Episode 1

“Are we really doing this?” asked Perez. “Yes we have to do this, if we don’t we could die,” replied  Archer.

“What if we get caught?” I asked. “Yeah, if we get caught we could be in big trouble,” said Ray, agreeing with me.

“We are not gonna get caught though,” Archer said.

“But-”

“No we have to do this now, I can’t live through my next class,” Said Archer interrupting me.

“Ok, let's just do it,” I said.

We stepped out of the bathroom and walked through the hallways casually, so no one would suspect us of anything suspicious. The hallways were completely empty, all the children were outside the school playing in the playground and the teachers were either in class working and watching over the children playing on the playground. Perez, Ray, Archer, and I walked the hallways for what felt like hours before we saw the exit. Just when we thought we had successfully gotten out of school, Mr.Mixer, the math teacher appeared in front of us  “What are you boys doing,” he asked.

“We are-”

“We are researching the school,” said  Archer, interrupting me once more.

“What for,” asked Mr.Mixer.

We all looked at each other nervously, as Mr.Mixer asked us the question. We weren’t actually doing any research, we were on our way to get out of school and go home because the classes were too boring to endure. In this small village known as Shiralin, we have only once school which is from kindergarten to grade 5. The school is quite small and technology free, so if someone doesn't come to school, or if someone is late, the teachers barely notice it, that's why me, my best friend and cousin Archer, my best friend Ray and my other best friend Perez mostly run away from school and spent our time in the local shops buying food or playing games.

“Mr.Mixer, we aren’t actually researching the school, we are taking Archie to the nurse's office,” said  Perez confidently. Thanks to his quick thinking as always we have just been saved.

“Well, Why did Archie, say you were-”

“Because he got hurt, and he is mad and he is also mad about the math homework you gave us,” Perez replied before Mr.Mixer could finish the question.

“Archie I am sorry for the homework if it’s too hard you can come to me for help,” said Mr.Mixer, “Oh, sorry for halting you, you need to get Archie to the nurse's office.”

“Yes we do,” said Perez.

We moved towards the nurse's office until we were out of Mr.Mixer’s sights. Once he left we swiftly exited the school. “I think we should spend time away from our houses because it’s too early for school to end and if we get home right now then our parents will suspect us,” said Perez.

“No, I have to get home and finish my homework now,” I said.

“Ok, you do whatever you want, but if you get in trouble don’t drag us down,” said Perez.

“Bye!” I said as I started running towards my house.

“Bye, Ash,” Perez, Archie, and  Ray, replied moving the opposite way direction from me.

School is supposed to end at 1:30 and then I am supposed to get home at 2:00, but today we left the school at 10:00, so I took my time getting home.

I got home at 10:25, which was much a lot earlier than usual. I quietly opened the front door and peeked inside the house. I saw my grandpa and grandma, sitting on the kitchen table. Grandma was knitting a scarf or a hat, and grandpa was listening to the radio while looking outside the window.

The kitchen was about three meters away from the front door and to the right of it. My room was upstairs, and the stairs were a meter away from the front door and parallel to it. After a few seconds of thinking, I quietly and swiftly opened and closed the door and ran upstairs being undetected by my grandparents. "Mission successful" I whispered loudly when I got into my room undetected. I closed the door and started doing my homework, I finished my math homework in a few minutes, and then I spent 30 minutes on my reading homework since I had to research some words because I couldn’t understand them. Once I finished all of my homework which took about 40 minutes, my grandma came into my room bringing my favorite chips and a glass of Pepsi with her. I tried to hide from her but I was too late.

“Did you run away from school again, Ash,” my grandma asked quietly.

“No,” I replied nervously.

“Ash, do you know how dangerous that is,” My grandma said in a quiet and serious tone, “you are 8 years old Ash, what if someone or something, attacks you, or kidnaps you?”

“You underestimate my power grandma,” I said with a smile on my face.

“Oh do I now?” My grandma asked.

She put the chips and Pepsi down, she grabbed me, lifted me in the air, and lightly slammed me on the bed. I fought back, I lightly tackled her and then she pulled out her secret weapon, the ace up her sleeve, she started tickling me, and before I knew it I was defeated. After tickling me to submission she got up and started leaving my room.

“I will defeat you next time,  Granny,” I said as she was walking out the door.

She stopped, looked at me, and replied, “You will never defeat me, I am too powerful.”

“We will see about that,” I replied.

“Oh, Ash your mom is coming home tonight, I just wanted to let you know,” said grandma as she walked out the door of my room, leaving me stunned and scared.

I spent the rest of my time until 2 o'clock, worrying about why mom is coming, "did she find out that I have been running away from school, am I gonna be grounded, will I be in trouble," I said to myself, worrying my head off.

"Ash! Ash, come out," I heard a voice from outside my window.  I quickly rushed over to the window to see who it was. It was Archie, my cousin, he probably just now arrived home. Since the village is everyone lives really close and almost everyone knows everyone. My family from my Mom's side lives in the village just meters away from each other. My uncle Richie Archie's Dad lives about 10 meters to the right of my grandparents' house, the house I live in and my other uncle Steve lives just to the right of uncle Richie's house. My father whom I never knew doesn't live in the village nor does his family.  I ask my mom about my father, who he was, where was he from, but she always ignores my questions and says that he left us.

"Ash, hurry up, let's go your late," said Archie.

"Yeah, sorry I am coming, I got distracted," I responded.

I rushed down the stairs and through the front door of the house, screaming at my grandparents that I will be back later.

"Race you," I said to Archie as I took a 5-meter lead, but before I knew it he caught up to me and overtook me.  Archie is the fastest and strongest out of all four of us, we almost never play tag because Archie is impossible to catch.

We got to our secret spot, which is a patch of largely flat land the size of an Olympic swimming pool, in the middle of the forest. We use that land, our land, to do a lot of different activities like play frisbee or cricket, a sport that we fell in love with by accidentally watching it on TV, we also sometimes camp there, just the four of us.

"Are we working on the treehouse again," Ray asked

"Yes, we are," Perez replied cheerfully.

"We need to do something, else the treehouse is taking too long," I said.

"We have to work on the treehouse, this is our land but we need to make it a home and to do that we have to make the treehouse," said Perez attempting to give a motivational speech.

"That didn't make sense, but fine let's just do it," I replied.

We started working on the creation of our treehouse, Most of the resource that we needed for the treehouse-like ropes, screws, glue, and flat pieces of wood, we stole from my grandparent's farm. We also cut off a few branches from the trees to make the roof out of them.

While we were working hard on creating our treehouse, I didn't realize how dark it was. I looked at the yellow Spongebob watch that my mom got me, it was 8 pm.

"Guys, it's 8 I have to go," I said running off towards my house.

Archie came after me, "Why are you running?" he asked.

"I didn't tell you?" I replied, "My mom is coming back home."

Archie and I rushed through the front door of the house, my mom was sitting in the corner of the living room on the brown singular couch, which was my favorite. My grandparents' sat to the left of her on a different couch, and uncle Richie and Steve were on the right.

"Hello, Ash," mom said, with a smile that was covering up the anger that she felt towards me for being out so late.

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