"Mitchell! Give back my hat!" I shouted as I chased my older brother down the street. "If you can catch me Pixel!" he shouted back. I sighed and kept chasing him. Even though he's five years older than I am I can still manage to keep up with him. He tried to slow me down by running through the park to the ledge on the other side but I took a shortcut and stopped him in his tracks.
Grabbing the hat from his clutches I ran back through the shortcut and down the street. "I know where you live Pixel! I can still get the hat!" Mitchell shouted, following me. "Who says I'm going home?" I replied. I took a sharp turn about three blocks from the park.
"Where you gonna go?" he questioned, slowing down a little. "I dunno! Ask your girlfriend!" I shouted with a smirk. I looked back at him for a split second and saw him completely stop running. I kept going, with a devious smile plastered on my face, to Daphne's house.
I jumped the fence and went inside the back window to the basement. Noticing that the television was displaying a single player game of Halo 4 I grabbed a controller and joined the game. "Energy Sword or Needler?" I asked. "Both," Daphne replied, reloading her weapons. I nodded and took the weapons of choice. "I'll go first. Watch my back, alright?" I said. "Sure thing Robin- I mean Pixel," she replied. "It's cool. You're not the first person to accidentally call me by my real name," I reassured her.
Yea... Robin is my real name. Robin Natalie Hughes. I wanted my nickname to be Ruby on account of my ruby red hair, but Pixel kinda stuck. I got that nickname because I always liked coding, video games, and sometimes even hacking. I know that sounds bad, but I always repair the damage I do.
"So how's Mitch?" she asked. "He's doing okay. Won't shut up about the fact that you got him that headset last week," I said. It was her gift to him for his birthday. It was really expensive, too. "I had to get him something for his birthday! Even if it was really pricy..." she replied. I chuckled and shook my head. "You two are so perfect together, you know that?" I commented.
She smiled and mumbled something about ammo. "He's a lot happier now than before he met you. At the same time he's been a lot less irrational, but that's good. I don't want him to end up like I am..." I said with a nervous laugh. Daphne paused the game and looked over at me. She smiled and leaned over to hug me. I accepted her warm embrace and set down the controller.
A knock at the basement door made us jerk our heads in that direction. Mitchell walked leisurely down the stairs, smirking at us. "What's up with the love fest?" Mitchell teased, helping Daphne to her feet and kissing her briefly on the lips. "Look who's talking, Mitchell," I said as I stood up. "What? Like you don't have a boyfriend," he remarked. "Bitz is not my boyfriend! He thinks of me as his best friend! He said so himself!" I retaliated, annoyed. "Pfft! Yea right! He asked you to prom!" he said. I just ignored him and walked upstairs. Mitchell shouted something after me about where i was going, but I ignored it and walked out the front door.
About half a block from my house he came up behind me, grabbed my arm, and spun me around so that I was facing him. "Why'd you just walk out? That's not like you, Pixel. You feeling okay?" he asked. He looked really concerned. "No. I'm fine. I'm just uh... I'm gonna go camp in for a while," I said. "What?! No!! I'm not letting you disappear for a few days and then come back beat up again!" he said, flailing his arms around. I sighed and rolled my eyes. " I'll be fine, okay? Four days tops. I'll be home before Connor's game," I replied. "I won't allow you to do this!" Mitchell shouted. "I'm seventeen! I can if I want to! Just trust me!" I said.
He looked me in the eyes for a few seconds, his gaze unwavering, then he sighed and stared at the ground. "Four days?" he said, looking back at me with his tear-filled hazel eyes. I gave him a weak smile and nodded. He bit his bottom lip and nodded slowly in reply. "Just stop by my place on your way back. I want to make sure you're safe..." he said. "Okay... and tell Jerome I said hi!" I replied as I started to run off.
I stopped almost immediately, turned around, ran up to him, and gave him a huge hug. "Don't worry so much, alright?" I said to him. He chuckled and replied with, "I'm your big brother. Worrying about you is my job." I smiled at him, punched him in the arm, and took off down the street.
~5 minutes later~
"What's up, Nerd Bird?" Connor, my little brother, teased. "Goin' camping again, Bologna Breath," I smirked. He calls me 'Nerd Bird' because of my name being the name of a bird. I call him 'Bologna Breath' because, well, he loves bologna. I messed up his hair and stuffed a few things from my room into a small bag.
"You're going camping again??" he asked, almost annoyed. "Mhm. Don't worry though. I'll be back before your big championship game," I said. I stuffed my phone in my pocket and grabbed my car keys. "I never leave before one of your football games..." he said, poking my arm repeatedly. "That's because you can't drive yet. You're thirteen," I pointed out. "Touché," he said, ending the poking. I smiled, ruffled his hair one last time, and walked out the front door.
I started up the car and my ears were almost instantly filled with old-time rock and roll. I pulled out of the driveway and headed to a friend's house. On the way I stopped at a café to get myself a coffee. I need caffeine to keep me going because I'm not the best at keeping my consciousness. I black out more often than not.
I pulled into my friend Harvey's house. There was another car there, but I didn't know who it belonged to until I went inside. I was greeted by Harvey, Brice, and Blake, or as we like to call him, Bitz. His dark hair was messy, his light brown eyes were full of content, and his thin black glasses were crooked as usual. I walked up to him and adjusted them. "What are you doing here? I thought you were checking out colleges today," I said, crashing on the couch between Harvey and Brice. Harvey gave me a small hug and Brice punched me lightly in the arm.
"I'm gonna go tomorrow... so Mitch said that you're going for four days this time. You camping out here?" he asked. "Only tonight. After that I'm on the road again. I've got money though.. and food and clothes. I'll be fine for that amount of time," I said as I took a large drink of my coffee. "Well it's nice to see you, Pixel," Brice commented in his thick Australian accent. "Yea! It's always fun to have you over here! You're so um... quirky! I-I mean that in a good way! I swear!" Harvey stuttered. I smiled. He always hated his nervous stutter but I thought it was cool.
"Ms. Hughes do you have the books I asked for?" Bitz asked in his stuoid , fake little British accent. I tossed him my keys and told him they were in the trunk. He went out to get the things he wanted. Brice and Harvey looked at each other deviously, which made me slightly curious. I was about to ask why they were looking at each other that way when each of them grabbed one of my arms and carried me to the third floor. They laughed the entire time and completely ignored my shouts and questions.
"Ow! Not so hard!" I shouted as they clasped their arms tighter around my wrists. Harvey heard me this time. "S-sorry... I-I didn't mean to hurt y-you..." he said guiltily. They set me down outside one of the huge rooms and put a blindfold over my eyes. I heard shuffling feet next to me. Suddenly it stopped. The two guys picked me up again and set me down on something hard. I put my hands down to feel what it was. It was a cut down tree stump. I took the blindfold off to reveal a forest.
