The End of MindCrack

Chapter 1: Secrets Best Hidden

 "Xavier! Get down here!" The woman's voice called. It took an immense effort not to call back and continue his video commentary instead. "Xavier!"

 Xavier Alves knew she was too far away for the mic to pick up on it's current settings, but he found a breaking point, hit escape and shouted, "What's up, Mom?"

 "I have called you for dinner three times, young man," Mrs. Alves yelled back.

 "Sorry, Mom," Xavier replied, a tad quieter. "Give me just thirty more seconds?"

 Taking his mother's silence for acquiescence, he unpaused the game and hurriedly finished his recording. The nineteen year old slipped his headset off and went down the stairs at a rush. He slid into his chair, babbling an apology to his parents and twin younger sisters.

 "Well I should think so," grumbled Briane. Aubree only gave him a small smile. "What were you doing up there?" Briane asked.

 "Cleaning," Xavier replied easily. He didn't think of himself as a liar, but in the past few months, lying about his youtubing had become almost second nature. And he had technically had to clean off his chair before he started. It had been a few days since he'd recorded.

 His mother passed him a plate of food and he accepted it gratefully, bowing his head briefly in prayer while his family dug in. He joined them a moment later. Pork chops and peaches was one of his favorites.

 "So what were you doing?" Xavier asked, diverting attention from whatever he had been doing in his room. In two weeks, he would be moving out and it wouldn't be a problem any more.

 His diversion worked and Briane launched into a monologue about this guy at school and how he had looked at her during lunch. Aubree rolled her eyes and Xavier gave her a responding finger twirl next to his temple.

 "Be nice, kids," Mr. Alves reprimanded. Unfortunately, his comment only made Briane look up and see her sibling's reactions. The blonde seventeen year old fell into a sulky silence. Which was okay with Xavier and Aubree.

 Xavier glanced from Aubree to Briane. He knew that twins were supposed to be close, but he couldn't think of two people more different than his twin sisters. Briane, the baby of the family, loved make-up and clothes and boys. She was her mother's little clone. Aubree was the sports player, completely in love with soccer and her big brother. Xavier was the artist.

 Neither skill was particularly valued by their family.

 Xavier asked his dad how work went and the rest of dinner was a discussion of the different cars he had worked on that day. Xavier could tune it out just as he did every night, enjoy his dinner, clean up, and then hurry upstairs to whatever project he had abandoned. Tonight, in addition to his video editting, he had a clay model city to work on.

 Dinner seemed to take forever, but eventually, he was able to retreat to his room. He wasn't there long, though before he heard a knock on his door.

 "Xavier, are you taking another load of boxes to the apartment tonight?" It was Aubree.

 "Um... Yeah, hang on a sec." Xavier quickly checked his window shade, making sure that no reflection from his computer screen could be seen in the window. Then he grabbed one of the boxes off his floor. "Come on in."

 Aubree stepped inside and held her hands out for the box. "I can take that for you," she said. Xavier handed it to her and selected another. "I'm gonna miss you."

 "I know," Xavier said, tucking his box under one arm and throwing the other around her shoulders. "I'll miss you too. I'll take you to do something when I get home."

 She smirked at him with the easy confidence of a loved little sister. "I know you will. I just wish you would tell me where you and Austin are going."

 "I know," Xavier said as he stepped into his friend's car. "Maybe when it get's closer. We're not going for another couple of weeks."

 He closed the door, the engine started, and the car rolled away. Aubree felt the scream freeze in her throat as another vehicle came out of nowhere and slammed into the passenger side of Austin's car. Her brother's side.

~~~

 "Hello guys, welcome back. This is Jason. So, Minecon 2014's getting pretty close so I figured I'd give an update to the confirmed attendence list from the MindCrack server," Guude said. In his head he added, 'Just to see if I can get you guys to stop asking.'

 Then he continued, "So first off, Etho is not coming and he is no longer a member of the MindCrack server. Kurt is still technically homeless, so, he's not coming at all, either. But now that Z has said he's coming, we've got a total of nine MindCrackers coming. It's a pretty small goup, but, life happens I guess."

 Guude recorded his episode and turned off his mic. His brain ran over the all too short list of MindCrackers coming to Minecon. Pause, Seth, Baj, Jsano, Doc, Pyro, Zisteau, Guude, and surprisingly, Beef. Last year they'd had two MindCrackers show their faces. This year, they were lucky to have a panel. For the longest time, Guude had been the only confirmed attendee.

 The skype chat dinged.

BdoubleO: If Etho's gone for good, is his stuff up for grabs?

Seth: Bdubs...

 Guude shrugged and typed, 'Don't see why not. Don't like it, but he said he was leaving, so...'

Seth: Well, give me his redstone, then.

 Guude left the computer. It was funny. Etho'd always said youtube was his dream job.