A light Jazz music complemented by the yellow lights filled the giant ballroom when Kyle stepped in. He padded in deeper; studying through the crowd, standing in small groups, bearing countenance more relaxed than his.

His heart kept beating against his chest, as he scanned through the unknown faces, with a hope to find at least someone he could recognize. The fear inside him was dominating enough, to get visible in his features.

It was then, he was stopped by a giant chocolate cake standing in the middle of the hall. The beauty and the artistry carved over the cake made it stand out among the rest of the things that the hour would ever witness.

Even though the beautiful sweet treat, held a power to pull anyone in an awe. Yet, A shrill ran down his nerves. The hypnotizing effect the cake had on him was in no way soothing. He kept a boggled eye locked on the giant artistry as every other detail gradually blurred in the peripheral of his vision.

A nauseating effect started to take over him when a loud jarring sound banged into his ears, followed by a numbing shriek beating his eardrums.

Wincing, he turned around to now get welcomed by smoke. A thick cloud of fume surrounded him. A sudden emptiness followed.

The thick fume was strong enough to create an opaque wall across him. His breathing accelerated and his chest started to hammer against his rib cage. Pulling up his guts, he squinted to look through the thick cloud. But, not long did it take for a disturbing realization to hit him. The corners filled by excited happy faces were now void. The corner of the thick pillar where the men stood was now empty. The bar chairs which held various men and women slowly enjoying their drinks were now left as it was but without the people sitting on them. Nothing but a ghostly silence and the growing smoke was left behind.

Letting out a shaky exhale, he ran aimlessly through the reachable perimeter of the gigantic hall. His thumping footsteps being the only sound reverberating through the gold tiled walls, reflecting the panic set over him. After a moment of searching for a reasonable explanation, he stood, supporting his hands over his knees. Panting out. Letting his eyes do a last scan, when a rasp, pleading voice cracked through the silence, making him jerk and flounce towards the source.

"Save Them, Will you?"

When he moved, his eyes up, towards the golden frame of the gallery, he froze. A sturdy silhouette stood by the gallery, blocking the only light source behind him. The figure seemed valiant and at the same time it let out a warm aura. He peered, trying to recognize the unknown shadow, but it was all in vain. He knew it wasn't a threat. He knew it wasn't a trick. He knew the silhouette was close. Very close to him.

He tried reaching out but soon the weak cloud grew thicker and thicker until the shadow was completely swallowed by the smoke. Leaving a blank, fancy railing, undisturbed.

Kyle jolted out of his sleep. Sweat droplets covering his face and hairline. Trying to catch his breath, he scanned through the yellow and cream aesthetics of the huge classroom and let out a heavy breath. A peaceful silence took over, only broken by the low buzzing of the centralized AC vent.

His shaky hand reached out his face and he gave his skin a wary, yet a vigorous rub. As he parted his eyelids, his gaze fell on the blank paper laying over the table near him.

Frowning, he hesitantly took the paper in his hand and stared at it, still unsettled by the preposterous dream he just had, when with a sudden impact, a hand snatched it away.

He looked up with a hazy sight to meet with a pair of apathetic eyes. After batting his eyelids for a couple of times, he snapped back to reality.

"I don't have all day to guard your detention when all you do is sleep," The man near him hissed before storming out of the room.

Kyle shut his eyes and took a few deep breaths before he stood up and followed him.

-------------------

It was the end of yet another day at the Prestige College and Kyle was standing by his locker after a series of break free classes and a detention, thereafter. Not that, he was unfamiliar to detention scenarios.

Cocking his head, he groaned in an attempt to release his jammed up mind. He took a deep breath and opened the door of the locker, pulled out his backpack, and shoved it onto his shoulder. He patted his bun, to check if it was tightly secured and turned around to leave the campus.

He walked through the silent corridor, which was usually hustling with students, but for the extra hours for detention, making him leave campus comparatively late. The one that was present, never missed stealing a glance as he strode down the lane, admiring every step he took while the other glances took their chances in studying through the mind of the loner. Despite the mixed judgement tangling him, he just didn't mind paying any attention.

As he approached the main door, the distant sound of cheering and swearing caught his ears. He stopped and turned his face towards the wide football ground, which dominated a large area of the college campus, overlooking the parking lot .

A large group of boys and girls were running across the ground with a ball rolling throughout the perimeter. He took a few steps forward and squinted till his eyes caught a familiar feminine figure____ maneuvering through the boys and saving the ball while her brown hair, tied in a high ponytail, swung left to right, her strands twinkling under the slanting sun rays. She dodged through her opponents before throwing a huge kick. The ball hit right through the net, and the ground broke out into a roar of cheers and hooting at the smooth goal.

Gritting his teeth, Kyle thumped through the concrete floor and stopped by the stairs leading to the lush green football ground. The place was, without a doubt, the witness of the most eventful moments of mixed emotions carried by fulfilled and shattered dreams.

"Next time, see you, boy," Kendall challeneged the boy who played opposite her team, as she took a couple of steps towards the stairs that lead to the exit.

She was so engulfed in the playful conversation after the friendly match that she failed to sense the human presence behind her, until she bumped into him.

She turned around. A yellow gradient of the setting sun smeared over Kyle's stern expression as he towered her, hands crossed against his chest. She let out a nervous grin, which completely unveiled the "I am in trouble" beating inside her.

"What are you doing here?" She spoke with a fake tone.

"I am a student here, remember?" Kyle replied with a lace of sarcasm.

"And, why are you scaring me, like that?" Kendall questioned back, trying to make her voice, as cocky as possible.

"Because, you're in trouble, Little one." Kyle replied in a grave tone, putting an extra emphasis on the 'you're' before he turned around and stormed out of the place.

He swung open the driver's door of the old fashioned black honda, got inside and closed it with a loud bang. He kept his grip tight over the steering wheels, draining the color off his knuckles until the lock of the door clicked, snapping him back into reality. Kendall cautiously hoped over the passenger seat and gulped.

"Bro!! A hell of a match it was! I'm telling you, it was dope!" Kendall initiated  excitedly but Kyle didn't answer. He silently turned the engine, getting the car out of the parking lot.

Kendall turned her head towards her brother, slightly creasing her brows, bothered by the deadly silence she got in return.

Kyle kept his gaze fixated on the road. Although, he could feel Kendall's eyes studying through him, as if she was trying to start a talk. But he decided to keep silent. He wasn't oblivious of his own arrogance nor was he oblivious of the fact that Kendall is not someone who backs off.

"Kyle! Seriously!" shifting on her seat, to face him, "Are you really going to give me a silent treatment?"

They were two different personalities with the same frequency of arrogance.

"You are not so dumb, Ken!" Trying hard not to burst out, "You know what you have done!"

Kendall scrunched her face at his remark, but he silently drove.

-------------------------------------------------
Madeline was standing by the kitchen counter, chopping carrots, slightly humming to herself when Kendall flung open the main door, jolting her in her place. Kyle followed suit as Kendall darted inside the house, shoving her bag over the sofa. Madeline placed a hand over her chest and let out a sharp breath.

"Your attitude won't change my mind." Kyle said in a stern tone, keeping his arms crossed against his chest as rage poured out of every pore.

Kendall stormed towards Kyle, "You! You... Do you even have a better job than pestering me about everything I do?"

"You can't expect me to stay silent while you keep acting so careless!!"

"Well, I thought your college ground was open to all. Too bad, my brother's mind isn't."

"Ken, stop twisting my words. You know I hate it when you're out there without my knowledge. "

"I. Am. not. A. five year old"

"Really? Your actions contradict."

Kendall retorted with a high-pitched voice, "It's rainy,... Jesus!!"

The girl turned towards Madeline, who kept her confused gaze shuffling alternately between her two children, jaw plunged open, trying to decipher their, not so rare, but a sudden outrage.

"Mom, tell your son I had my reason to use that ground."

Madeline arched her brows, still unsettled. "And?"

Kendall plunged her shoulders and said, " due to last night's heavy rain the ground we usually play in is in a dire condition but, we had to practice."

"Well, skipping one day of practise won't do any harm!!" Kyle snapped.

Kendall closed her eyes, in an attempt to contain her frustration. "Mom, tell your son that if he tries to take shots at me, because of silly reasons, I won't give a second thought before strangling him."

Kyle aggressively threw his bag on the floor "And, I will strangle you, If I see you among people I don't trust, again!!"

"Do you even trust anyone?"

"I'll strangle you both if that vase breaks." Madeline's voice broke out with an offbeat line, making them freeze on the spot.

Kyle glanced at Madeline, who in return pointed towards the vase with a swift movement of her eyes. He shifted his gaze towards the decoration piece; half hanging off the shelf and immediately walked past the couch to put the vase in its original place.

Before walking away, he stopped near Kendall."I'm very serious. Or, I'll make sure, you never play football, ever again." he said in a low yet commanding tone of voice.

"Okay, Boomer!"

"What did you just call me?"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!!" Madeline snapped at them, "You both stop it and go to your rooms, NOW!!"

Kyle and Kendall shared a death glare. The girl broke the stare, picked her bag up, strode inside the corridor and banged the door of her room behind her. Kyle exhaled and set to leave, but Madeline's voice calling out his name stopped him and he turned his heel towards the kitchen counter.

"Kyle! This is not how you deal with your sister. "

"Mom, I'm just trying to protect her. I don't have a problem with her playing football or anything she finds happiness in. But, the boys she was playing with, are not people I trust my sister with."

"Protecting is good but being possessive is not. Don't do anything that pushes her away from you. She's young and naive. Give her the space to explore. You can't just keep her trapped because you want to protect her."

"Sorry Mom, I can't give her that space if that leads her into harming herself."

Shaking her head, "What can I do to bring you out of this paranoia? You're harming yourself. You can't keep in your shell forever. And by pushing her away instead of cherishing the family moments together will do you no good. You'll end up feeling empty and lonely. You suggest me, what can I do?"

"I don't know, maybe tell me the truth?"

Madeline's face turned pale at the unexpected response.

"What truth?"

"About my dad. Who he was? How he actually died? Why did you leave?" After a small pause, Kyle looked away and shook his head. "I'm sorry, mom but I'm not paranoid, I know there's something going on, you're not telling me. I won't let down my guards until I know that there are no possible threats hovering over us." He paused and then added, "I'll never forget his last words.."

Madeline looked down and swallowed the tears dwelling up in her throat. Rubbing the tip of her index finger casually through the marble counter " I'm not hiding anything from you. He was a businessman and he...... died in an explosion at a factory, leaving our family..... bankrupt, thereafter."

"Why did you leave?"

"I am not bound to answer that question, Son.", Madeline replied with a calm voice, shooting up a stern look on him.

Kyle nodded sarcastly, a subtle rage still reflecting off his dark eyes. Without a second word, he turned and thumped up the stairs. Letting his frustration echo through his footsteps.

Madeline kept her eyes on him, until he closed the door behind him. Silence took over the room, announcing an agony. Her heart sunk in her chest. Another day of unanswered questions, another day of hiding the truth, another day of the inevitable distance.

It killed her to defy all his questions. It killed her to see him lurk into the darkness. She wished she didn't have to lie to her kids but what else could she do to keep them safe? She slowly shut her eyelids and a stream of tears rolled down her cheeks.