Author's Note: Yes, I know I haven't written in such a long time. Shit happens. Deal with it. And yes... Shit is gonna start getting weird now. Don't worry... I know what I'm doing.
Chapter 15: Shadows in the Mist
"Wake up, Colt."
"Wake up."
I grunted, and rolled over. "One more minute, Mom..." I pulled the blanket over my head, trying to drown out the blinding light streaming in through my bedroom window. Wait. Something was not...right. "Mom?"
"Get up, Colt. It's almost time for school." School? No. That was wrong. I graduated. Didn't I? Why did it feel like my head was stuffed with cotton balls? "Come on... Lance is waiting for you."
"Lance?" I pulled the covers down and winced against the sun. A thought lurked just out of view, in the darkness of my sub-conscious, glaring at me. Taunting me. Just out of reach. "Wait... No! Lance is..." Is what? Lance is my brother. "School?" Why was I having such a hard time with this?
"Get up, you slug! You're going to be late. Dan HATES being late." With a last glance at the clock on the wall, she darted out the door. Listening to her retreating footsteps, I slipped out of bed, and padded over to the mirror. It was my face, I knew that much. Not my face? The thought was strange, foreign. Why wouldn't it be my face? And why did I find it strange, waking up in my bed? I'd done the same for fifteen years, all my life. Why, today, did it feel as though I'd stepped into someone else's skin?
I dressed in record time, and bounded down the steps to the kitchen. The Tyrant was already awake, washing a bowl of Cheerios down with a bottle of gin. Truly an amazing combination. "You're late, boy." He drawled. He never used my name. I often wondered whether he knew which twin I was at all. "I oughta knock you 'cross the room. I will, too, if'n you make me late for work." I snorted in disgust, then froze. What the hell was wrong with me? Shit like that would get me a broken arm, if I was lucky. Some god must have been smiling on me at that moment, though, since Dan didn't catch my slip. He just barreled ever onward, a steamroller on the highway of life. Pity the cars caught in his path... "Eat somethin', or don't. I don't much care, either way. You and your brother be in my car in ten, or I ain't responsible for what happens." Translation: I could spend the rest of the month in traction. No thanks.
"Colt! Hey, did you see..." Lance came up behind me and trailed off, risking a swift glance in the Tyrant's direction. For some strange reason, my heart swelled up with hurt when I saw him, and I almost started to cry. Which was as good as painting a target on my back. Instead, I grinned at him, and we both dashed outside, running not because we were in a hurry, but because we were just filled with the child-like joy of life.
As soon as we were out of ear-shot, Lance turned to me and smirked triumphantly. "Look what I found!" He grabbed my wrist, and pressed a small key into my palm. It didn't take me more than a moment to realize what it was. The key to the Tyrant's supply closet. Where we were not allowed, under any circumstance.
"Lance... Where did you get this?" I hissed, dropping the key in my terror. And the constant sense of deja vu didn't help either.
"I found it. In his bedroom. Wanna see what's so secret?" His eyes had that gleam, the one I'd come to recognize as trouble. Usually for both of us. Alarm bells were going off in my head, and the secret that lurked in the back of my mind stretched, yawned, and settled back in the shadows. And always that damn deja vu...
"No!" Lance gasped, and, I must admit, even I was surprised by the violence behind that single word. "I mean... We'll get into trouble. Please, no."
"I'm tired, Colt. I'm tired of living in fear of him. I've had enough. Maybe... In the closet, we'll find something that will make him go away. Forever. Don't you want that? Don't you want to be free? Free to be who you want... What you want?" He pulled the ratty picture of Riley and me I kept stuffed in my back pocket at all times. It was dangerous, sure, but... It was my way of showing that I wasn't going to change because some dip-shit smacked me around every now and then. A little defiance I allowed myself. "Don't you want to be free to find Riley again?"
No. No no no. A voice in my head, that strange foreign voice, screamed for me to stop him. Screamed for me to say no, and alter everything. But that made no sense. Besides... What harm could possibly come from checking it out? And if we DID find something... I looked at the picture again, longingly. Riley. He represented everything I wished I could have. True, he'd been shipped off to military school not long after we were discovered, but... He was freedom. And I wanted that, needed it, more than anything. More than any dumb supply closet. "Okay." Why did my voice sound like the slamming of a door? "When we get home from school, we'll check it out."
And we went out to the car. But I couldn't help feeling as though I had just made a terrible mistake.
Chapter 15: Shadows in the Mist
"Wake up, Colt."
"Wake up."
I grunted, and rolled over. "One more minute, Mom..." I pulled the blanket over my head, trying to drown out the blinding light streaming in through my bedroom window. Wait. Something was not...right. "Mom?"
"Get up, Colt. It's almost time for school." School? No. That was wrong. I graduated. Didn't I? Why did it feel like my head was stuffed with cotton balls? "Come on... Lance is waiting for you."
"Lance?" I pulled the covers down and winced against the sun. A thought lurked just out of view, in the darkness of my sub-conscious, glaring at me. Taunting me. Just out of reach. "Wait... No! Lance is..." Is what? Lance is my brother. "School?" Why was I having such a hard time with this?
"Get up, you slug! You're going to be late. Dan HATES being late." With a last glance at the clock on the wall, she darted out the door. Listening to her retreating footsteps, I slipped out of bed, and padded over to the mirror. It was my face, I knew that much. Not my face? The thought was strange, foreign. Why wouldn't it be my face? And why did I find it strange, waking up in my bed? I'd done the same for fifteen years, all my life. Why, today, did it feel as though I'd stepped into someone else's skin?
I dressed in record time, and bounded down the steps to the kitchen. The Tyrant was already awake, washing a bowl of Cheerios down with a bottle of gin. Truly an amazing combination. "You're late, boy." He drawled. He never used my name. I often wondered whether he knew which twin I was at all. "I oughta knock you 'cross the room. I will, too, if'n you make me late for work." I snorted in disgust, then froze. What the hell was wrong with me? Shit like that would get me a broken arm, if I was lucky. Some god must have been smiling on me at that moment, though, since Dan didn't catch my slip. He just barreled ever onward, a steamroller on the highway of life. Pity the cars caught in his path... "Eat somethin', or don't. I don't much care, either way. You and your brother be in my car in ten, or I ain't responsible for what happens." Translation: I could spend the rest of the month in traction. No thanks.
"Colt! Hey, did you see..." Lance came up behind me and trailed off, risking a swift glance in the Tyrant's direction. For some strange reason, my heart swelled up with hurt when I saw him, and I almost started to cry. Which was as good as painting a target on my back. Instead, I grinned at him, and we both dashed outside, running not because we were in a hurry, but because we were just filled with the child-like joy of life.
As soon as we were out of ear-shot, Lance turned to me and smirked triumphantly. "Look what I found!" He grabbed my wrist, and pressed a small key into my palm. It didn't take me more than a moment to realize what it was. The key to the Tyrant's supply closet. Where we were not allowed, under any circumstance.
"Lance... Where did you get this?" I hissed, dropping the key in my terror. And the constant sense of deja vu didn't help either.
"I found it. In his bedroom. Wanna see what's so secret?" His eyes had that gleam, the one I'd come to recognize as trouble. Usually for both of us. Alarm bells were going off in my head, and the secret that lurked in the back of my mind stretched, yawned, and settled back in the shadows. And always that damn deja vu...
"No!" Lance gasped, and, I must admit, even I was surprised by the violence behind that single word. "I mean... We'll get into trouble. Please, no."
"I'm tired, Colt. I'm tired of living in fear of him. I've had enough. Maybe... In the closet, we'll find something that will make him go away. Forever. Don't you want that? Don't you want to be free? Free to be who you want... What you want?" He pulled the ratty picture of Riley and me I kept stuffed in my back pocket at all times. It was dangerous, sure, but... It was my way of showing that I wasn't going to change because some dip-shit smacked me around every now and then. A little defiance I allowed myself. "Don't you want to be free to find Riley again?"
No. No no no. A voice in my head, that strange foreign voice, screamed for me to stop him. Screamed for me to say no, and alter everything. But that made no sense. Besides... What harm could possibly come from checking it out? And if we DID find something... I looked at the picture again, longingly. Riley. He represented everything I wished I could have. True, he'd been shipped off to military school not long after we were discovered, but... He was freedom. And I wanted that, needed it, more than anything. More than any dumb supply closet. "Okay." Why did my voice sound like the slamming of a door? "When we get home from school, we'll check it out."
And we went out to the car. But I couldn't help feeling as though I had just made a terrible mistake.