Pursuing Pandora

Chapter 29

We arrived at Victor's apartment where everyone was waiting for us with eager eyes. Zara looked ready to whip out pompoms and dance in excitement. Xav and Crystal were on the floor of the tiny living space looking into the laptop that had been connected to the TV. Sky was bundled up on Zed's lap, both of them occupying the only armchair in the house.

Zara got up and came up to us like an inquisitive reporter standing guard at the steps of a court, waiting to get the first slice of the story. "How was your date?" Looking at the hungry faces around, she wasn't the only one who wanted to know the answer. Ron wiggled her eyebrows, teasing me to give a reply.

"It was great!" Victor answered for both of us, high fiving Zara enthusiastically. I am still utterly confused by Victor's zeal. I don't think we were on the same date. Victor seems to have completely skipped the very end of our date from his memory. I am curious about what is going on in his had today. His optimism is shaking up me up. I don't want to disappoint the whole room by commenting on anything right now.

"Thanks for the setup." Victor winked at his tiny conspiring companion. I'm severely regretting letting them meet.

Zed was the only one with me who understood the absurdity of this partnership. "Victor's game is so bad that he needs a 10-year-old to set him up."

Sky hopped off Zed's lap knowing what was coming his way. Zed was on his feet in a second, expertly ducking Victor's blows. Vic cornered him near the dining table as his brothers howled their support. Zara was recording them clowning around throwing punches, siding with Vic to dock him hard. Vic managed to hook Zed's head in his arm, constraining him long enough to punch him a few times.

They are so alike!

When their tussle finally ended, I turned around to finally get a good look at the TV screen. "What the hell!" My own creepy face has made me cuss out loud. Well mine and Ben's. The video was shot during our school haunting season when all of us had decided to compete in a scaring competition during Halloween week. The screen was frozen on the image of me squatting down in pasty white makeup and electric blue hair and holding a ragged thrift store doll while Ben stood beside me upside down in our dorm hallway bathed in fake blood and grime.

"What in the world made you think showing that to a 10-year-old is okay?" Zara is terrified of the 10-second scary movie advertisements on TV. How is she doing to sleep tonight?

"No, it is really funny." Zara played the video to shield Ron from getting yelled at even more.

Ben and I had set up a camera in Max's room while he was in the common room. I hid under his bead while Ben climbed in the closet waiting for him. Ben and I were a great team. We knew we couldn't scare each other as we could predict each other's moves and strategies. So, teaming up and going after our cousins was our best bet at winning.

The Fletchers were known for our hijinks but during Halloween week everyone just steered clear of us. We had a tendency of acting out our revenge with 'seemingly harmless pranks' on the people who had crossed us. We had gone after Max on Charlotte's request and she had asked us to make him screaming like he was getting murdered. She had even helped us with our makeup, manically splattering the red paint to complete our deranged look. I don't remember this prank well but I know we had defended our title well that year.

Max came into our room so engrossed in his phone that he didn't even flinch when the lights flickered. My hand slowly crept from under the bed and grabbed his ankle tight. He shrieked out loud, flinging his phone across the room, stumbling right to the wardrobe door where Ben was waiting to burst out and grab him from behind like a monstrous monkey.