28 Bonds - Epilogue (1/2)

Anyone would find it strange enough if they found out that someone who attended Sunchester High, a prestigious public school belonging to such a privileged community, filled with so many privileged children, would even bother working a part-time job just to help out a little at home.

But it all seems that much stranger when you take into account the fact that that very same student ended up working said job for six hours straight.

It was not only illegal for a high school student of only fourteen years of age, but it also makes no sense for someone so young to willingly throw away so many of his conscious hours balancing both school and work. There's no time for your still-developing mind to just settle down and take a real break. Even after heading home now, he's probably going to have to deal with chores, homework and even his personal hygiene. He's essentially living a permanent hell shift.

However.

Once you take a single look at his living situation, all the dots will begin connecting in your mind. And you'll slowly realize that the Chase Masters you see at school is just one side of the coin.

”I'm home.”

”Ugh! What took you so long, bro?! We're all starving over here!”

”Sorry about that, Chloe. The leftovers from work are in my left hand.”

”Agh! You're such a pain!”

Chloe grabs the plastic bag from Chase with so much gusto that he almost got pulled along with her.

”Wait, make sure you save the smaller pieces for Chad's lunch tomorrow!”

”Ugh! I get it, I get it! Last time was just a mistake, okay?”

From the moment he entered his home… no. Even before that, there was something strange about all of this. It almost transcended normalcy. If you knew Chase Masters from school, then it was almost impossible to find the logic in any of this.

To begin with, the neighborhood he lived in was quite far off from the school. It would take approximately 1.5 hours to get there by public transport, which is strange considering how many schools there are between the road to Sunchester High and his house. On the topic of his house, it wasn't what one would call a decent place either. There are shady individuals loitering about the streets who are drinking, smoking and laughing at the top of their lungs at 10pm on a Monday.

The houses all appear to be dilapidated at least to some extent, which would give anyone the impression that this wasn't a particularly wealthy neighborhood to begin with. But to make matters worse, the house that Chase Masters had entered stood out even among the other places here.

If you took the blueprint of his house and rebuilt it out in the middle of a forest, no one would think twice about seeing it isolated among all of the trees. In contrast to that, the shack-like appearance simply did not fit in here, even among the other older buildings in the area. There cannot be more than four small rooms inside of that building. And yet still, anyone who got close enough would be able to tell that there are four people living inside of that house at that moment.

Chad Masters. Three years old

Chloe Masters. Eleven years old.

Charlie Masters. Eighty five years old.

Chase Masters. Fourteen years old.

It was without a doubt, one of the strangest household situations you could find yourself living in at that age. Three children below the age of sixteen living with their grandfather, who was much too far past his prime to care for them and was barely surviving off his pension.

”Oh and by the way, I noticed that your underwear were a bit torn when I washed them last time, so I bought you some new ones today.”

”What the hell?! Don't just go picking out underwear for you sister! That's disgusting!”

”Seriously? I've been doing it for the past three years, you know.”