Chapter 24 - let's talk

Alyn's POV

"Hey, what happened to your brother?" Peter asked as he slid another book of stuff for storage into the back of his truck. "Hm?" I asked as I sat his aunt's mirror in the back seat. He decided to keep everything he could.

All stuff that wasn't Peter's was going into a storage lot my dad is paying for him. All the food was going in the my kitchen. All his stuff was going in my room till the guest room was cleaned again just in case from the goo. We removed the door and its in my closet. I painted his name on it but he doesn't know. It's a surprise.

We finally have everything packed and sorted. Peter's stuff is in the yard. Everything for storage is being loaded into the truck for hopefully the last trip to the storage lot. The food boxes are in kitchen still and the furniture like the couch and TV and beds and whatnot have been sold already. The house was already sold as well. "Hey, that's all for storage. Stay here while I go drop it off." I smile and nod.

I wave at him as he drives away. Am I his girl now? I frown and go inside the house to make sure everything is out. Everything is beside the boxes of food is out. So, I move the boxes of food onto the porch as Peter pulls into the driveway. He loads his boxes into the bed of the trunk and I push the food boxes into the backseat.

After all the boxes are in, we lock up the house and place the key in the mail box like we told the new owners of the house. I'm glad we already did the paperwork to make his mail go my house and mailed it already. I'm going to be worn out after we get these boxes to the house.

I was right. I'm so freaking tired. I'm laying on my bed while Peter is downstairs putting the food where it goes. He walks upstairs and into my room. Guess he's done. "Hey, you never told me what happened to your brother." He says and I look him in the eyes as I sit up.

I roll off my bed and onto the floor. I yank a box out from under my bed and pop it open. Atop many sketch books is a picture book and I pull it out and open it as Peter sits next to me.

There's a picture of a boy on the first page. He's smiling even though he looks like the lead singer of a screamo metal band. "This is Harold. He was my adopted brother." I flip the page to show a picture of me and Harold. I began flipping page to page showing more and more pictures of me and Harold till I got to one where it showed me and Harold both past out on the living room floor.

"You could probably tell that we were connect at the hip it seemed. We were each others' best friend. He painted my door and this room for me a few weeks after he moved into this house. He gave birth to my love of drawing and the arts. I keep all his stuff after the accident." "Accident?" I flip the page to show a newspaper clipping of a car crash "Him, his friend, and my sister were driving home. He picked her up from staying late at school and not having a way home. There was a drunk driver. My sister is the only one who survived. She changed a lot and my mom and dad decided to move into his old house for a new start. I claimed this room. I grabbed all his stuff and his in this room for weeks. Then school was going to start soon so I was forced out of the comfort of this room and into a new school when I don't even need to go to school. I got to keep all his sketch books and clothes and anything else in his room or that I wanted in my room that was his. "

"Wait, what do you mean when you say that you don't even need to go to school." Peter asks, looking at me worriedly. "I didn't want to be in school when he wasn't so I studied hard, skipped a lot of grades and graduated with him even though I was only 15 years old. My mom and dad don't know and same with my sister."

Peter looks down. "Sorry, this must be hard to talk about. You should go to bed. You must be tired." He said, grabbing the picture book and goes to pick it up. "No!" I grab it quickly and snatch it from him, holding close to my chest.

Peter is staring at me. He stunned. "S-sorry," I stuttered, moving to put the box and putting the picture book inside. "No, it's fine. It's was a natural reaction." He picks me up and drops me on the bed and leaves the room. He going to get his leftover boxes out of the truck. I lay there and smile as the door shuts. On the back of the door is a painting of me and Harold that looks like a picture from the picture book. Above it, it says "stay golden." He loved the book The Outsiders. By S. E. Henton. I have to say, it's a good book.

Stay golden.

What does he mean by that? Why did Harold paint it on the door? Is it pointed towards me?

Three question that been buzzing through my head since I saw the door.