Hey guys! Wow, I've finally put this story together. It's an idea that I've had for a while and something a little darker than what I usually write. I guess my writing is maturing and I want to tackle this more complex idea and make it the best it can be for you guys.
The title is a play on the phrase 'blood is thicker than water', meaning family is most important and comes first before anything. But obviously, I've said it isn't...a little something for you all to think about.
I'm very grateful to all my readers, and your continued support and patience is so amazing that it really helps me to carry on writing, even when I feel that I'm in a slump. That is why I hope you like this story and hopefully stay with me on the journey it takes.
Therefore, I hope you enjoy the first chapter of Blood Isn't Always Thicker!
"That one," she said, pointing viscously to the screen, "he's perfect, just perfect. He'll do fine." Her finger jabbed several more times until her husband clicked on the picture to bring it up in full, more zoomed in this time.
"Are you sure?" the man beside her questioned as he read the information beside the picture, whilst she honed in on all of his facial features. "It says he's almost 15. He'll be the oldest we have and I'd say quite a handful. He won't go down as easily as the others did."
"But George," the woman gushed, her fingers remaining on the screen, drawing circles around the face, actually imaging she was faced with the boy in the flesh.
"I mean it, Hilary, he won't be easy. And he plays hockey, so there'll be twice the strength that a normal teenager his size would have. I do agree that he's the one, but are you absolutely sure you can put up with the stress?"
"Of course," she found her husband's hands and clung on to them. Both looked at each other in pure adoration for a precious moment, smiles of joy plastered to their faces. "Don't you remember the first time? That was the most stressful and we got through it. We can do this, George."
"Ok," was the reply and the man was already typing a reply to the email they had received that day with several other pictures included, "I'm just going to email to let Derek know we've found the one. He'll sort everything out from here, just like the rest."
"And soon..." the woman squealed like a girly teenager, excitement exuding from her form.
"Soon we'll have our boy."
Kendall Knight was a responsible teenager, unlike some. He had to be, what with his little 8-year-old sister to look after when their mother went to work. Katie adored him and wanted him to do everything, like tucking her in at night and making her sandwiches for lunch the next day because he knew exactly how much peanut butter was needed to balance out the jelly.
He also had to maintain at least a B average in all of his subjects if he wanted to continue playing on the school hockey team. He had been told that if he performed well this year, that he would be a strong candidate for team captain the next, and would make the record books as the high school's first sophomore hockey captain. Kendall wanted to be a hockey player when he was older and so making that achievement would certainly mean a lot to him.
In school, he had a group of good friends, people who he could hang out with, but he never really felt like he was 'at home' with them. They were typical boys who talked about sports and the latest video game that allowed people to attack zombies or whatever. They didn't have responsibilities like he did and they didn't take things as seriously. Not that he was really boring, but he liked to get down to working in order to have time to play afterwards. In other words, Kendall drifted from person to person, but never found a fixed place within his circle of friends because they didn't really gel, leaving him feeling dissatisfied and unfulfilled.
He sighed as he walked from his school to Katie's elementary. It was only down the street, a small journey, but it was strangely warm for a February afternoon in Minnesota and he was pleasantly happy that he had no homework to do. Perhaps he'd bake some cookies with Katie because she had been badgering him all week about how she had a huge packet of M&Ms to use up.
As he drew nearer, an unsettling feeling crept up on him, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end. It was the feeling that you felt when someone was watching, no, staring, at you and he glanced behind inconspicuously to survey his surroundings. Nothing was untoward, just several teenagers walking down the street and parents driving past in cars. He knew most of them because it was a fairly small town, but something seemed different.
There...a man, dressed in a long grey trench coat and sunglasses. Who wore sunglasses in the middle of winter? Sure the sun was very low and made you squint against its brightness sometimes, but sunglasses were a bit extreme. It wasn't anything he had seen before and Kendall regarded himself as a fairly observant person. He may have been just being paranoid, but the mysterious figure was standing at the corner, looking straight down towards him. He could have been looking at anyone, but it seemed like he was singled out amongst the other people around. It just didn't give him a good feeling and he sped up his pace slightly until he was through the gates of the elementary school.
"Kendall!" a voice shrieked happily and he suddenly found his arms full of little sister. She was jumping up and down and had a smudges of red paint over her jeans. She held some sort of marvellous creation in her hands, which was apparently the cause of the paint.
"We got to paint today and I decided to make you a picture! Look!" the piece of paper was thrust unceremoniously into his hands and he turned it round the right way to survey her design. It was a picture of the two of them he guessed, if the yellow fuzz on top of one head was meant to be his hair. Still, he asked questions about several objects flying around them ("Katie, I don't think elephants can fly") and folded it carefully back into her schoolbag, ready to take it out and put it pride of place on his wardrobe door with several others.
The sky turned suddenly and grey cloud started to push out the once blue skies. They quickly made their way out of the gates and down the streets towards their house, hoping to make it back before the rain started. Kendall didn't fancy getting caught in a storm.
It was a freak thing, but Katie suddenly happened to trip slightly on a cracked edge of the sidewalk and her sneakers fell over each other, her body following afterwards. She was ok – Katie had always been a very brave and resilient girl, liking to roughhouse along with the boys rather than playing with dolls – but that was when he saw it. A flash of grey whipping round the corner.
It couldn't be, could it? He continued staring hardly at where he had thought he had seen it, but nothing else happened. Was he being too paranoid? Was he imagining things? A pulse of nervousness flooded through him and he was left with an uncomfortable lump lodged in his throat.
He had Katie with him. Right at this moment he was her guardian, her protector. If anything happened to her it would be his fault, and even though she liked to practice karate moves in the backyard, she wouldn't be able to hold her own against a grown man. But again, was he really panicking over nothing? Whatever it was, if he got out of the area quickly then they would be safe, everything would be ok again.
"Hey, Katie," he thought quickly on his feet, "bet I can get home before you!" hiding his true intentions of getting home fast by making it into a game and Katie wouldn't even notice. No reason to make her scared for something that might be nothing.
Luckily, the 8-year-old didn't bat an eyelid at the remark and instead started running ahead to their house, looking back to see if Kendall was following. Kendall forgot momentarily about the reason for the race, and started chasing her down the street, laughing as she taunted him for being so slow.
The house was soon in their sights, and with a triumphant shout, Katie claimed the victory. She cheered loudly, calling him a slowpoke several times; whilst Kendall tried not to smile and let on that he had in fact let her win. What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.
He nudged his sister inside and urged her to clean up and change into some new clothes so that the red paint didn't end up on the furniture. He could only imagine their mother coming home to a red couch instead of cream, her mouth opening in shock, before tasking Kendall with the tidy up. He wasn't sure if paint was any worse than crayons (when Katie had started walking, she decided to take an orange crayon with her wherever she went – go figure), but he sure didn't want to find out.
As he turned back to the door, he quickly stepped outside again and looked back and forth down the street. There wasn't anything unusual that he could see, only a few neighbours arriving home or working in their front yards. There was no man in a grey trench coat at all, not even when he squinted his eyes to try and gaze into the distance.
Perhaps he had imagined it all? Maybe he had misinterpreted something completely normal or his mind had made up the situation entirely. The mind doth play tricks. But it seemed so real, and it didn't feel like a coincidence. He stared for a few more minutes, until he finally pulled himself away and closed the door behind him.
Kendall checked the street periodically that night. Several times he pulled back the curtains in the living room to make sure that nothing suspicious was going on outside. He checked that nothing was amiss, if someone was out there that he didn't know...but there was nothing. Every single time no one was to be seen.
After his mom came home, the checks were less frequent and he found himself almost forgetting that anything had happened. He checked one last time before bed, even going as far as to open his window and lean his body out to see down the street that was now almost pitch black, except for the small patches of faint glowing from the street lights. Nothing.
And this finally made Kendall admit defeat. He must have been overreacting. Nothing had happened. It was all in his head and he should just forget about it because otherwise it would eventually take over his life. Things like this didn't happen in their small town, so why was he worried?
Therefore, the next morning only needed one look out of his window before he confirmed to himself that it was just a misinterpretation. And when he went to school later on, all thoughts of the strange man were completely forgotten.
The phone rung that night, just before he was about to head to bed. He trudged over to the handset and picked up the portable device, bringing it back into the living room with him. All that could be heard over the receiver for a few moments was the sound of slow and heavy breathing.
"29042001," was spoken gruffly, and from this one utterance he could immediately distinguish the person behind the voice, not knowing anyone else with such a tone.
"Derek," he had been waiting for this call, although he hadn't been expecting it so soon and he was suddenly eager to hear what he had to say.
"We found him," was the reply, "managed to get a scope on the school and his house. This kid ain't going anywhere without us knowing."
"So…so you think that it'll be soon?"
"A few days, George. We need to suss out what he's all about, see if he has any friends that might protect him, when his family are around – things like that. But like I said, we got tabs on him now."
"Oh, this is perfect, Derek! It's falling into place so easily. I promise you'll get double on top of what we usually pay you, this is our last one after all."
A chuckle escaped the man on the other side. "No need, George. You and Hills have been good friends since we were kids ourselves. Speaking of which, how is that bird of yours?"
"She's very excited. Been preparing the house for the arrival and everything already."
"And the others? Have they behaved themselves? Giving you no nonsense, I hope."
"Oh yes, they've been very good this past week, like angels. I think they can sense something's happening. And of course not, you know Hilary and I always stop that sort of behaviour the moment it arises, and we do not tread lightly, may I add."
"Good, good. I'm really glad this has worked out for you, mate. You both needed this."
Derek genuinely meant this. They deserved what he could give them and through his line of work he could make their dreams literally come true. They were now so happy, living the life that they had always wanted, and he was happy that he could be a part of that in some way.
"Hey, maybe once this new one's settled in, I'll come up and spend a long weekend with you. A little visit from Uncle Derek."
"Yes, yes, definitely. You're always welcome here. That'd be lovely."
"Well," Derek sighed deeply, looking at the clock on the wall of the motel he was currently shacked up in. "I'd best be getting off. Hafta wake up at five a.m. tomorrow to stake out this boy you've got your sights on. The things I do for you."
"And we really do appreciate it," George replied earnestly, "goodnight, Derek."
"G'night, George."
George headed to bed quite soon after the phone call, feeling quite content in himself, so much so that he bounced up the staircase two steps at a time. He quickly got ready for bed, shredding his day clothes for pyjamas and washing up in the en-suite bathroom joined to their master bedroom.
As he got into bed, his wife, who had previously been lying on her back, rolled over on to her side so that she was facing him.
"Did I hear you on the phone?" she asked quietly, not wanting to wake anyone else in the household.
"Yes, dear," George replied. Really, he had wanted to surprise her in the morning, make a big thing of the fact that Derek had been able to find their boy so quickly, but he supposed that now was as good as ever. "He's found him."
"Oh!" Hilary cried, only slightly louder than the original volume she had started out in, always aware of the others. She flung her arms around him, squeezing tightly. "This is marvellous! And all so soon. Oh, George, this is such a blessing."
"It's all falling into place so nicely, isn't it? Much better than any of the other ones went."
"I can't wait for the day we finally get to meet him," Hilary commented, a blissful smile on her face.
"Soon, darling. Not too long to wait now."
Both fell asleep effortlessly that night with smiles on their faces, entwined in each other's arms and dreaming of the day when everything would finally come together. Both oblivious to anything else but the quiet abyss of sleep.
Outside in the hallway lay several other doors, each with a solid iron padlock on the handle, keeping anything from getting in or out.
And behind each door could be heard the muffled sounds of quiet, yet heart-breaking sobs.
So...what is in store for Kendall? Who are this creepy couple? I guess you'll have to wait and see.
I am honoured by any reviews that you leave and love reading them, so please don't forget to tell me what you think!
~swagUPwindowsDOWN :) x
