Chapter 7: Trouble Comes In Threes
1474 Words
By the time they were eleven, the teachers at Parker School had learned one thing about Riley, Ethan, and Owen.
If one of them was involved, the other two were probably nearby.
It wasn’t always intentional.
Sometimes Riley started something.
Sometimes Ethan made it worse.
And sometimes Owen, despite knowing better, decided it was too late to stop them.
That Friday was no different.
It started with a missing key.
Mrs. Parker had left a spare house key on the kitchen counter before leaving for the grocery mart. She had warned them not to touch it.
Riley noticed it the moment she came home.
She picked it up.
Ethan looked at her from the couch.
“Put it back.”
“I was just looking.”
“You’re never just looking.”
Owen walked into the room with a glass of water.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” Riley said.
Ethan pointed at the key.
“She has Mum’s spare.”
Owen stared at Riley.
“Why?”
Riley shrugged.
“I want to see something.”
“What?”
She smiled.
“The old storage room.”
Ethan immediately sat upright.
“No.”
“You haven’t even heard the plan.”
“I don’t need to.”
Owen placed his glass down.
“She’s going to do it whether we follow her or not.”
Riley smiled wider.
“Exactly.”
Ethan stared at both of them.
“You’re both terrible.”
Ten minutes later, all three stood outside the small storage room at the back of the house.
The door hadn’t been opened in years.
Riley inserted the key.
It turned.
The door creaked.
Dust floated through the sunlight coming from the tiny window.
Ethan covered his nose.
“Why does this place smell like that?”
“Like what?”
“Old.”
Owen laughed.
Riley stepped inside.
There were boxes everywhere. Old clothes. Broken toys. Christmas decorations. A bicycle with one missing wheel.
Then Owen spotted something.
“Wait.”
He pulled a dusty wooden box from underneath a table.
Riley crouched beside him.
“What is it?”
They opened it together.
Inside were photographs.
Dozens of them.
Riley picked up the first one.
It was her and Ethan as babies.
She laughed.
“We looked horrible.”
“You looked horrible,” Ethan corrected.
Owen picked up another.
It showed the twins at about six years old, standing beside their parents.
He stared at it longer than the others.
Riley noticed.
“You weren’t there yet.”
Owen nodded.
“Yeah.”
She reached into the box and found another photograph.
This one was different.
It was from their seventh birthday.
The three adults were smiling outside the mall.
And in the background, barely visible, was a small boy sitting beneath the awning.
Owen froze.
Riley looked at him.
“That was you.”
He didn’t answer.
Ethan took the photograph from her.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then footsteps sounded from the hallway.
“Mum?”
All three looked at each other.
They had forgotten one important thing.
Mrs. Parker had come home.
“Run,” Ethan whispered.
They rushed out.
Riley grabbed the box.
Owen caught the door before it slammed.
Ethan shoved everything back into place.
They made it halfway down the hallway before Mrs. Parker appeared.
She stopped.
Looked at them.
Then looked at the dust covering their clothes.
“What have you three been doing?”
Silence.
Riley glanced at Ethan.
Ethan glanced at Owen.
Owen looked at the floor.
Mrs. Parker folded her arms.
“Riley?”
“Nothing.”
“Ethan?”
“Nothing.”
“Owen?”
He sighed.
“We opened the storage room.”
Mrs. Parker closed her eyes.
“Of course you did.”
Riley tried not to laugh.
Mrs. Parker pointed toward the room.
“Back inside. All three of you.”
They groaned.
“And you’re cleaning it.”
The groan became louder.
“You wanted to explore it,” she said. “Now you can organize it.”
They spent the next hour sorting boxes.
Riley complained.
Ethan complained about Riley complaining.
Owen quietly carried the heavier boxes.
Eventually, Mrs. Parker returned with drinks and found them sitting on the floor, looking through the old photographs again.
This time, she sat with them.
She picked up the picture of Owen beneath the mall awning.
“You know,” she said softly, “I remember that day very clearly.”
Owen looked at her.
“So do I.”
She touched the photograph.
“You were soaked.”
“You gave me Riley’s jacket.”
Riley smiled.
“I remember that.”
Mrs. Parker looked at all three of them.
“And somehow, one little boy came home with us.”
Owen lowered his eyes.
“I’m glad you did.”
Mrs. Parker reached over and squeezed his shoulder.
“So am I.”
Ethan leaned back against a box.
“Even though he causes trouble?”
Mrs. Parker laughed.
“Especially then.”
Riley nudged Owen.
“See? You’re stuck with us.”
Owen looked at the photograph in his hands.
For once, the thought didn’t scare him.
It made him smile.
Three children.
One family.
And, apparently, enough trouble for everyone.
Mrs. Parker stood.
“Now finish cleaning.”
Their smiles disappeared.
“Mother!”
She laughed as she walked away.
“Trouble comes in threes.”
The storage room was finally clean by six o’clock.
Or, at least, clean enough for Mrs. Parker to stop threatening them with another hour.
Riley dropped onto the living-room rug.
“My back hurts.”
Ethan walked past her.
“You carried three boxes.”
“Exactly. Three.”
Owen laughed from behind him.
“You spent most of the time reading old magazines.”
“They were interesting.”
“They were from 2009,” Ethan said.
“That doesn’t mean they’re not interesting.”
Owen shook his head and headed toward the kitchen.
Riley followed him.
“I’m hungry.”
“You’re always hungry.”
“That’s because I eat.”
“So does everyone.”
She opened the refrigerator.
“There’s nothing.”
“There is.”
“Nothing I want.”
Owen reached past her and took out a container.
“Mom made pasta.”
Riley looked inside.
“Cold.”
“You can heat it.”
She handed it to him.
“You do it.”
He stared at her.
“You have two hands.”
“And you’re already holding it.”
Ethan walked into the kitchen.
“Give it to her.”
Riley pointed at Owen.
“He refuses to help.”
“I said you can heat it yourself.”
Ethan opened a cabinet.
“You two argue like an old married couple.”
The kitchen went quiet for half a second.
Riley looked at Owen.
Owen looked at Riley.
Then both of them turned toward Ethan.
“That’s disgusting,” Riley said.
Ethan laughed.
“I was joking.”
Owen grabbed a bottle of water and walked away.
Riley followed, still complaining about the pasta.
Later that evening, their father called from overseas.
The three of them squeezed onto the couch while Mrs. Parker put the phone on speaker.
“Look at my children,” Mr. Parker said. “All grown up.”
“We’re eleven,” Ethan said.
“Exactly. Practically adults.”
Riley laughed.
Mr. Parker asked about school, then the storage room.
Mrs. Parker told him everything.
“So,” he said, “who opened it?”
All three immediately pointed at Riley.
She gasped.
“Traitors.”
Mr. Parker laughed.
“I knew it.”
After the call ended, they stayed on the couch.
The house was quiet.
Riley rested her head against the back cushion.
“Do you think we’ll always live together?”
Ethan looked at her.
“Obviously.”
She smiled.
“What about you, Owen?”
Owen didn’t answer immediately.
He looked toward the hallway, toward the room that had once been unfamiliar to him.
“I don’t know.”
Riley frowned.
“Why not?”
“People grow up.”
Ethan shrugged.
“We’re still going to grow up together.”
Owen looked at them.
Neither of them seemed to understand why the question mattered.
Maybe that was the difference.
Riley and Ethan had never had to wonder where they belonged.
Owen had.
He looked down at his hands.
“I hope you’re right.”
Riley reached over and punched his shoulder lightly.
“I am.”
Ethan nodded.
“Unfortunately, she’s usually right.”
Riley smiled.
“See?”
Owen laughed.
Three of them.
Still together.
Still getting into trouble.
And none of them knew yet how complicated growing up would make things.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD