~•3 years later•~

"Laurance, heads up!" I throw a football over to him while he's turned around.

It hits the back of his head. He immediately falls to his knees, rubbing the back of his head trying to relieve the sore spot I had hit. He turns around and gives me a small glare.

"Gah! Garroth!" He screams. "What was that for?!"

I shrug, "I felt like it."

"No cancer perks or anything?" He gets up and walks over to me.

"No," I shake my head. "I'm 15, I haven't had cancer in three years."

I pick up the football and place it in my backpack. Slinging the straps over my shoulders, I almost get overwhelmed by how heavy it is.

"I gotta go home," I turn to him.

He squints his eyes at me, "I'll get you back for that."

"Okay, you plot that plan," I laugh.

He rolls his eyes as I turn around and walk away. It's hard to believe all that's happened in the last few years.

Zane is thirteen, almost fourteen. Vylad's nine and a half, and I'm 15 ans a half. We're all doing good, despite the fact that dad is gone.

Dad.

It's hard to believe he's been gone for almost four years. Mom and Zane seemed to take it really well, though Vylad and I had some difficulties. But, it got better.

I kick the rocks on the sidewalk as I approach my house. I fish the keys out of my right pocket and unlock the door. Walking in, I drop my backpack on the floor and lock the door again. Luckily, Vylad and Zane walk home together, so I don't have to let them in.

"Hey, mom," I call out and walk into the kitchen. To my surprise, she's there.

Mom works weird hours. Every day is different, its just when they need her. So, sometimes she's there after school and sometimes she's not. Occasionally, she's not home until all of us go to sleep. That's when I'm in charge of my brothers.

"Hey, G," she says, not turning around from making dinner.

"Are you working tonight?" I walk next to her.

"Just for a couple hours. I'll be home by the time you boys wake up," she continues stirring the food in the large pot.

"Are you sure you have to? I don't have medical bills anymore," I say.

"Garroth," she says as she moves the pot away from the stove and turns toward me. "I have three boys, two of which are teenagers."

I look down, "Mom, you work to hard."

She puts down the pot and kisses my forehead. I look up at her and look straight into her tired eyes.

"It's okay, buddy. Go do homework, it'll be okay," she puts a hand on the back of my head.

I sigh, nodding and going to pick up my backpack. I run upstairs into my room and throw it on my bed, closing my door slightly loud.

Now, I put the pro in procrastinate.

I pick my phone up, typing my code in and open the messaging app. I click on the group chat that Laurance, Aphmau and I have.

Garroth: Hey fam.

I stare at the ceiling for a couple of seconds. Almost immediately, I get a text back.

Aphmau: Garroth I swear to god if you say fam one more time.

I smile and begin typing.

Garroth: Sorry, fam.

Aphmau: GARROTH.

Laurance: You guyyss I'm trying to work.

Garroth: M

Garroth: U

Garroth: T

Garroth: E

Aphmau: You wrote that in so many messages when you could have written it in one.

Garroth: Yep.

Laurance: I'm done.

Aphmau: Aww c'mon LaurLaur!

Laurance: Nope.

Aphmau: Please? *Puppy dog eyes*

Laurance: Fine. 😒

Aphmau: Yess!

I feel a slight pain crawl up my back. I wince a little bit, adjusting to make it feel better. When it doesn't, I decide to get some pain medication before it gets worse. I slowly walks downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Hey, G," Mom turns and looks at me.

"Do we have any advil?" I try to hide the pain increasing in my face.

"What's wrong, bud?" She looks at me with concerned eyes.

"My back just hurts is a bit, that's all," I rub my arm and look down.

Mom nods and goes to one of the highest cabinets in the kitchen. Even though she isn't that tall, she can still reach it. She opens the pill bottle and gives me two pills. I slip them into my front shirt pocket and grab a water bottle from the fridge.

"Thanks, mom," I say.

"Anytime, Garroth," she turns back to the dishes she was washing.

I walk upstairs and sit down at my desk, turning the water bottle open and taking the pills out and putting them into my mouth. I bring the bottle to my lips and the water rushes into my mouth. I swallow, wishing that it would take action the second I swallow the medication.

I pick up my phone again and turn it on. My lockscreen is spammed with text notifications. They seem to text really fast. I swipe and put in my code again, which takes me directly to the app.

Aphmau: Garroth? You there?

Garroth: Yeah, sorry, I had to take pain meds.

Laurance: What's wrong?

Garroth: Back pain.

Aphmau: Maybe you're getting old.

Garroth: Oh ha ha Aphmau.

Aphmau: :3

Garroth: I'm gonna do homework, bye.

Laurance: Good luck it's hard.

Garroth: For you, you're stupid.

Laurance: GARROTH.

I laugh, rolling my eyes. I pick up my math text book and notebook and start doing hard crap.

Oh, the joys of being in the advanced class.

I stress out, making my head hurt slightly and my back hurt even worse. I adjust my posture and take a deep breath, making sure that it's nothing. The back pain doesn't subside, but the headache does.

I finish it after a long while. I slip my supplies back into my backpack and take out French homework. French comes easy for me. To me, it's not a hard language. Especially since I took Spanish in elementary and middle school.

I finish that in seconds, putting it back into my backpack. My back starts hurting worse than ever before that I can remember, so I slowly limp over to my bed and lay down.

I close my eyes, and the world around me starts becoming nothing. My ears ring and I try not to focus on the pain. After about 10 minutes, the pain subsides a small bit.

"Garroth?" I hear a small knock on my door.

I turn over and open my eyes to see mom, dressed in her work clothes. She looks at me with concerned eyes.

"What's wrong, buddy?" She comes over to me and rubs my back, which is still sore. "Does your back still hurts?"

I nod, "Yeah."

"Okay, it's okay. Zane will take care of Vylad. You just rest, I'll be home soon. Did you get your homework done?"

I nod again. The pain keeps subsiding a small bit at a time, but not enough to the point where I'm comfortable.

"Good," she kisses my forehead. "Love you."

"Love you, mom."

She smiles and leaves. I close my eyes once again and turn to my other side. I check the time, only 7:30. I guess I'll sleep anyway, to get the pain to go away.

I look at a picture of dad.

If this is a sign or something, show it differently.

••••••••
Hellooo readers of this book.

This book only has a few chapters left 😭

But. A reminder to all of you who decided to answer the Fanart contest: Remember, contest ends October 11. So get it in before then!

Thanks for reading! Bai!
••••••••