At exactly eight a.m. Sebastian was awake. He didn't need a clock anymore, it was almost like he was the clock. A morning routine was something that he thought everyone needed. It gives the most important time of the day, structure. 

Run. Shower. Eat. And sometimes work. It had been the same every day. He could shake off this thoughts and focus on what needed to be done. But this time, however, his mind kept drifting off to last night. How did the number know about Abigail? How did it know about him taking time off from work? How much knew this person? He couldn't concentrate at all during his run and switched his shampoo with body wash. That's how distracted Sebastian was. This won't do, he thought. After his failed attempt to make eggs for breakfast, he took his phone to text his brother. Opening the messaging app, he immediately felt his headache from last night coming back. He decided not to send a message to his brother, who wouldn't have listened anyway.

After finishing preparing a second breakfast alternative for the burned egg, the bell rang. It was exactly ten p.m, just as he liked. Sebastian learned over the past years, that structure is important and satisfying. Especially if you grow up in such a chaotic way as he did.

He opened the door, and there he was. His brother Oliver. The sun made his hair look golden and he looked -as always- better than Sebastian. He was wearing a blue sweater -which did not do justice to the January weather-, some new baggy jeans, and three necklaces. One had a cross, which was weird since neither Sebastian nor Oliver were religious. But his brother came home a lot with new beliefs and ideas, so it wasn’t completely abnormal.

Aside from their face and last name, they were nothing alike. 

‘Hey, come in.’ Sebastian spoke. He never really knew how to act with his brother around.

‘Hi!’ Oliver answered, far more relaxed. ‘How are you? Everything still good?’

‘Yeah, you know just, er, work.’ He took the heavy bags from Oliver and placed them by the stairs. ‘I made breakfast. Or I tried. Scrambled eggs, you want some?’

‘Sounds great. I was looking forward to getting breakfast served for me.’ He joked a lot about that and Sebastian thought it was weird, but couldn’t blame him.

They ate in silence. Not that they didn’t want to talk, they just knew too less about each other. He only saw his brother every two weeks. It was decided when Oliver didn’t want to be alone with their parents anymore. Sebastian blamed himself for a part of that. He left the house, so Oliver was alone. So now he spends a week with his brother and two weeks without him. During that week, Oliver would pull him out of his routine. 

His phone buzzed inside his pocket. His heart made a little jump after seeing the now familiar anonymous number.

Anonymous: Ready for your first game? 10:37 AM

Sebastian Jones: How many games will there be? 10:37 AM

It’s not that didn’t want a break from his everyday slur, he just wanted to know where this would lead to. He still didn’t really get the purpose of this all and get over with it.

Anonymous: There will be two small challenges. 10:37 AM

Only two? Sebastian wondered what the point of the game would be. It was probably a prank from one of his co-workers. Some of them would be able to pull that off. He thought about other possibilities, but they all looked way too unrealistic. 

Sebastian Jones: I’m in. 10:38 AM

From the moment he sent the message he threw his phone on the table, which earned him a confused look from his brother. What was he doing? Has he lost his mind? This wasn’t like him. Never again would he do something like this. He promised. But, maybe he just couldn’t let go of the past like he hoped he would.