The day was warm if a bit overcast, threatening rain later in the week. Randy was walking down the street with his mum as she took him out to buy clothes for the new school year. Somehow grade seven was important as he was going to a different school now. This is when things start getting serious apparently. So now he had to spend the day being dragged around from store to store to store while his mum picked out clothes for him. He’d go into the change rooms and try them on, then walk out and do a little show where she would play with the belt and make sure they fit properly. Even if he didn’t particularly like them and thought they were lame, she’d still insist they looked good and buy them. Then it’d be off to the next store to find something else. It was embarrassing.

As they walked his mum shrieked with a shrill joy as she looked into a shop window. Randy worried he was about to be dragged in as well; the only thing worse than clothes shopping for him was when she found something she liked. Then he was forced to sit there bored while she did the fashion show and he had to feign interest and excitement. “Okay Randall, you stay right here for a minute and mommy will be right back. She just wants to go say hi to a friend in here.” She turned her attention to him. “And don’t go anywhere. Stay right here. I’ll be right back.” She straightened out her dress and fixed her hair, then went into the shop.

Randy watched her go in and hug a man, then they kissed, and it didn’t seem right. It wasn’t the way you usually kiss a friend. Not a peck on the cheek like he gave grandma whenever she visited. He was looking at the mans face trying to see if he recognized him when he heard a buzz or humming sound. It was like listening to a vibration, a wave pulsing in his head. He turned to the street, traffic was coming and going, distracting him with the noise of their exhaust. He focused and stretched out his ears to find out where the sound was coming from. It vibrated louder, cutting through the haze of the street, he looked at the other people walking and driving by, no one seemed concerned – like they couldn’t hear it at all. He looked around for the source, where was this coming from? And why could he hear it when no one else seemed to? He looked at the shops across the street, and the windows above them, expecting one to be open and the sound emanating from within. There was nothing. He followed the sound across the shops until his eyes settled on the alley across the street that faded back into shadows. That’s where it was coming from. He didn’t know how he knew; he just did. Now that he knew, he could almost see it rippling the air, spreading out like a rock thrown in a pond. His mum said to stay put, but he looked back through the window and didn’t think she’d be coming out anytime soon. She had her back turned to him, and her arm was linked in with the man’s. He checked for traffic, ran across the street, and ducked into the alley.

He entered the alley and the world fell away behind him, a thick curtain dropping and muffling the noise of the city behind him. He followed the sound as it got louder, this pulsing in his head pulling him forward. There was a pile of garbage bags and folded up cardboard tucked against an overflowing dumpster that called out to him. He started pulling the bags up and tossing them over his shoulder, compelled, looking for something. With the last bag out of his way there it was, a small stone frog, emerald green colour that fit in the palm of his hand, lying on the pavement. It didn’t seem normal though, not like one he’d seen before. He knew for certain that it was the source of the sound in his head. and there was a darkness about it. The way something can glow bright, with a halo around it, this seemed to glow with a darkness. A subtle empty void surrounding it.

The aura spoke to him, translated the vibrations for him. He saw the truth now. His mum, his dad, all parents and grownups, were nothing but liars. They walked around like they knew all the answers, but they didn’t know anything. All they wanted to do was control their kids, contain them, get them doing what they wanted. They were wrong, and Randy and the others didn’t have to listen to them. It was his task to spread the word and wake up all the other kids. Let them know that they have the power, and they don’t have to listen to the grownups anymore.

Randy was hanging around the park the next day with a couple of his friends. He was on the swing trying to get really high, and then he planned to jump off at the peak and do a cool landing. If he could get high enough maybe he could do a flip or something. He was pumping his legs higher, calling out to the guys to come watch him. It was going to be great. He gave one final pump, hit his apex, and launched himself off the swing. He wanted to do something radical, like the splits, instead he just flailed his arms wildly before landing on the gravel below.

“What the hell was that?” Jason said.

“I was trying to do a spin or flip or something. Did it look cool?”

“Here’s how you do it.” Jason pushed passed him, sat on the swing, and began pumping his legs to get momentum. “Once you get high enough,” huff, huff. “You don’t jump forward but flip back.” He leaned back and flipped off the swing and landed on his feet. Everyone hooped and hollard. The swing came back down and hit him the chest, but everyone laughed it off, he’d already won. The damage was done.

Randy had to think fast, find a way to recover from this. He felt the stone frog in his pocket. “You think that was cool, check out what I found yesterday.” They all gathered around as he pulled the stone frog out of his pocket and showed it to them. It had that same dark glow, and absence of light that sucked everything else into it. It was so dark it almost completely blocked out Randy’s hand holding it. There was a chorus of Ooo’s and Ahh’s from them as they looked at it.

“Where’d you get that?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, where’d you get that?” Timmy echoed.

“I guess that’s pretty cool,” Jason was hurting with the attention being pulled off him so quick. “But kinda boring. It doesn’t do anything but sit there.”

“No but listen, do you hear it?” Randy bent down to put his ear closer to it. “Can you hear what it whispers?”

The others bent in close, ears almost touching Randy’s hand and the stone frog. Randy could feel the vibrations cycling through his arm as it spoke out to them. It told them they can stay up late every night, drinking chocolate milk, and watching cartoons if they want to. They don’t have to go to school, do any of the work. The vibrations spread out, and Randy started humming with them, strengthening them so the others could hear. The message became clear. Anything they wanted to do, anything they dreamed of, was theirs to do. They were in control.

“What does that mean though?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, what does it mean?” Timmy echoed.

“It means we can do whatever we want, weren’t you listening? When you go home tonight and don’t want to finish your peas guess what, you don’t have to. If you want to eat ice cream guess what, you can go right ahead.”

“So, what do you say? Should we start living our own lives?” Randy said.

They all left the park that day a little more emboldened, ready to live the lives that they wanted without cause or concern about what their parents said.

Randy made it home as the streetlights came on, which was his parent’s rule, but he waited around the corner of the garage for an extra fifteen minutes, show them what they could expect. When he walked into the house he took his coat off and threw it on the floor instead of hanging it up in the closet. He went right to the fridge, pulled out the chocolate milk, and poured himself a glass. His mum walked in and stepped back, startled by what she saw.

“What are you doing?” She asked. “I didn’t say you could have chocolate milk. You’re late getting home, it’s time to get ready for bed.” He ignored her, went to the cupboard, and got a bag of chips. “Excuse me mister,” she continued. “I said bedtime.” She tried to grab the bag of chips, but he pulled away.

“I’m not going to bed,” he said. “I’m going to watch cartoons.”

She tried to grab the bag again, and again he dodged her and kept going towards the family room. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. The bag of chips dropped, and some of the milk spilt over the edge and onto the tile floor. He wrestled away, grabbed the bag, and ran into the living room.

He had the TV on and a fist full of chips when his dad came in. “What’s going on here bud?”

“Watching cartoons.”

“I can see that. Pretty sure your mother said it’s time for bed though. So why don’t we turn that off, you go brush your teeth, and climb into bed.” Randy ignored him and kept eating the chips. His mouth salty, he took a gulp of chocolate milk and laughed at what was on the TV. “Hey, hey, Randall I’m talking to you,” he snapped his fingers in front of his eyes, but he didn’t blink. Finally he picked up the remote, turned the TV off, and put the remote on the table.

“Hey, I was watching that.”

“Well, we said it’s time for bed. So let’s go.” He snapped his fingers again and pointed to his bedroom.

“I’m not going to bed. I’m sitting here and watching cartoons.” He grabbed the remote and turned the TV back on.

That was the last straw. His dad picked up the bag of chips, moved the glass of chocolate milk, and picked up Randy. He tried to kick and flail his way free, swinging his arms, and trying to cling to doorways as they walked past.

“No, no, I’m not going.”

“Well, that’s too bad, because you are.” His dad wasn’t even struggling, this was an inconvenience, not a threat to his authority.

Holding Randy with one hand, he pulled back the covers of his bed, put him down, and covered him with the covers. As he was closing the door he called back, “We’ll be talking about this tomorrow.”

He laid in bed in the dark, sulking about his parents still having control over him, telling him what to do. The room was completely dark, curtains closed and lights out. Still, there was a deeper darkness emanating from his desk. The stone frog that he had found, it was still glowing with its deep aura, whispering to him. It told him that this was a lesson, a reminder. The parents were bigger, their power came from their strength and size. That didn’t mean they knew what they were doing. Their own strength came in numbers, the kids needed to band together, needed to trust each other. They needed to disappear. A plan was forming. He fell asleep smiling.

“So how did it go for you guys?” Randy said to his friends who had managed to gather in the park the next day. They all stared at the ground and shuffled their feet in the dirt. “Yeah, about the same for me too. I was close, I feel like I was close, but they overpowered me and locked me in my room after spanking me. The attitude was there though, I was setting it up, and then it all came crumbling down in the last moment.” A light rain started coming down and they sought refuge underneath a willow tree. “But I’ll tell you this; as I was laying there in bed trying to plot some sort of revenge, the stone frog whispered to me, and I could see it’s darkness there on my table. They have the power because they have the size, they can physically overpower us. So, what we must do is work together. There’s a new plan.”

Randy looked around as their faces rose to meet his.

“I don’t know about this,” Jason said. “I told my dad I wanted cheeseburgers for dinner instead of a stupid salad. He made me eat all the salad until I threw it up. He hit me for wasting food, then I had to clean it up and go to bed hungry. I don’t know how I feel about another one of your plans.”

He looked around at where they were, hidden in the bush and branches of a large willow tree, cut off from the rest of the world, protected from the rain. It’d be perfect. “Just wait until you hear it.” He began explaining his plan. Tonight, they would be the perfect little angels, apologetic for their actions the night before, help clean up, throw the parents off guard. Then, when they weren’t looking, they’d steal as many supplies as they could; they’d need blankets and pillows, lots of canned food and snacks, maybe some tarps.

“Then sneak out and meet here shortly after midnight. We’ll band together like we intended to, like we were meant to. This will be our new home, and we’ll watch out for each other. We won’t be like the adults; we won’t scream, yell, hit, or lie to each other, or other people. We won’t set up stupid little rules that don’t make sense and take all the fun out of life. We’ll be compassionate and help each other. Who’s with me?”

He stuck his hand in the middle of the circle they stood around. Their eyes met his with a glimmer of hope. One by one, each of them layered their own hand on top. They were in, they were a family now. They split to head home and begin their preparation.

Randy got home and began the charade. He helped set the table for dinner while the stone frog whispered to him that the parents always made him use more dishes than he wanted; why can’t everything be piled on one plate? He ate everything on his plate that night, all while the stone frog whispered how his parents never asked him what he wanted for dinner. He wasn’t consulted at all. After dinner he helped clear the table, and the stone frog whispered how he had to do everything, set up and clean up, how was that fair?

Shortly after, Randy announced that he was going to get ready for bed and went to his room where he left the door open a crack. “See,” he could overhear his mum saying. “I told you everything would work out.”

“I know,” his dad said. “All he needed was to be shown his place. Once he remembered who was in charge everything fell back into rhythm.”

Fools, Randy thought as he listened to them talk, little did they know. He laid in bed and waited for his parents to go to sleep, the pure adrenaline and excitement keeping him awake. When he was sure the coast was clear and his parents tucked in bed, he snuck out into the kitchen and stocked up on food, grabbing a loaf of bread, a few cans of beans and corn, some peanut butter, and a couple juice boxes. He went back to his room and piled everything onto his bed, then bundled it up in his blanket. At midnight he grabbed his package and his pillow and snuck out his bedroom window.

He met his friends under the willow canopy shortly after midnight. “All right gentlemen, this is it,” he began another impassioned speech. “We’ve severed all ties and only have each other now. But that isn’t cause for concern, instead we should celebrate!” They cheered at this, and Randy held up his hands to quiet them down. “Careful, we don’t want someone to hear us. But yes, we will celebrate our freedom from under the thumb of those grownups. Tonight, we feast!” Another round of cheers, this time quieter.

“One matter to settle before that,” Randy continued. “We’re a family now, looking out for each other, and we have to mark that.” He pulled out a small pocketknife. “With blood.”

The others looked nervous, their eyes shifting away. Jason began sweating.

“Relax guys, I saw this on a movie. Just a small slice on the thumb,” he winced a bit as he ran the blade along the ball of his thumb. A well of bright red blood sprang up and he resisted the urge to suck on it. “One of you do it, and we’ll press our thumbs together, making it official. We’ll be blood brothers, and always have each others backs.”

Ben did it, and Timmy followed quickly after, as he always followed Ben. Jason was still hesitant, sweating, his hand shaking as he tried to raise it. He pulled away before the blade touched him. “No, I don’t think I can do it. It’s stupid anyway, what if you get like a disease or something?”

“Do it Jason, or are you not our brother?” Randy said. His eyes had become piercing as he bore down on Jason. The stone frog glowed darker, sucking in more light. “I said do it Jason.” Randy’s voice vibrated the same way the frog’s had.

Jason felt himself compelled, his arm rising without him. Randy grabbed a hold of it, his grip like an iron clasp, twisted his thumb back and slid the blade across it. He cut deeper than he needed to but held onto Jason’s hand while the blood seeped out and dripped onto the ground. Then he pressed his own thumb to it.

“And there it is, we’re all brothers now. Family.”

The mood immediately changed; the darkness receded from Randy’s eyes. “Now we celebrate!”

Everyone piled their food together to take stock of what they had. Randy’s food was there, Jason had brought deli meat and a box of cereal, Ben and Timmy brought a couple cans of pasta, and three bags of chips. No one had thought to bring dishes, so they had to make do with their hands. They piled in, grabbing cans and bags with little regard to what they were combining. A green bean and chip sandwich, spoonful’s of corn and cereal, and washing it all down with juice boxes and soda.

They went on into the early morning until they couldn’t keep their eyes open any longer. Consuming almost their entire reserve of food until they each felt like they were going to burst. Then they shuffled over and piled all their pillows and blankets together to pass out.

“Hey Randy, what happens tomorrow?” Timmy asked.

“Whatever we want Timmy, whatever we want.”

The voice from the stone frog whispered to them as they closed their eyes, telling them all the great things that they would accomplish now that they were free.

They were woken up by being yanked up and out of their blanket pile. “Get up!” someone was yelling, while another voice was stringing together a series of curse words. Randy opened his eyes, the chill morning air giving him goosebumps. Through his bleary vision he could make out dark figures standing over them. Once they cleared, he realized it was his parents. He sat upright and looked around; all their parents had surrounded them.

“I said get up!” his mother yelled again, while his father grabbed him by the arm and yanked him onto his feet. “Do you have any idea how worried sick we were? What the hell do you think you’re doing out here?” She took hold of his arm while his dad gathered up his bedding.

He looked around the group and saw similar interactions with all of them. Each of his friends were being dragged to their feet and berated. Punished for simply trying to live their lives how they wanted to. They were all dragged off to their homes, a pile of empty cans, chip bags, and juice boxes all that was left of their brief flirt with freedom.

Randy remained silent about what they’d been up to, or who had organized it. They sat him down once they got home and grilled him like an interrogation.

“It was that boy Jason, wasn’t it?” His mother would say.

“I bet it was those twins, their father always rubbed me the wrong way.” His father said.

“Well, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Denis, he’s a really nice man,” his mom started defending, but shook her head and refocused on Randy. “But that’s not the point here. We want answers, who was it?”

 They took turns asking questions while the other took a break, too exasperated to go on. When they saw that wasn’t working, they sent him off to his room.

That night he lay in bed, his blanket still dirty from the ground underneath the willow tree, feeling a failure and not sure what to do next. He felt a burning sensation in his pocket and pulled out the stone frog. He’d almost forgotten about it in the excitement of everything that had happened. It still had that dark glow about it, sucking in the light. And it still whispered to him, giving him his next plan.

That night while his parents slept, he quietly got out of bed and went to the kitchen. He opened a drawer and pulled out a large butcher knife, then made his way to his parents’ bedroom.