==Hi, everyone! I'm back again! So sorry that I've been absent from the site for a couple months. It's just been an overload of school and homework all together. I seriously had no time for myself. I went to school and came home to do hours and hours of homework. But now I'm on fall break (thank God) and I want to post at least twice before my schedule gets super busy again. This chapter is shorter than the most recent ones so I apologize for that, but there will be some long ones soon, that is if I can get around to it before thanksgiving. Please review if you want me to do better about something that may bother you.==

R3hab & NERVO & Ummet Ozcan - "Revolution (Audien Remix)"

I got a love that keeps on fighting. It keeps on. I got a heart that keeps on trying. It keeps on. We got this planet it keeps evolving evolving. It keeps on. Even when our hope is broken. We keep on. People, there's so much for us to prove. So keep on. There's so much for us to do. 'Cause we can start a revolution. You and me. I say we start a revolution. Just you and me.

Haunted: Collapse into Caliginosity

Chapter 55:

The Easy Day...Was Yesterday

I must admit that we were making too much of a racket, but this new video game we got was getting our blood pumping. Cole and Jay were teaming up against me with their virtual characters, but it wasn't working out for them too well. The sound of clashing metallic weapons from the television was the only evidence of my dominance. What they didn't know was that I've been binge-playing this game, so I know all its secrets and special tactics.

"Ugh," Jay audibly complained, leaning against me to somehow mess me up. "We're both going at you. Just die already!"

I laughed as my health bar barely faltered with the timer reaching its end.

Cole's malevolent character appeared from off-screen to land a smack down on mine, but he barely missed. All the power obtained to make the blow critical was decimated in less than a second. "Shit," he mumbled under his breath next to me.

The timer of the round slowly ran out as the characters initiated combat against me. They played the game correctly, but not with a mindset that was out of the box. They were frustrated and out of ideas.

"GAME. OVER," the game announced with sound effects and a blocked screen.

"Ugh!" Jay protested. "If Zane was playing with us, we probably could've beat you."

"Where is Zane, anyway?" I asked. "He wasn't acting like himself in training this morning."

Cole stretched with an arm behind his head."He was sleeping last time I saw him."

"Hey, boys," Nya greeted in the doorway.

"Hey, Nya!" Jay enthusiastically replied.

"Your contraption for the mailman worked," she told him, bringing in a large flat box and two envelopes. "He landed on the upper deck without a problem."

"Really? That's good. I told you I wasn't crazy, Cole!"

"Jay, it's a bicycle with flapping wings attached to it. You are crazy."

"But it brought our mail to us, didn't it?" I interjected, getting to my feet to take the package from her.

"No, I brought your mail to you," Nya corrected. "The flying bicycle brought your mail to me. I'm the one who had to walk all the way down here to bring it to you."

"Aw, my baby sister is all grown up. She can walk all by herself."

She rolled her eyes, but I just laughed. "I should've peeked at what you bought," she grumbled.

"Yeah, what is it?" Jay asked as I passed him a letter from his parents.

"I got myself new posters since my other ones got disintegrated in the monastery fire."

"Oh, god," Cole groaned with his letter pressed against his forehead. "Is this that thing you were talking about getting Zane?"

"Yes, but don't worry! I didn't get anything bad for him."

"Are you sure? Because that first one you got picked out for him was pretty on edge."

"How's a picture of Macca in a bikini 'on edge'?"

"Because he's a smart guy but he's naive about sex appeal. I don't wanna somehow screw his brain up with that stuff."

I sat back down and pulled out the plastic-covered rectangular pictures. "We won't screw him up. Besides, I got him this one instead." Tearing the plastic of one in the middle revealed a poster of Macca leaned over a flat surface with her elbows resting against it. Her knuckles gently supported her head under her chin as a candid smile crossed her face. The sight of her long curly hair draped over her shoulders made the entire shot that much more beautiful.

"Okay, I actually like that one," Cole admitted. "She's pretty in it, not smoking hot."

"There's nothing wrong with her being smoking hot. Honestly, if Zane wasn't after her, I'd go for her."

"I'm not saying there is, but for Zane's sake, let's just keep her image conservative. I'd go for her, too, but Zane beat us to it."

"I think Zane and Macca are cute together," Nya commented. "I hope they work things out. Then I can refer to them as 'Zacca.'"

"You don't think Cole or me would be cute with her?" I played.

"No, because your ship names would be 'Kacca,' and 'Cacca.' They both sound exactly the same."

"It's also either 'Kole' or 'Mole,'" Jay laughed, rolling over to lay on the floor.

"Cole shook his head at him. "Fine. If they're gonna be 'Zacca,' then they better have a son named Zach in the future."

"You don't want a son with Macca named Mole?!" Jay laughed even louder.

"You guys are idiots. I'm going back upstairs," Nya said, leaving the doorway. "And don't forget we have to be out of here by the time dinner's over!"

"What else you got?" Jay pried, reaching for the plastic rectangles.

I pulled it away from him. "Nope. This is all going in the closet for safe keeping."

He looked dumbfounded. "You got a butt load of posters just to shove them in a dark corner forever?"

"I think waking up to Zane's girlfriend mounted on the wall every morning is a little creepy."

Cole suddenly bursted in laughter, causing us to sharply turn towards him. His face was red as he silenced with a clenched piece of paper in his hand.

"What?"

"Look, Jay, you're naked!" he exclaimed.

"What?!"

Cole got tackled by Jay as he tried to grab the picture. "Your mom sent us one of your baby pictures!"

I was entertained to watch the two wrestle over something stupid. Jay couldn't overpower Cole due to strength differences.

When Cole struggled to hold the picture out to me, I took it from him to see the image of Jay as a baby. He was laid across a fuzzy white blanket in the nude. "What a cute tushy," I commented.

"No!" Jay complained as I dropped the photo.

They were still wrestling when I walked out. I went to find Zane and get these posters put away.

Quietly stepping into our shared bedroom, I expected to see Zane curled up in his bunk like Cole mentioned, but to my surprise, it was empty. Voices were coming from the closed off closet. He had to have been in there, but it wasn't him talking. (Sometimes I catch him in the middle of a phone call with Macca.) Pressing my ear against the door, I listened to the muffled sounds of Macca and another woman having a casual conversation.

I knocked on the door and cracked it open. Zane was sitting on the floor, his back to me, with a video playing next to him. The canvas in his lap had the beginning stages of a new sketch on it. "Yes?" he said, blowing off excess staining from the markings.

"You busy?"

He set the canvas aside. "Not at the moment. Do you need me?"

"I got you something." He pivoted around to see me hold up the poster of pretty Macca. "And Cole likes it, too, so you know it's a good present."

"You didn't have to get anything for me," he guiltily commented.

"I wanted to. I love your girlfriend, too, anyway."

"Kai, there is no relationship yet. Besides, I make my own images of her."

"You can't tell me you love pictures of her more than the real her!"

"Of course not. But...I enjoy reflecting her beauty through my own perspective. That's why I draw her so much."

I gazed over at the wall to see all kinds of finished pieces leaned against it. They all were detailed with realistic designs for Macca's hair and body shape. The best one had her head tilted with hair splayed in the air as if she was in the middle of dancing. Her hands held headphones over her ears as a song played. But the drawing next to it was not Macca. It was someone I wasn't familiar with. She also had curly hair, but she had striking dark eyes and animal skins and armor for clothes.

Before I could ask about it, Zane turned off the video of Macca baing in an interview. "Is it weird that I want to know her life story?" he inquired.

"No, but don't be looking for embarrassing or secret stuff and then bring it up in conversation with her."

"Well, what do you know about her?"

"I know a little bit," I admitted, putting the rest of the posters in a safe corner. "Have you just heard the same things over and over on the internet?"

"Yes. I know she grew up in a foster home, quit school, was an athlete, and makes music."

"Yeah, that's all basically the core of her story. What I know is that she had a harder childhood because she grew up in a foster home but I don't know how it actually affected her life."

"Can I ask her?"

"Sure, but also take this into account: She got into music pretty young, which meant she was working for a paycheck as soon as she turned sixteen. She really started hitting it big around seventeen, and that's also when her biggest hits got personal. She told a lot of heartfelt stories through her songs that I believe really happened throughout her life. She always talks about the struggles of living a normal life in interviews and how no day was an easy day to get through. She used her musical talents to escape from her home life."

"But she's happy, isn't she? She comes off to be someone who sees the good in things and enjoys life at its fullest."

"She's very happy with how her life has turned out. I don't doubt that one bit. I mean, she completely revolutionized the music industry single-handedly. She was so determined to be successful when nobody else around her had the drive to do it themself. If she, an eighteen-year-old, was able to not become another statistic like she was predicted to be, can you imagine how much more she'll be able to accomplish in the next year or so?"

He lowered his gaze. "Do you think she'll get so famous someday that she'll...forget about me?"

"No, of course not. I wasn't saying that. I just think that Macca has a passion and a plan, and I think if you tried hard enough, you can be a part of that plan. I know you're still building the courage to make your move with her, but you better do it fast before a guy sweeps her off her feet. Do it tonight if you can. I'd suggest you be alone with her if you do that, though. Chances are there will be a lot of people in the area, so I don't know if you'll be able to do it. But I promise I'll do my best to get you the opportunity. I can't ask her for you, but I'll set you up for the moment."

"I understand," he replied. "I will do it. I want to be with her."

"Turn on the TV! Turn on the TV!" I frantically yelled, rushing down the hallway from the upper deck. Cole and Jay were still on the video game when I busted in, frightening them both. I quickly grabbed the remote and changed the source so the cable would show up on the screen.

"Hey!" Cole protested. "I was about to beat your high score."

"Sorry," I quickly apologized, flipping to the right channel. "I almost forgot about the sponsor auction for Macca's team."

"Huh?"

It suddenly appeared as a room full of people and talking. The auctioneer quickly spoke in front of a big screen, which had a rising cost with an indistinguishable number that constantly changed in a blur. It was like watching a stopwatch tick away milliseconds.

I realized it was too late to see their new video for this summer. The thought bummed me out.

"They already got two-thousand dollars in the bag," I explained. "The highest bidder gets to be the sponsor for Poison Posse."

"We'll see her dance tonight. Let us finish our game," Jay impatiently insisted.

"Hold on, hotshot. I need to see this."

A minute passed, the cost exceeded three-thousand dollars, and the bidders were becoming restless. A handful of potential sponsors were fighting for the number one spot. Macca told me it would probably be this way. The expectations of them at least making it to the finals were high this year. Their biggest rival, Triplettt, would be the ultimate reason why that shouldn't happen.

"Wait, we have a new offer," the auctioneer announced, directing his attention to the screen. The four digit number made a jump to five-thousand dollars, causing the room to gasp all at once. "Five-thousand dollars going once."

Nobody moved.

"Five-thousand dollars going twice."

The number jumped up a hundred dollars. And then another hundred. But it stopped again.

"Five-thousand two-hundred dollars going once...Five-thousand two-hundred dollars going twice...Sold to Puma Energy!"

The room erupted in cheering. The camera was suddenly blocked by three bodies celebrating a whopping five-thousand dollars in sponsor money. The camera was unable to catch her face, but I knew which one was Macca. As she enjoyed the feeling of receiving the largest amount of cash of the night, I thought about her life story. If Poison Posse takes home gold this summer, it would go down as another chapter of milestones for her. She truly was incredible. She may have had a hard time in the past, but now she's reached a peak that will be hard to knock her off of. I couldn't wait to walk a part of this journey with her. It was a dream come true for me, but also for Zane. The only thing that needed to be done now was get her and Zane together.

More background to Macca will be discussed later on, but I would like to personally acknowledge PixelatedNinjas for favoriting and following this fan fiction. She's the first new one since I've adopted this profile! :D