Journey to the Past.



Darren's Point of View



by Joey



"Mom?" Darren entered his house, dropping his backpack by the door and slamming the door shut with his foot. "Mom? Where are you?" He wandered towards the kitchen, the place where she normally hung out. He often came home from school to find her trying out various new recipes, waiting with them for him to sample. "MOM!!" He shouted louder, as he entered the kitchen to find it empty. He was about to shout again, but he saw a piece of paper lying on a plate of cookies on the counter.



Darren,



The head chef is sick, so I've gone to fill in for him at the restaurant. I'll be home late, so you can order pizza or come down here if you want.



Love

Mom



Darren read the note as he stuffed a couple of the cookies into his mouth. Tossing the note back onto the counter he grabbed the plate of cookies and headed into the office. So much for getting his mom's help on his school project. He sat down with the cookies in front of the photo album section, and started grabbing them off the shelf. He needed to create a college that represented his family for school. It was a stupid project in his opinion, like something you'd do when you're in third grade, not grade 10 and not fifteen. But whatever, he couldn't do anything about it.

It wasn't until he had spread out all the albums in front of him that he notice there was a small album that he had missed. It was thin, and had been using the other albums as a cover. He didn't recognize the album as he pulled it off the shelf. It was plan blue, nothing special or exciting, but he knew not to judge the album by it's cover.

He pushed the plate of cookies, or cookie as there was now only one left, aside and slowly opened the cover. The first picture caught him off guard, and by the looks of it, had caught the participants off guard. It was a picture of his mom on a hospital bed holding a baby. There was a man he'd never seen before beside him, also holding a baby. Darren quickly realized that the picture was of the day he was born, but he was confused. Who was the guy, and the other baby? With further inspection, he realized that he wasn't even in his mom's arms. The baby his mom was holding had a pink hat on it, the guy must of been holding him, as that baby was sporting blue. He flipped through the rest of the album quickly, finding more pictures containing at least of the four from the first.

He went back to the original picture, looking it over, staring at the four people, wondering who the other two were. When he finally looked away, he realized that it was passed dinner time. He pulled the first picture loose, and placed the album back in it's spot, with the other albums in front to cover it from sight. He placed the picture carefully in his pocket, then grabbing his house key, headed out the door, and down the street.

As he walked down the street he debated going over to the restaurant for dinner and to question his mom, but he knew she probably wouldn't answer. Especially considering that she had never talked about his dad, and when ever he had approached the subject, she changed it instantly. Making up his mind, he turn left at the corner, and walked up the street to one of the houses, where he let himself in.



"Aunt Rachel?" Darren called out as he entered the house. "Uncle Ross?"

"Darren!" A small voice shouted, as one of his younger cousins came sprinting out of one of the rooms to tackle him in a hug.

"Hi Jordan," Darren smiled at his cousin, picking him up in a hug. "Where are you're parents?"

"Kitchen," the young boy replied, pointing a chubby finger in the direction.

"Thanks," Darren carried Jordan in the kitchen to find his Aunt, clearing the table from their dinner.

"Hey Darren," Rachel smiled at her nephew. "What's up?"

"I was wondering if you could tell me something," Darren said nervously, not sure anymore that he should have come here.

"Of course, if I know the answer," Rachel nodded, throwing the cloth she'd been wiping the table with into the sink. "What's the question?"

Darren set down his cousin, and told him to go play for a bit, Jordan, obeying his cousin at once, hurried out of the room, as fast as his little legs would carry him. He pulled the picture out of his pocket and handed it to his aunt, watching her face for a reaction.

Rachel went pale as she saw the picture. "Where'd you get this?" she demanded.

"I was looking through our picture albums, trying to find pictures for a school project when I came across a hidden album." Darren paused. "So you know who the other two are?"

"No," Rachel shook her head instantly.

"Yes you do, I know you do. Please Aunt Rachel," he gave her a puppy dog look and she looked down at the picture and sighed. "Come on, please? Is that my dad?"

Rachel sat down at the kitchen table and motion for her nephew to do the same. "Okay Darren, I suppose you have a right to know, but you're mom's going to kill me for this..."

"What?"

"As you know that's your mom," Rachel pointed to the figure on the bed, she then moved to the guy. "And you're right, that's your dad." She moved her finger down again, to the baby his dad was holding. "That's you, and that," she pointed to the last figure, "is your sister." She paused then added, "your twin sister."

"What happened to her?" Darren questioned.

"What do you mean?" Rachel was puzzled.

"Did she die?" Darren questioned.

"Why would you think that?"

"Well, she doesn't live with me and mom, what else could've happened?"

"Well..." again Rachel paused, as if sorting out what to tell and what not to. "It wasn't until after your parents got divorced that your mom found out she was pregnant. And then soon discovered she was going to have twins. Your mom and your dad weren't getting along at all after the divorce, they both wanted to be with each other still, but neither would make a move, and both thought the other one hated them. Well you and your sister were almost like a blessing. They could both have one of you, and neither would have to see each other as they would if there had been only one, as both wanted you very badly. So they made that their plan. Your mom would get the first born, you, and your dad got the second, your sister. But that was back when we lived in New York. He stayed there when your mom decided to move to California."

Darren leaned back in his chair, shocked beyond words. His aunt looked at him worried. "I ... I shouldn't have told you."

"NO! No," Darren shook his head. "I... I'm glad I now know. I've got to get home, but I'll talk to you later."

"Okay," Rachel watched her nephew leave her house and head down the street.

"What did Darren want?" Ross asked, coming up behind her.

"Nothing," she lied quickly. Nothing.



Darren was lying in his bed later that night when his mom got home. He'd been thinking of a plan. He knew that his plan was kind of stupid, but he couldn't come up with another way to solve his problem. There was no way he could talk to his mom about this, she wouldn't understand, after all she'd separated him from his dad in the first place.

"Darren?" his mom whispered as she poked her head into his room, seeing if he was asleep.

"Hi mom," Darren replied, giving her a small wave from his bed.

"How was your evening? What did you have for dinner?"

"It was good, and I just ate a sandwich," Darren had to laugh to himself. Most of his friends parents never cared about what they ate with they weren't home, but his mom, well, food was her life. Ever since her restaurant train had taken off...

"Good night Darren," his mom blew him a kiss.

"Night mom," Darren replied.



By the next morning he'd figured out all the details, and told his mom his 'plan' for the weekend. He was going for a sleep over after school and wouldn't be home till Sunday. Once his mom had left for work, he set about packing his hiking backpack with what he thought he'd need. He then found his birth certificate (which wasn't hard, considering his mom was super organized). He had been right, his dad's name was listed on it.

After he had double checked that he had everything, he headed to the bank, to get out some money for his trip. He separated the cash, and placed some in his wallet, some in his backpack and some in his shoe, in case anything went missing. Then he caught a taxi to the airport. There, using some of the money, he bought himself a ticket to New York.



Hours later he was in the main terminal of the New York bus station. He was stuck on where to go from there, as he had no idea where his mom had lived when she was here, and even if he had, the chance that his dad lived over there was slim. He headed over to the waiting area, falling into the nearest chair. He was exhausted, and it was late New York time.

"This seat taken?" Darren looked up to find a girl around his age pointing at the chair beside him.

"Does it look like it is?" Darren snapped, getting edgy from his exhaustion.

"Sorry," the girl held up both hands as if to ward off an attack.

"No, I'm sorry," Darren waved his hand at the chair. "Go ahead."

"So... where are you going?" The girl asked, sitting down.

"No names?" Darren joked.

"Sorry, name's Deanna."

"Darren. And I'm searching for my dad."

"Where's your mom?"

"In California."

"She let you come out here by yourself?"

"No, ran away," Darren looked sheepish as he admitted what he'd done.

"Really?" Deanna looked surprised. "You don't look like someone who'd do that."

"Oh, what's your story little goody two shoes?" Darren almost snapped.

"Well..."



Okay, this is just the beginning of an idea I had. So tell me what you think. Should I continue it? Is it crap? Well?? Come on, you can do it? You obviously spent a couple minutes reading this, why not take the couple seconds to reply?