CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER TWO
Honestly Lance had nearly forgotten about the sinking feeling in his stomach about how the day's events would turn out by the time they had gotten to the zoo. Sure, he wasn’t necessarily enjoying himself as he was just hanging off to the side of the McClain pack trying his best to minimize himself so that none of his relatives would try to insult him any further. Not that they really talk to him anyways unless they want something or he somehow messed something up that he wasn’t even aware he was doing. However, watching the animals just exist was rather peaceful to Lance so he hadn’t minded as much as he usually did being ignored by everyone.
Of course the moment he thinks about how his family isn’t talking to them they force an interaction with him anyways. ”Lance! Don’t you agree this one looks just like you!” Sylvio laughed whilst pointing at the animal before him, a frog. According to the sign before him it was a lake Oku clawed frog specifically. The rest of his family snickered alongside Sylvio before moving on to the next exhibit. Honestly sometimes he wondered what his life would’ve been like had his parents survived that car crash.
That, however, would have to be a thought for another time as his brother had started to shout at him slightly. “Hurry up Lance! The birthday twins are moving on so get your ass moving!”
“Coming!” He shouted back at his brother. He gave the frog a quick apologetic glance as if being compared to him had to have been an awful experience before running to catch up with his family. Although he wasn’t quite sure why he continued to refer to them as family, they were the McClain's and just because they shared some blood and a last name didn’t mean they saw one another as family. They made that abundantly clear when referring to Lance as “boy” or “you” if they were not in public. On the other hand, Lance had always heard family was blood and that you had to love them no matter what so he supposed they were family even if it felt like they were undeserving of the role.
The exhibit the rest of the McClain's had stopped at whilst Lance had been standing staring at the frog was rather far down the hall. When he had reached the rest of the pack they had seemed rather annoyed at what they were looking at. He turned to face the exhibit and saw it was a sleeping snake, a boa constrictor from Brazil according to the sign on the wall that Rachel was covering ever so slightly. “Make it move!” Sylvio whined leaning over the railing, face nearly touching the glass in front of him. Lance thought for a moment about how unsanitary touching that glass must be. After all, dozens of children must touch that same panel every single day.
“Move.” Luis grunted, knocking on the glass panel rather loudly- it was almost more of a bang actually if Lance had to think about it, similar to the way they pounded on his door every morning.
“Move!” Nadia screamed angrily, although was there any other way to scream? Lance thought, banging on the glass the way her father had before her. A few people behind them glanced at the McClain's before turning back to the exhibits before them as though the behavior Nadia had just displayed was normal. That angered Lance more so than usual.
“He’s asleep!” He turned his head and snapped at his relatives. Rachel's eyes widened every so slightly but you’d only be able to notice had you been focusing on her face, Lance however, recognized it even from the corner of his eye as his eyes widened in the very same way. Ignoring her he continued to look pointedly at his niblings and brother. Had they been back at the small house Lance was sure they’d have locked him in that cupboard for the rest of the day not even letting him out to use the restroom, luckily for him they were in public.
“He’s boring. That’s what he is.” Sylvio grumbled, grabbing his sister, turning around, and storming off to another exhibit close by. Lisa hummed in affirmation to her child's statement, turning on her heel and following the twins as well, her heels making a click clacking sound as she went. The other two McClain's had simply followed without a noise leaving Lance alone with the boa constrictor.
“I’m sorry about them,” Lance started, sucking in a breath. “They just don’t understand what it’s like laying there day after day, watching as people push their ugly faces in on you.” The snake had woken up whilst Lance had been talking and was now looking him in the eye, the Brazilian snake even seemed to have winked at him. That shocked him into speaking once more, acting as if the snake could truly understand him rather than the more sane idea of him having just imagined it. “Can… Can you hear me?” Lance questioned in a slightly hushed tone. For a moment Lance thought he must’ve been going insane talking to the snake, animals couldn’t just understand something like that. But then, the snake slowly moved to give itself enough room and… nodded. Now Lance knew he wasn’t imagining things but this almost seemed worse, although he wasn’t quite sure why. “Oh… I just haven’t spoken to a snake before. Or any animal really. Do you talk to people a lot?” he further questioned tilting his head slightly, in response the reptile simply shook its own head no. “You’re from Brazil aren’t you? Was it nice there? I’m from Cuba which is pretty close but I’ve never been to Brazil. Do you miss your family?” For a moment the snake stilled and the boy had thought he had said something to upset it into not speaking with him further until it slowly shifted, pointing its head at the sign Rachel had previously been blocking. “Bred in Captivity.” Lance read aloud. “Ah I see. I’m similar, I never knew my parents either.” He said solemnly, the snake simply gazed past him and at first he had thought the animal had simply stopped listening when he heard it.
“Mommy! Dad! Come here!” Sylvio shouted happily, running at Lance and shoving him to the floor, Nadia following closely behind her twin.
“You won’t believe what this snake’s doing!” Nadia cheered, pressing against the glass, kneeling on the frame in front of the exhibit to do so, with her brother following her example close behind. From the floor Lance could see as the rest of the McClains rounded their way back to the exhibit they had originally left him at. Angrily he stared at the glass the two eight year olds were leaning their entire body weight against, wishing desperately in that moment for it to break or disappear so they would fall in. Of course, Lance hadn’t wished it so to ruin their birthday but when the glass really did disappear throwing the two children into the snake habitat at that moment he knew he had.
Both twins had stumbled before falling in and screaming. “Daddy!!” Nadia sobbed, attempting to scoot away from the boa and untangle herself from her brother at the same time, very clearly failing. Both twins were drenched in the habitat's mucky water, crying, as the Brazilian reptile crept out of its prison ever so slowly making its way towards Lance who had still been on the floor, although now he had sat up slightly more to see what exactly had happened to the set of twins.
“Thanks.” The boa constrictor had spoken its first and seemingly last words to the boy on the floor, dragging out the pronunciation of the s at the end. Lance stared in awe and slight shock that the snake could actually speak as well as understand him before giving him a slight smile.
“Anytime.” He said, shuffling to the side ever so slightly to allow his new friend an easier passage past him. The twins continued to stare at the snake but now also slightly Lance, absolutely bewildered by what had just happened before their very own eyes. The reptile however, paid them no mind as he gave the boy who had seemingly helped him out of the cage a slight nod before continuing towards the exit.
“Snake!” Somebody screamed behind Lance making him turn to face them and sending the rest of the hall into a chorus of screams and shrieks. Had anyone there read the sign they’d know the snake that had escaped wasn’t venomous and the species itself were rather docile. Of course, no one had bothered to read the sign or else there wouldn’t be this much panic. That’s what Lance had thought anyways as he turned back to his niblings who were now standing up in the exhibit, very much enclosed by the glass panel that had disappeared moments ago. Both of the birthday kids were looking in front of them with a confused scrunch to their faces before pushing an arm out in front of themselves in sync. They hit glass.
“Dad! Mommy!” Sylvio screamed, banging on the glass, fat tears ran down his chubby cheeks in large blobs, puffing his face up rather quickly. Nadia’s sobbing had gotten worse when her brothers crying got worse, banging alongside him. Rachel had turned to see them first and immediately shot Lance a look as though he had somehow managed to do this. Maybe he had but it wasn’t his fault he wished it into existence! It was only a thought, it wasn't as though he had gone up to a genie and wished it aloud as one of his three wishes. However, the moment his brother and wife had seen their children behind the glass everything truly went to shit. Because no there wasn’t any other word to describe the current situation Lance had found himself in.
“My darlings, my babies!” Lisa shrieked as she ran to the exhibit the younger twins had found themselves locked in. Everything else she had said was unintelligible and drowned out by the sounds of the birthday children screaming and crying, clearly terrified. Lance had started smiling at the display before him, he couldn’t help himself! For once he wasn’t the one suffering for things out of anyone's control, he had even let out a slight giggle which he knew immediately had been a mistake. Luis snapped his head in the direction of the sound and immediately looked ten times angrier than the moment prior as he walked slightly over to Lance who in turn blanched.
“You. Get to the car now and do not move until we are home.” Luis snarled at the boy and threw the keys on top of him as he was somehow still on the floor. Lance just knew he wasn’t getting to eat this week despite the fact he hadn’t actually done it. Then again, laughing was seen as a crime if Lance had done it in this household he wasn’t sure why he acted so surprised.
“Yes sir.” Lance sighed, grabbing the keys off of his chest before making his way back to the car park clinging to the walls to get through the chaos of his new friend's departure from captivity. One of these days the odd things that happened around him wouldn’t be seen as his fault. After all, if he could control it he would make sure none of it ever happened so he could live a relatively normal life like everyone else he knew. Granted that wasn’t a lot of people but the point still stood. The return to the McClain house would be a long and treacherous one guessing by the events that had just unfolded inside the reptile house.
--
Lance had been right of course, he had been berated by his brother and sister the entire time as though he had personally removed that glass panel and replaced it in record time. Hell, if that was the case he was sure he could become famous or something. Lisa had sat in the back of their minivan, coddling the twins who both wore these slightly shredded towels whilst shivering as if the tank's water hadn’t been warm and as if they were in something more like the Antarctic waters. That however, forced Lance to sit in the front making him an easier target for his brother the entire drive back.
The moment they got back and had parked up Lisa had thrown the house keys at Rachel, telling her to unlock the door as quickly as she could in fear of her precious babies getting sick. Lance in that time had quietly slipped out of his seat and attempted to go unnoticed by trying to become one with the wall as he leaned against it with his head turned down whilst Lisa led her only children inside, effectively coddling them, with Rachel hot on their heels. “It’s alright sweethearts. It’s alright.” Lisa cooed. “We’ll get the two of you out of these drenched cold, miserable clothes and into some nice warm ones.” Lance had nearly scoffed at that but before he could his brother grabbed him by the top of his head, ripping out some of his hair on the way, and shoving him inside the house, nearly causing Lance to fall face first onto the floor.
“What happened?” Luis said through gritted teeth, he had only let go of Lance’s head to slam the door behind him. The moment it was shut he was pulling on his hair harder than the moment before.
“Ow! I swear Luis, I don’t know!” Lance’s head felt as though it had been set on fire as his brother dragged him across the stairs banister and towards the cupboard door. Luis had practically growled at his response. “One minute, the glass was there and the next it wasn’t! It was like magic! I didn’t do it!” That response had not been well received as Luis pushed Lance into the tiny cupboard, slamming the door on his toes slightly causing Lance to yelp.
“There is no such thing as magic.” Luis spat venomously whilst locking the cupboard door, effectively trapping Lance in the tiny room. His brother, before leaving, slammed the small grate on the door that he had spoken through, closing off any other light from entering the room. Lance knew today was going to be a bad day, he hadn’t a clue why he had thought differently at any other point of the day.