We passed through the empty field of grass pass the tree line. We ran over large rocks and cut under slumped lingering tree limbs. I felt the hot air on my skin and felt the slight breeze go through my hair. We passed through the green furrow. The tall trees all around us with the sun fighting to get through the leaves. Wren and I ran through the trees, we just kept running and running and the more we ran the freer I felt. Being stuck in the house like that was killing me, I just wanted to breathe my own air, go at my own pace and just be free. When Wren and I ran to the middle of the woods he stopped me.

“Do you want to play a game Lewis?”

“What game do you want to play?”

“Since we are both good with weapons why don’t we have a dual? We can both find sticks that we like and act as if they are swords. We will fight until one of us gives up,”

“What if one of us gets hurt?”

“We can just go back to the house then and get fixed up. We have maids.”

“They are there to clean not to help you with your wounds Wren,”

“Well, they can figure it out,”

“What is the winner’s prize then?”

“The winner gets bragging rights and wins the day’s game, deal?”

“Deal” I said as we shook hands.

I ran and grabbed a nice long sturdy stick from the ground and Wren grabbed one very similar to mine. We both approached each other and got into our fighting stance.

“Ready, go!” he yelled

At that we both started to fight. We both swung and each time our stick hit each other’s. Wren was an excellent swords man so he did put up quite a fight. He swung to the left so hard I felt the wind hit the side of my face as I dodged it while bringing my sword up to try and hit his right arm but he dodged it as well. We both jumped back and got in our stance. We stood there waiting to see who would move first. I felt a droplet of sweat on my brow, I knew that if I whipped it Wren would strike me and I would lose the challenge. Within a second Wren swung and aimed for my right arm but alas missed as I moved quickly out of the way of the sharp bark. I then reached for his left leg but missed and within an instant he lifted his leg up and pulled my sword out my hand and in one step he smashed it in half with the heel of his foot. I ran the other direction and he chased me. I tried to desperately grab a nice stick to fight back but I couldn’t so I grabbed the fists stick I saw which unfortunately was half the size of the other. I fought the best that I could. I swung my sword toward his face but he moved and grabbed the sword. He snapped it in half just like the other one. I began to run again. I saw a thick part of the woods, I sprinted toward it and went in between the trees to confuse him the best I could. I quickly rushed through a tall oak and hid behind a large boulder. He ran past the boulder, I grabbed a stick and ran toward him. I swung to his left and in an instant he had me in a head lock with a stick to my throat. He let me go and looked at his arm. A large gash had cut open his shirt sleeve. A large gash had begun to bleed. All he did was look at me.

Bang! Bang! Bang! I shot up the sound of someone pounding on my door. I ran to the door and opened it slightly to see Elizabeth.

“Lewis can you please do something about your brother” she said angrily.

“What did he do this time?”

“He is lying in his bed with a bad hangover and is complaining to me!”

“I will deal with him in a minute Elizabeth.”

She went the other way as I shut my door. I got dressed quickly and went to Wren’s room. I opened the door and saw him lying on his bed. There were at least 12 empty bottles around him. I went over to him and he reeked of alcohol. I got closer to him, he lied face down on the end of his bed. I went over to him and garbed his arm and leg then flipped him over on his back. He made a loud groan as he was flipped over. I kneeled down and looked at him. He was breathing but he was too tired to even open his eyes. I went down stairs and saw Sonya and Elizabeth.

“Can you two get hot water for the bath?” they nodded and got to work.

I went back to Wrens room and found him tipped over on his face again. I pulled him back over and he groaned loudly again. I began to take his shoes off.

“Lewis, what the hell are you doing?”

“I’m helping you, you are taking a bath because you have the most foul stench of alcohol, I’m sure our neighbors can smell it”.

“Our closest neighbors are 20 minutes away.”

“I know, trust me they can probably smell it now.”

“Are you really going to undress me?”

“No, that is your job, I will carry you to the bath house and then you are on your own to bathe.”

Maybe Elizabeth can help me” at that he smiled and did a small chuckle.

“Wren, you are a big boy you can do this yourself.”

“I’m not a big boy Lewis trust me.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t drink like one. Why did you drink so much?”

“Does, “He wasn’t a drunk who sleeps with every woman in the world” ring a bell? Maybe even “After Roy passed no one mattered”. Perhaps “You two are still at home doing nothing?” Do any of those ring a bell Lewis?”

I was silent. I hoped he didn’t hear that last night, now he is like this because I had to go see father last night.

“I told you Lewis, He doesn’t love us, neither does mother they only cared about Roy, he was the prized child.”

“Wren, you are going to kill yourself because father hurt your feelings. If anything you are making him madder by drinking even more.”

“Good, I love it when he hates me, I thrive on it. I haven’t ever made that man happy so why try now when I’m 20. He never cared about us, I wonder if in his will he is giving everything to Roy’s dead body that we never found.”

“He won’t do that Wren.”

“You don’t know that Lewis, he may have already given it to him and you and I are out on the street if he dies tomorrow.”

I had nothing else to say. It wouldn’t surprise me if he died tomorrow if we were out on the streets roaming alone with nowhere to go. We would become one of the richest people in all of England to being the poorest. I head footsteps come to the door. It was father.

“Wow Wren, starting your day off normally I see.”

“Only for you father” he said.

Father scoffed then left the room. I turned to see Wren. His face looked flushed, he didn’t look well at all. I hoped that maybe a bath could help him but he looked horrible. He smelled as if he had bathed in alcohol for a week straight. He had lost his tan color already, he looked white as a ghost. His brown hair looked lighter, even his blue eyes looked lighter. He looked as if he was losing his colors. He looked like mother. Elizabeth came wandering into his room.

“His bath is ready” she said walking toward us.

She had grabbed one arm and put it around her neck and I did the same. We carried him down the stairs to the bath house. When we got there we set him on the outside of it. His soaps and shampoos were ready for him. He had a towel next to him as well. He stood up and hunkered over the tub as if he was going to fall over.

“Get out you two” he said taking off his shirt.

We both scurried out of the room so he could change and bathe.

“Thank you Eliza” I said.

She nodded and smiled then carried on with her day. We are used to this now, it is a weekly occurrence. Normally Mondays we have to help him like this but this time was different. He has not been this bad in a long time. I worry about him but even hung over he still made sense. If father dies tomorrow we are out on the streets. Roy became a lawyer by studying in the books he keeps in his room. Maybe if I can get in his room I can take a few of his law books and show father that we were worth raising. I went upstairs and went to Roy’s room. I haven’t been here since he died. I put my hand on the door knob but waited for a minute. I was afraid to enter. What If I messed his room up or changed it and it just wasn’t the same. I had to get over the fear, I needed those books. I slowly opened the door and I was just how it always was. His bed was made with the blue sheets he likes. His white wall with his clean wooden floor. He had his blue drapes closed like they normally were. Then I saw his book shelf. Roy was a bit of a clean freak, all of his books were perfectly organized which made it easy find the books. I looked through the sections, Science fiction, anatomy, astrology and fiction books. Then I saw his law books. He had 9 books just for law. He also had a book dedicated to his notes. I grabbed 3 of them and his notes. I opened and closed the door, then sprinted back to my room and shut the door quickly behind me. I knew that if father or mother would see me anywhere near his room they would have my head. I took 2 of them and hid them in the top drawer of my dresser and set the other on my bed along with his notes. I sat on my bed and began reading. It was a large book with 700 pages of nothing but law and the steps of being a lawyer. I can’t believe he read this whole book I thought. I studied each page very carefully. I had to read this book like Roy would. He always paid attention to every detail and could memorize ever part of the page. As I read one page of the book I looked at his notes in his book. He took notes on every single page and re-wrote the page in his own words. I continued to read and payed attention to each detail. I noticed every L was different, some of the loops were large and others were smaller. I noticed he must have spilled some sort of liquid on it because there were small wrinkles in the bottom left corner of the book. I studied and studied, my eyes were glued to the black letters on the page. When I finally was done with the first three chapters I looked up and pulled out my pocket watch. I read 3:51, I have been reading for several hours! I then stood up and set my nightly candles out for when I lose track of time again. Knock. Knock. Knock. I heard someone knocking on my door! I ran over to the books and shoved them under my pillows.

“Come in” I yelled.

Wren stepped in. He wore a white button up with a red vest and grey trousers. He looked nice and didn’t stink up my room when he walked in. “You look better” I said.

“Thanks, you still look the same as before. Thank you for your help this morning, I’m sorry I drank so much.”

“Wren, you can’t drink that because of father.”

“Sometimes it’s hard not to.” He said quietly “You know, why we don’t go out to the woods again today? It could be fun.”

I thought for a minute do I want to go with Wren, or do I want to stay and read the books? I looked at him and saw him giving me that look that means hurry up.

“Alright, let’s head outside.”

We passed through the empty field of grass pass the tree line. We ran over large rocks and cut under slumped lingering tree limbs. I felt the hot air on my skin and felt the slight breeze go through my hair. We passed through the green furrow. There were tall trees all around us with the sun fighting to get through the leaves. Wren and I ran through the trees, we just kept running and running and the more we ran the freer I felt. Being stuck in the house like that was killing me, I just wanted to breathe my own air, go at my own pace and just be free. I know this has happened before. I remember this in my dream. When Wren and I ran to the middle of the woods he stopped me.

“Do you want to play a game Lewis?”

“What game do you want to play?”

“Since we are both good with weapons why don’t we have a dual? We can both find sticks that we like and act as if they are swords. We will fight until one of us gives up,”

“What if one of us gets hurt?”

“We can just go back to the house then and get fixed up. We have maids.”

“They are there to clean not to help you with your wounds Wren,”

“Well, they can figure it out,”

“What is the winner’s prize then?”

“The winner gets bragging rights and wins the day’s game, deal?”

“Deal” I said as we shook hands.

I ran and grabbed a nice long sturdy stick from the ground and Wren grabbed one very similar to mine. We both approached each other and got into our fighting stance.

“Ready, go!” he yelled

At that we both started to fight. We both swung and each time our stick hit each other’s. Wren was an excellent swords man so he did put up quite a fight. He swung to the left so hard I felt the wind hit the side of my face as I dodged it while bringing my sword up to try and hit his right arm but he dodged it as well. We both jumped back and got in our stance. We stood there waiting to see who would move first. I felt a droplet of sweat on my brow, I knew that if I whipped it Wren would strike me and I would lose the challenge. Within a second Wren swung and aimed for my right arm but alas missed as I moved quickly out of the way of the sharp bark. I then reached for his left leg but missed and within an instant he lifted his leg up and pulled my sword out my hand and in one step he smashed it in half with the heel of his foot. I ran the other direction and he chased me. I tried to desperately grab a nice stick to fight back but I couldn’t so I grabbed the fists stick I saw which unfortunately was half the size of the other. I fought the best that I could. I swung my sword toward his face but he moved and grabbed the sword. He snapped it in half just like the other one. I began to run again. I saw a thick part of the woods, I sprinted toward it and went in between the trees to confuse him the best I could. I quickly rushed through a tall oak and hid behind a large boulder. He ran past the boulder, I grabbed a stick and ran toward him. I swung to his left and in an instant he had me in a head lock with a stick to my throat. He let me go and looked at his arm. A large gash had cut open his shirt sleeve. A large gash had begun to bleed. All he did was look at me. This was my dream! The exact same thing happened at the exact same time!

“What the hell, Lewis!”

I ran to him “Wren, I’m so sorry!” I exclaimed

He ed his vest and shirt, only to unleash a large cut pouring blood. “We need to go back to the house, Lewis.” He held his white shirt and ripped a piece off and tied above the cut on his arm. He used the rest of his shirt to wipe some of the blood.

We walked back to the house and came in through the front door. We saw Sonya in the kitchen. We walked in, she looked shocked.

“What on earth happened, Wren!”

“Lewis and I were outside and a tree limb cut me,”

I looked at him, why would he lie for me like that? “Can you help him?”

“Yes, but you know that if your father finds out about this-“

He grabbed her chin so she was looking up at him “He won’t will he”.

She shook her head and grabbed a bag out of the cupboard. We then went to Wren’s room. She cleaned up his wound and bandaged it the best she could. “Wren, you need stiches badly, we must call a doctor”.

“That isn’t necessary Sonya, thank you for your help. You can leave now”.

“But-“

“Sonya ,leave”.

She nodded and left the room. I looked at his arm, there was a large white bandage wrapped around his bicep pinned together at the bottom.

“Wren, you need a doctor” I said.

“Lewis, no I don’t I will be fine trust me”. He said pulling a bottle out of his top drawer.

“Wren, don’t drink either”.

“You see Lewis I’m in pain so why not drink so the pain can go away.” He said smiling and pointing at his head.

I wanted to grab the bottle from his hands but I know if I did he would kill me. “Fine, do what you want”. I said leaving his room and going to mine.

I opened and shut my door and ran over to my pillow, thank god the books were still there. I lit my bed room candles and lay on my bed. I sat there playing the day over and over in my head. It was the same exact thing that happened in my dream. The events were the same. How I thought, what is wrong with me? I began to worry myself, What if I will turn out like mother? It can’t be possible for someone to dream of the future, it doesn’t make sense, I wish Roy were here, he could help me. If I told Wren he would laugh and call me crazy. Father won’t listen to me and mother is ill. There is no one I can tell this has to be a secret. I couldn’t dwell on this I had to continue to read. I opened the book to the page I stopped at and began to read again. I read the page one by one continuing to pay attention t everything and to rely on Roy’s notes. I read for hours until I looked at my pocket watch, I read 12:07. I closed the book and I closed Roy’s notes but it closed oddly. I picked it back up and felt it there was something in the back. I flipped all the way to the back and saw a sort of timeline. It was an old piece of paper with a family tree. It stretched all the way back to my great, great, great grandfather. Each family member had a strange symbol next to each name. What did it mean? They were all different except for a few X’s over the names. By mine and Wrens name there was a question mark. What was Roy doing before he left? I know Wren had a book of symbols in his room that Roy gave him before he left. I had to get to his room. I hid the two books under my pillow again and went to Wrens room. I opened the door quietly and saw him passed out with two empty glass bottles next to him. I ran to his book shelf and scanned every book. His books were scattered everywhere on the shelves, they weren’t in any order. I looked one by one at all the books. Finally I saw a blue book with a symbol on the side. I took it quickly and ran back to my room. I opened the page again. Next to my great grandfather Marcus I saw a sort of question mark mirrored with two lines on the side. Next to all his children I saw what looked like an eyes with four lines spread across it. Then I saw grandfathers, he had a symbol it looked like a long curled line with three arrows. I looked the next generation, my father’s siblings. Aunt Hannah has an O with a k shaped letter above it but my father and my uncle had an X. What does this mean? Then I saw Wren, Roy and I under in the next row. Wren and I had a question mark but Roy had a symbol. A large O with a three tipped weapon in the center. What was Roy hiding? Why did Wren and I have a question mark and Roy had a symbol. Was it a symbol for illness? Then I scrolled through Wren’s book of symbols. I read through at least 100 pages until I found them. I found Grandfather Marcus’s symbol it said it was time. Time? What did that mean, maybe it was because he died quicker than the rest of his siblings. The eye symbol meant Mind. They were just as smart as everyone else why did they have a mind symbol. Grandfather’s symbol meant Air. Air? What was so important about his air, he breathed the same as the rest of us? Aunt Hannah’s symbol meant death. She is still living and much healthier that the rest of her siblings. I kept looking and found Roy’s. His meant life. What? Why, he was the only one of us that is dead why was he life? Maybe one of the maids found this and wrote it in to mess with us. I closed the book. I was too confused to look at it. I put the book back in my dresser and curled up in my sheets. As I lay, my eyes got heavier and heavier as I slowly fell asleep.