"What's happening?" Alex asked. He scanned the room, looking for some indication of what was happening.
"Welcome home." Alexis said. If only he knew.
"Thanks." Alex replied. Confused, he searched their faces again for the explanation he sought. "What's going on? Kate why are you here?"
"Because she's our mother." Johanna uttered, shaking off her sister's grip. She spoke out of spite and bitterness. She was never a fan of lies.
"What are you talking about? Our mother's dead." Alex said. He assumed they were joking. They had to be. There was no way his mother was still alive. And frankly they were being insensitive. Two and a half decades may have past since her death, but this prank still crossed a line.
"Yeah I thought so too. Did you know that they didn't find her body?" Johanna instigated. This was her revenge. She watched her brother's face for a reaction, and just as he was about to speak she said, "The casket was empty" giving him something else to contemplate. "Dad and Alexis kept that from us." She looked back over her shoulder at her sister, letting her glare sink in, and then she turned back to her father. "But Dad kept Mom's identity all to himself."
This Johanna was the one they had seen in courtrooms. And nothing was worse than the hero of the people fighting against you. Alex noted her intensity and the sullen look on everyone else's face. They were telling the truth. Suddenly he felt sick, feeling his emotions stirring in the pit of his stomach.
"Mom?" Alex said, quite calmly. He looked over to Kate as she nodded. "Did you know?"
"No." Castle said. He held onto her hand, and she felt safe, no longer alone. "How could she?"
"But you knew." Alex said. He let his anger take over against his better judgment. "You knew this whole time."
"Pretty much." Johanna interrupted.
"And you two. Did you know?" Alex said, raising his voice.
"We suspected something was up, so we looked into Dad's financials." Alexis said blatantly.
"Lanie told us the rest." Johanna added. Castle took note of that comment, and figured as much. He wasn't angry. He was just annoyed that he hadn't seen it coming.
"And you didn't bother to tell me you suspected something?" Alex yelled. Alexis and Johanna weren't completely in the clear. In some way, they had lied to him too. They didn't speak, which was all Alex needed. "And did they just bring you in? Tell you everything?" He said addressing Kate.
"I figured it out." Kate replied.
"How?" Alex yelled. He may have been outnumbered, but he commanded their attention. He was the one in control.
"The picture in my locket matched the author's photo in your father's book." Kate answered calmly.
"I thought that was broken." Alex battled. He watched her and again the silence was all he needed. "So you've all been lying to me." He turned to his father. "Especially you." He stepped closer, bringing his father within hitting distance. "Why?"
"I was just trying to protect you." Castle explained.
"Stop lying to me. Just say it. You didn't think we could handle it. But news flash Dad, I'm fine we're all fine. We don't need your protection. You just wanted us to need you. But we don't." Alex shouted
"Alex, that's enough." Alexis said, grabbing him. She could see how sharp her brother's words were and how they pierced her father's heart. Castle was crumbling before their eyes and she could no longer watch. But Alex swatted her away.
"You don't get to tell me what to do. You lied to me. You all lied to me. Sad little Alex needs all of us to protect him." Alex said. He looked back at his father and then back around at the rest of his family, seeing the pity on their faces. "But I don't. I don't need any of you." He yelled as he threw his father's bedside table against the wall. They shuttered in silence, as an old nurse burst into the room.
"Mr. Castle. This is not a jail home. I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The nurse demanded.
"I was just leaving." Alex said, catching his breath. He made his way to the door while no one could look him in the eyes, because they all had a part in this. They all were at some fault. "Since I have no idea who these people are."
At home he sat on his couch, letting everything that happened today sink in. His eyes wandered from the paperwork on his coffee table to the photos that laced his living room. There were pictures and faces and eyes, all looking at him. He began to feel surrounded, enclosed, and trapped. He tried to stare back, but there were too many of them. They judged him, taunted him, and even laughed at him. Slowly the voices drove him off the edge. He swiped his paperwork off the table, thrusting it onto the ground. He had had enough.
One by one he ripped the photos off the walls, smashing them onto the hardwood floor. The smiles on their faces, the memories they held, they were all lies. Lie after lie. None of it was true and nothing was real. He continued to break everything and anything until Kevin's howls brought back his sanity. The voices were silent as Alex regained his hold on reality.
He breathed heavily over his destruction, as the retriever held his attention. "Did you know?" Alex asked. Maybe he wasn't that sane. "You knew. You remembered her. That's why you ran to her that day." He maneuvered around broken glass to meet Kevin, who sat in his bedroom doorway. "You were leading me to the truth." He sat down in front of the dog, away from the shards, and brushed his fingers through the retriever's coat. "Thank you for watching over me." In his mind, he had thanked both the dog and his Godfather.
Kevin whimpered in his arms as Alex looked back at the mess he had left behind. "Thank god I don't have Roy this week." Alex noted. Then he turned back to the retriever and said, "I should clean this up." He swept up the glass by the time it was midnight and decided to leave it at that. He went to bed, leaving the mess for tomorrow. But tomorrow came and the mess went untouched. Days went by, and still nothing happened. He just wallowed throughout his home, an empty husk of what he used to be. He stopped going to work, he stopped answering the phone, and he barely got out of bed each morning. He had lost his sense of identity.
One day, the phone rang like it always did days before. It could've been anybody. Alexis or Johanna, maybe even his father. Could it have been Kate? No, it was probably work again, asking him to come in or where he was. But Kevin wouldn't stop barking at it. It rang over and over, but the barking was incessant. Finally he took the call.
"Hello. May I speak to Alexander Castle?" Jackson asked.
"Speaking." Alex said. He sat at his desk, letting last week's events run ramped in his head. He was more frustrated than angry. To think his father, his hero, had fallen so far. He knew his dad wasn't perfect, but I guess Alex thought they were closer than that. Close enough to not be lied to.
"Hello Mr. Castle. My name is Jackson Newman. I'm an old friend of your father's and I'd like to…" Jackson went on.
"Listen, Mr. Newman, I'm sorry. My father and I aren't on the best terms right now, so whatever you'd like, tell him yourself." Alex said. He knew it sounded rude, but he couldn't stop himself. All of this was too much for him.
"Well, I… I'm sorry to inform you that your father passed away this morning." Jackson replied.
"What." Alex stammered out.
Jackson continued, "Mr. Castle, you have my condolences. But before the funeral arrangements are…"
"What happened?" Alex interrupted.
"He died in his sleep." Jackson replied.
"This is a prank call isn't it? My dad put you up to this?" Alex distressed.
"I wish it was." Jackson replied calmly. Unfortunately, he's had some experience in these types of situations.
"Is he there? Dad it's not funny. This isn't something you should joke about." Alex denied.
"Mr. Castle. This isn't a joke. He's gone." Jackson said. He paused, listening for a reaction. When he received no reply he continued, "Your father asked me to give you and the rest of his children a few things in the event of his death. I've already talked to your sisters, and arranged a meeting. Can you make it to my office on Wednesday at 8am? It's on Madison."
"Yes." Alex said in barely a whisper. He ended the call, and let the phone drop to the hardwood floor. The thump was the last thing he heard before the world began to close in around him. Slowly his senses began to disappear, one by one. His hearing, his eyesight, his taste, his smell, his sense of touch, all of it was gone. The whole world was lost to darkness, and he was alone. Tears fell, but he became numb to them. He was lost, unable to tell up from down. The only sign left to him as proof he was still alive was his own shaky breath.
Enjoy!
Please Review
What did you think?
Guys, there are only 2 more chapters left.
And as a special treat, I will be updating every Monday, so the last chapter will fall on the premiere.
All rights belong to their rightful owners.