Vipers

01 | Conceited Jerks and Rhetorical Questions

"Is that a spider?" I heard Carlton whisper from behind me.

I nudged him, causing him to yelp. "Shut up, or they'll hear you."

"Ouch!" he yelled. "God, Annabelle, that really hurt."

I turned around and pointed at him. "Something else will hurt if you don't quit being a baby." He held his hands up in mock of defence. He knew I wasn't kidding.

I turned back to spy on 'The Vipers' below us. We were currently squished inside a vent, and safe to say, it echoed. I peeked through the lid attached to the vent and there wasn't anyone in sight. Shit. I thought to myself.

"Where the fuck did they go?" I murmured.

"Uh... Anna." I felt Carlton nudge me from behind.

I swatted his hand away. "Not now, Carlton."

"No, seriously, Anna."

My patience was decreasing ever so slowly. I turned around and started to yell at him. "Carlton, can't you see I'm trying to-" I stopped midway and noticed a figure behind him. "Yo." I waved at them.

"Yo," he waved back. After a minute, the guy snapped out of whatever trance he was in. "What the fu-"

I quickly booted the vent lid open and somersaulted out of the cramped space, dragging Carlton along with me by the collar of his shirt. "Wait, Anna-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence because I landed on the floor perfectly, whilst he ended up falling into a pit of empty boxes. I hoped they were empty anyway.

"Jesus, Anna, at least give me a fucking warning, or something!" Carlton whined as he scrambled out of the boxes he was drowned in.

"Oh yeah. Hey, Carlton, there's a bad guy behind you. Mind if I pulled you out of the vent, so we don't get attacked?" I told him sarcastically.

"Hardy har, very funny." He glared at me. He'll get over it.

In the middle of our row, the man who was in the vent with us crawled out of it and landed in front of me nicely. I wished he fell and bumped his head. "I don't have time to meddle with you kids. Let's just get this over and done with."

"God, you're so careless sometimes, Carlton," I rolled my eyes while crossing my arms. "It's like dealing with a baby."

Carlton scoffed. "You do know I'm older than you, right?"

"By half an hour?" I raised my eyebrow at him. I know what everyone's thinking, and we get it a lot. No, we're not twins, and yes, we were born on the same day funnily enough.

"Half an hour is quite a lot. It's like when I'm at a restaurant and the service is so slow. They make me wait for half an hour." He sighed, sadness evident in his voice.

"Where the hell do you go to get your food?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Just at some pizza parlour down my road. Note to yourself - never go there, because they make you wait for half an hour for food."

I rolled my eyes. "I'll be sure to remember that."

"Enough!" We heard a voice boom. Honestly, that actually startled me, and I didn't get scared easily. "Shut up about your stupid pizzas and let's just get this over with."

I shrugged my shoulder. "Alright then, how shall we go about this, Carlton?" I turned to look at him.

"However you want. You're the Boss apparently."