Three Brothers Secrets
Chapter 1
Surprise!
Six Months Later
It was a calm day down at the beach. Everything was calm. The water, the people, that's how Chris Halliwell liked it. Sitting down on the sandy ground, he looked out at the ocean. There weren't any waves, or anything like that. Just the sand, the water, and him. Of course there were a lot of other residents who went there, but he usually zoned them all out. Actually today was different. There weren't as much people on the beach today like there use to be. "Odd." Was all the boy said. After what seemed like only minutes, Chris decided to get up and keep on walking. A couple miles away, there was a beach house owned by Craig, a forty year old man Chris and his brothers knew since they were little. He was kinda like a father figure to them. As Chris approached the house, he noticed it wasn't lit up as usual. Usually there were parties there every night. A bunch of people gathered together and partied all night long til they either had enough, passed out, or was kicked out.
Chris took the door knob and turned it, as he opened the door and stepped in, the place was immediately lit up and everyone shouted the same thing, "Happy Birthday!" Chris was shocked by the announcement. Even though his birthday wasn't technically til tomorrow, he should've known there had to be something going on. "I...um...you guys..." Everyone laughed and his older brother Tyler approached him with a wide grin. "I surprised ya. It's okay to admit it." He added that their brother Andrew helped of course. "He's around here somewhere." There was a tap on Chris' shoulder, and Craig who was behind a bar, handed him a glass. He said it was his own creation, and promised he was gonna like it. Before Chris could say anything, something wrapped their arms around Chris and almost made him spill the drink everywhere. "Happy bday, happy bday, happy bday!" He laughed when he saw it was his aunt Melinda. He thanked her kindly as she was handing him a package.
"You don't have to open it now. You can after you're done partying." Craig offered to keep the present safe behind the bar. As the party continued, time flew by. There wasn't any cake or ice cream or anything like that. It was basically just alcohol and light food. No need for anything else. Sure there were a lot of drunk people by the end of the night(Tyler himself included), but Craig made sure they all went home. The last thing he needed was a mess, which happened all the damn time. As everything was winding down, Chris sat on a stool at the bar. "Did you have a good party?" Chris nodded with a smile. "It was great. Thanks for lending the place for the night." Craig shrugged and told him it was not a problem. Once the last guest was gone, it was just Chris, Craig, Tyler, Andrew, and Melinda. Tyler was laughing his ass off at some stupid jokes he was making up, which wanted to make Andrew smack him upside the head. As Craig went to clean up, Melinda waved it off, and casted the Vanishing Spell, which cleaned the place right up. "Personal gain, Miss Melinda?"
She gave Craig and roll of her eyes, and stated it wasn't to help her, it was to in fact help him. She gave her nephew one last hug before saying her goodbyes. "Oh by the way, keep on the look out for Patience and PJ. They promised to stop by tomorrow to give you your gifts." Chris promised he would then Melinda wandered off into the darkness. Andrew told Craig he should get Tyler home so he could go to bed and have a wonderful hang over tomorrow. Craig nodded and told him to be safe. "You might as well orb on out. I'm sure nobodies around, and even if there were, they're probably too drunk to even realize whats going on." Andrew nodded and soon blue and white orbs surrounded himself and Tyler, and they soon disappeared. Craig handed Chris the package Melinda gave him. "You're probably the only birthday dude I know who doesn't get drunk at his own party." Chris chuckled and told the man he made sure he watched what he drank, no matter who gave him the drink.
Craig was walking over to a couch when he asked the younger man if he was planning on orbing home or walking home. "Eh...I'll probably shimmer. It's faster than orbing." Craig gave him a look, and told him there wasn't a difference. When Chris sighed, Craig put his hands on his shoulders, "It's okay to keep embracing the whitelighter in you, Chris. No matter who you got the powers from. You hear?" Chris smiled softly and nodded. "Yeah. I do." Craig nodded and sat down on the couch, moving to lay on his back. Before Chris could exit the place, Craig looked up at him. "You know, if you want, you can stay here for the night." Chris thanked the man for the offer, but told him it was probably best to go home and help Andrew with their brother and his hangover tomorrow. "Ah. Yeah. Good point." Chris asked if he could stay another night, and the older man happily nodded. "Course you can." Chris thanked him again for everything and orbed on out to his and his brothers beach home. Craig took a couch pillow and placed it behind his head for comfort.
Chris orbed into his home and took a look around the almost quiet place. He could hear Andrew telling Tyler to go to sleep or else he'd beat him up for being an annoying drunk. That made Chris chuckle. He was about to go to his room, when he saw something laying on the floor. Walking over, he bent down and picked it up. It was a light brown envelope with his name on it. Opening it up, he took out a single piece of paper with wording on it. It read, "Happy 24th Birthday Chris. From now on, I'll always be watching you." He gave a weirded out look, and noticed there was something else in the envelope. Taking it out, he saw that it was in fact a very dead rose. "What the fuck..." Feeling very creeped out, he tossed all three items aside and hurried to his room. He shut the door loudly, and took in a deep breath. "Relax Chris, relax. Nothing to worry about." Before going to bed, he made sure that the curtains were securely closed, just in case. Going over to his bed, all he did was kick off his sandles. Not bothering to get undressed, he got under the covers and forced himself to forget what he just received. He'd deal with it with his brothers in the morning.
Just outside the home, there was a figure of a person dressed in black. They had on a red mask, which looked like a replica to the white mask from Phantom of the Opera. The person left another dead rose at the sill of Chris' window, and slowly walked away from the place.