Anthony slowly opened the gate, while his eyes caught the presence of a blue sedan parked right between the trash can and the gate of the house. His gaze at the unfamiliar car was flat, but his head was full of question marks, and as usual when he sensed that some trouble was coming his way, he took a deep breath before opening the door to the house.
"—Oh, hi, Anthony, what a coincidence—," greeted Mrs. Lauren, Anthony's mother, who was seen sitting on the sofa in the living room with a man who was the same age as Anthony's late father and a young man who was the same age as Anthony.
He didn't immediately sit down with them, after placing his bag on the telephone table, Anthony headed to the kitchen. While sipping a glass of water, he kept his ear to catch the conversation that was going on in the living room.
"Anthony is a member of the boxing club on campus," said Mrs. Lauren.
"Oh, really?" replied the man.
"He even won the intercollegiate olympiad," said Mrs. Lauren excitedly.
"Wow, interesting. You now have a worthy opponent, Will," said the man, glancing at the young man next to him.
Anthony headed into the living room with a stiff face, even showing a slight frown. He and the young man sitting next to the man looked at each other. Anthony could feel that what was inside the young man's head was the same as his.
"Anthony, say hello. This is George, and this is Will," said Mrs. Lauren.
Anthony had no intention of looking at the two of them. He pointed to his mother.
"What do you really want, ma'am?" said Anthony.
The young man seemed to be about to explode. Meanwhile, Mrs. Lauren glared at her son.
"Don't take me on a family unification mission just for the sake of you and your lover," said Anthony.
"Anthony!?" Mrs. Lauren really did not expect that her son would explode at a time that she thought was very inappropriate.
Anthony actually intended to sit between them, but then he canceled the intention. The young man immediately rose from his seat.
"The atmosphere in this place makes me sick," said Anthony.
"Watch your mouth, Anthon, act a little mature!" his mother snapped.
"Don't teach me about maturity, ma'am. Mind your own problem with your lover, and don't bring me around," Anthony reached for his bag.
"He's still a child, honey, be patient a little bit," George rose from his seat, quickly reaching Lauren to calm her down by stroking her back.
For some reason Anthony was so annoyed after hearing George's words to his mother that he suddenly turned around. He tried to grab George's collar, but was blocked by Lauren, and at the same time, Will also got up to confront Anthony.
"Hey, man, relax, you're not the only one with hands," Will held Anthony's hand. The two glared at each other for a few seconds.
Anthony jerked Will's hand away. He wanted so badly to punch Will in the face.
"You—," Anthony pointed to the bridge of Will's nose with his eyes bulging and the veins starting to rise to the surface. Along the trunk of Anthony's neck looks red.
"Get out of here, Anthon!" Mrs. Lauren snapped, pointing at the door.
The woman's breath seemed to rise and fall. Anthony returned Lauren's glare with a bright smile.
"You don't have to, I have legs and a brain," replied his son.
"Get Out!"
Anthony is now at the house of Harold, his college friend. The young man still looked annoyed and chose to spend time playing console games with his friend all day.
"Hey, friend, why don't you just let your mother remarry?" suddenly Harold chimed in.
"You want me to beat you up, huh?" Anthony glared at Harold.
"Ha-ha, come on, friend, don't be so selfish, there's nothing to lose, right?" teased Harold.
"Oh, just shut up, let me focus on beating you, you bastard!" Anthony looked so serious that the console in his hand was rattling.
"Try it, bro!" Harold challenged him back.
In the evening, Anthony and Harold decide to have some fun at a pub. It seemed like the perfect night for a drink to forget about the upset over what had happened this afternoon.
The atmosphere in the pub seemed solid. Jack n' Roll pub visitors are indeed much busier on weekends like now.
Anthony and Harold took the corner table, joined a few acquaintances and immersed in the typical youth topics of conversation. Until one day, Anthony's eyes caught the presence of someone he didn't want.
It turned out that in the corner there was Will, George's son, his mother's lover. Anthony, who had his own resentment towards Will, began to feel uncomfortable with Will's presence, and immediately poked his friend.
"What?" Harold was somewhat surprised.
"Come, let's get out of here," said Anthony.
"What are you doing, anyway?" Harold was confused.
"Come or not?" said Anthony with a forced look.
"Come on, guys—, look, we just arrived," Harold was annoyed.
"Come," said Anthony.
"Ah, you're really not cool, what are you doing, anyway?" Harold was getting annoyed.
"This place is starting to feel unpleasant," said Anthony, his eyes darting to one of the young men sitting across from him.
"My mother's boyfriend's son," Anthony whispered.
"Shit—, are you serious?" Harold reacted with his distinctive accent.
"Come on—," Anthony got off his chair, followed by Harold.
"Hey, bro," Harold held his friend back, "can I beat him up?" he asked.
"Don't do anything like that, you bastard, let's just get out of here," said Anthony.
"—hey, wait a minute, look at that!" Harold tugged at Anthony's arm.
Turns out there was a commotion in the corner of the table where Will was sitting. A bald-headed man wearing a leather vest seemed to be pulling the collar of Will's shirt.
"Get your hands off me, you bastard! You think I'm scared of that tattoo of yours!" Will jerked the hand of the man who was attacking him, and at the same time, he plunged his knee into the bottom of his opponent's stomach so that the man was forced to release his grip from Will's shirt, even being pushed back one step.
"Urrrgh," the crowd groaned.
"Hey, bro, looks like I'm starting to like your brother," Harold chimed in.
"Damn you," Anthony looked annoyed, but didn't take his eyes off the battle that was going on up ahead.
It turned out that the man who was Will's opponent was not alone. Two men of similar stature were approaching, one of whom had thrown a fist at the young man's head.
Because he was trained as a boxer, Will could easily dodge the blow. He lowered his head, and at almost the same time, immediately positioned his hand like a tick mark, then with all his strength he threw an uppercut that targeted the man's chin so that his opponent immediately collapsed like a hot air balloon running out of gas.
"Nice!" Harold looked gleeful.
"Hei, bro, looks like he could be a match for you, huh?" he said to Anthony.
Anthony didn't pay attention to Harold's words, he just glanced at his friend for a moment, then returned to the fight that was going on. The atmosphere in the pub began to spiral out of control, however, no one seemed to have any intention of breaking up the fight, some of the diners even chose to remain immersed in their small conversation.
Seeing his friend fall down, the man who was part of the two men who came later snatched a beer bottle from one of the tables and then tried to hit Will's head with it, but his target immediately retreated so the blow missed. The man was not satisfied, he looked very lustful.
The beer bottle in his hand immediately flew towards Will. Unfortunately for Will, no matter how good he was, he still couldn't dodge the throw.
Although it wasn't hurt because the bottle didn't break, the throw was certainly very painful. Within a certain radius, the sound of a bottle hitting Will's chest could even be heard very clearly.
Will was wiping the spilled beer off his face when the man who had grabbed his collar now seemed to pounce on him with a punch that targeted the crown. Will didn't have time to dodge, the blow hit the target with a bang.
After all, the man's arm circle was much larger and weightier. Will was just like a mole who was hit by a hammer in the game Whack a Mole, he immediately sat up with his face still covered in spilled beer.
The man who threw the beer bottle would not let go of the opportunity, he immediately took a square, like a footballer who was given the opportunity to take a free kick. It's over already.
When the kick was about to be released, the man suddenly felt something very heavy hitting his back. In the blink of an eye, he was already tumbling forward until he was caught by the feet of someone swarming over them.
It turned out that someone had lunged at him from behind, and it was Anthony. Harold also realized that his friend had disappeared from his side when he saw the man tumbling like a pangolin.
"Shit, that bastard disappeared so quickly," said Harold.
Looking at his friends, the two men who had attacked Will earlier, now began to change the direction of the main attack on Anthony. One of them immediately pulled up a chair to hit Anthony.
However, just as he was about to reach for a chair, suddenly a beer bottle flew right into his head. The man screamed in pain while holding his head.
"You think you're the only one who can play with bottles, huh?" said Harold who was now right in front of him with a condescending gaze, looking down where the man was struggling with the pain that hit his head.
The riots centered on the six people are now starting to look widespread and increasingly out of control. Despite being able to overwhelm each of their opponents, Will, Anthony, and Harold, it had to be honest that what they were fighting was a man whose stature was much bigger than them.
So when the opportunity arose, Anthony immediately grabbed Will's hand and gave a code to get out of there immediately. Will caught the code, followed by Harold, and they immediately dashed towards the exit—while their three opponents, who were indeed much older in age, were too tired and could be called battered to catch up.
They are now on a wall on the beach, which is a barrier between the breakwater and the beachfront. A moment later, Harold came in with three cans of cold beer he had bought from the convenience store across the street.
The beer can was opened almost at the same time as laughter exploded for no reason. They stare at each other.
"Did you see the face of the man in the vest?" said Harold.
"His head looks like a watermelon," continued Will.
"No, no—, more like an egg," said Anthony.
"Ha-ha-ha," they just laughed for almost three minutes.
"—um, by the way, thank you, Anthon," Will said suddenly.
"Oh, that—just, no need to hesitate," answered Anthony.
Seeing that, Harold felt he should give Anthony and Will a somewhat private space.
"Hey, um, I'll be there in a minute," he said.
"Where are you going?" asked Anthony with a sullen look.
"—I'm going to pee, yoo," Harold rose from his seat, and now left the empty space between Anthony and Will. He blinked at Anthony.
"Damn you, come here you bastard," Anthony annoyed himself at Harold's clumsy attitude.
"Hey, what did I do—," shouted Harold as Anthony kicked him on purpose. Seeing that, Will also rose from his seat.
"Come on, Will, help me beat him," said Anthony.
"Ouch, hey, bro, this isn't fair, when one family beats me up like this, one by one, please!" Harold's screams raced with the sound of the waves, as did their laughter afterward | Inspired by The Ink Well Prompt #38
The illustration copyright belongs to Kylo/Unsplash, the author has edited for the sake of content
Tittle |
You Are Not My Brother |
| Author | @mosin-nagant |
| Genre | Family |
