Malcolm had agreed to take the blame for his father. He took the $10 even though he didn't know what his dad had done, it seemed like easy money at the time. But his mom was really mad, and his mom mad scared him. Now he was walking reluctantly to the community centre after school. Instead of the usual grounding he had expected, his mom had decided to up her game, dad must've really messed up. The whole time he was being yelled at he still didn't find out what he had apparently done. For the next two weeks he had to help organise the donations for a charity sale at the community centre, every day after school, then after 3 hours of physical labour he still had to go home, do his homework, eat, bath and go to bed. To say he was exhausted is an understatement. The first few days their mom had sent Reese and Dewey to meet him at the community centre at 6pm so they could walk back together but that didn't last long. Not that he cared. Walking home alone in the dark didn't bother him, he didn't scare easily.

"Right boys!" Lois yelled over breakfast the next day. "Me and your father won't be home until late tonight. You all will be on your best behaviour and if you're not in bed when we get home every single one of you will be grounded for the next month!" "Yes mom." The boys chorused monotonously. Malcolm rolled his eyes. Being grounded would be preferred to his current punishment. As they were getting their bags ready to leave the phone rang. As usual Malcolm was the first to answer. "Hey." The voice came through the earpiece. Malcolm immediately smiled. "Hey Francis." He said cheerily. The mention of their eldest brother's name straight away drew the other brothers to the phone, Reese put his ear on the other side of the phone in an attempt to listen and Dewey hovered at their feet. "Malcolm!" Francis greeted his genius brother happily. "Look, I'm coming home today but I need to speak to mom about picking me up from the bus station. Is she in a good mood?" "You're coming home?" Malcolm squealed with excitement, which got his other brothers equally excited. "Yes." Francis stated unable to disguise his happiness from his brother's love for him. "But me getting there tonight or tomorrow depends on if mom can help me out." "One sec." Malcolm told him. "Mom!" he called out. "Francis is on the phone!" He kept the phone to his ear as their mom picked up the phone in her bedroom. "Hi Francis." Lois said with a smile. But before he could talk, she yelled. "Reese, Malcolm, Dewey! Get to school before you're late!" Malcolm flinched from the yelling in his ear and reluctantly put down the phone. They rushed out the door, all a little disappointed they didn't hear the conversation between their mom and Francis. But this didn't stop Reese shoving Malcolm out of the front door, causing him to graze his arm against the wall. Malcolm yelled but Reese just laughed; Dewey kept his distance, hoping he wouldn't be the next victim of Reese's violence.

School dragged for Malcolm, he was still adjusting to the Krelboyne class and even though he was now learning more, he missed his old, normal classmates. But for once he wasn't looking forward to the end of the day. Even though it was Friday, he still had to go to the community centre after school and work his ass off as part of this bullshit punishment to cover his dad's ass. "Malcoolm." His teacher, Caroline, sung his name as class ended. "What?" Malcolm snapped, a little harsher than he intended but he was annoyed and scared that he would be late getting to the community centre and have to face his mother's wrath. "Can I speak with you?" she said gently, raising an eyebrow at his tone. He dragged his feet towards her desk and waited for his classmates to leave, ignoring their pathetic attempts to torment him for being singled out by the teacher. Caroline stood up from her chair and walked around to instead sit on the edge of her desk closer to Malcolm. She looked into the young boy's eyes and noticed the bags around them, which only fuelled her worry. She sighed. "Are you ok Malcolm?" Malcolm was surprised by her question but when he thought about it, Caroline was always worried about him, more than she was anyone else in the class. "I'm fine." Malcolm said quickly, it was his default response whenever she decided to bug him. But Caroline didn't buy it. "Are you sure Malcolm?" she pressed gently. "You've not been paying attention in class this week, the assignment you handed in yesterday seemed rushed and you look exhausted." Malcolm shrugged and forced a smile. "I guess I didn't get enough sleep the last few nights." It wasn't a lie, he had to stay up late to finish everything and he knew that assignment was rushed, but still worthy of an A so why did it matter? Caroline nodded at Malcolm. Why haven't you been sleeping? Is there something going on at home?" Malcolm rolled his eyes, why did her mind always go there? It had only been a few months since she accused his parents of giving him a head injury. "Nothing like that." He tried to assure her. "It's just uh..." He thought quickly. "My little brother's been sick... so he's kept everyone up." He lied, not that the truth was really bad but he just wanted to conversation to be over. Caroline nodded again. "Ok Malcolm." She stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to say anything more. "So... can I go?" Malcolm asked hopefully after the awkward silence. "Of course." Caroline sighed.

Malcolm checked his watch and sighed, 7pm, he was already an hour late but luckily his parents weren't at home tonight. Not that it was his fault, he'd actually stayed late at the community centre to help as the place was a mess, he'd devised a new system to organise everything quicker but it still had taken longer than expected. He was so tired and wasn't sure if he had the energy to walk home. Suddenly a hand on his shoulder made him jump. Malcolm pulled away and turned quickly to see Mr Tisdale he was another volunteer and lived in the neighbourhood, but all the kids found him creepy. "Mr Tisdale." Malcolm stammered, slightly shaken from the scare. "Mr Simons asked me to take you home, I'm only a block away from you." Malcolm nodded. He wasn't thrilled by the idea but he was so tired and Mr Simons had made the suggestion, he liked the manager of the community centre and trusted his judgement. "Ok, thanks." They walked to the car together in silence and the drive was mostly in silence also, which Malcolm didn't really mind but when they got near his house Malcolm spoke. "I can just get out here." The older man looked at him. "Are you sure? It's not too much farther." "It's fine, I'll walk the rest." Malcolm insisted, he had learned from experience that being dropped off at his house never ended well for him. Mr Tisdale nodded and pulled over. "Thanks for the ride Mr Tisdale." Malcolm said politely as he climbed from the car. He started walking towards his house, he would be home in five minutes and planned on going straight to bed, even though Reese would surely tease him for his early night, he didn't care. Just before he turned the corner onto his street, he felt a cold hand on his arm. Before he could turn around there was a sharp prick in his neck and everything went dark.