Hunted

Act 29; Sextuplets

Victrix Soulhart was one of many close family friends with the Florence-Dulcet clan, along with his ten other siblings. Among his siblings though, he was the only one to father sextuplets.

With the first letters of their names forming the name of their late mother, the six four-year-olds were too smart for their own good. They caught on too quickly, thus, most would hesitate to call them four years old, even though they are. That was why the Florence siblings adored them to bits. Nothing says cute better than a sassy kid who could already sass people in more than seven different languages. Times that to six, and the siblings had a field day keeping their laughter and amusement to themselves.

So when Victrix made an appointment with Zack Florence to meet up in the morning of September 10th, Wednesday, the Heir went to work in sextupling CCTVs, not taking a chance on the little cherubs. Since that was definitely not enough, Zack also called in all of his batch mates to watch over the kids while he spoke to the father, ensuring the volunteers that they were excused for their entire day, with credit. Sure enough, everyone replied with a positive, except one.

He wondered why Noah didn't volunteer, given the fact that he was already close with one or two of the kids. Maybe the gamer boy didn't know who he befriended that night at Soulhart Theatre?

Just to make sure, Zack came to school at 7:30 in the morning and barged into the gamer guy's room. He found Noah hovering over his computer screens, typing furiously as though his life depended on it.

Unceremoniously, since Noah didn't seem to notice the Heir had entered the vicinity, Zack saved whatever it was he was typing, ignored the vehement protests of his batch mate as he transferred the PowerPoint in a flash drive and dragged the gamer out of his room by pulling the back of his swivel chair and driving it through the halls.

"What in the name of all that is holy is wrong with you, dude!?" Noah yelled, sitting with his legs crossed in a lotus position on the chair and his back leaning forward, forming a curve that must not be comfortable, as Zack directed the chair toward the shower rooms.

"Get showered, wake up, dress. We've got guests to entertain." Zack answered flatly, not sparing the unmoving boy in front of him a glance.

Noah would have moved, stopped the chair right then and there and ran back to his computer, but he couldn't. He was literally stuck. His legs were asleep and his back ached with the slightest movement. It was not a good idea to stay awake the whole night crouched like Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

Note to self: Do not crouch all night lest you are Gollum from Lord of the Rings and you live to protect a magical accessory worth going batshit creepy for.

Zack stopped in front of the boys' shower room door, spun the swivel chair around then performed a nasty massage move that caused a terrifying crackling sound that most probably came from his spine. It made him forget why he was so annoyed with Zack in the first place.

Before Noah knew it, he was standing and able. He saluted to the Heir, then grabbed his stuff from his shelf and ensued the shower process. After keeping himself awake with freezing water, he finally remembered why he was annoyed with Zack.

"What's the big deal, bub!?" Noah said as he walked pass Zack, holding the towel wrapped around his waist to keep it there as he pointed an accusatory toothbrush at the Heir. He was trying out a New York accent and was failing miserably. He kept trying anyway. "You tryin'a start somethin' here, wise guy?" He was walking backwards.

Zack merely gave him withering look, as though his life was flashing in his eyes and he was searching how on earth he had become friends with him. At least he was dragging his swivel chair behind him. Noah couldn't hold onto his towel, his toothbrush, and his swivel chair at the same time.