Sunday drew near in the blink of an eye. The Dagonet family was preparing for church, as most other families did on a Sunday morning. The church was just two streets outside their estate. Zane got in the driver's seat and buckled up in their family's salon car. The service began, hymns, voices, sermons, and all conventional processes tugging behind each other chronologically.
He reached for his pocket; he has a habit of taking some weird stuff with him anywhere he goes, just to distract himself from going too deep in thoughts and ghosting away from society. This time, his unconventional tool was his wireless mouse. He just kept spinning the scroll wheel up and down, trying to pay attention to what the preacher was saying.
Service ended, his sister, the famous girl, was pulled away by her girlies as they took her to the mall to watch a movie or whatever the hell girls in that category do.
"Ghost, me man!" Marcus cried out from a few feet away as Zane loaded some mini baskets his mom's friend gave his mom into the trunk of the car.
"I hope you brought your swimsuit?"
"I did, one second, let me finish here."
"Don't faint on me today again. We have to win the next inter-school competition."
"Roger," he picked up his gear from the backseat and tugged at the pocket of his black leather jacket to drop the mouse in the car, but it was missing.
"My mouse," he said, while still frisking himself.
"Probably fell off inside or something, and forget it. You have like seventy more at home."
"Eleven."
"Still a lot. Now let's go so we can have enough hours before the pool locks."
He tugged his jacket closer to him and waved goodbye to his mom, as she and her friend drove off.
They both pulled their clothes and kept them in the stall closets, slipping on their swimsuits. Swimming for four hours, competing with each other, and having fun.
"Hey, what does a comma feel like?"
"Why'd you want to know?" he doggy-paddled to the edge.
"Well, I want to have a vague idea of what death is."
"I see, you're wishing to die soon. You won't be missed."
"Nah, Lily loves me more than you, her brother. She'll miss me."
"Bruh, you've crushed on my sister for ages."
"You've crushed on you-know-who for a decade."
"Ages are longer, buddy."
"You know it's not in this case." They both chuckled.
"Ahem." Zane cleared his throat.
"A comma, it was more like an endless, inevitable dream. And unfortunately, all I remember was blanking out, seeing nothing. Although it feels like I missed something. Each time I try remembering, all I get is a light headache."
"Don't stress yourself. Maybe some things are best left unknown."
"That's the smartest thing you've said in our fifteen years of friendship."
"I still have better grades than you, Zane."
"And you know it's only cuz I let you too."
"Yeah, Zeus. Game on, give it your best this session."
"You sure?"
"Please don't, I like my parents happy with me as it is already. Knowing you, you'd push Lisa out of first place by a mile."
"Why do you even like average so much?"
"I told you ninety-two times already. As long as I pass, it's fine with me. We barely ever see the top five at school, competition after competition. It's appalling."
"Nah, you're just lazy. Being fifteenth place for six years in a row is wild. If I were the school's principal, I would have signed you up for competitions myself."
"Fine, I'll aim for seventeenth this year."
"No, come up to twelve. Don't just come to ten." They got out of the pool and into the stalls.
"Yo, my jacket's gone," Zane said with a blatant look on his face, as if he wasn't surprised.
"Dang it, I hate this pool. Last week, some dude moved my sneakers." Marcus complained.
"Let's go. We'll get you a new one."
"This was my favorite. Belonged to my dad."
"For someone who skipped town to buy milk, and never returned. You sure do love him a lot."
"He's still my father."
"Yeah, whatever."
They left the pool and went home. Getting to his room, Zane met his jacket on the bed, like his mom put it there for him.
"Well, look at that. I must have left it in the car."