The Anderson estate sprawled beneath the afternoon sun, its manicured lawns stretching toward the horizon like an emerald sea. Kenji stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows of the main house, watching Jason sitting alone by the pool's edge, his feet dangling in the crystal-clear water. It had been months since Kenji had come to live with them, months of careful navigation around his brother's silent wounds.
James Anderson had left that morning for a weekend coaching clinic, leaving Sarah in charge of the house. Kenji had seized the opportunity.
"Sarah," he'd called earlier, finding her in the kitchen preparing lunch. "Can I invite some friends over? From the old neighborhood?"
Sarah had looked up from her sandwich preparation, her kind eyes studying his face. "Of course, Kenji. This is your home too. How many friends?"
"About eight or nine. Marcus, Jerome, and Tariq for sure, plus some others from the neighborhood. They've never seen anything like this place." He gestured toward the expansive grounds visible through the kitchen window. "I thought maybe we could use the pool, have some fun. Jason's been..." He trailed off, searching for the right words.
"Withdrawn," Sarah finished gently. "I've noticed. Poor boy carries so much weight for someone so young."
Kenji nodded. "I want to try something. Something that might help him see that not everything has to be heavy."
Two hours later, a weathered city bus wheezed to a stop at the estate's front gate, followed by a couple of cars. Nearly a dozen teenagers stepped off and out, their eyes wide as they took in the sprawling property. Marcus carried a worn duffel bag, Jerome clutched a basketball, and Tariq simply stood slack-jawed at the sight of the Anderson mansion. Behind them, other kids from the neighborhood—DeShawn, Malik, Trina, Carmen, and a few others—gathered in a loose group, all of them looking like they'd stepped into another world.
"Damn, K," Marcus breathed as they walked up the long driveway. "You been holding out on us. This place is like something from TV."
"Nah, man," DeShawn added, spinning in a circle to take in the full view. "This is bigger than TV. This is like a super star status."
Kenji grinned, leading the group around to the back of the house. "Wait until you see the pool."
The backyard was a paradise of careful landscaping and luxury. The pool itself was enormous, kidney-shaped with a waterfall feature at one end and a hot tub at the other. Lounge chairs dotted the deck, and a fully equipped outdoor kitchen stood ready for entertaining.
Jason looked up as they approached, his dark eyes taking in the crowd of newcomers with that analytical intensity Kenji had grown accustomed to. He didn't move from his position at the pool's edge.
"Jason," Kenji called out, his voice warm but careful. "These are my friends from the old neighborhood. You remember Marcus, Jerome, and Tariq. And this is DeShawn, Malik, Trina, Carmen, and the crew. Everyone—this is my brother Jase."
The group offered various waves and greetings, their voices overlapping in a chorus of "What's up" and "Nice to meet you." Jason nodded once, a brief acknowledgment, before returning his gaze to the water.
Kenji had spent the morning gathering supplies. Dozens of water balloons in every color imaginable sat in large buckets around the pool deck. Water guns of various sizes lay on a nearby table, along with pool toys and floating devices. Sarah had helped him set up a speaker system, and upbeat music now provided a backdrop to the afternoon.
"Alright," Kenji announced, clapping his hands together. "Time to get this party started."
Marcus was the first to strip down to his swim trunks, cannon-balling into the deep end with a whoop of joy. Jerome followed more cautiously, testing the water temperature before sliding in. Soon, the pool was filled with bodies—DeShawn showing off his diving skills, Trina and Carmen floating on rafts while gossiping, Malik swimming laps with surprising grace.
"Come on, J," Kenji called to Jason, who hadn't moved. "Water's perfect."
Jason shook his head almost imperceptibly. "I'll watch."
For the next hour, the pool area came alive with the sounds of teenage joy. The kids from the Kill To Survive neighborhood reveled in the atmospheric change, in the luxury. Their laughter echoing off the house's walls as they played elaborate games of Marco Polo and had impromptu swimming races.
But Kenji's eyes never strayed far from Jason.
The water balloon fight started innocently enough. Kenji grabbed a blue balloon from one of the buckets and lobbed it gently at Marcus, who was floating near the shallow end. It burst against his chest with a satisfying pop, and Marcus immediately retaliated, scrambling to reach the bucket nearest to him.
Soon, all the kids were engaged in an epic battle, water balloons flying through the air like colorful artillery. Laughter erupted as they ducked behind pool furniture and executed strategic flanking maneuvers. DeShawn and Malik formed an alliance against Trina and Carmen, while Jerome tried to stay neutral until Marcus dragged him into the fray.
Jason watched from his position at the pool's edge, his expression unreadable.
The shift came when Jerome pulled one of the larger water guns from the table. It was a super soaker, bright green with a large tank and impressive range. He pumped it up with theatrical flair before taking aim at Tariq.
"Take this!" Jerome shouted, laughing as he pulled the trigger.
The stream of water caught Tariq square in the back, and he spun around with an exaggerated cry of defeat. "Man down! Man down!"
Marcus grabbed another water gun, this one red and black. "I'll avenge you, brother!"
DeShawn and Malik joined in, each grabbing weapons of their own. Soon the pool deck erupted in mock warfare as the kids chased each other with their water weapons, their laughter bright and carefree.
But Jason wasn't hearing their laughter anymore.
In his mind, the sounds twisted and darkened. The playful shouts became cruel taunts. The splash of water became the sound of bodies hitting concrete. The bright afternoon sun dimmed into the harsh fluorescent lighting of a basement where nightmares lived.
"Who should we take next?"
The voice echoed in his memory, spoken by a man whose face was burned into Jason's mind forever. An older man with cold eyes and a cruel smile, standing over bound figures in a dank, windowless room.
Jason's mother had been among them, her wrists raw from rope, her face bruised but her eyes still fierce with protective rage. There had been others too—men, women, children—all of them someone's family, all of them reduced to playthings for monsters.
Jerome's laughter pulled Jason back to the present for a moment, but when the boy raised his water gun again, Jason saw different hands holding a different weapon. He saw mercenaries in tactical gear, their faces hidden behind masks, their movements efficient and deadly.
They had laughed too.
When they dragged Mrs. Chen across the concrete floor, her screams echoing off the walls, they had laughed. When they asked their sick question about whose freedom to take next, they had laughed. When Jason's mother stepped forward, offering herself to protect her son, they had laughed loudest of all.
"Take mine."
Her voice had been steady even as her body shook with terror. She had looked at Jason one last time, her eyes conveying a lifetime of love and regret in a single glance.
Then they had tortured her right there, in full view of everyone, including Jason. They wanted him to see. They wanted him to understand what happened when you tried to protect someone from them. The brutality had been methodical, prolonged, performed with the casual efficiency of men who had done this many times before.
On the pool deck, Marcus threw a water balloon high into the air, and Jason watched its arc with growing panic. In his mind, it wasn't a balloon but something heavier, something that would hurt when it landed. He saw bound figures flinching as objects were hurled at them, saw the mercenaries' casual cruelty as they turned human beings into targets for their amusement.
His breathing became shallow, rapid. His hands clenched into fists at his sides.
Kenji noticed the change immediately. He had been watching Jason throughout the afternoon, and the shift in his brother's posture was unmistakable. Jason's face had gone pale, his eyes unfocused and distant. His whole body had tensed as if preparing for an attack.
Without thinking, Kenji moved.
He stepped out of the pool, water streaming from his swim trunks, and walked directly to where Jason sat. His friends were still engaged in their water fight, oblivious to the drama unfolding nearby.
"Jason," Kenji said softly, approaching slowly like he might approach a wounded animal.
Jason didn't respond. He was lost in the past, trapped in a basement that existed only in his memory but felt more real than the luxury surrounding him now.
Kenji could see Jason was frozen and reliving something happening in Jason's memories.
Kenji didn't say anything else. Instead, he reached down, wrapped his arms around his brother's slight frame, and lifted him from the pool's edge.
Jason's eyes snapped into focus just as Kenji stepped forward and dropped him into the deep end of the pool.
The shock of the cool water hit Jason like a physical blow, driving the memories from his mind with startling efficiency. He surfaced, sputtering and gasping, his blonde hair plastered to his skull.
Above him, Kenji stood on the pool deck with the biggest, brightest smile Jason had ever seen on his face. It was pure joy, unmarked by calculation or hidden agenda. For the first time since Jason had known him, Kenji looked like exactly what he was—an sixteen-year-old having fun with his friends and his brother.
"Gotcha!" Kenji laughed.
Before Jason could respond, three water balloons struck Kenji simultaneously. Marcus, Jerome, and Tariq had ganged up on him, with DeShawn providing covering fire from the shallow end. Their combined assault sent Kenji tumbling into the pool beside Jason.
He surfaced next to his brother, still laughing, still radiating that infectious joy that seemed to make everything else fade into the background.
For a moment, Jason just floated there, treading water and staring at Kenji. The contrast was stark—the bright, chlorinated pool versus the dark basement of his memories, the sounds of laughter versus the echoes of screams, the feeling of being pulled into safety versus the memory of being trapped in hell.
"You okay?" Kenji asked quietly, his voice barely audible over the ongoing chaos as Carmen and Trina started a splash fight nearby.
Jason nodded slowly. The flashback was receding, pushed back by the overwhelming sensory input of the present moment. The sun was warm on his face. The water was clean and clear. His friends—because somehow, that's what this whole crew had become in the space of an afternoon—were laughing and playing and treating him like he belonged.
"Yeah," Jason said, and for the first time in months, he almost meant it.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur of games and laughter. Jason didn't fully participate—he wasn't ready for that yet—but he stayed in the pool, and he stopped flinching when the water guns came out. When Jerome offered him a water balloon, he took it, though he threw it gently at the pool deck rather than at another person.
As the sun began to set, casting long shadows across the Anderson estate, Sarah appeared with towels and promises of dinner. The kids from the Kill To Survive neighborhood dried off reluctantly, already missing the luxury they'd have to leave behind.
"This was incredible, K," Marcus said as they gathered their things. "Your brother's pretty cool too. Quiet, but cool."
"Yeah," DeShawn added, "he's got that mysterious vibe going on. I can respect that."
"He's not really quiet, it sort of depends the topic J likes to focus on."
Jason, wrapped in a towel and sitting on a lounge chair, looked up at the comments. He didn't smile, but something in his posture seemed less rigid than before.
After his friends left, the estate feeling oddly quiet after their boisterous presence, Kenji found Jason still by the pool, now fully dressed but staring at the water as if it held answers to questions he wasn't ready to ask.
"Thank you," Jason said suddenly.
Kenji settled into the chair beside him. "For what?"
"For showing me that water doesn't always have to be cold."
It was such an oddly specific thing to say that Kenji almost asked what he meant. But something in Jason's tone stopped him. Instead, he simply nodded.
"Thank you," Jason said suddenly.
Kenji settled into the chair beside him. "For what?"
"For pulling me out of it. The flashback." Jason's voice was matter-of-fact, clinical. "I was back there. In the basement. Your intervention was... effective."
Kenji shook his head, his expression growing serious. "There was no strategy there, J. I just want you to have fun." He paused, looking out at the now-still water. "You should put it off, whatever's drowning in your mind and just hope somebody out there who's an adult can do something about what happened… I'll be that adult soon, I'll be that adult like I promised you okay? Little brother, you can have fun in the meantime… You don't get to be a kid forever."
"Thank you Kenji."
"Anytime, little bro. Anytime."
As night fell over the Anderson estate, the pool's underwater lights came on, turning the water into a glowing blue jewel in the darkness. Jason watched the gentle ripples on the surface and tried to hold onto the feeling of that afternoon—the feeling that maybe, just maybe, not all surprises had to be terrible ones.
In his room that night, as he prepared for bed, Jason found himself analyzing the day's events with his usual clinical detachment. The pool intervention had been effective - a calculated disruption of his trauma response cycle. He noted Kenji's instinctive understanding of psychological triggers, filing it away as useful data.
But as he lay in the darkness, the familiar sounds returned - his mother's voice, the mercenaries' laughter, the wet sounds of brutality. The pool had been a brief reprieve, nothing more. Jason stared at the ceiling, his mind already returning to its usual constructs and calculations.
And in the pool outside, the underwater lights continued to glow.
Right now... those worst embodiments... how many at this very second... are they stealing from right now?