Tingting opened the grand doors of the library at noon the next day. What she saw made her jaw drop in amazement.
To be honest, she didn't really expect much from them. But this... Wasn't this too much?!
Every single book stood proudly in its right place. The shelves shone and light flooded the room, giving it a majestic feel. Gone were the spiders that crawled and hid in every crevice. Gone was the gloom. Gone was the sickening dusty atmosphere. Gone was it all. All gone.
"Amazed aren't you."
Here was Lukas. Leaning unsteadily on a broom, his face was decorated with black circles and his eyes... Well. Let's just say that both boys were looking as if they'd survived a whole week on an island devoid of civilization, food and water.
"Applaud us, woman." Lukas's voice was loud and hoarse.
"We had,"
"A war." Lukas's sentence was finished by a throaty-voiced Mike.
"A war,"
"We had."
"A war,"
"We did"
"A war,"
"We had done."
"Those eight legged monsters held not a spark of hope against our mighty presence."
"Squished them with our shoes, we did."
"Squelch."
"Splat."
They giggled for a while but paused as if they remembered something else. Lukas's voice turned grave.
"There was one. A thick thing it was."
"It squeaked" Mike shuddered.
"And it scampered" Lukas added.
"But no worry."
"We fried it and ate it." Their voices merged into one high-pitched dissonant sound.
"Delicious."
"Scrumptious."
"What's for dessert?" Lukas an Mike clasped their hands and spun each other around. Such a comical sight was not able to make the bystander crack even the slightest smile.
Tingting felt a growing concern for their mental states.
"...Did you two even rest yesterday?"
The boys parted and teetered on their feet. Lukas bore a strange expression.
"Rest?"
"Sounds disgusting."
"Never heard of it." Their thoughts as one, the boys ran around, dancing and lifting each other high into the air. Their minds seemed to be just not quite there.
"Oh. My. God."
Tingting felt like she had done something seriously bad to these two. She had to drag them out of there before they became even weirder.
...
Sharp brown eyes blinked slowly at a plain ceiling. Lukas recognised it as his room.
How did he get here? Wasn't he in the lib-
Memories of the shameful events rushed back to him.
Erase it. Just. Erase it. Seriously.
Could somebody throw a rock at his head?
He needed to act out the part of the cool, lofty brother. What was he doing acting like a fool?
He sat up slowly, his whole body aching from earlier. In his memories, though hazy, there seemed to be something blazing... A fire...?!
This wasn't a joke anymore. Where was a hammer when he needed it?
Face distorting as he buried himself in shame from the flood of memories, his stomach rumbled.
A mouth-watering smell slid through the gap under the door and wafted through Lukas's nose, making his stomach growl even louder.
Food?
As hungry as he was, Lukas forced himself to walk calmly down the stairs towards the kitchen.
Play the cool guy. The cool guy. The cool-
"Food!!!"
Something whizzed past Lukas's very eyes. Recalling the incident with the rooms, Lukas abandoned any thoughts on preserving his dignity and raced after Mike.
This time for sure, he would get the best parts.