Who we Are Chapter 2
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The front door closed, cutting off the fresh smell of the great outdoors as Don left to go to work at the crack of dawn, like he always did.
Charlie was seated on the leather backed chair right across and to the right of the couch and coffee table that was in the living room.
Biting his lip, Charlie was drawn back to the previous night when Don had brought him in from the basement and had helped him over to the couch. He and Don had then had a very long talk about anything and everything to help Charlie take his mind off his pain…and Amita.
Now, a little less than 24 hours later, Charlie felt a little better. He felt he was ready to go back to work consulting on his brother's case…and to apologize to David and Colby for his behavior, but Don wouldn't have it and ordered him to take a week off of consulting…for anybody, be it for the FBI or a student.
In fact, Don had even threatened to hog tie Charlie and leave him in his room for a week if Don caught him doing anything that involved math. Hearing that threat, Charlie had agreed, so here he was sitting on the chair, looking at the pictures on the wall, as Don pulled out of the driveway in his black, tinted SUV.
Sighing, Charlie rose up from the chair and went over to the piano. Strange, the sheet music his mother had written, and the piece that Don had played just a week ago was gone.
Wanting to see the music again, Charlie headed for the attic, guessing that Don had put it there to keep it from getting lost amidst the junk that tended to pile up everywhere.
As he walked, he seemed to be walking in slow motion as his mind went back to the instant he heard the beautiful music coming from the living room.
Charlie remembered looking up as his father shut his eyes, with that look on his face as he just listened to his wife's music again for the first time in a long time.
Swallowing, Charlie stopped and looked up, raising his hand and clasping the small cord hanging from the ceiling.
Pulling, Charlie watched as the board slowly came down. Attached to the board was the ladder that went up to the attic. Unfolding the ladder, Charlie made sure it was touching the ground before he climbed up in to the dusty attic.
The ladder creaked and rocked a little bit as Charlie climbed, but Charlie told himself that that motion was normal. It was just his weight rocking the ladder. It was nothing to worry about.
Finally he stepped on to the dust covered, wood floor of the attic.
One lone bulb hung from the ceiling. It shone brightly, lighting up the entire attic
Slowly Charlie's eyes roved around the multitude of boxes piled everywhere. Some of the boxes looked almost brand new, still sealed, keeping whatever treasures they contained away from prying eyes. Others however looked like they were ready to fall apart from obvious water damage.
Ignoring those Charlie stepped forward and fell to the ground as his foot caught one box near the entrance to the attic.
Charlie hit the ground with a thud and a gasp of pain as the box he tripped over flipped on to its side and the top of it opened, causing a few loose papers to slide out.
Sitting up, Charlie rubbed his knee where he had landed on it. His knee was sore, evidence that there was going to be a black and blue bruise in a few hours.
"Who would put a box right there?" Charlie muttered to himself as he reached over and straightened the box, before gathering the papers that had fallen out.
He started to put the papers back in the box when his eyes fell on the top paper, or more specifically the name on the paper.
It was a paper from the court of Oklahoma. The subject was the adoption of one Joshua Richard Denton.
Scrunching up his eyebrows, Charlie read the first few lines of the paper, which contained his parents names and the name of Joshua Richard Denton, but what was more important was the date on the paper. It was dated just two years after Charlie was born.
Putting that paper down, Charlie looked at the paper underneath the Oklahoma court adoption paper. It was the adoption cost of little Joshua.
'Who is this Joshua?' Charlie wondered, putting the papers down and looking in to the box that had tipped over.
The only thing that was in the box was a folder stuffed full of different sized papers.
Pulling the folder out, Charlie flipped it open and stared down at a very old newspaper that had taken on a slightly brownish, crinkly appearance due to its age.
The headline of the paper read 'Billionaire's child dies'
Curious, Charlie read the article underneath the headline.
'Billionaire Alex Michaels and his wife, music artist Shasta Crawford Michaels formally announced to the public that their two month old son Joshua Richard Michaels died of SIDS early yesterday morning.'
The paper then told the story of how Shasta had gone in to her son's bedroom to feed him when she discovered that her son wasn't breathing. She had called for her husband who had rushed in and preformed CPR, but the baby never revived
'Hmm, why would mom or dad keep something like that?' Charlie thought as he carefully moved the paper aside and looked at the papers underneath the newspaper.
The papers were more on the adoption of the Denton boy.
Going through several more papers, Charlie came across a birth certificate for the boy. He picked it up and looked over it carefully, trying to find out just who the boy was. When his eyes fell on the date, his mouth opened slightly.
The birth date for the boy known as JR Denton was the exact same birth date as Charlie's, right down to the time of birth!
Swallowing, Charlie felt as if a revelation had been dumped on his shoulders.
'I can't really be that kid, can I?' Charlie wondered as his mind began to think of how likely or unlikely it would be for him to actually be Joshua Richard Denton.
Shaking his head, Charlie put the paper back in the folder before closing it.
Picking up the folder, Charlie carefully put the old folder back in the box before he rose up, having every intention to leave and forget that box ever existed, but something made him stop and look back down at the box.
'I need to know.' He finally decided. 'I need to know if I am that boy, and if I am, why mom and dad lied to me about who I am.'
That decided, Charlie picked up the box and carefully climbed down out of the attic.