Chapter 31:

-Michael meets Alex-

Michael decided to get up and stretched, he slipped into his jeans and his T-shirt and went into the living room where he found the three. Well Caleb snored and Zed...he had put his arm around Kathleen's shoulder, this let Michael internally flare up, however he only cleared the throat and got their attention on him. Zed immediately withdrew his arm and Caleb awakened with one cough. Kathleen got up and went to Michael and embraced him.

"You should rest now, sister."

"Not before you met Alex. He definitely wants also answers from me."

Michael nodded and stroked softly through her hair, then his gazes wandered to the others.

"As I see, you mastered your task well. It's nice to see you."

"We thought that we wouldn't see you anymore." said Caleb somewhat irritated.

"And the conversation, that you held before x years with your sister, wasn't exactly the fine way." snapped Zed.

"Oh don't get immediately on your collars, boys. Michael had his reasons although he could have called after all."

"I got out control and was out of my mind."

"of course." answered Zed ironically. "You're never."

"Zed, stop it!" Kathleen hissed and pulled at his sleeve.

"It's true." he turned himself off and fall itself into the sofa and nagged. Michael didn't let provoke, not this time. He let Kathleen loosely and sat into the comfortable and upholstered chair opposite from Zed and had nothing to say on it. Zed was right, but he couldn't even explain it to himself what had happened in the north. He had no other choice and pulled up his T-shirt height until his thorax.

"Jesus." slipped Zeds mouth.

"A little voodoo hocus-pocus inflicted this to me."

"Your wounds always healed, why not this one? Looks bad."

"Thank you Caleb, for the insider tip. As I said, I wasn't myself, it was as if somebody else assumed control over me. Every single time when we repeated it... it was different."

"You repeated it even if you knew that it could go the brook down." Kathleen was aghast.

"Yes and I killed not only livestock and beast, I killed also innocent villagers and as we did it the last time, we broke it, whatever it was. I could remember nothing more and I felt sudden after it... like a human being."

"What would be, if this all is only a test?"

"Why you're coming up with this, sister?"

"Let us leave this aside and we will discuss this together another time with Erika, O.K.?" "O.K.."

A door opened in the hallway behind and another closed itself again. Alex had awakened and vanished in the bathroom. It didn't last long and Alex came into the living room yawning, first, he didn't perceive the stranger and Michael didn't turn around either in order to see him.

"Morning." he welcomed the group overslept. He went directly into the kitchen, returned in order to get itself a glass of orange juice and as he now noticed the stranger, that sat silently and head-lowered, almost asleep, in the chair. Alex leaned against the doorframe and sipped his juice.

"And who is this, aunt, if I may ask?" Kathleen's looks hiked to Michael, that met her look and nodded and her then looks wandered again to Alex.

"Ehm... this is Michael."

"Your so-called friend?"

"He is not my friend. He... he is... my brother."

"Great, that means, that he is my uncle, right?" it sounded really not pleasant and convincing. Now, Michael got up.

"No... your father." ah God, what had he done? This will Alex never buy from him and if, then, he definitely had lost him. Alex coughed and could not believe what he heard there. A stranger simply appeared and claimed, he is his father.

"That's getting even better." Alex mocked. "You look sooner as you are my brother."

"I take this as compliment."

"Yow old are you actually? 23? 25?"

"Actually 43, if you don't believe me... I understand it."

"I want to hear nothing more from your lies." angrily he went back into his room and slammed the door, so one could hear it through the whole apartment.

"This started to the back." Caleb's commentary was.

"Would you have expected it differently?" Michael said in a disappointing serenity.

"I will talk to him. You should spend the day with him and probably you should tell it to him as gentle as possible that you are differently as other fathers."

"Yeah. I still wanted to say that I am not present tonight."

"No problem. What are you up to, brother?"

"Nothing what could put somebody in danger, promised. Only a dinner with a girl, whom I met by chance. She wanted to return the compliment. I had rescued her from a few thugs."

"The helpful Samaritan." quipped Zed.

"I am happy for a straight evening anyway."

"I will go to Alex then. You can still entertain yourself or the TV is also still there." Kathleen smiled and went through the hallway and knocked at Alex's door, however, she got no answer, therefore she entered. Alex lay on his bed, with headphone in his ears and one could hear the loud music.