Family Issues

--Mac's POV--

Clinnt stormed off the dining room without even excusing himself. And by looking at what's in front of the large dining table, I probably know why.

Clintt always watched children cartoons right from the hour he was born to this day. It had been part of his life for such a long time he even obeys it too. Sometimes he would disagree with us because we say the facts he had gathered about things came from a television show about babies flying to the moon. That explains he stubborn attitude when I correct him... and I suppose his good moral, too.

There was one episode in the show that made Clintt wish for a perfect family. In the show's fourteenth episode (How did I know that?), The little children reunited with their family in a dinner party. All of them were laughing. The dad asked them about what they did while they were away, their siblings praising them, and they had someone in the family we didn't at the moment-- their mom.

Ever since Clintt saw that part of the show, he had always believed we would end up like the ones in the show. HE HAD, at least. For the first time in my life, I saw him walk out with a very angry face.  He had his arm cover his face, showing that he cried. CRIED, not because he was scolded, because he was sad.  Disappointed at us. I felt bad because of him for the first time. It felt like I was guilty.

I stared at Cleo who was staring at his food, as always, not impressed.

"The food tasted bad." Cleo said in a low tone as while Lila was spraying bug sprays everywhere.

"There! I've now perfectly cleaned the table, I dusted the whole room, and now the place is bug free! But... THE FOOD! THE FOOD IS CONTAMINATED WITH TINY GERMS!" Lila began screaming as she slapped the turkey off her plate.

"Oh no! I touched it!" Lila exclaimed. After that, she began screaming hysterically at Cleo, who was glaring at her.

"Shut up." He ordered.

"I touched it!"

"Shut up."

"I'm impure!"

"Fine."

"It's so gross."

"Search the net for how to take off the ANNOYING grease off your ANNOYING skin!" Cleo shouted as he began twitching. Oh dear.

Cleo raised his right arm up, shaped it into a fist, and with barely all his strength, pounder on the table.

The beautiful marble table began to crack, and fell apart in front of us.

Dad sighed and clapped his hands twice.

"Dane, Arthur, get the other long tables from the basement." He called."Oh, and clean up all this broken trash in front of me."

I sighed and stood up."I'll be leaving now, dad." I called as I exited the dining room, out to the hallway.

"No wonder, Clintt." I breathed heavily when I saw a figure headed outside.

"...Coll...anno... STO--!"

"Shush, Alonso. You might break it even more."

"Fi...guess...can...treat?"

"I don't understand."

It was Clintt and our dog, Alonso. I stared at the shadows for awhile until the big front door closed. I silently walked along our carpeted floor and slowly pushed the door open. I took walked outside holding the large doorknob and took a look around. No one. Strange. Where is Clintt and Alonso...?

"What are you doing?" A boy next to me asked loudly, making me scream.

"AAIIEE!"

"Wow! What a girl!"

I felt... embarrased.

"Clintt, WHAT on EARTH are you DOING OUT. SIDE. THE. MANSION?" I asked him angrily.

"Well what are you doing stalking me and screaming at me like Lila?" Clintt retorted. That brat!

"Just... what are you doing outside with Alonso?"

"I'm going to Sir Charles or Char guy to get Alonso's  collar fixed."

I glowered at him and sighed heavily.

"Fine, you can go, but as your older brother, I'm coming with you!"

"Be my guest."

I nodded at him and closed the door.

Clintt and Alonso were walking together ahead and I was a meter away from them.

I looked at the beautiful flower patch I was walking on. Mom planted these years ago. I wonder how Cleo and Lila maintained them?

I looked at our large house next. I was white and black all over with stepping stones as paths to a beautiful garden behind our house.

The walls surrounding our home were very far from the house, meaning everywhere was a large meadow for us. In fact, the spaces are so large my dad placed a giant pool on one side and a large beautiful garden on the other.

I looked at Clintt from afar. He looked like he was a little baby. It felt like he was the newborn I saw when I was two. I promised him we would never fight. But where are we know? I just wonder, where did things begin to go wrong?

I thought about it hardly. I couldn't find the answer. I just couldn't.

"Just as I wondered harder, I suddenly felt a headache and heard a *Bang!* vibrate everywhere. The next thing I knew was that I saw math books spin around me.

"Watch where you're going, idiot!" Clintt Scolded me when I realized I had bumped in to a metal door camouflaged as as bark of a tree. Oops.

I stood up and looked at the door. It was brown, and it had a sensor on it. Clintt and I stared at it for a moment until I offered him to go first.

He bent down and stared at the sensor thing, which began moving up and down, which meant his eye was being examined.

After a few seconds, the lazer turned green and the door opened quickly.

"Hey look, Mac," Clintt called me in front of the door."Prof guy changed the stairs to an elevator and slide!"

"Great, now would you PLEASE get inside?" I asked, trying to hide as much irritation as possible. He's been staring at the door for a while and I'm getting really impatient.

"Fine."

Clintt gently shoved Alonso in the side and sat next to him.

"This is gonna be so fun!"

As soon as he began sliding down, the door closed and I leaned in closer so the sensor would scan me.

As the lazer turned green, the door opened and I sat on the edge of the slide.

"This is not gonna be fun... I hope not." I muttered as I pushed myself further, and before I knew it, I was going down the slide in high speed.

"Ooooooooohhh myyyyyy gooooodneeeeesss!" I screamed as the slide went left, then right, then right again, then and loop, then back to the left. It hurts my head thinking about the slide!

Before I knew it, I was suddenly on a cushion, a very big, purple  cushion.

I opened my eyes. I was in a brightly lit dome with walls made of steel coated with stainless paint (he didn't use stainless steel). The large dome ceiling was made of fiber glass, and a lot of fishes swam outside the dome. Wow. So much for a lake.

"Greetings, Mac!" I heard a voice in front of me speak. The voice sounded like he was fifty or something.

I looked in front of me to see a small table with lampshades on, and an old man wearing a white laboratory coat. His face was a bit wrinkled, and his hair was messy but pointed upwards. He had goggles made of rubber and he was holding a metal collar and a screwdriver.

"Sir Charvin?"

"I SAID CALL ME CHAR FOR THE TENTH TIME!"

"Um... sorry?"

"Ah, sorry about that. I guess that was the side effect from the capsules I swallowed."

I looked at the table. Wires and chips are everywhere.

"Um, why do you have a small table in the middle of a room?" I asked. He stared at me for a while and shrugged.

"Where's Clintt?"

"Um he is in the elevated floor."

"Uh..."

"Sorry, I meant second floor."

"Um... thanks?"

"Yes, yes, you're welcome. Now leave me alone. I'll give this to you when I'm done."

"Thanks, I guess." I replied as I scurried off, looking for Clintt. Where could he be?