I had gotten myself a one way ticket to Seattle, Washington, a dead mother (I suppose I should start saying dead adoptive mother to be polite to Sam), and a tail all within a time span of twenty-four hours. I got the tail due to my never ending desire for adventure, and because the first thing you do when exploring an abandoned island late at night is go poking around a volcano. I became an orphan because apparently some serial killers have a thing for red heads. Seeing how my father was buried six feet under back in Boston, I was sent to stay with my blood brother. Who lived in the rainiest region in 50 states, just my luck.
Now, don't get me wrong I have nothing against Sam; he seems like a pretty decent guy from his file. But, can you really expect me to be completely stoked to go live with him in the given circumstances? The government worked fast, I'll give them that, but twenty-four hours wasn't enough time. My world was spinning in more way than one; I was in shock needless to say. I was shocked and numb. We hadn't been particularly close, my mother and I, estranged was more like it. My dad had wanted kids not her, and when his cancer gripped too tight she lost it. I managed the finances after that, and made sure we were both well fed and impeccably dressed. She wasn't a mom, she wasn't family, but she was my last remaining constant. The house we had been renting out was still just boxes, so it wasn't hard to find what I wanted to take with me (books, art supplies, and my dad's old guitar). My trusty electric blue suitcases still being mostly packed was a blessing, because I hate packing above all things.
The plane was cramped to say the least. I had been trying to read my new book, when a sleeping middle aged man decided that I was a pillow. Though, he seemed far to handsy to be asleep if you ask me. Well there was no way I was gonna stand being groped for the rest of the trip, the flight attendant was too busy smoking in the back to help and I was wearing a v-neck. My new hardcover book was pretty thick, at least a thousand pages, so I took it and hit him on his balding head.
After that funtastic trip I was in Seattle, with jet lag and a serious case of I-don't-know-what-the-hell-I'm-supposed-to-do-itis. After waiting at baggage claim for what seemed like ages, I treated myself to ice cream. The ice cream was possibly the worst ice cream I had ever had the pleasure of tasting, but I ate it none the less. My flight had landed a little early, so I wasn't all that worried. But he was thirty minutes late now, and I had turned my suitcase into a chair while I waited. I really wish I had gotten his phone number, before I left Australia. When he finally arrived I had made a fort out of my collective luggage (and hiding in it), was humming Hedwig's Theme, and was trying to sort out the science aspect to being a mermaid, along with reading mythology about it.
"Hi-" Sam started, but I cut him off, being the educated intelligent person I am assumed that it was the balding man from the plane. The guy had been bugging me about not pressing charges (which I wasn't gonna do, but he didn't need to know that).
"Dude, seriously just go back to your sad empty apartment already, you'll hear from my lawyers."
"Wait? What?"
"Wait? What?" I echoed back, confused by his confusion. Then I glanced up, realized it was Sam and jumped up. That turned out to be a horrible idea because my legs had fallen asleep, so I dropped my notebook, pen, and phone, stumbled on a suitcase or two, and fell back down again.
"Fuck, I'm sorry. Uh, fuck I was gonna be cool." I said as he helped me back up. He laughed at the awkward meeting; his laughing was booming and attracted a few stares from other sleep deprived humans. He held my upper arms in his rough hands, and tilted me back, as if inspecting me. So, naturally I made a silly face at him, and pulled him in for a hug. I'm a warm, loving person, what can I say!
"It's so great to finally meet you. I always wanted a brother." I muffled into his shirt.
"You did?" He asked softly from above me.
"Yeah, I always needed someone to teach me all the manly stuff. You know, how to punch someone's teeth out, and how to play basketball." He chuckled again, and I released him from my bear hug.
"Let's get going, I'm sure you're tired of airports, and suitcase forts." He said, with an amused glance at the fort.
"Hey! Do not bash the suitcase fort! That majestic fort got me through the worst ice cream of my life, and you being half an hour late." I teased, as I picked up a duffel bag full of books that was too heavy for me to carry. But, despite my joking tone his expression turned sour.
"I'm so sorry; I was caught up at this stupid meeting, that really shouldn't even be happing. Anne if you could-"
"Forgiven and forgotten, your here now. Besides it wasn't so bad I got some research done."