The Fifth Trial

Two: Monopoly.

Chapter Two

Monopoly.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Those were not sounds of the raindrops hitting the roof, for it wasn’t even the time for the rain to pour. The thuds were actually just a mere noise coming from my thumb as I tap my mobile phone screen, searching for a song to blast before I went out to jog.

If I were not wearing my earphones, I would’ve heard my dad calling out my name before I went out of the door. Unfortunately, I was wearing those and “Rocketeer” by Far East Movement started to explode off my ears up to my brain so he didn’t even receive a single glance from me.

It’s past five in the morning—twenty minutes ‘til seven o’clock to be exact, and the rising sun above me follows as I made my way through the neighbourhood. Near the city, the houses built in this place are quite different from ours near the lake. From the freshly painted white residences with triangle roofs that I was used seeing, here lays miniature building-like shelters with flat tops painted with hipster colours. The only view that made the two similar to each other is that the areas are surrounded by grass with morning dews and flowers.

As I made my way throughout the vicinity, I saw a built of a girl running a few meters away from me. Her wavy brown hair sways with the wind as she sprints. She’s wearing a tank top partnered with sweatpants and matching black and white jogging shoes.

I quicken my pace to catch up with her. When I was about a single body away from her back, I recognized her—Alexis Mitchell. Alex is in her third year, but she’s supposed to be a senior now. Last year, she stopped showing herself to Hamilton University because of an unknown reason. Some said she went to a rehab because her “ex” girl buds said that they saw cuts on her wrist. Some said that had to undergo medications because she’d been affected by sexually transmitted diseases, but that thing seems to be a bit overrated because I’ve been with her during the freshman year in literature class and she was actually nice and bubbly. I think it’s impossible.

I gently tapped her right shoulder. “Hey, Lex.” I said as she turned her head to face me. “Nice to see you here.”

We didn’t bother to stop our tracks. But she smiled sweetly at me. Her lips are a bit plump and I noticed that she doesn’t have a perfect set of teeth, but the slightly slanted tooth beside the front teeth suits her well. She’s all covered with sweat yet she still looks fresh and smells really good.

“Hi Julie,” she said as she waved her two hands enthusiastically like she was some kind of a five-year-old kid. I removed my blasting gadget off my ears. “Not expecting to see you here, though.”

“Me neither,” I shrugged. “Do you live in this town?”

“Yup.” she answered then put her attention back to the road.

I grinned to release my charms. Way to go flirting, Julian James Hook. “Where to?”

“Have you seen the white house which is way too different from the rest of the homes here?” I nodded. That house stands a few blocks run before our house. “That’s where.”

“You mean the mansion with a nice front yard full of trees and shrubs?” I muttered exasperatedly which made her laugh.

She wiped a few beads of sweat on her forehead using her arms. “It’s not a mansion,” she murmured, still chuckling. “But we do have lots of trees and shrubs.”

I shrugged again. “Okay, then.”

She didn’t answer after that. We just jogged all the way. Moments later, I checked the time on my wrist watch to see that we’ve been running for five minutes in silence—minus the awkward.

“I might come here frequently to have a quality time with you,” I said as matter of fact to break the ice.

Alex frowned. I thought it was because of my flirting tactics but boy, I was wrong. “You don’t live here?”

“My dad does,” I spoke right away. “You know, divorce thing. Stupid separation rules that if I were the president of the United States of America, I would not have allowed that goddamned papers.”

Her frowned faded away, replacing it with a smile with a tiny laugh. “Yeah. But I’ve read a couple of laws regarding your issue when I was in middle grade. You see, my dad is a lawyer and my mom is a college professor.”

“Wow,” I uttered unbelievably. I can’t believe that this crazy, bubbly girl came from a really high functional family. “That’s really cool. Tell me more about your family.”

She heaved a sigh and closed her eyes for a moment. “I have a brother and a sister. Andrew, three years older than me, is a smart guy studying in Harvard University. I’m really proud of him, though. And then there’s Atasha, five years younger than me, is a sweet and adorable girl who calls me ‘Alexith’ because she’s got a problem pronouncing letter ‘s’.”

I smiled at that small description. I’ve always wanted a little sister myself. What is she’s got the same problem with Atasha? I bet she would call me ‘Julian Jameth Chathe’ and then I would laugh out loud if that happens. Unluckily, I never had one—or even a brother. And up until now, I still feel hostile about what happened to my family, which is my father’s fault.

“You’re spacing out,” Alex articulated, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Sorry. I was just imagining the feeling if I had a sister or a brother who calls me in a weird way.”

“Oh, yeah right. Your parents had a divorce. I was going to ask you why you don’t have a sibling. Good thing I remembered our conversation.” She said.

I sighted dad’s home a few meters away from us. It means that we had passed her house, but I just shrugged it off. Maybe she just wanted to run a little more before stopping over.

 The sun had already risen and it’s quite warm now. Nevertheless, we still continued to sprint but a bit slow this just. When we were three houses away from my place, I stopped. She did, too.

I walked slowly, trying to catch my breath. She followed me but she refused to say a word to break the silence.

“I never thought that the road in here is in a circular shape,” I whispered, but loud enough for her to hear. “We ran straight, right?”

“Yeah,” she spoke with another smile plastered on her lips. “Just like life. Life is a circle—there is a cycle that goes on forever.”

I think I’ve heard that line before, but I just ignored the weird feeling inside my stomach.

In just a snap, we’re in front of my place. “So, I’m home. See you around, I guess?”

“See you later, then.” She waved her hands again that made her look like a little kid. I can even imagine her sister Atasha because of her small gesture. “No saying goodbyes, it’s not ‘happily ever after’ yet.”

“Yeah. And there’s 99.99 per cent chance for us to see each other again since we go to the same school.”

She smiled again, showing her imperfect set of teeth. “Do you play Monopoly?”

“Yes.” I answered her sudden question, though it confused me.

“Then you know that there are lots of these orange cards on one part of the board game,” she told me, still smiling. “Take one, but never take just one. There are a whole lot of them. You should give everything a try.”

I remained silent, refusing to swallow the fact that she’s telling me to give my parents—my family a chance.

“Take every hard feeling out of your community chest and you’ll feel better before you roll the dice and pass a worth two hundred bucks ‘go’.” She said before facing her back on me and continued to run, leaving me in front of the gate; leaving me under the warm sun that touches my sweated skin.

If life were just as simple as a board game, I would.