This Fortnight Adventure

This Fortnite Adventure: The Life Cycle of Sussaman (prequel to 1)

  Sussham walked into the room. He felt like he should have been doing something important. After all, it had only been a few days since he last spoke with his father. Why was he still here? He couldn't find anything else to do but wait for his father to come back home. His mother sat at the table and sighed as she continued eating her food. She didn't look up when he entered. Sussham's dad was gone on some business trip which meant that they were stuck in the house together until he got back. It seemed that no matter what he did it always ended up being boring.

Sussham wanted to go out and explore. He wanted adventure. Maybe even to make a friend or two. However, his parents wouldn't let him leave the house without them. They said it would be dangerous outside their neighborhood. What kind of danger could exist within walking distance? At least that was how he saw things. Of course, his mom thought differently about the dangers.

As he looked around the living room he noticed one thing. All three of the windows were covered by curtains. In fact, every window in the entire house was closed except for the front door. Even though they lived right next to a busy street where cars constantly drove past. If anyone ever tried breaking into the house then surely someone would see them. But why cover your windows? That just made everything darker inside than out. Plus, covering the windows took away any chance to catch sight of interesting things happening outdoors.

He turned towards his mom and asked, "Why are we so afraid?"

She smiled sweetly at him. Her face was beautiful and her long black hair fell down over her shoulders. As much as he hated to admit it, she was gorgeous. Still, despite her beauty, Sussham knew that his mother wasn't telling the truth. He'd heard stories before about people getting hurt while exploring. And now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen many children playing outside either. It almost seemed like everyone was hiding indoors. Or maybe he just didn't notice them because they were mostly boys.

His mother shook her head slightly. "We don't need to worry." She told him. Then she paused and added, "Your father knows best,"

That really set off alarm bells in Sussham's mind. He decided to push further. "What exactly does 'knowing' mean?"

"It means that your father doesn't want us to take unnecessary risks. We're safe here and nothing bad will happen to us." She explained.

This conversation was starting to feel repetitive. Every day Sussham found himself having conversations with his mother. Most times they involved him asking questions and her answering them with vague answers. Sometimes he wondered whether she actually understood the question or if she just gave him a response based on what she assumed he was thinking. Either way, most of the time these talks led nowhere productive. So instead Sussham began looking for ways to distract her. He started talking about random stuff to try and avoid the subject of safety.

After a few minutes of this he finally managed to change the topic. "So how long is my father going to be gone again?"

His mother stopped chewing and stared at him. For a moment it appeared as though she was angry. Then she burst out laughing. "Oh, you! You know perfectly well that he'll be gone for a month!"

Now it was Sussham's turn to laugh. He laughed so hard that tears ran down his cheeks. His mother joined in and soon both of them were rolling around on the floor holding each other. When they calmed down, Sussham wiped his eyes and looked at his mom. "How can you be so sure?"

Her smile faded quickly. "Because your father is always late coming back home from trips. Always. No matter how short the trip may seem to others, he never makes it back on time. Not once has he returned early."