"Hayden!" his mother calls. "Hayden! Come downstairs, your brother's back!"
Hayden sat there on his bed, wondering if he even minded. Of course, he loved his brother.
But he'd been gone for so long, and so much had happened without him there... brief images of describing the incidents in his letters with the alias 'Charlie' passed through his head.
He shrugged and went downstairs anyway. His brother looked at him warily, and had obviously been informed of Hayden's breakdown.
Hayden simply looked at him. It didn't occur to him to smile or hug him, as he didn't feel like he should.
Kenny, his brother's real name, finally decided he needed to initiate the greeting, so he smiled big and said "Little bro!" and ruffled Hayden's hair.
Hayden laughed at that, feeling the heart strings of yearning for old times being pulled.
"Come on, Kenny." their mother said, with an awkward smile on her face, and gently placed her hand on Kenny's back, obviously nervous. Their father rolled his eyes. "Come on, honey, it's just mindless fun. You don't need to go fretting over every little thing Hayden does that doesn't involve a helmet."
Jill pursed her lips.
Hayden saw this was the perfect time to ask to go visit Cathy, which was Sam's real name.
"Uh, Mom. Can I go to Cathy's place for the weekend?" he asked, sucking in a breath.
She was caught by surprise. "Umm... well... uh..."
"Why of course you can go, son!" his father, Brandon, bellowed from the kitchen. He'd left unnoticed to go make a sandwich.
Or cry.
"So.. where's Tammy?" Hayden's brother asked.
Tammy walked out of the bathroom, smacking on her gum through black lips in response. She smiled mockingly.
"Welcome back, big brother." she said with a hint of sarcasm, and walked out the door.
"Tammy! Get back here and change out of those dreaded clothes!" Jill said, but she knew it was useless and soon gave up.
Hayden stood there. Like he had been for the past few minutes. And he thought about why he had to be there. He had already greeted his brother, and all he was doing was standing there.
But he knew if he started to leave, his mother would get upset. Because people are strange and they think that leaving even though there's nothing to do but stand there and watch is rude.
Author's Note: So, this is just a short third person chapter. It will be first person in the second chapter, from "Charlie's" view. It's just here to get me started and make me feel an obligation to write.
I think I'll just start having him write letters again, but the whole story won't be in letter format. He will switch back and forth from being "Charlie" to being "Hayden."
Sorry if it's confusing..
Thanks for reading, even though this isn't a popular section. ^_^
