Chapter 14 The Sisters Caulfield

Max

July 23rd, 2017

3:09 PM

USCC Oregon

Mediterranean Sea

The moment of truth awaits for me and so does a moment of anger with my mother and father waiting for Alex, Bryan, Chloe, and I by their bunks. I don't even know what I'm going to say to them. Neither of them will be as forgiving as Chloe about my untruth. Can't wait for their reaction seeing Alex alive for the first time in five years since her presumed death after the museum break-in. But if I was brave enough to survive Greece, Rome, and Meridian Prime, I was brave enough to confront my parents.

The four of us enter the bunks where my only parents Vanessa and Ryan wait for us. Their attention at first is on me. I anticipate a spank across the face from my mom but instead, I get a yelp and the tightest caress my mother has given me in a lifetime.

"Max! You're alive!" Mom cried. She seized my arms with distraught. "How could you do this?! How dare you lie to your father! How dare you lie to me! We called your mentor Jarvis and you're bullshit story certainly wasn't his and we hoped we were wrong!"

"Vanessa, calm the fuck down!" Dad snapped. "Will you?!"

"No! I will not calm the fuck down, Ryan!"

"How do you think I felt when I discovered the truth-" Chloe was saying.

"I'm not referring to you, Missy!"

"Wow, I see my aunt and uncle haven't changed a bit, have they?" Alex thought. "What? Nobody calls. Nobody writes. Nobody right now is saying 'Hey, Alex! You're alive and well! We thought you died years ago. We're still pissed over the stunt you pulled with you're cousin but it's nice to see there's still life in you and that's all that matters.' Sigh."

Mom turned to her niece scoffed with disgust. Unimpressed with her sarcasm.

"It's you who hasn't changed and still talks too much, Missy," said Mom.

"Does she ever call anyone by their first name?" Alex wondered.

"It's wonderful to see you again as well, Alex," said Dad.

"Thank you, Uncle R. Glad you still think I'm not the outcast Aunt V makes me out to be."

"If we can all settle down and get to the bottom of why I've brought everyone together," said Bryan. "That'd be much appreciated."

Every one of us in the aisle takes a breath and takes a seat on the bunks or the floor. I knew how much pain I've caused my parents from the get-go and knew what storm I'd be fighting this time. I'm just proud Bryan is here to back me up and justify my adversity as well as the answers I've been waiting for since my uncle promised. And here we are listening to what he promised.

"Bryan, are we doing this?" Dad asked. "Is it worth it for her?"

"It is worth every last sentence for her sake, Ryan," replied Bryan. "We discussed this and we agreed the decision is final."

Bryan cleared his throat.

"Max, do remember the Heard of Whales family tree I had displayed in my house?" He asked. "When I gave you the tour to that place?"

"When you were showing me the history of travelers?" I thought. "What about that?"

"There's a reason I don't have a Caulfield set up on that tree and I will explain why. This is a story your father and I have been wishing to tell you since you came into the world and that time is now. And this is how it begins."

Bryan began his story by first talking about his college years with Dad. Studying in history and archeology courses with his Professor named Ebert Roland. The old man Alex and I met when we were young. Over Bryan and Dad's college years, they idolized Ebert a lot and soon became their closest mentor they'd known. The closer they were to him, the closer they discovered Ebert's secret life with the Herd of Whales. Despite Ebert breaking the code of the herd by exposing it to outsiders, my uncle and father were welcomed into the society with open arms given the small history of Caulfield herd members throughout the generations before them.

During their time with the herd, Ebert shared even more secrets of his own with Dad and Bryan. Which was his journal about the Ark of Genesis and Eon Codex. With entries about the Eternity Gauntlet and Shards as well. Unfortunately for Ebert, it was another secret the code forbade and when the truth came out to the rest of the herd, the three were expelled from the society, stripped from their ranks, and were never to return. Causing a fallout between my dad and uncle and their professor. But Bryan was given a parting gift from Ebert before they stopped seeing each other again. That which was the journal. He had sold it years afterward back to Ebert to maintain his secret from Alex and I but Ebert himself would agree otherwise when he gifted it to us minutes before his passing.

My uncle skipped over to the part after Alex and I went on that museum heist with Fernando and Kristen. Before I moved back to Arcadia. Bryan had found Alex's body out on the Tacoma beachfront where the sewer current washed her out. Bleeding death and immediately taking her to his home to patch her. He refused to call an ambulance since the police would arrest Alex after recovery and eventually send her to prison. Bryan did all he could to heal my cousin's bullet wounds and had her lying down in bed for eight months until she awakened from her coma. Bryan had medical equipment in the house he got from Ebert after his passing to keep Alex alive. When Alex was awake, she begged Bryan to see me again but forbid it since he already assured Alex's death was a falsehood to protect her from not only the police but from the Herd of Whales that wanted her dead for her attempt to steal something sacred to them. Which was the Eon Codex.

A few years pass and the Herd of Whales were then asking Bryan back into the herd with Alex coronated as a member under Joanna's orders. But with a catch. At the time of the herd's needs, it was only shortly before the ConDef and Fallen incursion in Seattle. After Alex's coronation, she and Bryan were told to spy on me and my every move against the herd as well as Ares's conquest. Which all fits into what Joan had been telling me since Rome. But that wasn't all Bryan had to confess to me. Which was something he was surprised Joanna herself never exposed to me.

Before both I and Alex were born, my mom and uncle had a secret affair happening between them. When dad caught Bryan sleeping with my mother, he was furious and the two brothers had an even bigger falling out than when they were exiled from the herd. Because of Bryan's affair with Mom, I was never her first child. Meaning Mom was Alex's birthmother. My stomach was cringing and Alex's chest was racing. It couldn't be true.

After Alex's birth, Dad wanted Bryan to raise her given the reminder of Mom's thing with my uncle. Years later, Mom would be pregnant with me and given birth to me and my own Dad would father me biologically. And the two would raise me as their own. While living another lie of theirs until the day I was ready to be unshielded from it.

"Max, Alex," continues Bryan. "The two of you are not cousins. You never were. The two of you are sisters."

The two of us don't even know what to say for ourselves. Chloe is shocked as well. Mom covers her eyes with shame. Dad and Bryan feel guilty as well. I don't know how to react to this with words. Only a face full of sorrow.

In all my years I've ever known Alex, she always felt like a sister to me. Even looked like a sister to me. A part of me wants to be glad we are. But that part is trampled by the other part of me who feels nearly disgusted me and Alex have the same mother but different father.

"I know two don't know what-"

"Stop talking, please," said Alex quietly.

"Alex, let me finish," said Bryan firmly.

"No – I…I – Why do I feel like I'm gonna hurl?"

"Alex, I do not need your sense of humor right now."

"No! This is not my sense of humor! This is not true! You – you told me my mom ditched us, left us, and never gave a shit about us since."

"I told you your mother is sitting down next to you! That is my final word."

Alex furiously spanked her father through the face.

"Fuck your final word!" She thundered.

"Hey!" Dad barked.

"Uncle, it…it can't be," I said softly. "Mom, is it true?"

Mom could not answer. Alex answered for her.

"You have mucus in your ears, Max?!" Alex scolded. "If it weren't true, you think she'd have that look right now? Huh?!"

Alex steps in front of Mom with a sickening frown. Ready to fix her wagon.

"Look at me," hummed Alex.

"Alex, don't," said Bryan.

"I said look at me, goddammit!"

Alex seized Mom's arm to make her look at my cousin who is now called my sister. Mom is startled and stares at Alex frightened.

"Alex, what's wrong with you?!" I yelped.

"Alex, stop it!" Dad snapped. "Right now!"

"You…I never would of guess it in a million years," hissed Alex. "But now I see the truth. You never hated me because I was a bad influence on Max. You hated me because you regret giving birth to me, is that right? Huh? Should have thought twice before fucking my dad."

"Alex, that's enough!" Bryan roared. "Let go of your aunt right now!"

She let go of my mom's arm as my mother herself closed her eyes with a tear. Alex turned to Bryan to give him shit as well.

"By my aunt, you mean my mom, right?" Alex thought. "You contradicting me now?"

"You don't ever speak to Vanessa that way again," said Bryan. "Ever! I don't care if she's your mom or your aunt, you'll accept this truth whether you love it or not. And I don't care how long it takes for you to swallow that. You should never regret you were ever born."

"After how she's treated me, you're going to defend her? It was hard enough bursting Max's bubble about our secret in front of that bitch-ass Prescott lady on that cliff. Now you have to burst a bigger bubble to me?"

"Our secret is another story. As far as this family is concerned, Vanessa is still legally your aunt as she is your mother by birthright. What you and Max call yourselves now that I've told you both is for you two to decide."

"So why only tell us now?" I asked. "All those years believing we were cousins and you could never tell us sooner. Why?"

"If I had told you any sooner than this, it would jeopardize everything we've built up to on this journey until now."

"We could've died on that island," said Alex. "I was interrogated and tortured by those Dark Order freaks clinging onto every inch of my life. I barely escaped a tunnel load of booby traps with some Lebanese bozo. And you're excuse for not telling us earlier in our lives is jeopardizing the mission? What if we did die on that island? Not only would that jeopardize what we've worked for, but I'm sure you'd deeply regret never telling us we're sisters. Wouldn't you, now?"

"I thought telling you who were were every day of my life. Nearly regretting not telling you at all. I also thought every day of my life that you and Max made great sisters as you did cousins. Even after all the trouble, you put yourselves in taking advantage of my rules as well as Ryan and Nessa's. That thought of mine hasn't changed since."

The intercom was now speaking across the refuge deck.

"Now hear this. M. Caulfield, A. Caulfield, and C. Price report to science deck immediately. M. Caulfield, A. Caulfield, and C. Price."

"Alex, it hurts me to hear any of this from Bryan as much as you," I said. "But whatever reason they want us on the science deck, we should go there now and debate this later."

"I hope that's not David trying to get me off this carrier," said Chloe. "Didn't come all this way to ditch Max just now."

"Max is right," said Bryan. "I suggest the three of you run along as there's more at stake here than what I've covered up from your whole lives."

Alex said nothing to Bryan but did turn back to Mom being we left.

"You," she said pointing at her. "Max might be taking this softly but I'm not as forgiving as her. This is not over."

Note: I hope you're all still staying safe from the pandemic as well as the protesting/rioting happening because of the recent George Floyd incident depending on where in the world you live. Which is only making matters worse just when they were getting better.

Whatever you think of this new twist I've brought into this story, let me know what you think in a review or an email. Any thoughts are good thoughts.

Until next time, stay tuned, stay safe, and stay golden!

P.S. #BlackLivesMatter