Consumed

Chapter One

'Now, facing his awful opponent, he knows what to do, she stands no chance! With a simple step over, he gets right past her and the goal is clear in sight. He shoots. He scores!  Oh what a goal!' Michael shouts, doing his own commentary running around the yard with his hands in the air. I look over at James who looks as if he was going to kill me. I sat on the ground sulking. It really wasn't my fault. I tried! Everyone went in for lunch but I was too angry to eat. Michael was on his way inside when he saw I wasn't getting up. He came laughing and sat next to me. 'Tough luck.' I glared at him. 'Look, it isn't not your fault. I'm just too good.' He loved winding me up, it drove me insane. It was also what I liked about him most but I never let him know that. I simply turned my back, completely ignoring him.

That was how we all were, constantly teasing each other. We were all very close but Michael was closest to me (after Lilly). We'd sit together, laugh and play from dawn till dusk. We were inseparable during our beautiful childhood, full of happiness. Even then, I sometimes felt a little lonely. I used to look outside my bedroom window wondering about the millions of people there were around the world getting on with their daily lives and how I'd never know them. As soon as I turned away, guilt went rushing through me. I was so privileged to have a loving family and so many close friends that it was impossible for me to be alone. I'd comfort myself with these thoughts and fall asleep with a joyful contentedness. This lifestyle lasted for years until I finally started growing up.

I was so happy to be sleeping over at Lilly's that day. It was during the Easter holidays in my third year of secondary school. I rarely ever slept over at hers, and she rarely ever slept over at mine. But when we did sleep over at each others, we had lots of fun. We sat to watch A Curious Case of Benjamin Button whilst snacking on chocolates and biscuits. Michael joined us even though we told him he wasn't invited. Soon, Jack had sneaked into the room too.

'Don't tell mum I'm here. She's going to send me back to bed.' Unable to resist the cute innocent face he was making, we let him join us. Throughout the first half of the film, he kept asking questions. We got annoyed but tried our best not to shout at him. Finally, Michael snapped.

'If you don't understand the film go back to bed. Stop ruining it for us!' His lip quivered and he pulled the covers over his head. I still couldn't believe Jack was scared of Michael. Of all people, Michael? For a while he was silent. I got worried and pulled the covers back to find he had fallen asleep. 

'See what you've done? He's going to miss the film now.' I hissed at Michael.

'He didn't understand it in the first place!' He reasoned. Lilly and I looked at each other telepathically communicating. We always took every opportunity to team up against Michael.

'If Jack misses the film, you miss the film.' Lilly told him.

'Says who?'

'Me. It's my room, my rules.'

'Shh, you're ruining the film.'

'Out Michael.'

'Shhh.'

'You better go Michael.' I said taking Lilly's back. 

'I'd like to see you try. We paused the film whilst we tried to throw Michael out of the room. It was fun trying to pull him out by his arms and legs. He was surprisingly strong as he held his grip on Lilly's bed rest really tight. In the end, we failed. Lilly and I miserably went back to the position we were at before. Michael smiled smugly at us. I threw a pillow at him and resumed watching the film.