to hurry up.

"Br-Bruno, do you eat like this every day?" Shmuel asked, a bit of slob flying out of his mouth. 

"Yes, why?" Bruno asked, but by the time the words escaped his lips, Shmuel was over on the other side of the table thanking father for letting him eat in such large quantities.