Hey guys, sorry for not updating in forever but school is hard and it's kicking my ass. But no need to worry! I would like to say be a bit nicer to everyone around you even if you don't know them. What I want us all to do is the first person you see in the morning just tell them hi! Your friends don't count and nor do your family, just the first person you see around your age just give them a wave and a smile! Then do the same in the afternoon and the evening! Brighten someone's day! It won't just help them but make you happy too! Presenting!

Chapter 25: How about a smile? (Part one)

Corey sat silently on a field. He, quite weirdly, liked the quiet and tranquility from the island provided. He breathed in deeply and smelled the scent of the flowers around him. He loved the scent of the roses.

Kin, Kon and Laney stood off from a distance watching Corey with some binoculars. "Why are we watching Corey again Laney?" "Because Kin, Corey always secludes himself when he fires a gun. He just says he'll be back and goes somewhere quiet." "What's so bad about some meditation?" "It's been an hour. He spends only 20 minutes. Last time it took this long is when you guys came out of that games."

Corey just sat there and kept breathing in deeply. You might not know this but Corey is a pretty spiritual guy and it rubbed off on the kids, especially Alex and even Laney and the others. Corey got everyone praying before they ate and praying before bed.

Corey stood and turned knowing the three were there all that time. Laney and the two twins ducked and laid flat on their stomachs. "I can see you!" Corey said chuckling. Laney and the twins stood rubbing their necks in self-pity.

"Sorry for spying on you Core. We were worried." Laney said. "I'm fine, come on. The kids called. Their jet is experiencing some problems." Corey, Laney and the twins got on their jet to pick up the kids and soon were at the airport.

"Dad!" "Alex! How was the trip?" "Awesome! Right guys?" The teenage group screamed with enjoyment. "Alright, let's go!"

Another scream was given but as soon as they got on the jet the pilot pushed them back off. "I'm sorry Mr. Rifften but you can't broad the plane." "Why?" "Seems we have engine damage! Found a duck wedged in there! Surprise we didn't crash!" "How long will we have to wait?" "How long can you afford a hotel?"

Corey turned knowing he had a while to wait. They left the airport and entered a hotel. "Hello, can I help you?" The front desk clerk asked with a big smile. "Yes, I would like to rent a room please?" "Certainly! Name?" "Corey Rifften."

The clerk did his job and typed away on his computer. "Cash or credit?" Corey pulled out his credit card and clerk swiped, he didn't have a smile on his face and looked worried. He tried again and came up with the same result.

"Ummm….sorry sir but this card has been denied." "What?! How? I have at least $100,000 on that thing!" "I'm sorry sir but it's not working. I don't know what to say but I can't just accept an I.O.U." Corey toke his card and they tired at least 10 different hotels until they finally gave up.

None of them accepted Corey's card and riding around in a taxi was beginning to get annoying and night came quickly. Corey walked back to the taxi everyone was waiting in with annoyance on his face. "Why is my card not working?! Ugh! This is a disaster." "Can you use my card?" Alex asked.

Alex was just about to hand Corey his card when two men walked up. In masks.

"Give us your money!" one of the men shouted. "What? Why?" Alex asked confused. "I said give me your money!" The other said, he raised a shotgun and pumped the handle. "Okay bro calm down!" Alex reached for his pistol but he found it was not in his pants.

"Crap…." He whispered. "I'll give you 10 seconds!" Everyone began looking for their weapons but it seemed they left them all on the jet. They only toke one briefcase each and enough clothes for 2 days.

"Okay man calm down. I would give you money but all we got is my credit card and for some reason it's not working. Mind you it has at least $100,000 grand on it." Corey was well aware with the move he just played. "How much?! Give me that damn card!" The man with the shotgun walked towards Corey and snatched the card from his hand.

Corey jumped on the man and they struggled for possession of the shotgun. Corey was kicked in the stomach and responded with a head butt. Laney pulled out her phone and had the police on their way. Kin and Kon ran towards the other man to confront him but he pulled out a baseball bat.

Alex, Dominick and Ben dived in to help Corey and Todd and Matt went to help Kin and Kon as the women watched from the taxi. The man finally got control of the shotgun and pushed Corey off. He aimed but Alex and Ben jumped on him from behind.

He swung around and the two fell off. Corey rushed forward but the man then gun butted him in the stomach and kicked him back. Dominick rushed in but the robber pointed the shotgun before Dominick could even get close.

Todd got hit in the back with the wooden baseball bat and fell to the ground. Matt jumped on his back but he threw him off. Kin then jumped with a flying kick straight to the face, Kon then came in as he was stunned and grabbed the bat and tripped the man.

"Ben!" Kon screamed and threw the bat. Dominick and the man locked eyes. Dominick shaped his fingers as a gun and pretended as if he was shooting him. "You're not a smart kid you know that right?" "Am I really?" Dominick kicked the shotgun up into the air as the man was distracted.

As he realized his mistake the man was just about to strangle Dominick when he pointed behind him. He turned and found Ben with the wooden baseball bat. Ben swung the bat hitting the man square in the face and swung again, again and then with an upper cut swing the man fell to the ground.

He frantically got to his feet and turned to find Ben with the bat and Dominick with the shotgun. "Word of advice, run." The man did just that and picked up his friend. "Get up you idiot!" "But their money!" "I got the damn cards now let's go! I hear the cops! This isn't the last time you'll hear from us!"

Dominick swung the shotgun over his shoulder. "Doubt it." "Well that's just fine and dandy but he got all of our cards. Now what?" The cops and an ambulance pulled to check them but they were fine and they soon drove off to catch the criminals, but they were long gone.

"What now?! We got no cash!" Friday screamed as though they weren't just robbed. The taxi driver turned with a dumbfounded face on. "No money?!" After a swift kick with his foot everyone including their luggage lay on the sidewalk and the taxi driver quickly drove away.

"Ugh! You idiot! We have cash in our pockets!" Friday screamed as if the driver could still hear her over the screeching of his tires. "What now?" Alex asked annoyed. Everyone turned and stared at Corey.

"What are you guys looking at me for? We only got the cash in our pockets." Everyone shuffled around digging in their pockets to find whatever amount of money they had but seeing that most of their money was in the bank's hand.

"So we got….wow, $239. We can't afford a hotel room, well not here, not even for a night. Maybe a motel…." "Whoa whoa whoa! You mean a roach motel?! We can't sleep in there!" Kin exclaimed. "It's either that or out here with the raccoons." "Where's the nearest one?"

The door swung open to the room they got. It only housed 2 beds, not nearly enough for all of them. The room smelled of mildew and small dead animals. You could tell people used this room for…..videos seeing that a camera was pointing straight at the bed.

"Home sweet home?" Corey sheepishly said. "Ugh, hate to say it but the guys got to sleep on the ground and the ladies could snug on the beds." Ben offered. The women did anything but hesitate and quickly claimed the beds as their own.

Kin and Corey tried tiding the room up and I strain the word 'try'. They soon heard a scream that caused everyone to cringe and an old lady's glasses to crack nearby. The scream was from Skylar. "What's wrong?!" Dominick asked with concern.

"Rat! Rat! There's a rat in here!" The ladies quickly jumped on the bed. The men were even frightened seeing that the room was so small it could have been anywhere in the pasted 5 seconds.

The men stammered and checked the base of their feet to see if the small rodent had snuck up on them already. Todd fell back hitting the closet door. It opened ajar and three more mice came running out. "Oh hell no!" Kin screamed. He picked up a broom (Which was broken in half) and swung at the rodent's heads.

The intelligent little creatures ran in different directions confusing Kin. Kin! He was never confused on anything. "Make a move for the door!" Kin shouted at Kon over the women screaming.

Kon quickly flung the door open as Kin played hockey with the rats and knocked them out the door. Kon closed the door with a smile as if the motel wasn't still covered in mildew and wallpaper from the dark ages.

A squeak and Kin turned to see another mouse, that almost seemed as if it was glaring and knocked the rat straight to the bathroom into the toilet. Alex and Matt held the toilet seat down as the mouse struggled to get back inside. "Is this thing a mutant?!" "Don't know! Keep pushing!"

But even with the combined strength of the two boys the….more than likely mutant rat pushed itself out of the toilet and barrel rolled into the darkness of the motel room. "Where did it go?!" Matt asked terrified seeing that the small rodent out matched his strength.

"I can't see it!" Kon said. "It's in the shadows somewhere, watching…..waiting…..getting stronger….." Kin peered around the room with his broom held near. Terrified everyone stood in a complete frozen silence. "So, who's ready for food?" Corey asked not really wanting food, more to getting out of the rat's den.

"I'm with you, as we go maybe we should get some rat traps." Laney said finally coming off the bed. A hiss came from the unknown. "I mean mouse! Mouse!" They quickly scattered out of the motel and walked to the nearest fat burger. As they walked up to the counter they all pulled out their empty pockets and was abruptly kicked out of the fast food joint.

"It's like no one even gives a damn anymore. We're celebrities how did that chick not know who we are?!" Kon exclaimed. He had a point. More than likely if they were known they would be crowded just to get an auto-graph. But now, with empty pockets, no one had respect for them. No one cared.

They sat on the sidewalk and watched as a man just walked past. Driven, Kin stood up and ran in front of him. "Hey! Hey buddy! I'm Kin, Kin the pianist for Grojband?" "You? Kin? Ha! And that guy over there is your twin brother Kon?" "Yes! He is!" The man simply push Kin on the side.

"Get away from me you free loader." Kin stood in despair, no one gave a damn even of his title. He was just another pauper on the streets no cared about.

Corey stood in anger and clenched his fist. "Is it because we're rich?!" Corey shouted gaining the attention from many people in the area. The man turned with a smirk on his face.

"Rich? You can't even buy a 99 cent meal in there and you're rich?" "I may not have cash with me now but that's not the case! What's wrong with you people?! So what if we're not rich?! Or middle class! Just because you don't know who I am it means you shouldn't give a shit?!"

Mouths agape, the crowd stood silent and still, not even caring about them a minute ago but now listening to every word. "Is this society?! Is this the world we live in?! Just because we don't know a guy means we shouldn't care?! This isn't right! I donate thousands- no, millions of dollars to charities without even thinking twice about it!" "So what you're saying is we owe you? Is that it Mister?" The man asked.

"No, that's not what I'm saying! We should live in a society that cares about each other! I- we- it's not fair for everyone to just be luckier than others! You could be any person on the street without a place to sleep tonight! Without food to eat! With children to fed! So if this is the case why the hell do we LIVE?!"

The crowd stood shocked and people gasped. Corey hung his head low and walked away as if his feet was in charge. Laney and the others followed not really knowing why they should live. The crowd parted letting them past and when they turned the corner they all looked towards the man Corey spoke too.

His face was blank but in a way saddened. He just turned around and walked away. The crowd did the same, as if Corey speech meant nothing. No, it didn't mean anything. Society hardened head was not moved by the knowledge Corey gave.

No one cared.

This only part one guys! Part 2 coming up soon! Again bright someone's day!