Max tramped up the stairs, purposely making his footsteps heavy. He walked slowly towards his room and passed his sister’s along the way. Their family cat sat crouched, by her door. It was a beautiful cat with gorgeous green eyes and lush black fur. It seemed like a standard witch cat as most would think, but of course, it was not. The cat watched Max as he walked past, but did not pursue. Max stopped at his door and turned around. He jumped from shock of seeing something.

“Cain! I thought someone was following me and whispering… but I thought it was just my imagination! You stupid–! What the heck are you doing following me around with a video camera and whispering into it???”

Oh no. I’ve been discovered. The secret spy has to escape from punishment! I don’t want to be a prisoner of war! Time to run!

Max watched me run away from him. I saw in the mirror, his shaking head, and he then turned away into his room. I stopped at the first turn, panting. I took deep breaths to get my breathing back to normal, and continued my mission. I sneaked along the corridor, hiding behind walls, and side tables, and vases. I crouched down low, and turned to hide away from Kelly’s sight. I turned a little back to her, and saw what she was doing. She was talking on the phone, to somebody, laughing and chatting happily. Probably her boyfriend. Maybe.

Nothing interesting really. Then I moved along, past her room and toward Max’s. Max, the prince of this castle, the gentle creature. Kelly was the princess, a somewhat evil one. And of course, Karen and Nicholas were the Queen and King of this castle. The gracious ones.  The providers of food, money, and toys. Yes. Toys!!! Over the years, they have been leeched of plenty by their children, and still they continue to be leeched.

Max was lying on his bed, his breathing deep. His eyes were wide open, staring at his dark blue ceiling, spotted with many yellow stars, depicting the beautiful dark night sky. His window blinds were closed, and his room was relatively dark, with only a dim lamp by his bedside. A single tear leaked out of one of his eyes, and another followed, but from the other eye.

Sigh. Time to abort my mission. And time to continue mission big brother.

I stopped the recording and closed it as gently as I could as to not make any noise that would startle Max. I walked up slowly, and saw Max wipe away his tears.
What’s wrong Max? Did the evil princess Kelly do something evil to you again? Tell secret agent Cain and he’ll go do something about it.

”It’s nothing.”

Really?

He hesitated.

“No. I– I mean… Kelly didn’t do anything to me, well nothing that would make me sad. It’s something at school.”

Is the old big bully at it again?

“No. It’s not bullying. It’s just… No matter how hard I seem to work… My grades won’t go up… and my teacher just thinks that I’m constantly slacking off… And at home… Mum and dad don’t seem disappointed with me at all, and they don’t get mad at me at all when I make a mess… But I don’t know… I have this guilty feeling inside of me as though that I don’t deserve what they’re doing for me.”

Look… Oh come on. Sit up.

He sat up.

Look, mum and dad don’t care that much about grades, further more your grades aren’t as bad as you think. Your grades are fine for your age. You’re only 10 for goodness sake! We don’t expect you to be a constant A++ student! So what if you get a C every now and then? It’s no big deal. I mean, you get an A too every now and then, right? It makes up for the Cs! Mum and dad don’t love you for your grades, they love you because you’re they’re son! Don’t be worried about disappointing them with your grades, because even if you go so low as to fail, they’ll just help you to get better, rather than be disappointed in you and make you feel worse. Come ‘ere.

I pulled him into me and gave him a brotherly hug.

You deserve what you get from mum and dad. You deserve they’re love! Don’t go thinking that you’re not worth it, you silly kid! A child is meant to be loved, and you better believe it and have it engraved in your mind. Don’t you ever go thinking that you’re not worth it, because you are and you always will be. Okay?

“Okay.”

Now, it’s time for me to go back to being secret agent Cain. Want to join me?

Max blinked at me.

“For real?”

Yeah. ‘Course.

I grinned.

“Oh yeah!”


*End of Capturing The Details*