Chapter 4- Strangers, or not?
The day was turning out pretty well, aside from the little mishap at Sean's house; but that forgotten, everything was great. Sean and Robin welcomed me with open arms. We were all sitting in Robin's living room talking; just talking. Whether it be about school, friends, or other miscellaneous things. But no matter what the subject was we avoided family at all costs. Finally, when we came too birthdays I made sure to point out my charm. "It's from them," I said as I handed the choker too Robin, "I don't really know what it means, but it must be somewhat valuable."
"Wow, how do you know it's from you're parents?"
I couldn't help but notice Sean's flinch as Robin said that last word. "Um, I don't for sure, but it must be. I got it in the mail, no return address or anything. There was only a small note that said: 'Happy Birthday, He'd want you to have this'. And that was that."
Without responding to me at all, the dark haired young man looked down at my brother, "I told you it was important," Sean just shrugged, "Come on, you have to care at least a little," another shrug. Robin gave up with a sigh. He turned back to me and explained, "Sean got something in the mail on the night of his birthday, also. A leather jacket. It looked really old. The note he got with it said about the same thing."
"Where is it?"
"Gone," Sean answered, "I didn't want it, so I just threw it away."
"What!" I was outraged. Yes, I understand that his parents were gone, but he still had one family left out there in the world; me, for example.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not so excited about meeting someone who didn't want anything to do with me for fifteen years. Why would they suddenly send this junk too us? It's just so out of the blue!"
I shook my head. "I don't think its so random," he gave me a questioning look, "I think -- I think something happened too our dad. I just get the feeling that something serious happened in our family."
"FAMILY? They are not my family!"
I almost blew a nerve trying to remain call after that comment! "Whatever," I said along with a long sigh, "Why don't I let you chill out while I borrow your shower." I stood from the fluffy chair and headed for the door that Robin pointed out.
The steaming water mixed with the steady stream of tears that ran down my face. How could I be such a bitch? Sean had good reason to be angry. My 'family' was still alive and well while his was long gone. And even though I felt disgusted with myself, I couldn't get that theory out of my brain, which only made more tears fight to roll down my cheeks. What if something had happened to our birth father? I had already lost one dad, well two if you counted my pain-in-the-ass step dad, I didn't think I could possibly go through life knowing I'd lost one more before even meeting him. I wiped my eyes and stepped out of the shower. I wrapped the dark towel around myself and left the bathroom. What did I have to worry about? The only people in the house were my gay brother and his boyfriend. I crept into the spare bedroom where my pj's were laying out on the bed. Quickly, I changed into a pair of pink shorts and a colorful band T-shirt with the logo of the popular band, Paramore, printed onto it. I prepared myself for my first apology to my brother. I shuffled back into the living room, to see a man sitting in the room, his back facing me. "Oh!" I blurted out in surprise. The man looked back at me. He seemed normal enough, but with the way Robin and Sean were sitting at attention sent a different message. Realizing my hair was sopping wet and I'd decided to not bother with slipping a bra on, I turned to run back into the previous room.
"Wait," A surprisingly familiar voice, that was not Robin or Sean's, called out. I turned back to face the owner of the sweet tune in his throat. The man had stood from his comfortable chair and was now standing directly in front of me. Why does it seem like I've seen him recently? "You don't have to leave. Nothing to hide here," he finished with a look of surprise on his face. Oh my God! I hope too god this guy wasn't one of the officers downstairs in Sean's old house! "Breathe, Peyton. If he was really from the house than he would've said it right out of the gate. That, or he'd look pissed. But he does look strangely familiar to me. Almost like an old friend that moved away, only to come back years later looking totally different."
"Peyton," Robin called, motioning for me to have a seat beside him.
And so, it started. "I'm very sorry for your loss, son, but if you want to clear your name you need to tell me exactly what happened the night of July 30." Not a word left the sandy blonds mouth. "Son?"
"Don't call me that," he snapped. "Great. He's still in that happy-go-lucky mood of his."
The man nodded. "I understand. I'm sorry."
I heard Sean scoff, "What do you know? You're just some attorney the state picked from a hat for me to use. There's no need to start getting to know each other so give it up while you still have a job."
He just smiled and said, "Alright, but I just want you to know, the same goes for you."
"Whatever." The little blond, known as Sean, rolled his eyes.
"So, moving on. Why don't you tell me about that night, Mr. Collins."
Sean sighed obviously getting ready for a long story, "Well, I came over here, to Robin's, for a birthday fuck (AN: excuse the language please!)."
"Sean!" Robin scolded quietly. I suppressed the gasp that climbed in my throat and glanced up at the attorney, he didn't seem fazed at all, he actually seemed amused.
"Go on, please."
Sean also seemed surprised at his reaction, or lack of thereof, but continued anyway, "I went home around ten thirty or so for family dinner. My parents had a midnight dinner on my birthday to honor the moment I... uh came into their lives," he paused for a deep breath, "That's when they told me. I was so angry! I just screamed, not saying anything worth meaning. Words just sprang from my mouth without warning. Finally, I ran to my room and didn't come back out. I heard them arguing for hours, but ya know, I'd learned to tune it all out by then. After a while it got quiet again, and the next time I heard screaming, there was no way to tune it out. These were screams of pain, not anger," I heard Sean let out a small sob, "It was my mom. She was screaming from the bedroom, I think. I knew someone must have been in the house, but I didn't know what to do. My phone was downstairs in the kitchen at the time so... I panicked and hid in my closet (no closet jokes). Someone opened my door and came in. I swear, I'd stopped breathing. I could see every move she made; everything, even when she picked up my baseball and threw it up in the air. She laughed as if she was enjoying herself or something. Her face was covered in bl--blood and all she did was laugh like she didn't have a care in the world!" Sean sprung from his spot in the couch and freely cried into Robin's chest.
"Shhhh, its okay baby. Breathe," Robin sat there taking him in his arms. They looked so sweet, sitting there with the older boy rubbing Sean's back as he cried on his shoulder. "O god. I'm becoming a fan-girl of my brother and his boyfriend!!"
Sean eventually calmed down enough to just lay limp in Robin's arms. It'd been silent since the story had ended but the attorney now decided to ask another question. "Can you tell me what this woman looked like?"
My brother nodded weakly, "Her hair was about shoulder length and deep red," he shuddered a little, "I only got a glimpse of her eyes but I'm pretty sure they were brown. She was really pale."
He wrote down the description before looking up and saying, "Alright, one more question. How did you get away?"
Sean pulled his hand through his short blond hair and answered, "That I can't help too well with. Ya see, I must've passed out or something cause she did open the closet door. It was creepy though, cause I barely even breathed a sigh and she looked right at me. And when she opened the door she looked dead-set on killing me right then-and-there, but I held up my hands and the next thing you know, I'm being woken up but Officer Roberts and taken outside," he looked up at the raven-haired teen.
The oldest man nodded again as he took notes, "Thank you, Sean," he looked up, "This is going to be one tough case, but I think we can clear your name. I'll make sure the police get the description of the woman."
"She wasn't a woman though. She looked to be maybe nineteen at least!"
"Okay, I'll add that in, thank you."
"One more thing," Sean seemed to hesitate with his next words, "Uh... I don't know if this'll help, but she had this necklace on. It was really big and kinda hard to miss," the attorney nodded for him to continue, "It was silver and in the shape of a bird. The bird was swooping down like going to pluck a worm from the ground," he gulped and mumbled, "Poor worm." This finishing touch too the description of the girl surprised me.
"Why does that necklace sound so freaking familiar? Hmmm, Oh my God!" I gasped and they all turned to look at me. "I- I've seen her.
All their eyes grew to the size of tennis balls and simultaneously yelled, "WHAT!?"
I flinched at the volume, "Uh, yeah. I didn't know about the whole situation with your parents when I first got to town so I went too your house. I went inside and she was in your parents' room."
"Wasn't there an officer there to stop you?" I shook my head, "Well, didn't it occur to you that you should leave when yellow tape surrounded the yard?" Robin asked, concern written in his eyes.
I just shrugged, "What can I say; I'm adventurous?"
Sean finally learned to form words, "Peyton. This is not funny! You could've been seriously hurt or worse!"
"Chill out, Sean. Yeah, she was scary as..." "God, I have to stop saying hell!" "Well, she was really scary, but nothing really happened."
My brother rolled his eyes, but he didn't have room to speak as the suddenly solemn attorney spoke, "Mr. Collins is right. You need to be careful, Ms...?"
"Um, you can just call me Peyton. I don't think I got your name either," I said with a smile.
He smiled as well, his shiny white teeth showing bright; but I saw something other than his pretty teeth. I saw a certain sadness about him that made me want to get up and pull him into a giant hug. Maybe he'd lost something of great value to him? And the way he was looking at me, with an almost envy, should've made me particularly nervous but it didn't. "Winchester. Sam Winchester." I couldn't form words. So familiar; but why?
"Could we please get back to the problem at hand?" Sean's voice cut through our comfortable silence like a sharp knife.
"Huh? Oh, of course!" Mr. Winchester said turning back to his notes, "Well, it seems I have everything I need. Does Sean's description match your own?" He asked me. I nodded. "Okay than, I'm off." He stood from his seat and the rest of us followed him. He followed the sidewalk toward a sleek black boat of a car, and yet the model sent a reminiscent smile too my lips.
"Awesome car," I heard myself say.
He turned back at my statement and with a smile to match my own said, "Thanks. It -- It was my brother's. He passed away a few years back and left it for me." For some reason I couldn't fight my legs as they carried me toward the passengers seat. Mr. Winchester looked up at me, "Um, may I help you?"
"Uh. Yeah. I forgot to tell you something about her."
His eyes widened in surprise. "Oh. Okay, well come on in." I turned back to where Sean and Robin had been standing to see the door sitting wide open, "They just went back into the living room. It's fine." I nod and climbed on in. I shuffled down into the thick leather, it smelled of dirty clothes, windex, man-stink, and something else... gun powder? "So what do you have for me?"
His voice pulled me from my reverie and back to the here and now. "Oh, that's right. She told me her name," I told him nonchalantly which sent him into shock, again.
"What! Why didn't you say anything before?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. Forgot I guess. Her name is Roxie; no last name. Oh, and she jumped from the second story window! But when I came back down she wasn't in the yard. It was really strange. One minute she has me by the throat and the next—"
He stopped me with an angry, "She was trying to choke you?!"
One of my eyebrows rose in astonishment at this new, protective, side of the attorney, "Uh, yeah. She tried, but as I was saying; the next minute she was jumping from the window! Oh, and I really don't know if this matters in the least bit, but she called me Hunter. Which is weird in itself 'cause I've never touched a gun in my life. Well, there was that one time when Isaac, that's my step dad," I informed Sam, "left his guns out and I grabbed one and pointed it out the window. My freaked out! Ha! Oh, good times…"
Sam gave me a strange look. "Um, yeah. Well, I'm not so sure about the whole hunter thing, but I'll make sure I get all of this information on file. Thank you so much," he hesitated, "Peyton." What a finish!
I smile through my confusion, "No problem, Mr. Winchester." I reluctantly climbed out of the car and watched him pull from the parking spot and drive away. As the boat disappeared down the road, I suddenly felt so left behind, like I should be following him or something. I was so lost in my strange thoughts, that I almost missed the second vehicle pull out of the lot. The only reason this was so unmistakable is because of the driver. An older man, brown ball-cap, two layered shirts, topped with an army green vest and blue jeans. The finishing touches being his full beard and mustache. This man was a clone from the one at the Ameristop; and with the way he turned the same way as Sam only reminded me of the second man at the gas station. "Hmm. Something's up here," I felt my heart give a determined tug, one that could not be ignored. "Fine, I'm going. I'm going!" I yelled to the sky as if the angels were being very insistent.
With that I jumped into my car and began tailing the blue truck a few car lengths in front of me. "I have no idea what I'm getting myself into right now. Let's just hope I'll get home too Madi soon…" I went down the road watching, waiting, and praying for my quick judgment not to backfire on me.
Okay, so I decided on a great ending to the first part of this story so in turn, was forced to change the ending to this chapter a bit. So.... yep, here we go! 33
