The next thing I know, I am waking up in a very bright room. I open my eyes but immediately close them against the offending brightness. I slowly try again, allowing them to slowly adjust this time. I turn my head and notice that there is a police officer sitting next to my bed. Looking around I realize that I am in a hospital, though I have no idea how I got here.
"You're awake," I hear the officer say. And I turn my head and nod. "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
"What happened?" I ask trying to sort my thoughts.
"Do you mean you don't remember?" he asks.
"No, I mean how did I get here?" I blurt out.
"We aren't sure, you were dropped off out front, but we are looking at the security footage trying to find out. Can I ask you a few questions?" He asks, I don't respond, so he continues. "What's your name?"
"James," I reply, knowing not to give him too much information.
"Alright James, do you have a number I can call to get a hold of your parents?"
"I don't have any. They died," I mutter out. I always hate this question, it brings forth way too many questions.
"Who do you live with?" he asks.
"My aunt and uncle, but I don't have a number."
"Do you know who did this to you?"
I nod my head, before quick shaking it no. My uncle has always threatened the worst if I were to tell.
"My name is Officer Abraham Harris, but you can call me Abe. You can trust me. I will sit here next to your bed until we catch whoever did this, if that would make you feel safe. I want to help you. You may not be related to us, but you have some sort of a link to my nephew. When the police found you here they immediately called me, and we want to help you," he says, and I can feel the sincerity behind his words, even if I am still reluctant to believe him.
"Why?" I ask. So many questions are running through my head, and I don't know if I can actually say what I am thinking.
"Why what? There are a lot of whys that can be applied to this situation. I could call my sister and brother-in-law, I would think that you have many questions for them," he responds leaning back in the char he has taken. "Here, just give me a minute and let me call the house. I think they would be better at this."
With that he gets up and walks towards the door, but before he can go I manage to get out two words.
"My uncle," I mumble out before I can stop myself.
He gives me a long look before walking out the door. It isn't long before a nurse comes in and asks me how I feel and if I am in any pain. I don't feel any pain, but I think that it is really because I am not moving. I feel stiff and sore and would really like to get up and walk around but I am told that because of my knee, they don't want me up and walking yet.
The next time the door opens, it is the police officer again, and another man whom I have not seen before. He is taller and has broader shoulders; he is very intimidating looking with wavy black hair and deep brown eyes. He is wearing dress pants and a button down and tie, which only adds to his important persona.
"Hello, my name is Tobias Snape. I am Severus' dad. My wife told me she was afraid she gave you a bit of a fright earlier… I am sorry if she did, she can get a bit carried away when she's excited."
"Hi, I'm James though I usually just go by Jamie. And its ok, she didn't really frighten me I just didn't know what to do…"
"Well, I would like to get to know you better if that's alright. While you were unconscious, the doctors did some testing between you and my son Severus and discovered that the two of you are twin brothers," Tobias explains.
"What is your uncle's name?" Abraham asks, bringing us back to the line of questioning that was happening before Tobias entered the room.
"I don't know…. I was only to call him uncle or sir, I was never told his name... my aunt's name was Beatrice though… she hated it."
"What's your name?"
"James Charles Ricardo Potter."
"And your aunt and uncle adopted you? How old were you?"
"It was less than a year ago. My parents adopted me when I was really little. My biological parents left me outside of a church."
"So, you know we want to help you. What happened today at the grocery store? My wife just wanted to get to know you better, maybe find out if there was a link between you and Sev."
"They scared me. I ran home, that's why my uncle was so mad. I left them without telling them, and they had to do everything…." I trail off unsure why I am telling this man this.
"If we had known years ago that you were twins we would have initiated contact, and if when we adopted Severus had known that he had a brother we would have adopted you both. Now, we obviously are not going to force you into anything, but we would like to get guardianship over you. I know that you are confused and probably overwhelmed, but we would like to work with you," Tobias says this full speech and moves to come stand next to my bed. Abraham retakes his seat by my bed and reaches for my hand. I automatically flinch away and he pulls back.
"I-I don't…. I don't know…. why would you want to do that?" I manage to stutter out.
"Well, you are our son's brother, that's enough in our book. You need a good home, and we can give that to you."
I don't know what to say. Here is a family of people whom are willing to get guardianship over me and allow me to live with them, but I don't know if that is what I want. I don't know what I want. I have spent the last eight months living with my crazy aunt and uncle with ridiculous rules and never knowing what was going to happen next. Who's to say that these people aren't the same? I want to say they aren't but… I bite my lip trying to think of the words to express the fears I have.
"Do you know someone else in the family that you can talk to about this?" Abraham asks after my long pause.
"No… well I have an uncle… in their will my parents left me with him but he was overseas so the courts decided my aunt and uncle would do until his tour was over. I think he came home for the funerals… last I heard he was coming home in September…"
"What's his name? I will see what I can find out and try to get into contact with him," Officer Abraham offers.
"Charles Potter. He's my dad's little brother. He lived at the house when he was home since we were the only family he had, and he wanted to spend as much of his free time with us. I lived with my mom's older sister, Beatrice and her husband and son."
"Do you think you could tell me what happened to you? I told you about how we adopted Isabella, so maybe you could tell me a bit about yourself."
"There's not much to talk about… I was found outside of a church, Mom was volunteering that morning and was watching me while child services were called. All they had was a note that had my name written on it, James Ricardo. I think they also had a birth certificate but both the mother and father sections were blank. They tried to search and find them but came up empty handed. When the people came to take me to an orphanage, my mom was heartbroken and just couldn't let me go. She called Dad, who was working on a case in DC. He flew home and together they arranged for the adoption. They had one child, a son whom was a year older than me."
"What happened?"
"Do… do we have to talk about this?"
"No, but I would like to know as much as you are willing to tell me, I want to help you but I can only do that if you let me," Tobias says.
"Dad worked for the government. The FBI. He was an investigator and one of the cases he was working on involved a man who was going after the detectives that were originally on the case. They didn't know that the person started to include the FBI team after they joined the investigation. My dad was the first person he went after."
"And this man killed your brother and mother as well?"
"Please don't make me talk about this… I don't want to relive these memories… just please drop it… please…" I beg unable to stop the tears that come to my eyes as I think of that horrible night. Memories that I know will haunt me to my grave. People always say that it helps to talk about the nightmares that plague you but these memories have been buried too deep for me to hope it will work on them.
"Jamie, I don't-"Tobias starts but is cut off by Abraham in a subtle 'drop it' command.