fight off the lethargy, don't go quietly [Ben]
At some ridiculous hour of the morning, Alex sends a text at Ben out of the blue.
ben cm get hit nw plz :D?
He assumes Ben knows what that means. If not, there's plenty of time to figure it out between when it's sent and when Alex actually expects Ben to be awake and moving and over here. In the mean time, he waits.
The basement of the Hill house doesn't look like much from above. No visible descending stairwell marks its opening, just a door in the floor under a rug off the kitchen. It isn't well-hidden so much as inconvenient; in a house this small, there's hardly room for a proper basement.
Down below, however, it's clear that, inconvenience aside, this room gets a hell of a lot of use - and it's equally obvious what for. Secondhand practice mats line one half of the room, torn in places but still cushy enough. There's a punching bag in the center of the room, also not new but not nearly as worn as the rest. A very, very astute observer may note that the basement isn't quite as big as the house above, but we won't talk about what may or may not be hidden in the walls. The half of the room not covered in padding is a mess of everyday objects: a table and chairs, a bookshelf with old-but-never-good books, the world's cheapest knickknacks and other manner of common junk, some broken, some not, but none look to be in regular use except perhaps has bludgeoning instruments.
And then of course there's Alex, decked out in his exercise gear finest, sweatpants and a T that surely cost somebody (though probably not him) too much to sweat all over. He's hanging two water bottles above the punching bag when his dad leads Ben downstairs.
"Hey! You ready to get your ass kicked?" :D? ... He loves you Ben, really he does.
ben cm get hit nw plz :D?
He assumes Ben knows what that means. If not, there's plenty of time to figure it out between when it's sent and when Alex actually expects Ben to be awake and moving and over here. In the mean time, he waits.
The basement of the Hill house doesn't look like much from above. No visible descending stairwell marks its opening, just a door in the floor under a rug off the kitchen. It isn't well-hidden so much as inconvenient; in a house this small, there's hardly room for a proper basement.
Down below, however, it's clear that, inconvenience aside, this room gets a hell of a lot of use - and it's equally obvious what for. Secondhand practice mats line one half of the room, torn in places but still cushy enough. There's a punching bag in the center of the room, also not new but not nearly as worn as the rest. A very, very astute observer may note that the basement isn't quite as big as the house above, but we won't talk about what may or may not be hidden in the walls. The half of the room not covered in padding is a mess of everyday objects: a table and chairs, a bookshelf with old-but-never-good books, the world's cheapest knickknacks and other manner of common junk, some broken, some not, but none look to be in regular use except perhaps has bludgeoning instruments.
And then of course there's Alex, decked out in his exercise gear finest, sweatpants and a T that surely cost somebody (though probably not him) too much to sweat all over. He's hanging two water bottles above the punching bag when his dad leads Ben downstairs.
"Hey! You ready to get your ass kicked?" :D? ... He loves you Ben, really he does.