Aaron closed his eyes and tuned out the several music tracks which merged together, attempting to flood into his ears and jumbling up his thoughts in order to distract him from the task at hand.


    Gathering his focus, the black-haired boy tightened his grip before he slammed down the plastic hammer with all that he could muster in his body before letting gravity do the rest of the work as his hands slightly shifted down closer to the bottom of the hammer.


    Feeling a jolt in his hands he quickly diverted his attention towards the point metre, where he saw a green line slowly creep up the metre, passing the 75% point, and, as if it had suddenly grown hands, continuously hoisting itself up the remaining distance.


    “You’re going to get it this time!” a high-pitched sounding voice mumbled out in astonishment, their slender fingers point towards the increasing metre as it slowly reached the top.


    Reaching the very top of the metre, a loud ringing melody crescendoed from the two speakers located next to the game booth, tickets triumphantly flooding out from a little slit on the side of the booth, slowly accumulating upon both of their feet as if congratulating them with a celebratory hug.


    Aaron and Chloe looked towards the ever-growing pile of tickets with bated breath, wondering how majestic it would look after it had finished printing out all of them.


    The small orange haired girl stole a glance towards her taller counterpart before letting out a small mischievous giggle.


    Suddenly her shoulders slumped down as if a heavy boulder sat atop of them, feeble hands aimlessly dangling before her, cascading hair hiding a little smirk which tugged upon the corners of her mouth.


    Turning towards the male, Chloe sighed slightly before quietly mumbling, “When I play, I can’t even get past 20%, not to mention 100%...“.


    Looking towards the seemingly crestfallen girl, Aaron raised his hand and ruffled the top of her long hair, a loud chuckle erupting from his mouth, lips parting into a knowing grin.


    “It’s all about technique, Chlo, technique!” he explained, leaving the pouting girl to moan alone.


    Stealing another glance towards Aaron, her orange orbs met his countenance, one hand covering a series of uncontrollable, yet muffled, chuckles followed by two green eyes which held steadfast upon her appearance, one eyebrow raised as if he was questioning how long she’d continue with her act.


    Fa?ade breaking after seeing her plan wasn’t going to work, the girl broke out of her burdened state and swiftly moved closer to Aaron whilst bowing her head.


    “Aah, it doesn’t matter whether I can do it or not! Gimmie some of those tickets~!” Chloe pleaded, her hands together above her head.


    A little scoff came from Aaron as he teasingly spoke, “Nooopeee, they’re all mine!“.


    Chloe whined in response, choosing to send a flurry of lethal attacks towards the taller boy’s shoulder, an action which made the latter laugh at the futility of her actions.


    “You might want to punch a little harder~, since I can’t feel anything!” Aaron jeered, dodging her fists, and sending a soft flick towards Chloe’s head, much to the girl’s chagrin, as she held her forehead in mock pain, fiercely glaring at the boy.


    Both of them were now age 16 and, having been friends for the better part of 5 or so years, they had come to know each other very well.


    Having learnt early on that Chloe was quite physically weak due an illness she was born with at birth, Aaron made sure to physically poke fun at her at any opportunity that he got.


    It was currently the weekend before the new school term was set to start, the duo having joined a new school together.


    “Arghh, you know what fine! 1v1 me! Winner takes the tickets! I’ll let you pick what character I’ll play and if I lose, I’ll let you give me a dare.” Chloe proposed, a confident tone laced within her words.


    Aaron’s expression lit up once he heard the small girl’s words, his eyes slowly turning towards her before speaking in a serious voice, “Any character?” he repeated, confirming her words.


    “Yup, you heard me right, any character!” she reaffirmed, confidence still upon her brow as she held her chin up high.


    “Alright, you’ve got yourself a deal. There’s a free booth over there!” Aaron agreed, quickly scanning the arcade’s surroundings before spotting a free booth.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Scuttling over to the console, Aaron popped in a pound coin and moved his character select cursor towards his usual dual short sword wielding assassin.


    Then he picked up Chloe’s controller and scanned the list of characters, his eyes falling upon one character.


    This character had the worst time dealing with his main and would therefore give him the best chance at winning against that monster.


    Looking towards the character Aaron had picked, Chloe slowly let out a sad tut before spouting out a brief sigh, “You never learn, do you?” she lamented, stretching out her finger and wrists whilst curving her back and letting out a satisfied hum.


    Barely two minutes had passed before the result of the game had been set in stone. Sweat laced Aaron’s head as he stared motionlessly at the screen, gnashing his teeth, slumping down onto the floor in a despairingly shocked manner, as if he had thought that he would actually win.


    “I only managed to take a single stock... I had the absolute advantage... You... You monster!” he dramatically cried out, looking towards the triumphant girl who was standing proud, taking the tickets that had been put in between them on the surface of the booth.


    “I think that makes the score 458 to 2370, you haven’t been able to beat me for three years straight!” she grinned, humming her favourite song from the game’s soundtrack as she reached out her hand towards the solemn boy.


    Aaron looked up towards the small orange haired girl who was displaying a large toothy grin before laughing and then accepting her hand.


    Chloe put all her weight into pulling Aaron’s hand but was unable to make him budge from the floor, her face flushed red as she shamefully fully exerted herself.


    “Oh, come on Aaron! You gotta help me out here~!” Chloe whined, her emotions flustered as she looked towards the ground and shoved her hands into her pocket.


    The green-eyed boy let out a hearty laugh, as if he had just seen the funniest comedy routine in the world, before wiping the small tear drop that had appeared in the corner of his eyes.


    “Sorry, sorry, but come onnnn~! You can’t blame me! It’s just too funny~.” He giggled, placing a hand on his stomach as he continued to laugh.


    Embarrassment quickly turned into anger as Chloe started to kick at the boy who had been laying on the ground near her shoe, unfortunately not achieving her goal of making him feel any sort of pain.


    Standing up, Aaron once again ruffled the small girl’s orange hair before they walked off to the booth where they could exchange their tickets for a prize.


    “How has your piano practice been going? I’d love to hear the song that you’ve been working on!” questioned Chloe, who walked in front of Aaron and tilted her head slightly, her hands held behind her back.


    “Yeah, it’s been going well, Camelia sometimes wonders into my room to have a listen and she seems to enjoy it.” He proudly responded, walking past the girl towards the prize booth.


    Chloe seemed somewhat perturbed by his lack of reaction to her pose, choosing to not mention it and continue the conversation, “Eh, Camelia would like any sound if you were the one who played it.” She slyly pointed out.


    Reaching their destination, they took a gander at the prices on offer as they got greeted by the staff.


    Various prizes were being displayed, ranging from actual consoles to small pieces of candy.


    With the amount that the Aaron had won, and Chloe had stolen, she picked out a large poster which had all the characters from their favourite game on it, as well as the game’s name in large bold letters.


    Chloe giddily exchanged the poster for the tickets, turning towards Aaron to boast about what she’d gotten.


    “Let’s take a photo with it.” He suggested, his phone already held up and ready to take it.


    The orange haired girl seemed slightly puzzled at his lack of displeasure at losing his tickets but decided to push the matter towards the corner of her mind.


    The picture takes priority.


    Fitting herself below Aaron’s tall stature, Chloe held out her hands to make two small peace signs whilst Aaron put his hand on top of her head and stuck out his tongue whilst taking the picture.


    “I’ll get it printed out for you, since you don’t have a phone.” He matter-of-factly stated, looking at the photo for a few seconds before beginning to put it away in his pocket.


    Printing out the pictures they took together was something Aaron was quite used to doing and he had bought the tools required to do it at home by himself, after Chloe’s several consistent pleas over the years.


    “Wait a sec, lemmie see that picture.” Chloe asked, her hand reaching towards the boy in expectation that he’d surrender the device to her.


    “Sure” he replied, handing the phone over without hesitation.


    Looking down towards the picture, Chloe felt a warm feeling within her chest as she saw the two of them being so close together, Aaron’s silly expression making her laugh slightly.


    But then that warmth quickly disappeared as soon as it had enveloped her, a frost cold ache seeping into her body as a towering figure stood hunched over behind the two.


    There it was. As usual. It appeared behind the small girl, so large that it could almost be mistaken as black wall.


    She clenched her fists tightly before looking behind her at the figure who was silently staring at Aaron before turning her attention back to the boy, shoulders drooped, and mood soured.


    However, just one look at her counterpart made Chloe feel as though her good mood had come back almost instantly, his figure focusing on the screen of someone else who was playing a game, staring intently as if he was the one playing.


    Spending time with him always helped Chloe get through anything she was troubled with.


    <hr>


    A sharp metal razor infected with a crimson glaze slid across Chloe’s small shoulder as she swiftly inflicted a few shallow cuts, her shoulder quickly becoming dyed with the liquid as her expression remained motionless.


    A large black hand seemed to guide her hand as it slid across her body, the signature fit of giggles erupting from their figure as it controlled the small girl as if she was a marionette and it the puppet master.


    “A few more for you, Pa.” she mumbled out, her orange hair covering her pail expression, eyes still and dry.


    Careful not to let any of the liquid drop onto the bathroom floor, Chloe flinched as the sound of another glass bottle smashing against a wall erupted from the living room followed by a song of drunken laughter.


    Regaining control two small orange orbs widened, figure trembling as she stared at the few red blobs which now called the floor their home.