Still love David! Please review because if you love David too!
You might recognize me if you saw me but for a long time you wouldn't have known me. I belonged to another world, a world that warped my sense and corroded my mind. I was only a confused, innocent teenager thinking adolescence and rampant shifting across countries was the epitome of my worries. It all changed one night. The next year was horrible, too beyond the scope of imagination. Who am I? I'm David Winchester, the 7th forsaken Animorph and till date I was an empty shell of myself until now…Change, a mocking twist of fate, always happened when you least expect it to and then some. \day when my life felt like it didn't belong to me. I recalled every sinister detail and it slithers inside me like a worm in an apple. I want to forget. Revenge thickens my throat so harshly that I cannot breathe and it provides some relief from my nightmares but never enough. Nothing will ever be enough to rid me of the vulture that devours my liver every day while I am restrained to a rock. The analogy aptly conveys my miserable time with the Animorphs.
The theatre looms above me, a dark charred skeleton carefully concealed under shiny wood, paint and repairs. The fact that the restoration was continuing so well did cause flutters of pride but to say I was happy that the place where a crazy love triangle ended in near mass murders, is erroneous. It was as if the hotel on 'Psycho' was reopened for business. There is something about this place that sends prickly shivers down my spine, somewhere in the recesses of my mind I considered the place to be evil, weird and the seeds had been sown at the ripe age of 10. When I still lived here with my Mom and Dad, my heart skipped painfully whenever I thought of them. My Dad's last words to me were 'your grounded,' which ironically but horribly came true. Hindus believe that your sins in one life are carried on to the next and accordingly, you are forced into a body of a disgusting animal. Unfortunately, I didn't have the privilege of a peaceful death.
"David!" a voice filters through my depressed musing, maybe I should tell the doc to up my dosage. "Amelia!" I mutter, glancing at the pretty blond that appears by my side, flustered and fresh faced. "Like it! My crew spent an hour on the exterior, not complete 'mindless destruction' as one would insist!" Shooting a tightlipped sneer at a passing man whose obvious date is a clipboard, he talked to it and even treated it as a gentleman should. A trail of a smirk on my lips, Mr. Winkle was notoriously single minded in his belief that the eighties were the best era, and was hard prejudiced against any improvement to his beloved buildings. "First we had to clean up the place a little bit and then replace some of the wood works! Surprisingly not all were badly damaged –"
The rest was lost on me, my eyes sweep over the theatre noting that soon it wouldn't be so 'abandoned' any longer; soon it would once again entertain people and live performances like it did for generations until the incident. A thick knot tightens in my stomach just thinking about it as if my cascading fear had settled there to grind.
"Amelia " "Hello Mr. Shaw!" She greets warmly, brushing her hair past her shoulders, shimmering golden in the sun. 'I wonder what shampoo she uses!' Idly, I admire her; she is just so-perfect. Before it used to irritate me but now I see she has a gift. The inability to rub people the wrong way. " As you can see everything is set!" Throwing a look over her shoulder at the workman. If she had lingered just a little, she would have noticed that they were checking her out.
"That's wonderful, Miss Winchester. Right on schedule and I just got off the phone with the tour guide! Our guinea pigs will be here any minute." He said, releasing it all in one breath, brandishing a cheesy winning smile. "What is with the Patch Adams look-Aren't you a finance accountant?" I let the comment escape the confines of my mouth, immediately regretting it because of the disproving look I receive. However, his cheery demeanor was smothered under a blank look that was slightly inquisitive. I knew that look. He didn't care what I had to say.
"And who is this young man?"
"This is my brother David!" Amelia placing a hand on my shoulder, squeezed just a little more than necessary. A warning touch she had inherited from our parents no doubt.
"David Winchester, at your service." He doesn't concede to any friendliness in my statement just conciliatory action as indicated by the non removal of his blank stare and the cursory bob of his head.
"David! I thought you died in a car crash." Raising one bushy eyebrow as he outdid my tactlessness.
I didn't squirm or allow any sort of flinch to give me away. It is a story I concocted to ward off the questions and incessant curiosity. The truth is inconsequential so better to adopt a façade than let my nightmares tarnish my second chance. I was about to answer when my sister plows into our conversation with a quick but vague reply. I cringe uncomfortably, knowing full well the guy was going to corner me in the future to talk. I could discern it from his probing stare. "We are just glad to have him back and the doctor says one day he will regain his memory and tell us what exactly happened!" Didn't his mother ever tell him to keep his bug eyes in his head?
He nods at me with a small flickering smile before saluting Amelia and leaving. I watch him go with a sharp constriction in my throat, something like the memories bottling up and physically assaulting me. Suddenly, I was struck wildly with the urge not to be here anymore, not in the presence of my sister or her friends or people I used to know with their stupid questions and expectant but prodding gazes. I was about to stumble on an excuse when I notice the strains of sadness weighting on her face. Immediately I soften just for her, always for her and gave her a hug which I normally regarded as too Brady Bunchish, "If Mom and Dad could see you now, they would be proud." Smiling affectionately. Sharp pain stabs me from different directions, uneasiness scratching my insides. I bury my head in her hair; it is getting more uncomfortable and harder to be around my sister carrying a cloud of lies.
Her grateful sigh tickles the hairs on the back of my neck, abruptly I am aware how claustrophobic she is making me feel, think fatal attraction. Okay, thinking of it with my sister as the lead just made it creepier.
"I'm really glad you're back, David! Don't disappear anywhere from now on." Breathing with a flutter of wishful thinking and painful reminisces.
"Okay but you can't come along on my honeymoon!" Teasing her with the flippancy I am so known for, it is half hearted and it strains my voice but I had to try, levity always worked with her.
I wasn't the same boy she knew when she decided to run away. After what I had been through, there was no returning, she knew it. I could practically see her thoughts turning as she ticks off the discrepancies in my behavior. We share a laugh like old times but it is more out of necessity so the giant elephant in the room could safely hide behind a bushel until it decided to spring out once again,
" Quick question, will there be any cute girls sharing a room with me." I asked cheekily, again with the cute baby brother routine, why couldn't I just quit it. Biting the inside of my cheek, anger against myself washing over me.
"Like I'm going to allow it!" She punches my shoulder and the flare of pain felt good, after the rat with the twisting and turning body, the acrobatics it could accomplish with ease had my mind in turmoil. Seriously, you are so used to rigidness and one sort of movement and then you find yourself being coiled like a pretzel. Not fun for some who liked their boundaries. "For the next couple of weeks complete bed rest, doctor's orders!"
I pout in mock petulance; "Doesn't sound like much of a week!" Though secretly, I was glad I had an opportunity to recuperate since opening Pandora's box.
I love hanging with my sister but the sunny demeanor was painting me negative "I have to meet Kelly Smith to discuss the advertising layout. Could you help Mack with the painting?" "I thought everything was ready." I recall with some bemusement. "The hotel part is ready; it is just the theatre that needs a makeup job!" "I can think of a few people that need work done!" I respond with a plastered smile, staring past her shoulder.
"Don't be mean, David." Amelia whispers harshly into curve of my ear as a large woman struts towards us exuding an aura of egoistic pomposity. When I say strut, think of the bouncing mating dance of the flamingos. "Michelle!"
"Amelia !" Said with cordiality, high pitched voice with the haughty stress of an English accent, Eyebrows doing the peaky thing they do when she is seconds away from being extra garish and overbearing.
"Everything looks simply marvelous! I can just imagine the applause at my stage debut." her eyes glaze over with a faraway, remote expression.
I roll my eyes and my mouth pinches shut around the insubordinate remarks. Michelle wasn't a person to extend a little humor towards especially when it was about her own 'abilities'. So I kept the 'her acting as a druggie was better than her singing' comment to myself. Though judging from the twitch at the edge of my sister's mouth, I had a feeling she thought the same. Moreover, her exaggerated pretensions were becoming difficult to bear. Amelia clears her throat to attract her attention to the matter at hand, "Did you get fitted for the costumes?" "Not yet!" Her thickly applied lips pronounce carelessly, tucking an errant strand of bleached blond hair behind her ear.
My brow wings in disbelief, privately guffawing in scorn at the insipid, disaffected look on her face. He could almost hear the tired sigh falling from Amelia's lips like pebbles marking the time until she would explode from having to deal with the show buzz from the actresses.
"Well I better be off!" Announcing with an overstated toss of her head and pitching her vowels, Brushing past us with her head held high and her gray furry coat riding up her hump. "Betcha she killed it herself." I snicker rudely. She repeats her look of typical harsh glare of sisterly displeasure before glancing at her watch, "I have to be at the meeting in ten minutes! Could you please help-"
"Sure!" I smile, raking my finger through my hair. It felt great to feel myself again as inappropriate as that sounded. "Might help me with my karate!"
"Remember its Brush up! Brush down!" She calls over her shoulder, voice light and playful as she disappears into the building, eyes sparkling with delight. I could conjure up some syllables of the conversation that must be playing through her mind, so ignorant for a lack of a better word. 'I have my brother back, a wonderful job and perfect health! It's a good thing I'm an optimist otherwise I would think fate was setting me up!"