1 month later:
Braylan was having trouble concentrating. He had the uneasy feeling of someone watching him or someone's presence. He was in the living room, playing chess against computer. He wasn't a pro but he was not very bad at it either. He could win against the computer at the beginning level, and sometimes, at the medium level too. But he lost the game 6 times a row at the beginner's level.
"You are terrible at it. " Jayden said, with a small snigger. He turned around and smiled too.
"I let it win on purpose. " He said, knowing that Jayden will not believe him for a second.
"For not hurting it's feelings I guess. " He replied, giggling. Then, he got up and walked out of the house. His mom and dad were convinced that there was nothing wrong now. Even Braylan had believed it for a while. Jayden was normal. The phases of him disappearing inside him were gone. He was normal. But two days ago, Braylan felt someone's eyes on him. He turned around only to realize that he was alone. That feeling was very, very short. Short enough to think of it as imagination. But then, yesterday, he felt the presence for much longer time. It was stronger too. But he wasn't going to tell anyone about it. Not yet. He closed the computer and sat on the armchair, doing nothing. He closed his eyes for relaxing.
He was fast asleep when Jayden shook him up saying Samuel is here and wants to see him. He rubbed his eyes and stood up. He stretched his limbs and yawned.
"Eww! Cover your mouth. I can see your trachea! " Jayden said, closing his eyes in disgust.
"Okay I will. Next time. " He replied, and walked out of the living room, dragging his whole body. He went to his room. Samuel was waiting for him in the room.
"Hey Sam!" He greeted him lazily.
"Hi there, sleepy head. I am here to remind you that tomorrow is the final submission date for the group projects. We haven't even started our project. What do you think we are going to do? " Samuel said, not even pausing for a breath.
"We are going to sleep. " Braylan replied, leaning in his chair.
"Wake up, you git! I don't want to fail! " Samuel said, smacking Braylan on his head with each word. This did woke Braylan. "So what should we do for our project? " Samuel asked once again as Braylan was now wide awake.
"Let's prepare some slides. That's all we can do in such a short time. " Braylan said, gingerly touching the point where Samuel had smacked several times. "You could have tried some less aggressive method for waking me up, you know! " He added groaning.
"I tried, it didn't work out. So I had to do this. Now back to business. I will do the concluding slides and you do the introduction part. 15 slides will be prepared by you and 15 by me. " Samuel said and Braylan agreed. The boys started working on the project, asking each other about something or the other, replying and correcting each other.
Even though Braylan felt the Presence a few more times, he chose to ignore it completely.
"Where is my pen? " Samuel asked. "I kept it here only." He said looking around for the pen.
"Maybe it rolled down. Check around. " Braylan said, glancing across the room and he spotted it. "There it is, near my bed! " He said pointing towards it. Samuel went to fetch it and the boys didn't pay attention to the fact that Samuel was sitting on the other side of table, which was nearer to the door. There was no way for the pen to roll towards the bed. This incident was not important for them at all and they probably forgot about it in the next ten minutes.
After two and a half hours, they completed their project.
"Now there is only one thing to do. Merging the presentations! " Braylan said and they started merging the presentation, making jokes and laughing.
"I thought we wouldn't be able to complete them! Now we gotta practice our speaking skills. " Samuel said.
"You prepared a checklist or what? " Braylan asked. Samuel was a very organized boy, but sometimes, due to his laziness or lack of his organisation, they would end up in situations like this one. He thought about it guiltily and started to practice his speech.
"Where is the Pen-drive? " Samuel asked after a lot of practicing.
"I think I kept it in my drawer. Can you check it? " Braylan asked and Samuel removed the Pen-drive from the drawer. They uploaded their presentation in it.
"It's mom! She probably wants me to come back! " Samuel said, checking his ringing phone. "I better get going. See ya tomorrow. "
"See you too! " Braylan said, bumping fists. After Samuel's departure, Braylan collected his things and cleaned the mess. It was almost time for dinner, so he went downstairs to help Jane in setting up the table. Marco wasn't home and he was not going to come home for dinner. He had some work and would return later than usual.
The dinner was quite uneventful, and after the dinner, Braylan came up in his room to sleep. He saw that his pillow was half-fallen from the bed. He scowled and placed it at its place, thinking that he probably left it and forgot about it.
He suddenly felt the Presence of someone, stronger than ever.
"Do want to play a round of something? " Someone spoke to him and he froze, until he realized that the speaker was none other than his brother. He smiled to himself and thought 'Now I am becoming paranoid! '
"What should we play? " He asked, picking a shirt for his school.
"We can play Monopoly." Jayden suggested, leaning on the wall.
"Sure. I will take the white one. " Braylan said. "Go and ask mom too. I bet she would love to join us. "
"Nice idea. Let me go ask. Come down quickly. " He said leaving the room.
All three of them gathered around the board and started playing. They didn't realize how late it was until Marco returned.
"You guys are still up! " Marco exclaimed, as he entered the house.
"Hey dad! You bought ice cream for us! " Jayden exclaimed and he quickly grabbed the box from his hand.
"Hey, kiddo! It is not for you! I brought it for myself! " Marco protested.
"Oh, c'mon dad, we are your kids! Remember! " Braylan said, grinning ear to ear.
"I remember that part very well. But it is past your bedtime. You better go to bed. You can have it tomorrow. " He said but the boys were already scoping out ice cream for all of them. "Very well! Treat yourselves. I better wash up!" Marco resigned and the boys had a late-night treat.
After this, they were sent to beds and Braylan filled a bottle of water for himself. He usually woke up with dry throat after eating ice cream or cookies. He walked in his room and slammed his door shut. Resting well for the night would help him do better during the presentation.