During a very early, foggy and cold morning a young boy, roughly around seventeen years of age named Cole could be seen in his bed sound asleep and without a care in the world, however, fate had other plans.

 

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

 

Suddenly, while in the middle of his simplistic yet pleasant dream Cole was then awoken by his cheap but incredibly effective alarm and was quickly dragged back to his pitiful reality.

 

Cole then rubbed both his eyes before turning his alarm off and getting up and off his bed.

 

He then walked over towards his door and headed downstairs.

 

He was then greeted by a bright living room light that had slightly blinded the still half asleep Cole.

 

He then covered his eyes once again and let them recover a bit before slowly removing them.

 

Thanks to that, Cole could now see both of his parents frantically running around back and forth from the living room to the car parked outside, slowly being filled with suitcases filled with clothes and more.

 

Cole couldn’t help but chuckle a little after watching his parents little panic, making sure they had everything.

 

After watching for a few more seconds however, Cole decided to make his presence known. 

 

“Ehem” Cole said while fake coughing into his hand.

 

His father then looked back over towards him while carrying a heavy-looking box.

 

“Oh!? Hey. what are you doing up?” His father whispered, seeming genuinely surprised to see his son up this early.

 

Noticing his father's genuine confusion Cole decided to clear it “it’s four-thirty” 

 

“Really!?—“ his father replied, this time letting his whispering slip a little, almost yelling his response instead.

 

“What’s wrong?!” His mother came in, concerned but still level headed enough to whisper “Oh hi Cole. what are you doing up? It isn’t even four yet” she continued, this time directing her speech to Cole after noticing him.

 

“It is though” Cole replied with a bland expression.

 

“Huh!?” Cole’s mother replied before checking her phones Clock and almost simultaneously being shushed by her husband.

 

“Crap! we need to hurry if we want to beat the traffic” his mother stated before grabbing the box out of his father's hand and bolting, heading straight for the car.

 

Cole then looked over to his father, smiling while also leaning his right elbow on the staircase railing, followed by his head which was now resting on his right hand's palm.

 

“Guess we lost track of time, sorry for not waking you up sooner” his father said with a slightly embarrassed look.

 

“Eh, don’t worry about it, I’m just glad I got up in time or you probably would’ve left without saying anything”

 

His father couldn’t help but nervously chuckle at that statement “haha, probably”

 

An awkward silence slowly grew between the two before being swiftly ended by his father.

 

“…I’m sorry for leaving you three alone for the next couple of weeks… it’s not like I’d do it unless I had to—“ his father stated, trying to explain himself before being cut off by Cole.

 

“It’s okay dad, I understand. I just wish you’d let me wake the others up before you left”

 

His dad then sighed before replying “well I would but… you know how Adam gets when we try to separate from him for long periods of time” 

 

Cole watched his father sigh once again though this time even harder before continuing. 

 

“I also don’t think Will cares much either way so it’s probably better if we don’t wake him”

 

Cole then gave a short reply in response to his father's depressing statement “Right” 

 

Cole couldn’t really disagree with him, knowing full well that he was pretty much on the mark, however, it still made him a little sad, deep down.

 

While the two were talking however Cole’s mother came back in. Her hair was a mess and her face looked as if she hadn’t slept for weeks.

 

She then looked over towards her husband before speaking.

 

“Is that it?” She asked sounding both sleepy and a little desperate to head off so that she could have a nap in the car.

 

“Yeah I think so” his dad responded in a reassuring tone of voice.

 

“Great!” his mother said before walking up the stairs and giving Cole a hug.

 

“Good luck, try to keep your brothers from killing each other” his mother said while hugging him tightly.

 

“I will” Cole replied while hugging back, though nowhere near as hard.

 

“Good!” his mother said before ending their hug and heading back downstairs.

 

His father then walked over to grab one last bag before turning his attention back towards Cole.

 

“Good luck, I’ll see you soon” his father said before continuing to stand in silence, waiting for his son's reply.

 

“Yeah, you too” Cole replied.

 

His father then smiled at him before turning around and following his tired wife over towards the car.

 

Cole then watched as his parents finished packing the car and got into it themselves before driving off and slowly disappearing as they drove further and further up the street.

 

Cole then sighed before closing and locking the front door.

 

“Guess I should get started then” Cole said to himself before starting his tasks for the day.

 

…

 

After having his shower, getting dressed and making both his and his brother's school lunches, Cole looked over towards the microwaves clock.

 

“Huh, still pretty early”

 

After checking the time, Cole saw that it was currently ten minutes to six so he decided to start breakfast.

 

For breakfast, Cole really couldn’t be bothered making something complicated so he instead settled on something nice and easy, deciding to make toast with either Peanut butter or jam being the options for the toast's toppings.

 

After preparing breakfast for both him and the problem children, Cole decided to yell at the top of his lungs, not being bothered to walk up and get them himself.

 

“OI!! YOU TWO!! THE LAST ONE DOWN MISSES OUT ON BREAKFAST SO HURRY UP!!!” Cole called out as loud as he could, nearly losing his voice and most certainly pissing off the neighbours in the process.

 

Cole didn’t care much however and instead sat down and started eating.

 

A couple of minutes later Cole was ready to yell once again when suddenly, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

 

He then looked over to see who they belonged to. With them belonging to the middle child, Will.

 

Will was only two years younger than Cole but acted as if he was the eldest which in the end only made him seem far younger than what he actually was.

 

He was a rude, arrogant and angry little boy that bordered on the edge of sadism, breaking the mental image most people had of him when first meeting him and completely betraying the young, blonde and innocent middle child character his appearance alone emanated.

 

Followed by Will however was the youngest child, Adam, a kind but clingy kid who’d cry over a villain's death in a B movie. And despite being twelve this year he still acted like a spoiled six-year-old, something both he and his older brother had in common. though for very different reasons.

 

Cole then watched as both his brothers finished walking down the stairs while starting his second piece of toast. 

 

“Mworning” Cole said, toast completely filling his mouth.

 

“Hey” Will said, giving a short and simple reply before taking his seat at the kitchen table, grabbing a piece of toast along with a knife covered in jam and smearing it all over the toast.

 

Adam however didn’t respond, instead, looking around confused before asking a question Cole was dreading.

 

“Where’s mom and dad?” Adam asked in an incredibly innocent tone of voice.

 

Cole decided to put it off for a couple more seconds, opting to instead finish his toast.

 

Adam, however, wasn’t having it and spoke once more.

 

“Cole?” 

 

Cole then looked at his brother before swallowing his toast and answering his question.

 

“They left town for a bit, they’ll be back soon”

 

“When?” Adam asked, almost immediately.

 

“About a week or two. It’s no big deal so just sit down and eat your toa—“

 

“Why didn’t they tell me?” Adam said cutting Cole off before he could finish.

 

“U-Uh” Cole hesitated.

 

Noticing Cole’s hesitation Will decided to weigh in on the conversation “it’s because you’re an annoyance that would have kept them here four hours longer than they needed to if they ended up trying to say goodbye to you”

 

After hearing that tears started to form in Adam's eyes. Causing Cole himself to get a little angry.

 

“Will!” Cole said, being rightfully pissed off at his little brother for saying something unnecessary that he knew would upset Adam.

 

Adams face then started to turn a light shade of red before he responded, tears starting to flow.

 

“Take that back Will!” Adam yelled, clearly upset with his brother

 

“No, fuck off” Will said, causally responding to his brother.

 

“Will!” Cole repeated, this time with a much louder and angrier sounding voice.

 

“What?” Will asked, not seeming to know or care about the situation he just caused.

 

Adam's face then appeared to be far redder than before with it getting worse by the minute “I SAID TAKE IT BACK WILL!!”

 

Suddenly, Adam pounced at his brother, hitting him in the back multiple times, causing him to choke in the process.

 

“ADAM! STOP!” Cole yelled before turning his attention towards his now choking brother “Will, are you okay?”

 

*cough* *cough* “ptui!”

 

After nearly choking to death, Will managed to spit out the piece of toast that was lodged in the back of his throat before getting up and turning his attention towards his little brother.

 

“YOU LITTLE SHIT!!”

 

*SMACK*

 

“AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”

 

“WILL!!” Cole replied both pissed off and disgusted by his brother's actions.

 

“WHAT!? THAT LITTLE FUCKER STARTED IT”

 

“I don’t care!—!?”

 

Cole said, about to unleash a hailstorm of rage on his brother before turning his attention away from him and towards Adam's loud cries of pain, noticing blood dripping down the hand that was covering his face.

 

“Here Adam, let me see…, fuck” Cole mumbled while trying to figure out whether he should drive him up to the hospital or not. 

 

While inspecting his brother's wound however, Adam resisted “GET…*Sniff* OFF OF….*Sniff* ME!!!” He said, pushing his brother back onto his ass before running towards the back door and heading outside.

 

“Adam! Wait dammit!” Cole called out before getting back up and chasing after Adam.

 

The two then headed outside with Cole stopping for a moment, watching his currently distressed and injured brother climbing up the old tree they used to swing on when they were younger.

 

Cole then continued moving towards the tree before stopping within a meters distance of it and calling out towards his brother.

 

“Adam come down so I can see if it’s broken” Cole called out with what he thought was a calm and reassuring voice.

 

It didn’t seem to convince his brother however “No!” Adam responded a bloody, red mess.

 

After his short but straightforward reply, Cole looked around to make sure no one was watching before responding “Adam I know it hurts but if you stay up there I can’t fix it” Cole stated, trying to convince his brother to come down and stop causing a scene, not wanting the situation to get any worse.

 

“No!” Adam repeated, determined to stay up in that tree.

 

“Dammit” Cole muttered under his breath.

 

“I’m coming to get you then”

 

Cole then began to climb, feeling the tree's rough bark scrape against his hands, arms and legs with each step up he took.

 

Adam noticed this and yelled in response to his older brother's actions.

 

“NO!… GO..*Sniff* AWAY!..*Sniff*” Adam responded while still clearly upset and on the verge of another meltdown.

 

“I don’t care what you say Adam! I’m not backing…. Down….!?”

 

Suddenly, out of nowhere a bright light flashed in the corner of Cole’s eye and after looking at it directly noticed that it was the tree… glowing?

 

“Huh?”

 

However, before he could even fully process it. The bright light only got brighter and with it followed darkness that completely engulfed Cole’s vision, before it slowly returned and revealed something unreal.