They were once the most feared duo known as Ezra and Irene Belmonte, two powerful twin exorcists who completely eradicated the demon race and sealed away their king.
However heroic their jobs were, at their core, the twins were not good people.
Af...
'What is she on?' Eli looked at Cheryl grossly. 'Is she about to turn into a green alien or something?'
Esther covered her mouth and snickered, 'That's funny. Would she be a Martian then?'
'Yeah!' Eli cheerily agreed. 'Exactly like that!'
They had watched enough sci-fi movies to conclude that if their powers were to ever be exposed, people would view them as the aliens.
Would people think they were dangerous aliens? They would usually swallow hard and imagine the kind of terrible scenarios that would happen should such a thing become a reality.
"First things first!" After appointing herself as leader, Cheryl was already starting to become very bossy. "You hafta stand up." She didn't wait for the twins to get up on their own, she grabbed their arms and aggressively hoisted them up off the ground. "Now, take his hand in your hands."
The twins turned to look at Liam. He flinched and pulled his hand away from reach. They looked at his defensive posture and could only guess the kind of trauma he had. They individually agreed it would be better to not force him to touch them.
Cheryl proceeded on with her bossiness. "Now, say we want to be your friend, please."
The twins looked at each other dumbfounded.
"Say it!" ordered Cheryl. "Repeat after me! Say please be our friend."
The twins were more than hesitant to repeat such childish and cringeworthy words, but Cheryl's insistence left them with no choice.
Together, they both repeated the words, burning with embarrassment.
"Please be our friend, Liam."
"Again!" shouted Cheryl. "Louder!"
Esther wanted to telekinetically push her back and Eli wanted to explode the gravel at her feet, but both held back their intrusive thoughts and did as she ordered.
"Good," she said. "Could be better. A lot better but good enough."
The twins were barely able to hold back.
"Now, Liam, you say, I would be happy to be your friend."
The twins had to watch the same scenario play out. Liam was even less willing to repeat Cheryl's words than they had been.
"Say it!"
But his resolve was weaker than theirs. With seemingly no resistance, Liam awkwardly repeated Cheryl's words.
Cheryl nodded as if she had just accomplished something grand. "Let's join hands everyone."
Bryce moved in and took Cheryl's hand. He looked over and grabbed Eli's.
"Hey," Esther called quietly. "Cheryl. . . maybe joining hands isn't a good idea. . ."
Eli and Esther were concerned for Liam, but he quietly came up and took Esther and Cheryl's hands.
He looked down at the ground with a slightly flushed face that left the twins confused as to what he was feeling.
"Yes!" cheered Cheryl. "Everyone raise their hands and say best friend squad on three!" She dangled her arms back and forth as she began to count down. "One. . . two. . . three!"
To put a rest to Cheryl's bossing around, everyone loudly shouted her words as they raised their arms up.
"Let's pick roles!" Cheryl said immediately after their cheer ended. "I'll be the leader-"
"NO!"
That was the one thing everyone was enthusiastic about.
'We'll never let her be leader!' exclaimed Eli.
'Yeah,' agreed Esther. 'Over my dead body!'
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Not long after their little group was formed, the five of them began heading out to have great adventures and play many fun and long-houred games.
The twins didn't think they would like such childish activities, but even they had a hard time finding fault in their adventures. With Bryce there, the games were more sophisticated, and with Liam, the air was tamer.
One day, when they went out exploring, they found a small treehouse up in one of the trees. Cheryl insisted they check it out while the twins warned of the dangers. Of course, Cheryl won.
They all climbed up the rickety rope ladder and sat on the wooden splinter floor of the treehouse. It was much smaller than it appeared from the outside.
Cheryl had been the last to sit down. She looked around at everyone almost squished together and asked excitedly, "Is everyone happy we went up the ladder?"
Bryce shifted uncomfortably, Liam looked around frightened, and the twins gave her the answers that were filled with sarcasm.
"Yeah," Eli answered in a dark tone.
"We're so glad," replied Esther fuming a bit.
Cheryl grinned. "I knew it! Three cheers for leader me!"
Esther and Eli gave sharp looks around at everyone. Did Cheryl really not understand sarcasm?
"Three cheers," Bryce said. "But this treehouse. . . can we please go now? I'm scared we could fall through the wood any second now."
Liam enthusiastically nodded and agreed with Bryce. "I want to go too."
Everyone looked at Cheryl while she grumbled and angrily agreed to leave.
After Esther jumped off the last step and joined her brother, she studied what he was so fixated on: Liam.
Esther said telepathically, 'It's okay, we'll help him.'
'How?' asked Eli. 'Where would we even begin?'
Esther thought silently about the answer. The first step would have to be making him less timid.
Before she could give her found answer, Eli suddenly added, 'Besides that, we have no idea how to help people and we don't have anyone we could turn to for advice.'
Esther put her hands behind her back and sighed. She thought Eli was being more stubborn than he needed to be.
'We'll find a way,' she answered thoughtfully. 'We always do.'
She observed the kids as they laughed and began running around playing.
'The kids can help us out too.'
Eli would've agreed with his sister, but if he had, he would've been lying, and he didn't want to lie to her.
He knew he was being too stubborn for his own good, but he just couldn't bring himself to rely on the kids in front of him.
This was a problem he and his sister had created, and he had a feeling it was their problem to deal with alone.
