Chapter 6: The Three Musketeers
1546 Words
By the time they were nine, nobody remembered what the Parker house looked like with only two children in it.
Owen had become part of the routine.
He had his own room, his own school uniform, his own place at the dinner table, and somehow, his own opinions about almost everything.
Especially when Riley was involved.
“You cheated,” Riley said.
“I didn’t.”
“You did.”
Owen folded his arms. “You lost.”
“I only lost because Ethan distracted me.”
Ethan looked up from the game between them.
“How is that my fault?”
“You’re his teammate.”
“So?”
“You were supposed to help me.”
Ethan laughed.
“You picked Owen.”
Riley glared at him.
“Because I thought he was bad at this.”
Owen smiled.
“That was your mistake.”
She grabbed the board from the floor.
“Again.”
“No,” Ethan said.
“Yes.”
“We’ve played four times.”
“Then we’ll play five.”
Owen looked at Ethan.
“She doesn’t know when to stop.”
“I know.”
Riley threw a cushion at both of them.
They ducked.
The cushion landed against the wall.
Mrs. Parker appeared from the kitchen.
“Please tell me nobody broke anything.”
“No, Mom,” Ethan answered.
Riley pointed at Owen.
“He cheated.”
Owen pointed at her.
“She can’t accept losing.”
Mrs. Parker looked between them.
“Then play something else.”
Riley immediately brightened.
“Football.”
Owen shook his head.
“You’re terrible at football.”
“I am not.”
“You are.”
“I scored yesterday.”
“You kicked the ball into your own goal.”
Ethan burst out laughing.
Riley’s mouth fell open.
“You promised not to tell!”
“I didn’t promise anything.”
She chased him around the room.
Owen watched them, laughing.
That was usually how their afternoons went.
One of them started something.
Another made it worse.
The third joined in.
And somehow, all three ended up getting blamed.
They had become impossible to separate.
At school, teachers stopped asking where the other two were whenever one was missing.
If Riley was absent, Ethan was quieter.
If Ethan stayed behind for an activity, Riley complained.
And if Owen wasn’t around, both twins noticed.
They had even started getting into trouble together.
One Friday afternoon, the three of them were called into the headteacher’s office.
Mrs. Parker arrived ten minutes later.
She looked at her children.
Riley was sitting between Ethan and Owen.
All three had their heads lowered.
She already knew this wasn’t going to be good.
“What happened?”
Nobody spoke.
Mrs. Parker looked at Ethan.
“Ethan?”
He shook his head.
“Riley?”
She looked at Owen.
“Owen?”
He sighed.
“We climbed the back fence.”
Mrs. Parker closed her eyes.
“Why?”
Riley raised her hand slightly.
“I had my ball.”
Mrs. Parker stared at her.
“You climbed a fence because of a ball?”
“It was on the other side.”
“You could have asked someone to get it.”
Riley looked at Ethan.
Ethan looked at Owen.
Owen shrugged.
“We didn’t think about it.”
Mrs. Parker almost laughed.
She caught herself.
“Outside.”
The three children stood.
On their way out, Ethan whispered, “We’re dead.”
Riley whispered back, “You are.”
Owen looked at both of them.
“We’re all dead.”
They started laughing.
Mrs. Parker heard them.
“That’s enough.”
They immediately stopped.
But once they reached the car, they couldn’t hold it in anymore.
The laughter returned.
At home that evening, Mr. Parker listened to the story.
He looked at Ethan.
Then Riley.
Then Owen.
“So the three of you climbed a fence?”
“Yes, Dad,” Ethan said.
“And nobody thought that was a bad idea?”
Silence.
Mr. Parker shook his head.
“You’re becoming quite a team.”
Riley smiled.
“We’re the Three Musketeers.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You can’t call us that.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re a girl.”
Riley frowned.
“So?”
Ethan shrugged.
“Musketeers were men.”
Riley folded her arms.
“Then I’ll be the boss.”
Owen laughed.
Ethan looked at him.
“You’re supposed to agree with me.”
“I don’t want to die.”
Mr. Parker laughed from the other side of the room.
Mrs. Parker shook her head.
“Three Musketeers it is.”
Riley smiled proudly.
Owen looked around the room.
Mr. Parker was reading something on his phone.
Mrs. Parker was folding laundry.
Ethan was arguing with Riley again.
Nothing special was happening.
And somehow, that was what made it special.
Owen had stopped counting the days since he’d arrived.
He no longer wondered when he would have to leave.
He no longer waited for someone to tell him that he’d overstayed his welcome.
He simply lived.
He went to school.
He came home.
He fought with Ethan.
He annoyed Riley.
He ate whatever Mrs. Parker put on his plate.
He belonged.
And none of them realized how quickly childhood was passing.
For now, they were three children who believed they would always have each other.
Three best friends.
Three troublemakers.
Three Musketeers.
And as far as they knew, nothing could change that.
The name stuck.
Riley started using it whenever the three of them got into trouble.
“Move, Three Musketeers are coming through.”
Ethan hated it.
“We’re not Three Musketeers.”
“You’re just jealous because I named us.”
“You didn’t name anything.”
Owen usually said nothing. He had learned that arguing with Riley only made her argue harder.
By ten, the three of them had developed their own way of doing things.
If Ethan wanted to play football, Riley complained for five minutes before joining.
If Riley wanted to ride her bicycle around the estate, Ethan followed because their mother told him to watch out for her.
And if Owen suggested something, somehow the twins ended up doing it.
That was how they found themselves behind the school building one Friday afternoon, staring at the locked equipment shed.
“We’re not breaking in,” Ethan said.
Riley looked at him.
“I didn’t say we were.”
“You’re thinking it.”
“I am not.”
Owen glanced at the shed, then at Riley.
“You definitely are.”
She smiled.
“See? Owen understands me.”
“I don’t think that’s a compliment,” Ethan muttered.
They had lost Riley’s favorite tennis ball during lunch, and she was convinced it had rolled behind the shed. The groundskeeper had already told them to stay away from that side of the building.
Naturally, that made Riley more determined.
“Five minutes,” she said. “We look for it and leave.”
Ethan folded his arms.
“No.”
Riley turned to Owen.
“Are you coming?”
Owen looked at Ethan.
Ethan looked back at him.
“Don’t.”
Owen sighed.
“I’m coming.”
“Traitor.”
“You’re the one who said we’re not going in.”
“We aren’t going in,” Riley said. “We’re going around.”
They made it halfway around the building before Ethan heard footsteps.
“Run.”
They scattered.
Riley grabbed Owen’s wrist and pulled him behind a row of bushes while Ethan ducked behind the corner.
They stayed there, trying not to laugh as the groundskeeper walked past.
When the footsteps disappeared, Riley covered her mouth.
Owen whispered, “This is your fault.”
“You came willingly.”
“You asked.”
“And you said yes.”
“That doesn’t make it my fault.”
Riley grinned.
From the other side of the building, Ethan appeared with a serious expression.
“You two are impossible.”
Riley stood.
“But you still came.”
Ethan looked at both of them.
Then he shook his head.
“Unfortunately.”
They found the tennis ball five minutes later.
It was sitting in plain sight.
Riley picked it up and held it above her head.
“Mission accomplished.”
Ethan groaned.
“You nearly got us detention for that.”
“But we didn’t.”
Owen laughed.
It was such a normal sound now that neither twin noticed how different it would have seemed a few years earlier.
They simply started walking home together.
Three backpacks.
Three pairs of footsteps.
Three voices arguing about who had caused the most trouble.
At home, Mrs. Parker opened the front door and took one look at their faces.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” Ethan answered.
“Everything,” Riley said at the same time.
Owen tried to walk past them quietly.
Mrs. Parker caught his shoulder.
“And you?”
He smiled.
“I was there.”
She laughed.
“That tells me enough.”
The three of them exchanged looks.
Then Riley whispered, “Three Musketeers.”
Ethan rolled his eyes.
Owen smiled.
And together, they went inside.
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