Chapter 2: Little Monster
"Hold up! you wanna go pro?!" Derek stood up from his seat, catching the eyes of everyone in the restaurant. His face turned red from embarrassment so he quickly sat down and tried to hide his face to no avail.
"Slow down Jax. You seriously wanna be a pro gamer? That's ridiculously hard unless you have a backer of some sort nowadays." Kyle whispered.
Jax took a sip of his drink and smiled. "It was mostly a joke, but it has some truth to it I guess. I don't want to stop playing the game for fun, but if I catch the eye of a good team and I need the money, why not?" He shrugged his shoulders and continued eating, not putting much more thought into his statement.
His friends were dumbfounded, as this guy, almost 100% of the time just messed around in games. However, because his family was involved in his motivation, they knew he meant it. Jax was borderline sis-con at times, so he wasn't going to be messing around as much this time around.
"Don't worry about it too much, it just means I'll be doing a little less PKing and a little more grinding with you guys if you're up for it." He smiled, knowing what his friends would say.
Kyle sighed and chuckled a little, "Alright, sounds like a plan!" He gave a big smile while Derek held his head in his hands mumbling, "The world is ending."
They continued other chatter for a while before leaving. There were several irl things that they all had to get done before the game officially opened at midnight. They still stuck together though, as their first and second stops were the same.
They headed over to a slightly run-down apartment complex. The type to have annoying neighbors with heavy smokers and drinkers around, not the type of family-friendly place one may think of. They climbed the stairs of the apartment building to the second floor and entered one of the doors.
The inside was small but cozy, and no lights or electricity was going. There were no TVs or lamps to provide light, as the owner was trying to cut down on electricity as much as possible. There was hardly any furniture but it looked like enough for one person to get by on.
In the middle of the living room was a small coffee table with colorful pictures and crayons all over the place. Leaning over one part of the table, creating wide strokes with the crayons, was a little girl with curly, dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. There was a blanket with unicorns and rainbows draped over her and her tongue was sticking out as she focused her entire being on creating a masterpiece. Her hands were dirty with crayon markings and shavings were all over the place.
"Anna," Jax called. The little girl didn't respond making him sigh. As he got closer to her, he looked at her ears to see nothing in them. He snuck behind her quietly to not disturb her as his friends sighed and went to the pantry for any goodies that might be hiding.
He got up right behind her, quickly grabbed her shoulders, and shook them as he yelled louder than normal, "Stranger Danger!" The girl got spooked and accidentally drew a line off the paper and onto the table, but the next thing she did was not how a typical 6-year-old might react. She quickly swiped his hands off her shoulders before aiming for Jax's crotch with a punch.
She was not holding anything back, however, she was only met with a hand grabbing her fist. She was frustrated about being disturbed and also missing her attack so she started punching his thighs as she looked up at Jax with a cute pout and glare.
"Meany Bubbie, don't scare me! You ruined my drawing!"
This feisty little monster was Jax's little sister Anna, their first stop. Jax reached between the couch cushions with one hand while defending himself from Anna's punches with the other. He eventually found what he was looking for and pulled out a hearing aid. He grabbed a tissue from the nightstand next to the couch and gently brushed off the dust on it before bringing it up to Anna's ear.
She immediately stopped punching and put her ear against her shoulder to prevent him from putting it in her ear. In her other ear was another hearing aid, but this one connected directly to her head, so she was unable to remove it.
"Anna, how many times do I have to tell you to stop taking out your hearing aids? The other one better not be off as well." Jax's tone was harsher but her attitude didn't change.
"No! I don't like them! They're annoying and I don't want to hear the Benson's arguing about child support again!" Anna replied now trying to run away. Jax sighed as he was unable to grab her in time and she began running around the apartment trying to stay away.
He didn't like leaving her here, but sometimes it was unavoidable. Their mother worked two jobs and he worked and went to school so they needed someone to babysit. Kyle's older sister was sweet enough to offer to watch her sometimes but she was also a busy person too. Derek's family wasn't very friendly, so that was never on the table.
He eventually caught her and she squealed in glee for this playtime. She kicked around as he lifted her and spun her around upside down. When she got too dizzy he picked her up normally and brought her over to the couch.
He sighed once more and tried to act fatherly and scold her, "You can't keep doing this Anna, what happens if you lose it for real, or you break it? We-"
"WE DON'T HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY FOR IT I KNOW." She said louder than normal, as she couldn't hear much of anything, yet she knew exactly what he would say. Even though she couldn't hear much of anything without these devices, she was very smart, knew her brother well enough, and went through this same scenario many times to understand what he was saying.
She was a talented little girl, unfortunately, born deaf, most likely caused by the death of their father affecting the grieving mother and fetus negatively. His mother had been sick many times during her pregnancy and he was only 12 at the time, so there was only so much he could do to help his mother.
Anna could be considered lucky that the only thing she lost was her hearing, it could have been much worse. But she made up for her shortcomings with her mind. Even though she couldn't hear us without the hearing aids, she learned to read lips as well as guess from the muffled vibrations she would feel when we spoke. She even learned how to use and fix the hearing aids herself, which is why it has become a hassle to keep them in her ears.
He gently put the hearing aid in her ear and let her adjust it. He knew she could finish the rest so he prepared to get up off the couch but she grabbed his arm. "You do it." Anna pouted. He raised an eyebrow, giving her the look all parents do to their kids when they know the answer but want the truth. "You are smart enough to do it yourself."
"But you're better at it!" She giggled, grabbing his hand and moving his fingers for him pretending to fix it. He sighed and whispered 'You are spoiled.'
"nuh-uh!" she replied by pinching his arm.
"ow! I can't fix your mess if you keep hurting me," he replied. She crossed her arms and pouted as he dialed the hearing aid correctly. If he went too high, she hit him; when he was too low, she would poke him, and when he finally got it right, she would give a thumbs up and hug him.
Now that she could for sure hear him, he said, "You can do the other one yourself right?" She pouted again and said, "Fine, Meany." She brought her tiny, messy hands to her ear and began tuning it. She was way faster than Jax since it was her ear and she knew herself best. She was done within a couple of seconds and gave Jax another hug, wiping her hands on his pants as she did it.
"Hey stop that! Go wash your hands! You touched your hearing aid with those hands didn't you!" She giggled and ran to the bathroom. He sighed and went around to find his sneaking friends. He found them in the kitchen with bags of chips open, and a bottle of flavored Vodka being chugged by Kyle.
Derek got spooked by his sudden appearance, knocking into Kyle, causing him to cough and spill a bunch of the alcohol.
He glared at his friends and said, "Clean that mess up before she's done, I don't want her learning bad habits from you idiots!" The tipsy Kyle gave a salute and a "Yes, sir!" as Jax went to the bathroom. Derek and Kyle sighed in relief that they only got told off. It had been way worse in the past if they were caught drinking in front of his family. He went full dad mode when it came to his sister so they had to behave whenever she was around.
It was around this time that the lock on the door moved and unlocked. The two idiots, as well as Jax who had yet to reach the bathroom turned and looked. In stepped a young woman with a great figure, sunglasses, and a fancy purse to match her crop top and yoga pants. Any man would've drooled at the sight of her, yet all 3 boys just gave looks of disgust, well, mostly just Kyle.
"What the hell are you doing her bitch?"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
QueitNoise
QueitNoise Kinda long chap. I will be trying to keep it between 1000-1500 words in the future.
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