“Boom, you lost!” Ken shouted as his eyes gleamed, raising his palm to Tin. The two of them were sitting on a couch playing a video game that was now displaying the words GAME OVER.

  “Err, uhm, I think I left my money in my room,” Tin said, trying to stand up. However, Ken stopped her by grabbing her right hand. “No escaping.”

  “I promise I left my money in my room,” Tin said hesitantly, uncertain whether Ken would trust her.

  “Really?” Ken asked, looking at her suspiciously.

  “R-Really,” Tin replied. By then, she was on her feet.

  “Kay, fine,” Ken said, relenting. Tin felt confident at that moment and tried to hide the grin that was forming on her face as she turned around. However, Ken noticed and threw a threatening word at her. “Hey, if you’re not gonna pay up, I’m gonna mess up your toys.”

  Tin snapped at his words, “Both of us know you’re not gonna do that.”

  “Oh yeah? Try me,” Ken provoked.

  “Hey, stop it, you two,” Linda interrupted, trying to calm them down.

  Ken and Tin grunted as they averted their gazes from each other. Alastor entered the room and asked, “What’s the commotion all about?”

  “Nah, kids fight,” Linda said dismissively. She walked by the shelf and read a magazine in the living room.

  “Right,” Alastor replied, blankly looking at them before turning his attention to Linda. “Anyways, how’s she doing?”

  “Getting better,” Linda replied without looking back.

  “Really? Fill me in,” Ken said eagerly. He finally looked up.

  “Hey, calm down, lover boy,” Alastor interjected. “She can barely mutter five or three words, and we’re not sure if she’s not or a liability to us.”

  “Hey, how ‘bout we talk to her and help her remember some things,” Ken suggested.

  “Interrogation?” Alastor questioned.

  “No, talk to her like a normal person, a soldier boy. She has amnesia; an interrogation is not a freaking pep talk,” Ken retorted.

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  Alastor thought about it for a moment before grunting and walking outside the premises with an unexplainable reaction. “That guy has a serious problem,” Ken added, as though he was mocking Alastor.

  “Al is a bit, um, how do I say this?” Linda struggled to find the right words.

  “Edgy?” Ken suggested.

  “Edgy, right,” Linda agreed. “Yeah, I know. Some cadets get hang-ups even though he’s not looking at them.”

  “The way he looks strikes fear into people,” Ken observed.

  “Ken,” Linda warned.

  “What?”

  “Just don’t get it into you, alright? He’s a lot more complicated than you think,” Linda cautioned.

  “Right, I can already see it. I’ll suck up the tension and use happy imagination,” Ken said, trying to lighten the mood.

  ***

  Alastor grunted as he opened his eyes to the buzzing and sirens of his alarm clock. He took a deep breath before deciding to stand up. After glancing at his phone and reading Linda’s message about the elevators not working, he proceeded to the bathroom to do his usual routine. As always, he proceeded to the bathroom, doing the same routine, brushed his teeth, bathed, put on his favorite white and black striped shirt, and wore short black pants. As he proceeded outside of his room, he saw Sherry at the end of the hallway, staring aimlessly down beyond the window. She wore a white dress with a red lace tied to her hair. The wind made her ponytail fly when she opened the window, met by a gust of wind.

  Alastor observed for a few seconds before he decided to go down to the lounge when he heard a voice as he stepped towards the stairs.

  “Hey,” Sherry called out.

  “Yes?” he said without looking back at her.

  “I just want to-to…” she trailed off.

  “To what?”

  “To thank you.”

  He tilted his head to see Sherry’s face. “Look, if you think we saved you out of goodwill, then you’re lucky because we only saved you to find a use for you.”

  Sherry paused her movements and looked discouraged about what he said. “Is that so?” she frowned.

  “Yeah. If that’s all, then I will go downstairs.” Alastor left Sherry with a worrying thought clinging to her head. She tried to toughen herself, but a single tear crept out, and she shed it.

  As Alastor proceeded to the lounge, the energetic man, Ken met him. “Yo! Have you seen Sherry?” Ken questioned.

  “Yes.”

  “Where?”

  “Outside my room. She was staring out the window.”

  Ken intervened when Alastor headed towards the kitchen. “You realize that it’s breakfast, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s why I came down here to eat.”

  “Then why didn’t you invite her?!”

  “Must’ve slipped my mind,” Alastor said.

  “Dude!”

  Alastor didn’t respond anymore, only with a grunt gesturing that he was getting annoyed, but Linda came in and threw him a look as if she were saying, ‘Calm down.’ She sat down on the sofa holding a book and started to read it.

  “If you want to, go upstairs and invite her.”

  “You don’t seem to care about her, d’ya?” Ken said, and he ran up the stairs.

  When he left, Alastor decided to go to the kitchen, but Linda’s voice reached out to him. “You seem to be in a bad mood.”

  “Isn’t he always?” Tin added as she walked towards the table holding a tray full of desserts and coffee from the hallway.

  Alastor grunted as he walked without saying a word. Linda turned her attention to Tin, dragged because of the food she brought. “Since when does dessert qualify as breakfast?” Linda asked.

  Tin looked at her without a trace of annoyance, only a display of a poker face. “My tummy, my rules,” she said and started to eat.