Finding you

I trooped into the kitchen on the hunt for some coffee. Movement outside caught my eye. Bryson and my brothers were outside having a Nerf war.
"Good morning." My mother said behind me.
"Morning." I leaned into her. Weirdly this was a sight I could get used to. Bryson fit well into my family.
"He's a nice boy." I smiled.
"He's not half bad." My mom squeezed my side, tickling me. "How long have they been out there?"
"A half an hour. The boys got Bryce up." I shook my head. "They seem to be getting along swimmingly if I say so." She gave me a sideways glance but I ignored her comment.
"Alright, I shall go destroy them now."

I went back to my room and changed into something other than pajamas. I found an old shirt and threw on a pair of overalls. I threw my hair up in a ponytail and bounced outside with a Nerf gun.
"Look who showed up!" Damion smiled.
"Your queen has arrived." I bowed. Bryson beamed.
"You know what we are thinking?" Scott leaned on me.
"What's up?"
"Enemy."
"Ooo, you don't want to start that."
"What enemy?" Bryson was intrigued.

After a long explanation of how the enemy worked, the twins deemed me the first to go. The three sat in the garage for 2 minutes for me to get into my spot. Now we wait.

The three meandered into the yard. I could see them from where I was. They looked around like they'd never seen the yard before. I knew how awful the twins were at this game, honestly, I wanted to see how Bryson would do.

Me: Use your training.

Bryson looked down at the phone and mumbled what I'm assuming is what I texted. He rolled his eyes and looked around.

Me: Don't roll your eyes at me. This is what we are trained for. Find me.

He looked down at his phone again, smiling this time.
"Lawrence, you're ridiculous. You can see us?"

Me: Yes.

He scanned the yard again. My brothers looked around hopelessly too.

Me: What do you know? Where can you learn more?

Bryson looked at his phone again.
"Would you stop!" He chuckled, then looked at my brothers. "How does she hide?"
"Where she can't be seen?" Damion answered. I wanted to hit him for such a dumb answer.
"Uh, no." Bryson looked just as dumbfounded as I was. "I meant does she hide in plain sight or high places?
"Oh," Scott answered this time. "She kind of does it all. She usually hides in weird places. Places most people can't."

Me: So what do you know?

Bryson laughed at my text.
"You're such a weirdo. Okay. Rene is small, she can hide in smaller places and does. You two suck at this so she's cocky that she's good, clearly her texts prove that." I smiled, I was proud of my partner. He was doing good. "She hides in places most people won't." He scanned the yard again. Wiggling my arm up, I shot the tree in the middle of the yard.
"This way!" Damion grabbed Scott and pulled him to the tree opposite of it in the yard.
"She never misses," Bryson said more to himself. He walked to the tree I shot and put his back against it. "She never misses." He repeated again. My brothers were busy checking out every angle of the other tree to notice. "She wasn't shooting at us, she would have got us if she was." He looked towards the fence then shifted his body to face the house. "She can see me." He paused. "Can you still see me?"

Me: Yes.

He smiled. He was getting warmer.
"And your brothers?" They perked up at the mention of themselves.

Me: Yes.

Damion and Scott jogged over to Bryson.
"Where is she?"
"She's by the house." He was red hot but he wasn't sure where quite yet.
"Where?" Bryson shook his head.
"She can see us, can text and shoot but is hidden." All three were looking above the house, scanning the roof and around the chimney. "Oh my god, she's small and hides in weird places!" The light bulb went on. Laughing, Bryson jogged overlooking on the other side of the bushes. He was a few feet above my head. He shifted down. "See you." I shimmied out of place. "Damn, you're good."
"So are you. Beat tweedle Dee and tweedle dumb out by a few hours!" Damion and Scott stood by the tree with slacked jaws.
"How!" They yelled in unison.

Bryson not only enjoyed the game but also swore he could do better. So we decided to give him a chance at the game.

The twins and I sat in the garage, it felt weird. It was never all three of us.
"I like him."
"Bryce?"
"Yeah, he's cool." I nodded. "Found you in record time too."
"I helped."
"Nah, I think he would have always found you." I stared at Scott for a moment. The timer went off scaring me.
"Time to hunt." Damion pulled me to my feet.

We stood in the middle of the yard, all three of our backs pushed together in a hero stance. My phone buzzed in my pocket, on an inkling, I checked it.

Bryson: So what do you know?

I laughed. Touché.
"Okay. You're competitive. You want to one-up me in this. You're not nearly as small as I am so that limits your options but your creativity so that broadens them again." I thought of places Damion and Scott have hidden.
"Where do you think he is?" Scott leaned into me. I looked up into the trees.
"Where ever he is, it's a bold move." Bold move. I jogged out to the street. The gutters were deep enough he could have laid in them, but he wasn't there.

Bryson: Bold move, but I don't have a death wish.

"It's not a busy street!" I answer him. My brothers looked at me. I stayed where I was and searched the house. "Creative," I whispered. My eyes shot to the kitchen window. It was cracked like it normally was but my mother was no longer there. She did the dishes by hand and it was never a short process, there was no way she was done yet.

Me: You little shit.

I ran to the house and jumped up on my tiptoes. Peering inside I saw Bryson, sitting next to the sink on the counter.
"Damnit! How did you know?"
"I'm good." I smiled. "You're a cheater. Sitting in the house."

After an early dinner we agreed to play one round of monopoly before we had to leave. Scott was the banker like always because he loved money. I used to tease him that that would be the only way he would be rich.

We often had family nights like this. When my mom was home we usually played once a month and when she got deployed we spent the whole weekend together if we had it. Regardless of what we did, we just wanted to memories. Something to get us through the deployment until she was back.

We were about halfway way through and the twins were fighting as per usual.
"Hey, don't bite the hand that feeds." Scott swatted at Damion.
"Wait, what did you just say?"
"Don't bite the hand that feeds?" Scott looked at me like I was crazy.
"Oh my god." I pushed from the table and ran outside.

I tried to call Mr. Gold four times but they all went to voicemail, so I called Joe.
"Hey, girl."
"Mr. G isn't answering, but I figured it out."
"Well of course he isn't. It's his and husband's anniversary." He's gay? Didn't see that one coming. "What did you figure out?"
"How they are getting the money!"
"Shut up!"
"Listen. We're playing monopoly and my brother goes 'don't bite the hand that feeds', which is what triggered the light bulb. Taking money from any Tom, Dick, or Harry people could question the bills. But do you know where they don't question it from? A bank! You said someone else had an allergic reaction at the party, but he died, right?" Bryson was now in my line of sight. I put my phone on speaker.
"Yeah, a Richard Wembley."
"Those cookies were never meant for Bryson. He was just a victim. What did Wembley do for a living?"
"Hold on." I heard Joes fingers race on the keyboard.
"Shut up. He was a manager at a bank."
"The only major bank in town?"
"Yes!"
"I bet you, he took suitcases of fake money to work and would leave with real cash. It was an exchange. Then once his job was done, they took him out. No longer of use."
"Holy shit, you figured it out."

I hung up the phone with Joe and shoved Bryson inside.
"We have an hour ride to the bunker. Come on, we have monopoly to play."
"Rene, you scared me, is everything okay?" My mom sat at the edge of the couch, bouncing her leg.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I figured something out and need to tell them."
"And I helped?" Scott beamed.
"Oddly enough, yes."
"I should be an agent."
"No." My mother and I said in unison. I'm glad it wasn't just me who thought so.

By the time monopoly was over it was 8:30. I didn't want to leave. Finding any excuse to take longer, I used it. First it was that I couldn't find my phone charger, then I wanted to bring more clothes to the bunker. Bryson was patient in every tactic I pulled.

Finally, I had no choice but to lease. I had stalled us off until 9:30. Mr. Gold kept calling me and the car was waiting. My family pilled out on the front lawn to say goodbye. The twins hugged me at the same time after both shooting me with a Nerf gun. That was the best way to go when it came to them. Bryson got a hand shake from both and a "brotherly hug" which was fairly impressive. Mike hugged me and shook Bryson's hand. My mom hugged us both, but she hugged me last and for a long time.
"I'll see you guys soon, don't worry." I tried to smile. They nodded. My moms eyes were wet as she caught back tears. "Okay, we gotta go. Bye." I waved as I climbed into the car with Bryson. They all waved back with long faces.