Family game night

                  Some things don't make sense. In fact a lot of things don't make sense. My family has gone crazy during this "Quarantine." Really everybody is going crazy. So after three weeks off I decided that I might need something to do even though it could end up with some unfortunate things happening. Now I am not very competitive, my family however is the perfect image of competitive. I happen to live with my grandmother who is eighty-nine but can still flip over a scrabble board like a boss. My Mom is indescribable on game night. She has made us outfits for the teams you're on. With our initials. On capes. That woman has no boundary when it is family game night. She is your typical Mother. My father, he is just the normal Father stereotype. He makes crappy dad jokes that he found on a calendar. He is the one playing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." At our dinners. My brother is not as bad. Now we are twins so you would think we are quite similar and we are. We both love the same music, we have the same friends and we are not that competitive on game night. We both play basketball however and that is when we are competitive. So let's fast forward to when we have finished dinner. "James and Maya, how about you two go find some games. It is game night tonight." I let out a big sigh. She slowly turned off the sink water, put her dish towel and sponge down and started walking over to James and I. "Make sure to pick a game that your Avo over there can't flip over, okay?" James and I both gave each other the same troubled look. "Okay Mom." We both knew what games we were picking out. I went down to the basement first. for a really tall fourteen year old you would think James is not scared of the basement, but for some stupid reason he is. We went instantly to two opposite sides of the basement. I went to the side where the literary games were and James went where the math games were. I loved math and James loved English so when we picked games or when we studied we always did the opposite so there was no advantage. All the dangerous games were in the back. Games like Monopoly or Risk. We both knew what three games to pick. Scrabble, Suspend and Risk. When we play games we have teams. The teams are the same every time. James and I, Mom and Dad and because Avo is so selfish she is on her own team. She just wants all the glory and to not have to share the winners breakfast rolls. We brought them up and set them up. We started with scrabble. Two hours went by. Then Suspend which only took twenty minutes. Finally Risk. James and I have always won when we played Risk. But Tonight Avo seems mad. She could flip the board over at any moment. "Who are we going to attack?" I texted in James. "Well I mean we already own Asia, Europe and Africa" He read my mind. "Let's go to North America this round and think of a plan while the three of us are fighting." He never responded, just did what I had said. Soon after we snuck away, while our parents and Avo were fighting. Nothing new from when we played Risk last Monday. James and I climbed through our connected bedroom windows and met each other on the roof. "Maya, do you ever wish that our family was not so intense?" It seemed like he was serious. "Well..." He looked deep into my light green eyes and gave me his impatient look. "Yes actually." He looked surprised. He knew I was very quiet about my opinion especially to him. "We should build a fort out here tonight. In the crevice of the roof. Then we sleep there and we can decorate it more tomorrow." "You came up with a good idea for once huh." He punched me in my arm. He went and got our chargers, two blankets and two pillows. I ended up not needing a pillow. I fell asleep on his chest. We both woke up to the smell of smoke and shining lights. What happened last night?

          Let’s have a recapp shall we? Ok we had game night, James and I fell asleep on the roof and woke up at, oh let me check 1:34 to smoke and sirens with people on tall ladders trying to get us off the roof. When I was climbing off the ladder I thought Oh My God what is going on?! I made it down, James was next. Once he got down I ran from the ambulance to him. I was not sure what had happened and neither was he. There were firefighters rushing inside the house. The fire was leaving a trail wherever it was. Two hours later they came out with three bodies all red and pink from being burnt real bad. I couldn’t tell them apart if they were right next to me. I buried my face in James’ Chest. He was crying too so he brought me to the ambulance and sat down. He cradled me in his arms and was so sweet and sincere in his voice. I asked him out of truth. “Will they die?” He started crying even harder. “I don’t know Peaches. I don’t know.” We may be the same age, but James is like a big brother to me. He makes everything so much better. He really does. “I don’t know what happened. What happened Jimmie? What is going on?” my heart was racing like when I play on the court. I was going insane. The only people who could fix this were James and Will. Will was our best friend. James looked at me than called us an Uber. We were at his house in about thirty-five minutes. I fell asleep on James again. This time it was on his legs. He left me in the car and got will. The police officer at the house said he was paying for the Uber no matter how much it cost. Will told the driver to drive us around the city while we talked. He got a good tip for not fighting us about it that is for sure. He was really nice. I mean he saw what shape we were in. He saw the firefighters trying to put out the fire. “Well” Will said in a whisper, “What did you wake me up for at...” He looked at his phone, “5:45 for?” We were silent for an awkward few seconds. I decided I would talk now.

 “Tonight was family game night” I paused. 

“Oh l...” 

“Look shut up and let me speak. And the last game we played was Risk. At one point when they were fighting, James and I snuck away and onto the roof. I fell asleep on his chest and then he fell asleep. At 1:34 We both woke up to sirens and smoke on the other side of the house. The firefighters were trying to get us down. Once I got down they took me to an ambulance and then James climbed down, shaking the whole time.I got up and ran up to him and started crying and got his shirt all wet, then he got my hair wet with tears so it was fair. James and I waited two hours and then they came out with three bodies all red and pink. You couldn’t tell them apart if they were right next to you. James called an Uber and here we are.” 

“Oh Wow.” He looked stunned, I mean I was pretty stunned too. 

“Will what happens now?” James and I asked at the exact same time.