Zacharias's parents bade each other good night at 22:32.

Keeping his footsteps silent as he crept back to his room, he began to calculate. Many precarious nights had been spent figuring out when the pair would sleep their deepest. Since today had been rather ordinary, there was no reason to believe their sleep cycles would be any different.

First, in forty-five minutes, he would disable the alarm to keep it from beeping when doors were opened. Then, in another thirty minutes, he would retrieve a few things from the rest of the house that would have been missed if he had gotten them earlier.

"Remember, you'll be staying right here pretending to sleep," Zacharias whispered, checking the alarm clock responsible for the meagre light in the room.

Hand inside his backpack, Constantine paused. "But what if I really do fall asleep?"

"Then you'll have even less of a chance of being suspected if they somehow wake up. If need be, I shall rouse you before it's time to leave, don't worry."

"But what if I'm still sleepy and noisy and—"

"Constantine. You'll be fine. We know what we're doing, don't we? Haven't we practised hard enough? You ought to be able to sneak out in your sleep. And if you're too bleary-eyed to fetch your bag, I shall get it myself."

Constantine clasped his hands together, looking down. "All right... I..." He looked up, eyes watery. "I-I promise I trust you, but I-I'm still so nervous..."

Zacharias pulled him into a hug. "We both are. This is a frightening task, after all." He pulled back, looking his brother in the eyes. "But we can do this. We're finally going to call another place home. Some place that deserves the title."

"Right." His little brother smiled. "Let's go for it, Zach. I-I'm ready."

He smiled back. "Good."

He hoped he was as well.

Constantine finished packing his bag, and Zacharias stowed it away in the back of the closet where it wouldn't be able to draw attention. Then there was nothing for the younger to do but pretend to sleep.

Zacharias gave him one last hug, able to feel both his brother's and his own trembling, before he pulled the sheets up.

"Good night, Constantine. It will be a bright morning."


At 23:17, Zacharias tiptoed out of his room. After a long pause to ensure he could hear nothing from across the hall but his father's snoring, he went ahead to the utility room. Leaning over the washing machine, he carefully but swiftly punched the necessary buttons on the alarm console to shut it off for the night. This in itself let out a few local beeps, so he froze before creeping back down the hallway. Still nothing but uninterrupted snoring.

Forcing himself to take a deep breath, he clasped his hands together, but he couldn't stop all of the trembling.

Things were still going perfectly well. Nothing to worry about. So now, the test.

Their escape would be at an ungodly hour, but there could still be eyes out there. It would be best to slip through the side door in order to observe their surroundings before being in range of any streetlights. That meant now was the time to make sure the door would open and close all right and wouldn't trigger the alarm system.

Zacharias slipped into the garage—that door didn't set off the alarm—and tried the next knob. Although the door wasn't used often, it didn't seem particularly rusted, and the handle turned easily. He held his breath as he swung the panel open.

No telltale beep. A bit of a squeak from the hinges, but nothing that could be heard from the master bedroom.

After ensuring that closing the door wasn't any more troublesome, he stepped back towards the car and sank to his knees. His wristwatch was accurate, so there was no need to return to the bedroom that lay so close to his parents'. Nervous or otherwise, Constantine would faithfully pull off his own part without needing more reassurance.

And so Zacharias sat in the darkness, with nothing to do but wait and remain silent. The next thirty minutes were impossibly long, but they did manage to pass by.

Getting his shivering under control for the moment, Zacharias tiptoed through the kitchen and living room for a few more supplies. He would keep the chef's knife in hand. He and Constantine would be leaving at a rather seedy time of night, after all, and a little extra glint of deterrent could come in handy.

His pack was full in a few more minutes, so he gripped the bookbag to keep it quiet as he slunk back to the side door.

So far, so good. Still no reason to fret. One more hour of laying low, and he and Constantine would finally bolt out of here.

Sick to his stomach with anxiety, Zacharias shut his eyes and leaned against a spot of the garage wall not taken up by brooms and tools. Just a bit more waiting... Why did there have to be so much waiting? Surely he could have just gotten everything together at once and left—but that might take too much time, putting the riskiest part of the operation where his less soundly-sleeping parents could hear. Perhaps he could have done this during the day—but his truancy would be reported quickly, and his parents were far less predictable awake than asleep.

This was the best way to go about it. He need only swallow his fear and go through with it, as long as it seemed to take.

After a dark span of isolation with nothing but his thumping heartbeat, his watch finally lit up with the proper time. His parents would be snared deep in their dreams now.

He drew in a long breath to calm his nerves before he surveyed the garage.

"Constantine?" he whispered. There was no reply.

He lit up his watch face again, using it as a rather poor torch, but his brother was still beyond sight. Another minute or two wouldn't hurt if it was necessary for Constantine to check his supplies or head over as stealthily as possible.

But two minutes came and went, and Zacharias had no choice but to step back towards the house. Had Constantine fallen asleep after all? He'd have to be woken both quickly and silently...

The elder brother crept back to the bedroom. Across the hall, his father's snoring went on—if a little quieter—so he stepped into his own room with quiet confidence.

The bed was empty, covers cast away.

Taken aback, Zacharias froze before giving the bed a cursory inspection. Constantine wasn't hiding there. A check of the closet found no backpack, either.

So he had left the bedroom as planned. Perhaps he'd only had to stop at the toilet?

Zacharias checked both of the appropriate rooms, but neither was occupied. The rest of the house was as empty as it seemed.

Constantine must have gone out the wrong door, then. There was nowhere else for him to be but the master bedroom, but by no means would he have gone in there.

Picking up his pace, Zacharias left through the side door. He couldn't help but feel a pleasant tingle in the back of his neck as it shut behind him—but the celebration needed to wait. It would not be a successful escape until he and Constantine were much farther away.

After making sure no one was around to see, Zacharias stepped over the rather pitiful front lawn and did another sweep of the area. Not a single silhouette, which would have been excellent if Constantine were by his side.

"Brother?" he called quietly.

Surely the boy hadn't been jittery enough to find himself going out the back door? If so, he would have quickly turned around. Was he now waiting at the side door, then, having just missed his brother in passing?

Trying to reign in his quick breathing, Zacharias hurried back to the side door and opened it. He couldn't make out anyone on the other side, but that was hardly astonishing in the lack of light.

"Constantine?"

No response. For goodness' sake, how long was he going to have to chase his brother in circles before they would actually leave?

"Eh?!"

Zacharias froze as the cry from outside hit his ears. It was too short to properly recognise, but it did sound like a boy. It hadn't come from the garage, either.

Shutting the door once again, he sped towards the front and paused. The voice... had been to the north.

He hurried that way, throwing a second look at every shadow that could have possibly been a human being, until he had gone past his own house and several others.

"Constantine?"

Still no sign of him. Had he been mistaken? Had the voice been in the other direction after all?

A park stood just a bit further ahead. As it would make a good rest stop, Zacharias decided to investigate it before changing course too hastily.

The scrap of a park was but a short trail with a few ragged trees. If memory served, a handful of nice benches were farther in by a fast-flowing creek—but he didn't have to look that far before he located his brother at the edge of a lamppost's glow.

His face roughly the colour of rainclouds, Constantine slumped towards the lamppost, his legs splayed across the grass, his finger-marked neck bent, and his body faintly jostling as a ragamuffin struggled to remove his backpack.

The urchin boy sensed the newcomer almost immediately, his eyes flaring wide in alarm before he released the shoulder strap, letting the corpse collapse to the ground.

Precisely what happened next was entirely lost to Zacharias as he was swept forward by a red gust of rage.