"Genesis"

Chapter 3

I don't know how long I was unconscious for. When I came around I was no longer in the bank. Scared, I looked around the white walled room. There was a bed next to mine and Krystal lay peacefully slumbering under the covers. The smell of antiseptic claimed my nostrils and I came to the conclusion that we must be in a hospital. I tried to raise myself and moaned as my ribs reminded me of their presence along with the headache that was ever present. I went to rub my ribs and found them to be tightly bound. My head had similarly been attended to and now sported a bandage.

The events of the past few hours came flooding back to me and I choked back a sob. I rubbed my swollen eyes and swinging my legs off the bed I got up, intending to find out where we were and what was going to happen to us. I stuck my head outside the door and saw a group of people down the hallway deep in conversation. I pulled back into the room and bumped into Krystal who had awakened and walked up behind me. I jumped.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she said.

"Thats okay." I moved back to my bed and climbed up on to it. Krystal shimmied up next to me and stared into my eyes.

"What's going to happen to us, Jay?" she asked.

I sighed. Even though I was the eldest by a mere 2 minutes it was an unwritten law that by being the eldest I should bear the blame and have the answers for all the things that went on in our lives. Also, being a boy didn't do much to change matters either. "I really don't know, Krystal," I said softly. "I guess we will go and stay with Uncle Howard for a bit. I'm not too sure how it all works, but Im sure they will find us a home soon," I trailed off, the tears threatening to burst forth again as I was made more aware of the empty hole inside my body.

"Who's they?" asked Krystal

"Umm, the grown ups of course," I replied, trying to keep my voice light and cheery when all I wanted to do was pound my fists into the ground and scream at the top of my lungs. Fortunately the nurse came in then and I was spared from answering more of Krystal's questions.

The next couple of days passed in a blur. I don't remember much other than being asked a lot of questions by a nice policeman who was a bit old and wrinkly but had a soft, almost musical voice. We were kept at the hospital for further observation, but whenever I tried to find out anything about our future, people became very evasive and dodged the topic with skill and ease. It was frustrating to say the least, and then Uncle Howard showed up. We were released into his care and for the first time in three days we were outside in the fresh air once more. We travelled back to his house in silence. Oh, he tried to start conversation but neither Krystal nor myself were in the mood to talk and politely declined his efforts and after a while he gave up and left us to our thoughts. Pretty soon we pulled off the main highway and after a few turns down various side roads we pulled up out the front of Uncle Howard's and Aunt Jenny's home.

I swallowed as a lump came to my throat and taking Krystal's hand to reassure her as much as myself I followed Uncle Howard into the house.

##########

The rain drizzled down matching my mood perfectly. My hair clung to me, clothes soaking wet lay plastered to my skin. The rain ran in rivulets down my face, running down the strands of my hair, dripping onto my cheeks and mingling with the salt of my tears to course down and drip onto the sodden earth beneath. Each fall of the tear sent another part of my soul into the earth to lie with my parents. Beside me Krystal drained her own well of tears and added them to the communal waterfall. It was hard... so hard to believe that inside those two oak boxes lay our parents... Once so vibrant and full of life, now gone, nothing left but a shell.

I sobbed harder as I remembered the service in the church, the kind words that had been said by a man that hadn't even known our parents. Part of me wanted to scream at him "LIAR! why say those things? You never knew what gentleness radiated from my mother, you never knew what it was like to play baseball with my dad..." But I had bitten my lip drawing blood in an effort to stay in control. I had to be strong for Krystal. And now... now they were lowering the caskets into the ground...

We hadn't even had the chance to see them one last time. Uncle Howard wouldn't let us. He said it was best if we remembered them as they were...

Best for who?

The priest had finished his words and I slowly became aware of an umbrella sheltering me from the rain. I looked up and saw the face of an old man. Strangely, I felt no fear. He nodded to me and then turned and walked away. I watched as he disappeared into the curtain of rain. I jumped as a hand squeezed my shoulder. I looked around and up into Aunt Jenny's kindly eyes.

"Come on Jay, Let's take you and Krystal home," she said softly.

I turned and followed. Home... I laughed inwardly. Just where was home now?

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A couple of days after the funeral Krystal and I were sitting outside under the large tree in Uncle Howard's backyard trying to concentrate on a game of checkers when Aunt Jenny approached us, a thoughtful look upon her face.

"Jay... Krystal... I ... We need to talk to you," she said. "Could you come inside for a minute please?" and then she turned and went back into the house.

Krystal looked at me with those big blue eyes of hers. I shrugged my shoulders, it was just as much a mystery to me as to her.

Aunt Jenny and Uncle Howard were sat at the large dining room table, there was another person with them. A man I had never seen before, but I could tell he was of some importance. His clothes were well cut and he had an air of authority about him. Krystal pulled closer to me and we quietly sat down looking from our Aunt to our Uncle.

Uncle Howard spoke "Jay, Krystal, this is Mr Reed. He was your parents' lawyer. I know you are probably too young as yet to understand all this, but it's a necessary evil I'm afraid."

The lawyer smiled at us and cleared his throat. "Firstly I would like to express my deepest sympathies to you on the loss of your parents. they were a wonderful couple and I for one will miss them a great deal. I know you are not aware of any of what I am about to tell you and that you quite possibly won't understand any of it either, but I am bound by law to inform you of the legalities of the situation you are in."

I looked at my Aunt and Uncle for some sort of reassurance and found it in their quiet smiles. I squeezed Krystal's hand and then tried my hardest to listen and understand what the lawyer was telling me.

Mr Reed shuffled some papers around and then began. It was all spoken in legal terms... all mumbo jumbo to me. I caught the odd word and phrase, but pretty much all of it went over my head. When he had finished, Krystal looked at me confused. I must have had a blank look on my face as well as Mr Reed took sympathy upon us and smiling said,

"Shall I re phrase all that into simple English that you can understand?"

I nodded. "Yes please," I said shyly.

"Okay then. Basically the will's that your parents left state that all that they owned at the time of their death should be divided evenly between the two of you. Should they pass on before you are of legal age then all assets and tangible items should be sold and converted into monetary units which is to be invested in trust until you reach 18 years of age. Then you will each have access to your half of the inheritance. This means that the house, cars and everything else is to be sold and the money put in trust till you turn 18, then it will be yours to do with as you wish. As far as legal Guardians go, they did not stipulate anyone in particular to look after you guys and as you have no living relatives that we are aware of the law has decided to leave you in the care of your Aunt and Uncle who also happen to be your god parents until such time as you are of legal age to do as you please." Mr Reed looked at Howard and Jenny as if seeking confirmation on his speech.

Krystal still looked confused.

I scratched my head and then looking into Krystal's eyes I spoke. " From what I can understand we are going to stay here with Aunt Jenny and Uncle Howard for as long as we want."

Krystal looked relieved, she sighed and two tears made their way down her cheeks.

Aunt Jenny came over and picked her up, cuddling her close. "We both want you and Jay to stay with us. You will always have a home here for as long as you need it," she said softly as she stroked my sister's hair.

I shrugged my shoulders. It sounded okay to me. At least we had a warm bed and food in our bellies and people to care for us. Why then was the ache still there?

Uncle Howard broke into the silence. "We had better make arrangements to go over to the house and pick up any of your clothes and toys and anything else that you want from your ..." he hesitated and swallowed, "...your old home before the arrangements are made to sell off the rest."

Tears welled again in my eyes as I thought of home... I looked up and nodded. "Hai," was all I managed to say.

tbc...