The orange hues of the morning sun slightly lightened the curtains that blocked it from traveling around the room as birds chriped by his window, Miles squinted his eyes open, waking by default. He stretched his arms and rolled out of bed before sauntering downstairs to continue his daily routine like he had done the day before.

  While Glancing at his reflection with a towel wrapped around his waist, he couldn't do the one thing that cheered him up every morning. He dressed up and waited on the balcony, anticipating the arrival of his friends, as soon as they went past the wooden gate, he put on a phony grin and followed them to school.

  He sat by the window once more, staring out as Miss Mandy strolled about and placed a sheet of paper on each student's desk, signifying the start of a pop quiz that elicited moans from the everyone else in the class. Miles examined the page while holding his pen between his fingers, he knew the answers to every question but he did nothing to solve them.

  “Psss.” Francis whispered to him as he stretched out his hand behind his back to meet him.

  Miles' eyes widened as he noticed a scrap of paper in his palm.

  "No Francis, I don't want to do this" He spoke in hushed tones.

  "Then solve it."

  "I can't," he whispered, his gaze concentrated on the piece of paper.

  "Times up," Miss Mandy said and they all turned in their sheets of paper.

  For the rest of the day, Miles kept his thoughts to himself and faked grins at his friends whenever they said anything amusing. As soon as the last bell rung, all of the students in his class raced to the door and tried to leave.

  "I need to speak with you, Miles Adeboyega." She mumbled while watching him come to a standstill.

  Miles nodded to his friends before proceeding to meet her, Miss Mandy palmed her face and watched him as she waited for everyone else to leave.

  "Why do you keep doing this, Miles? You were one of the best student in my class. But now all you do is send me blank papers, why? Don't you want the opportunity to get a scholarship into college?"

  Miles was speechless, he merely felt that his schooling was a waste of time, he was passionate about music even though he was good at academics, it only made him feel like he was trying to steal his brothers dreams.

  "Does this have anything to do with your brother?"

  He flinched and glanced down at his feet.

  "Please, Ma'am, I don't want to talk about it."

  "At this point, I have no other choice but to tell your parents what's going on" She let out a sigh.

  "Please, ma'am, they can't know. I need you to give me a chance to figure this out, I swear I'll improve"

  "OK, I'll give you one more chance to make up for all the grades you missed before the end of the year."

  "I really appreciate it, Miss Mandy. I will not disappoint you." Miles grinned and dashed away.

  Miss Mandy smiled at him and wished him luck before packing up for the day.

  "What was that all about?" Joe whispered as they went home together.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  "Nothing much, just grade stuff."

  "Bon(good), this might sound stupid, but I really want to go back to that Mansion." Francis grumbled and stepped back, waiting for his friends to attack him. But to his suprise, they both remained quiet.

  "He's right; I couldn't sleep last night. "I want to know what's in the box." Joe murmured.

  "But what about all the strange things we can't explain? "What if something else happens"

  ”If we don’t try, we’ll never know" Joe nudged Miles with a smile.

  “I guess you’re right but we have to make it quick before our parents get back" Miles groaned and rolled his eyes as he watched their eyes lit up.

  After some long hours of walking they finally stood in front of the mansion, each holding a plank as they stepped into it with their weapons, ready to protect each other against anything that would come at them.

  Miles and his friends glanced around the home and discovered it appeared exactly how they had left it. They each tried to move quietly as each step created creaking, small noises till they arrived at their destination.

  "Thank God, it's still here" said Joe when they all saw the box in the hole. He stretched his hands out for it again and left out a sigh when he finally touched it, they looked around and smiled when nothing happened. Joe brought out the box and tried to open it,but it was sealed shut by a lock.

  "Mon dieu!(my God)" Francis exclaimed.

  Miles reached inside the hole and squealed, when he discovered the key, They all smiled and exhaled a sigh of relief when Miles placed the key into the hole, waiting to see what was within as he turned the key to its last turn. They all watched the heavy lid open with eager eyes until the gleaming and beautiful jewelry was revealed. They wasted no time as each took a handfuls and set then at their feet, inspecting each piece.

  "This must cost a whole lot of money" Joe grinned as he ran his fingers through the jewels. There were bangles, necklaces, and rings containing valuable stones such as diamonds, emeralds, and pearls.

  Miles returned to the box and gazed into it as he sifted through the unsent letters and came upon what appeared to be a book, similar to the size his brother possessed. He turned to his pals and asked what they would do with the things left in the box. "You can have it" They grinned, too preoccupied with what they had to care.

  "What do we do with all these?" Miles asked as he thought about how they would get it home and where it would be safe.

  "We can't keep it at my house, cause my sister snoozes up around my room slot, she can't know about this," joe replied.

  "My mother randomly comes to check my room, she might find it if I take it with me"Francis chipped in.

  "I think I know where to hide it" said Miles as he took the box squarely in his arms.

  They walked out of the mansion, clouded with thoughts of the life they would live with all the money they would make.

  "We went in, defeated the monster and took the treasure." Joe laughed and danced about at the door.

  “Yeah. It realized it was no match for us." Francis burst out laughing.

  “We should keep this a secret from everyone until we find out how to sell it. Someone might rob us if word got out on the streets."

  "You're right. Secret?” Joe smirked.

  “Secret” Francis and Miles replied as they stuffed the large box into Miles's bag.

  They laughed and ran home side by side, completely unconscious of the lone soul watching them from the top floor of the building, again.              They waved goodbye to each other as they went into their different homes, smiling brightly at the thought of their newly found treasures. Miles sat on his bed after hiding the box at the only part of the room his parents didn't know about.

  "My parents and they won't have to work so hard anymore, and I can finally become what I want." He paused and relaxed his arms behind his head.

  "Isn’t this stealing?" He grumbled and placed his palm over his skipping heart. "But no one owns it."

  Miles’s eyes widened when he saw a glimpse of a woman's face in his brother's mirror. He exclaimed and closed his eyes for a few seconds before peeking to check whether he was hallucinating again and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his reflection this time.

  Miles screamed in horror immediately he heard the front door close. He could hear footsteps as he moved to peek through his door see who it was

  He let out the air he'd been holding and raced down to hug his mother as he threw his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder.

  "Welcome home, mother." He mumbled against her shoulder. Her brows wrinkled into a frown as she pondered why he seemed scared, but vanished into a thin line when she realized it was the first time he had hugged her since the tragedy. She carefully placed her arms around Miles until he released his grip and moved to carried her goods into the kitchen.

  "Do your schoolwork while I finish dinner."

  "Macaroni with cheese, ma?" Miles grinned as he watched her unwrap everything she had bought in front of his eyes.

  "Sure, go on now."

  "Okay, mum." He grinned and dashed to his room as his mother smiled and proceeded to prepare for dinner.

  Miles raced inside his room and noticed that something was missing: his brother's portrait.

  He looked all over the place but couldn't find it as his pulse raced when he thought about where he might have dropped it.

  Miles went back to the kitchen, when he realized his mother could have taken it. He watched her cook and remained still, unable to express his thoughts.

  "What is it, Miles?"

  "Did you take Anthony's?"

  "I did." She interrupted and locked her eyed on him, trying to maintain a straight face.

  "Mother, it's the only thing I have to remember him by." He murmured as his eyes glistened.

  "I thought I told you to give me everything that belongs to him, if you want to honor his memory, pass your damn exam and get that scholarship"

  "Do you ever think about what I want, I wanted sports but you said no, now I want music and you still say no, being a surgeon was his dream not mine!" He screamed, but gasped when she slapped his face to the side.

  "How dare you raise your voice at me, I and your father know what's best for you, so you must do what we say" She screamed as she grabbed the sink to strengthen her weak knees.

  "You've never tried to understand what I want, because you think I'm not sane enough to decide for myself." Miles replied with a sigh and dashed up to his room.

  His mother stared at the stairs in silence, she had to make sure his psychological illness never came back and the only way the doctor said it would happen was if he had something to hold him on to reality, a realistic profesion was the only way she thought was possible.

  She dried her eyes and began cooking to distract herself from her fears..