Chapter 1: Wake up Call
"JAKE, DAMN IT! Get your raunchy butt up right now! We'll be late for school…AGAIN…if you don't get up and dressed!" Brandon was yelling at the top of his lungs.
"Just five more minutes mummy…" Jake smothered his face with a pillow and began to snore.
Brandon sat for a second or two and then went to the back of the apartment and came back to Jake and Brandon's room. Brandon dumped a full bucket of ice, cold water all over Andy and his bed.
Screaming, Jake jumped up and screamed, "OKAY! Now I KNOW this time I didn't wet the bed because I actually saw you dump the water all over me!"
Brandon smiled, "You're right, you haven't wet the bed. This whole time it was me TRYING TO GET YOUR BUTT UP! Now that you had your bath, get dressed and let's get going!"
Jake dried himself off and began to get dressed "That was not a bath, and don't think I will turn my back on what you did. I'll get my payback…one way…or another."
When he turned around to look Brandon in the eyes, Brandon was already gone and rushing about in the dumpster they lived in. Brandon was going to start yelling again if Jake didn't hurry. "Eh…I'll just get him later; it'll be more fun if he doesn't expect it."
Jake and Brandon were best of friends in all the land—almost inseparable and were truly one of a kind. They had even been confused of being twins because of how they acted and what they knew and did around each other. Not to mention, they were just down right freaks.
Brandon stood about 6'3" with blue-green eyes, with midnight blue hair. Jake wasn't too far off in height, being 6'1," green eyes, and had Madera red hair. From their budget not being so high in money, and spending it all drinking Starbucks, they slept in the same room and in the same apartment because well, that was all they could afford. One thing Brandon always had around his neck was a necklace that was of a special and rare stone, called Dragon's Eye. It never left his sight or his possession. The Dragon's Eye was the only thing he had left of his family, who he never really knew.
"SON OF A BITCH!" Brandon screamed at Jake.
"Sometimes I am…" he said sarcastically.
Brandon gave Jake a death glare, "… You know what I meant, AND DON'T GIVE ME THAT SMILE! It won't work this time."
Jake stopped smiling. He had the kind of smile that could allow him to get away with murder…sometimes.
"AHHHHHHHH! Five minutes! BECAUSE OF YOU we only have five minutes to get to class! Mr. Green isn't going to like this at all!" Jake had no clue what Brandon meant.
"What do you mean? We'll be there right on time, actually, with the way I drive."
Brandon snapped at Jake, "NO, NOT THAT, YOU DUNCE! We've ditched these past two weeks because we had a family 'emergency,' and we had to rush to Uncle Cosmo when really we went to that one party and got wasted."
Jake gave a pleased smile. "Oh yeah…Good times…Good times."
Brandon kept going, "And the month before that I got a 'broken' leg from falling down three flights of stairs when really that day we went to the Lucky Nine Lives, which was supposed to be some kind of resort, in who knows what city, but actually turned out to be a scam, and they really tried taking our organs and selling them on the Black Market."
Jake tried turning it around, "But if you think of it, we had a great chance to bond and get to know each other."
Brandon didn't buy it. "Uh huh…so knowing each other for, oh I don't know… ALL OUR LIVES doesn't qualify for that? Not to mention, we didn't talk much because we were A) running, B) if we talked, they would have heard us and, in the end, found us hiding, and C) I was pissed at you at the time."
Jake was shocked. "W-What? I didn't notice that. Why were you pissed at me?"
"Uh…maybe because it was your idea in the first place?"
"Oh. Ha, ha…that's why."
"Yeeeah, well I don't think that he's going to buy that I was sick with the common cold. I mean, come on, for Christ sake, he teaches trig-calculus. You don't think he can put two and two together?"
"Brandon, just because he's a math teacher doesn't mean that he knows everything about life. For instance, how long does it take a bone to heal?" Brandon shrugged his shoulders. "Exactly, but I can tell you it doesn't take a month, more like a few, but he'd probably never notice, so you'll never know until it happens."
Brandon didn't have much to say for the rest of the ride and was silent until he got to the door of the classroom.
Finally, he asked, "Hey where's Kat? I don't see her in the classroom and she would wait for us right here." His hand was over his eyes, looking around for her.
Jake suddenly spotted her, "There she is, but why is she dressed like that?"
Brandon followed Jake's gaze. "Oh, she must be avoiding someone; let's hurry and get some seats."
By the time Jake and Brandon sat down, Kat came in wearing a black trench coat with a hat on to cover herself up. When she came in, she took her hand and coat off. She was about 5'3" with blue eyes and long blonde hair.
"Avoiding Chad again?" Brandon chuckled.
"Yeah, suck it up all you want, that Biznatch won't get off my trail! No matter what I do, he still comes close to finding me. He's like a damn hound dog!"
Class began shortly afterwards, and not much had happened minus a final exam, and that was simple enough for the three of them. When class was finished, they went to the lounge and talked for a while. Kat didn't want to stay in one place for too long and, while she was putting on the coat and hat, she finished up with the conversation, "Let's hang out this afternoon. I have some things you'll like, okay, guys? Talk to you later."
And, like a bat out of hell, she left the room.
"Jake?" Brandon's voice sounded a little depressed.
"Yeah?" Andy answered.
"I have… a question. It may sound odd, but answer truthfully, okay?"
Jake knew something was up with Brandon. "Yeah, no problem."
"Well, you know me really well right?"
Jake laughed, "Brandon, we grew up with each other."
Brandon stuttered, "W-Well, no, that's not what I meant, I meant. Have…you ever not wanted me in your life?"
Jake didn't understand what Brandon was trying to get out of the situation. He shrugged, "No, why are you asking this?"
Brandon continued with what he wanted to say, and didn't even answer Jake's question. "Why would you give me up if you had to at all?"
Jake finally realized what Brandon was getting at. "Brandon, I don't know why your parents had to give you up, but you know I will never leave you in your life. I know it's the anniversary that they kicked you to the curb, and tell you what, I know how you like to watch the sunset and tonight I know it's a great night to watch one, so we'll do that, okay?"
Brandon couldn't find any words to say, so he just nodded. Jake walked over to Brandon and hugged him.
"Why would your parents give you up? I've been there for most of your life and there hasn't been an obstacle in which you haven't overcome. Every challenge I see, you enter with no fear, and, one day, that may be your end, but, until then…I'll always be there for you…my friend."
At that moment, it felt like an endless void of comfort that couldn't be disturbed. But all good things must come to an end, and both Brandon and Jake's cell phones began to ring with Brandon's annoying ring tone, Satomi Tadashi.
"What the? I didn't put this retarded ring tone on my phone," Brandon said to Jake.
"Yeah, that is pretty lame."
They both picked up at the same time.
"Hello?" a woman's voice began to talk to them at the same time. "I know it's odd, but please meet me at the Okusaba point at 6 p.m. tonight; I'll explain it all there."
Click.
They turned the cell phones off and began to leave the lounge room, undisturbed with the…weird…phone call.
"You have got to love prank calls like that," Jake said to Brandon, laughing.
"I dunno…I think we should go."
"What?" Jake looked at Brandon.
"Well if you think of it, that point has famous ruins, which is something that gives me the feeling that we should go."
Jake wanted to make Brandon happy and get his mind off of his family, but this was ridiculous. "Uh…"
Brandon cut him off, "Okay so let's go now. It's going to take us an hour to get there and it's already 3:30." With that they left the collage and went to Okusaba Point.
Jake and Brandon didn't talk much on the way to the point, and about half way there, they noticed they were being followed.
They looked at each other and Brandon said, "Drive faster."
But at the time, they were already going seventy-five on a fifty mile an hour road. Then, in an instant, gunshots were fired at Jake and Brandon.
"Okay, now go faster!" Brandon yelled.
"Okay, going!" Jake stepped on the gas and started going eighty up the windy road, throwing Brandon side to side bashing his face against the window.
"Can't you drive any faster!?...And can't you drive more smoothly!?" When Brandon finished, a bullet came through the back window and whizzed by Jake's face.
"Oh yeah, and then maybe we should just pull over and see if they want some change for the soda machine we passed, or cookies for the dark side." Brandon gave Jake a puzzled look. "No! Not literally!"
Brandon frowned. "Fine, just drive. I'll take care of them."
Jake told Brandon sarcastically, "Yeah…uh, how? It's not like we have any we--" Before Jake could finish, Brandon was loading up a shotgun and a few other hand held guns. Jake, shocked, stared at Brandon. "... … …W-h-a-t!? Where did you get that--those!?"
"Oh, come on, you don't think I don't walk around without protection, now do you?"
Jake yelled at Brandon, "THAT SAYING IS FOR CONDOMS IN YOUR WALLET! NOT GUNS FROM YOUR—Where did you get them from?"
Brandon just sneered at Jake and then began shooting at the gunners, "That's a secret you'll never know."
The gun show down didn't finish fast, unfortunately, and it continued up the mountain for the rest of the way. Jake slid out of control and went right through the railing and the truck rolled down the mountainside, becoming engulfed in the vegetation. Once the truck hit the jagged rocks toward the bottom, the truck exploded setting the forest on fire. Then the car that was gunning them came to where Brandon and Jake's truck and blew through the railing.
A man dressed in black stepped out of the car, talking on a cell phone, "Sir? Mission completed. The two are dead…Yes, sir. Right away." With that, the man stepped into the car and drove off. The sun was now setting on the deaths of both Brandon and Jake.
The sunset was a blood red that evening.