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Ralph rolled down the dirt road, tires crunching as he approached the house. Ever since they’d taken in Chase’s, ahem, ‘friend’, things had gotten a little livelier. They boys spent less time cooped up in their rooms and Chase seemed to be in a better mood overall, he even went so far as to make an effort for Prunella, indulging in her play dates.
Even Deacon seemed to be faring better, he was still studying diligently, but now that he’d changed his major, it was almost as if he’d become a whole new kid. Although Deacon had hit the books with newfound determination, Chase and Buddy managed to drag Deacon out into the sunlight every once in a while.
His thoughts returned to the previous evening, watching the boys screw around in the grass from his rocking chair on the porch. It was nice to just watch them be kids and have fun while they still had the chance.
He slowed the truck to a crawl, letting the wheels inch slower and slower until it had reached his spot just outside the house. Ralph unclipped his seatbelt, hopping out of the truck. He swung the back door open to retrieve the now empty cake carrier. He beamed with pride, Diane’s face was perfect when she saw the judges devour his lemon melon sponge. Ralph whistled a brisk tune as he rounded the truck towards the front door.
CRASH
Ralph jumped, lifting his arms to shield himself from the tiny shards of glass, tinkling against the rocks as they fell. “What the hell?” He looked down towards the glass, and spotted a familiar sight.
A Wii remote
In the rocks
Outside the now shattered window
Ralph peered through the broken glass, fully absorbing the scene, “Charles Everett Hollow, there is not a single game on that device that prevents you frOM WEARING THE WRIST STRAP!”
Aaaaaaand freeze right there.
Yep, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation. Now this isn’t the first time I somehow managed to shatter a window through… unorthodox methods, (and it probably won’t be the last.) But let’s take a look at what happened and how it totally was definitely not my fault.
Buddy crept through the living room towards the kitchen. He took care to avoid the squeaky board just behind the couch as he stepped through into the dining area. Opening the fridge, he carefully lifted the pitcher, pouring himself a glass of water. He gingerly returned the jug, softly closing the fridge door—
“Good Morning Buddy!” Chase chirped, startling the ever loving crap out of Buddy, “I didn’t even know you were awake.”
Buddy clutched his glass tightly to his chest, eyes wide as his heart recovered, “I hope you know you almost took a trip to splash mountain,” he breathed.
“Aww, you wouldn’t do that to me, would you?” Chase fluttered his eyelashes, “I thought your evil step-mother days were over.”
“That remains to be determined,” Buddy smirked, his eyes darkening with intention as he slowly raised the glass.
“Nonononowait! Waaait” Chase babbled, “It was a joke!! I’m just a lil guy, you wouldn’t do that to a lil guy, right?” He was now frantically waving his arms as Buddy raised the cup higher and higher out of Chase’s reach, “it’s also my birthday, you wouldn’t do that to a little birthday boy on his birthdayyy,” he pleaded through big puppy dog eyes.
Buddy faltered, “Wh- no it’s not?” He lowered the glass, “Your birthday is in July???”
“Nono, today is my birthday, you wouldn’t pour water on a birthday boyyyyyyy,” Chase did his very best to maintain his pitiful mask, but it gradually began cracking as a grin split across his face.
Buddy rolled his eyes, a smile of his own easing over his features, “Alright ‘birthday boy,’ you win this round.”
“Yay!” Chase cheered, bulldozing himself into Buddy’s arms for a crash hug.
“Hey, hey! Watch it!” Buddy danced the cup around, desperately trying to maintain gyroscopicity, “You’re gonna make me spill it!”
Chase began maniacally laughing, “You’re so cute when you’re flustered.”
At that, Buddy’s face began to flush, he quickly set the glass down on the counter, “ahem, s—so Chase, what are you doing? Isn’t it a little early for you to be awake?”
Chase huffed, “I don’t sleep in THAT late,” he pouted, "Besides, I remembered something I wanted to show you, so I got up early— I mean… at my NORMAL time to go find it in the attic!” At that, he all but sprinted over to the TV, dragging Buddy along.
“Tada!” Chase skidded to a stop, gesturing dramatically towards a small white rectangle. “This is a Wii!”
“Ah… this must be another one of your fancy glowing boxes.” Buddy inspected the rectangle, searching for any screens that might be hidden under hatches or covers.
“YE— well. Kind of, it connects to the TV, and it lets you play games!” Chase was already reaching for the TV remote to switch inputs before he finished his uninformative explanation.
Buddy smiled softly, allowing himself a single chuckle, “Alright, how does it work?” Glowy items weren’t his strong suit, so he was sure Chase would win whatever game they played, though it might be a good idea to let Chase win anyways to avoid an all day brawl. He did promise Mr. Hollow that he’d help take down some Christmas lights later.
“Ok so, this is mine, and this one is yours,” Chase handed Buddy another white rectangle, although this one was a bit smaller, “See, you just point it at the screen, yours is the red one!”
Buddy waved the rectangle, inching closer and closer to the TV as the jittering of the cursor intensified.
“Ah, it doesn’t like it when you’re too close, stand back here with me,” Chase patted the spot next to him on the rug with his foot.
Buddy obliged, padding over toward Chase and waving the remote once more, he watched as the cursor tracked his movement, marveling at how far technology had come in such a short amount of time. Well, it felt short to him anyways. “Wait, what’s this string for?” Buddy gestured at his remote, swinging the string around.
“Psh, that’s just some safety strap… thing,” Chase waved his hand, dismissing the notion, “Don’t even worry about it, nobody uses it.”
Buddy tilted his head, “But then why would they bother to install it if it’s not—“
“Haha, I guess they thought people were going to throw the remote or something, but,” Chase pulled at the collar of his shirt, “BUT THAT'S DUMB! Who would do THAT?” He laughed nervously.
“…Right.”
“ANYWAYS, let’s play!” Chase excitedly brandished his wiimote, choosing Tennis from the selection of games. “You know how tennis works, yeah?”
“Yyyeah,” Buddy decided. He observed the video on screen displaying a sample game. The two players took turns hitting the ball back and forth, and it looked like there was a net involved. Seemed simple enough.
“Alright, so it’s really simple, so you just swing the remote and then your character on the screen will hit the ball,” Chase swung his remote in a slow, deliberate arc, “like that!”
Buddy’s eyes narrowed, squinting at the screen as if it was a mystical tome “But then, how does my character move?”
“Oh, it moves on its own, just pretend you’re hitting the ball and the game will take care of the rest.” Chase gave a thumbs up, “You’ll get the hang of it!”
“Ok,” Buddy forcefully exhaled, “I think I’m ready.”
“That’s the spirit! Let’s do this!” Chase quickly slammed the start button before Buddy had a chance to change his mind.
“Ready?” Chase asked, wiggling his hips as he perfected his gamer stance, “It’ll catch you off guard,” He eyed Buddy through a smirk, “you won’t even see it comin’!” He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet.
“Chase, what are you-“
“SERVE!” Chase screeched, flagging his wiimote straight down as the ball rocketed across the court towards Buddy’s side.
Buddy reacted quickly, mimicking Chase’s movement. He watched as the tiny being on screen tracked its racket to his rectangle, doing his best to line it up with the ball on the screen before thwacking it back across the net.
Chase responded in turn with a swing of his own, “Not bad!” He called out.
This time though, Buddy faltered. He swung a bit too early, watching as the ball bounced past his tiny character.
“Ooh, too quick!” Chase cooed, a mischievous glint catching his eye, “looks like it’s your serve!”
Buddy readied into a gamer stance of his own, earning a snicker from Chase. He served the ball slowly at first, forcing Chase’s little guy to run right up to the edge of the net to hit the ball. He countered with a surging strike, sending the ball streaming right past both of Chase’s characters.
Chase slowly turned to face Buddy, an eerie expression grinding over his face, “Oh it’s so on.”
They swung their rectangles wildly, exchanging points until they were at 30-30. Chase panted, wiping sweat from his brow, “What gives?! I thought you said you’d never played Wii before!”
“I haven’t,” Buddy wheezed, “not my fault you picked an easy baby game.”
Chase fumed, his lip twitching, “I’ll make you eat those words!” He lifted his remote, “SERVE!” He shrieked, thrusting the remote with all his might.
Oh
It slipped from his hand, the wrist strap dancing along his fingertips as it soared straight through the closed window, shattering it instantly.
Buddy and Chase stood frozen in the living room.
“Charles Everett Hollow,” his grandfather’s voice echoed through the hole in the window, “there is not a single game on that device that prevents you frOM WEARING THE WRIST STRAP!”
Chase flinched, “Not again…” he whined.
“Y—you mean, this has happened before?” Buddy hissed, “and you still didn’t wear the wrist strap?!”
“What can I say,” Chase shot a pair of finger guns towards Buddy, “I like to live on the edge.” Chase lidded his eyes in his best smoulder.
“You’re an idiot,” Buddy sighed.
“Your idiot.”