Bolting home Alex burst through the door, luckily it was already unlocked else he would probably be scolded for breaking the door and probably have to repair it too. The scene he saw was chaotic and he could hear a half broken conversation
"What do you mean you are in debt? Father, mother I believe you have some explaining to do"
"Well... Oh alex is here perfect, be a dear and calm your little sister will you?"
Seeing his mother calm as ever for some reason made alex relax and he organized his thoughts based on the little bit of the conversation he did hear, he greeted his long 'lost' parents and proceeded to calm down his sister
"Laura lets hear what they have to say alright?"
"Brother thats what I intend to do, hear their excuse for why they came back with the news of debt, well? 'dear' mother and father of mine"
The scariest one in the family was not the ever calm mother or the weirdo of a father but the little harmless looking sister, as said by some wise man 'fear not those who anger easily but those who dont for when they go mad they will not rest until they see the object of their fury burn at whatever cost including themselves', although not entirely accurate still it pays a homage to how frightening the 'quiet' types can be.
"Well you see, the place we worked rushed us into a job we couldnt refuse and although your mother tried to get us out of it whats impossible is impossible and he penalty for the job was being fired, the job was shady so even if we completed it we would have been disposed of so in a way this is better. We can only blame our luck"
Although not entirely incompetent Alex and Laura's parents were quite capable in their own regards but when the higher ups attempt to make trouble all you can do is damage control, ofcourse they sued the company and will probably in the future affect the reputation of the company as it wasnt a giant corporation, such events arent entirely uncommon. Keeping an eye out on how shady the job is and whether you can be disposed for performing it is also a skill and when you are forced into a corner its best to cut your losses instead of trying to do the impossible and losing more. The couple could be said to have performed quite admirably.
"So basically, for a while we will have to live frugally? Well I can work part time for the college fees but what will you two do?"
Like a responsible son Alex realized complaining wont do anything so he opted to instead think of a solution suppressing his rage for the place their parents wasted their time in.
"I understand father, mother. I apologize for getting mad at you but you were clearly at fault for evading the topic right until brother came, Why are you more curious about whats inside the box than the crisis we are in?"
"What box laura?"
Only now did Alex notice the half open box unmoved from its earlier position, denoting that no one has inspected it after the parents came in despite their constant attempts to change the topic towards it.
"Brother this box came in right before father and mother did, I did not completely open it but there seem to be two small boxes inside, I thought you ordered it? So you didn't order another batch of porn magazines?"
The sentence got a bit chilly in the end but Alex couldnt help word out a complaint
"Leaving aside the 'another batch', Could you my dearest little sister explain why you opened it despite thinking it was porn I ordered?"
"Violet" (AN: Mother. I intend to slip in names rather than force feed character details this will be the only note of its kind)
"Yes dear?"
"Lets leave the two children alone for now"
"Yes lets"
The parents completely not running away from further inquisition and totally just giving their children privacy slipped into the background as quickly as their feet took them leaving their children bickering, due to single mindedly wishing to just escape they couldnt pay attention to the topic which could be mistaken as a lovers quarrel
"Brother of mine, so you wish to ask me such a question when you are caught red handed ordering porn?"
"Sister of mine, I would be embarrassed by that if I did not already know that you looked through them each time for whatever reason"
""Hohoho""
"Lets forget about this"
"Lets."
"So where are Father and mother, did they get lost again? Do we need to file a missing person report?"
"Laura they are still your parents, lets trust them a bit more, Besides I am curious about whats in the box more"
The parcel having waited an entire morning would probably be screaming 'Why have you wasted so much time on useless bickering just open me already' and having attention on itself if it could it would be crying tears of joy, Alex approached the box and took out the two small boxes carefully thinking they might have something delicate. He slowly opened one and gave the other to his sister thinking it would be faster that way. The box was slowly opened revealing a oddly thin as if two dimensional black chip. The box in Lauras hand tore itself open just when she was about to open it herself, distracting Alex. The chip in his hand as if having come to life sprang upon his arm crawled up to his neck and simply disappeared leaving him nothing but a tattoo in the shape of a choker around his neck and quite a lot of pain, unable to do anything as the events taking place were to quick to process he simply grit his teeth in pain and looked over to Laura again and saw the same happened to her. He mustered his will and picked her up, slowly walked towards the couch he laid her there and collapsed soon after
The parents hearing the commotion simply thought it was common sibling bickering and that maybe their children didnt get along as well as they thought after all they were almost never home, but after hearing the screams they rushed down and saw Alex collapsed on the floor and Laura peacefully sleeping on the couch, they also noticed a chocker looking tattoo on their necks. The couple now had 4 thoughts in their heads
a) Laura sleeping on the couch and Alex sleeping on the floor after bickering means there was some sort of physical scuffle and that Laura might have abused her brother
b) Alex might be a sub and remember the key word porn magazine they ignored earlier came to some perverted conclusion far from reality involving a play based on the porn magazine, realizing how dumb this thought was they immediately dismissed it.
c) The box might have contained something dangerous
d) We should probably take them to the doctor instead of thinking weird things
realizing now wasnt the time to think in such half hearted manner they took them to the hospital, Although lacking finances due to being fired they still had some savings which they used to have their children tested especially around the weird tattoo
A week after Laura and Alex woke up to the faces of their mother and father smiling on them
"Please explain what exactly happened, we wont mind if you two get into that sort of thing but please tell us"
continuing the misunderstanding from earlier, Alex and Laura looked at their parents, then at the surroundings confirming that they were in a hospital then looked at each other and came to some sort of weird understanding
""I see we were in a coma all along""