Authors Note: I'm still alive... And again this update took ages, I'm so sorry! School is crazy that's all I can say, I'm trying my best to get time for updates but it's been really difficult. I update when I can but I know that's still been very crappy so I apologise to everyone that's been waiting on this. I've also confused myself a lot with replies to reviews lately, I'm hoping I sent reviews to everyone but just in case I wanna thank everyone for sticking with this story and it's incredibly uneven updates. Things will be a bit shaky with exams and such but unfortunately they do take up a lot of time and I need to give them my all this year, but thanks to anyone who has read this story and enjoys it because I do love writing it and I never thought it'd be as popular as it is. Thanks to all new favourites and follows and to TishaLiz, Mystic Vampyre, The Shadow Next To You, Guest (response below), SilverDragon13, Flowerchild23, Eveline Wulf, 20Luna20, sadlyhuman1997, Minder Estrada and TheGoofyCat for their reviews.

Guest: Thanks for your review! Hope you enjoy the chapter haha I know I'm awful making everyone wait, just wanna get the perfect moment!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Lost Boys, just my OCs.

"What's wrong?"

I looked up to see Dwayne looking down at me curiously, I guessed my little moment of awe hadn't gone unnoticed. I let my hands drop back to my sides where I had been examining them and moving my fingers, I laughed.

"Sorry." I said with an embarrassed chuckle, "I still feel all weird and light, still haven't gotten over the fact we were just flying."

He laughed, "You're still trying to take it in."

"Well, yeah! I mean, have you gotten used to it?" I asked in disbelief.

He thought for a few seconds, "I'm more used to it than I was, but that's maybe because I've gotten better at controlling it. The thrill doesn't fade, just the shock."

"Better at controlling it?" I asked.

"It's not as easy as it looks, especially not the first time you do it. It's takes practice before you can fly fast and land and take off when you want."

"You seemed to be able to fly pretty well." I observed.

He smiled, "Lots of practice I guess."

We continued walking in silence, after we landed we decided not to hurry back to civilisation right away and instead walk along the beach in the opposite direction from the boardwalk. There was a wall of rocks in the distance I could faintly see and I knew the likelihood of me getting over them without tripping was unlikely so we'd probably stop there, but it was relaxing as we walked along.

"What are you thinking about?"

The question surprised me, I looked up at Dwayne and tried to find something to say quickly, in reality my mind had went blank for the few seconds we had walked.

"Um... Nothing, actually." I confessed, he seemed to not believe me so I continued, "This has actually been the first time in a good few hours that there hasn't been something on my mind. Why do you ask?"

He shrugged, "You looked sad."

"I did? Oh." I hadn't realised, maybe that'd just be my expression from now on. I plastered a cheesy grin on my face, looking right up at him and fluttering my eyelids a few times.

"Better?" I asked through my teeth, he smirked.

"Not at all, far too creepy."

I laughed, letting my mouth relax, "Sorry, bad attempt."

"That one's better." He told me, gesturing to how my mouth sat in an easier smile after I laughed. I tried to maintain the smile as I looked away, out towards the waves again.

"Wanna know what I'm thinking now?" I asked after a thought struck me.

"Sure." He answered.

"If vampires are real, do you think mermaids are too?"

He raised an eyebrow with a doubtful expression, "Mermaids?"

"Oh I'm sorry to have offended you with such a wild accusation, vampire boy." I shot back.

"Vampire boy?" He echoed with a chuckle.

"Yes, vampire boy. You sound like Dracula's sidekick."

"Shut up."

"You got it, vampire boy."

I stared out ahead for a few seconds, pretending not to notice his eyes were still on me. Eventually I glanced back to find his mouth set in a weird line like he was trying not to laugh, it looked so unnatural for him I couldn't help but laugh myself.

We stopped for a few seconds and I decided to sit down on the sand, giggles still bubbling from my lips. I used my hands to stop myself just before I sat down, balancing on my feet as I crouched and took my jacket off my shoulders to put it on the sand before sitting on top of it.

I brushed the sand off my hands and by the time I had finished Dwayne had sat down beside me, I snuck a sideways glance at him to find him watching me, I chuckled as I let my hands rest in my lap.

"In case you couldn't tell, I hate getting sand stuck to my skin."

He nodded and stared out at the waves, "Figured that the first time I saw you."

I winced, "I must have looked like an idiot."

"You didn't." He assured me.

I sighed and leant back on my elbows, careful not to go out over the edge of my jacket. I crossed one leg over the other and my head fell back on my shoulders and I found myself looking back up at the sky.

"When you're up there, everything else seems really small." I said.

"Like the town?"

I chewed my lip, "Yeah, like it feels like Santa Carla's my whole world, I never realised until we were up there that it's just a town. Just a small town compared to other places."

"I guess when you live somewhere your whole life you don't think about anyone else."

I sighed, "Except I don't even know if I'm originally from here. I don't know where I'm from."

And like that, my mood dropped again like a stone in water. I went back to chewing my lip as the thoughts from earlier started to creep up again, the period of peace from when I left the caves with Dwayne was at its end apparently.

"You don't know that you're from somewhere else. Maybe you were born here." He said in an attempt to comfort me.

"How am I gonna know for sure though?" I knew the answer to that already, but I didn't want to admit my options.

"You could talk to your mother." He suggested.

I snorted, "I doubt she'll want to talk to me, she probably would have told me everything if I hadn't have shouted at her to get out."

"She's bound to have known you wouldn't take this well."

I shook my head, "It must have been hard for her to tell me, though. I should have been more grown-up about it, listened to her instead of acting like I did. And for all I know she might be gone again."

"I don't think she is, I think she's just giving you the space you need. She'll come back."

I gave a half-hearted smile, "Guess I'm stuck without answers until then."

"You could always ask..." He pursed his lips as he tried to find out what way to phrase the rest of his sentence, I raised an eyebrow.

"Julie and Peter?" I suggested, using my parents'- my not-real-parents'- real names, "I don't think they'd be too eager to be truthful with me. They didn't seem in a hurry to tell me. You're meant to tell the kid at some point that you're not actually their parents."

"They probably didn't want to hurt you."

"I don't care, they should have told me." I said, realising it was a bit too harsh, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

I stayed silent for a few seconds, pondering the fact that I had spent my life calling two people "Mom" and "Dad" when really they weren't even my real parents, "Damn, that means Williams isn't my real last name."

"Your last name is Williams?" Dwayne asked.

"Yeah, I guess I never told you last. What's yours?" I asked, realising he never told me his either.

He scrunched his nose a little, "I don't use it anymore, pretty much forgot I even had one. It's just another human thing you don't need."

"Well I'm not Bryn Williams, not really."

"You can still be Bryn Williams if you want, no one can change what you get to call yourself. You can find out your real name and use it. Or just cut the bullshit and call yourself Bryn."

I smiled, then that faded as another thought occurred to me, "What if my first name isn't even Bryn?"

He was quiet for a few seconds, "It can be anything you want. If you want your name to be Bryn, then it's Bryn."

I sniffed, then a humourless chuckle lifted my shoulders, "Such a stupid thing to get upset over."

"No it's not."

I nodded, "It is, this whole thing is stupid. How did I not know? I mean, I was living with two complete strangers for eighteen years and I never realised those people weren't my parents. I'm only realising now that I've never seen my birth certificate or anything that would tell me Julie was ever pregnant. How stupid am I not to know?"

I buried my head in my hands to stop my rambling, I was probably bringing his mood down talking about this stuff. It was quiet for a few seconds and I focused on taking deep breaths before raising my head again.

"I want to talk to them."

He didn't say anything and I looked over to see him watching me carefully, "Maybe when you're feeling better. It wouldn't be a good idea if you went round there now given how you are."

I raised my eyebrows, "And how exactly am I?"

"Emotional." He said, not reacting to my tone, "You know if you go round there it won't help things, you'll wind up being more upset."

"I don't really see how that's possible." I told him.

"Do you really want to find out?" He asked, I tried to decide quickly but he turned to face me fully, "If you really want to go, I'll take you there right now. But I don't think you should, I know I suggested this but I didn't mean so soon."

"Better sooner than later, though, right?"

He searched my eyes for a few seconds before standing up, holding a hand out to me, "Let's go then."

I stared at his hand for a few seconds, doubt creeping up about whether or not I was actually ready to handle the situation. I knew I wasn't, but I didn't know if I'd ever be ready. So I took his hand and let him pull me up, his arms then went round my waist and our feet left the ground with ease. This flight somehow wasn't as fun as the first.

We landed in the back garden a while later, there appeared to be no lights on, "They're not home yet. Do you know what time it is?"

"No idea." He said with a shake of his head, I headed up to the back door, grabbing the spare key from the hanging plant beside the door as I arrived at the door. I let us both into the kitchen before locking the door behind us and setting the key on the counter, flipping the lights on in the kitchen.

The house seemed different. Empty and strange. I felt like I had broken into someone else's house, "Come on." I told Dwayne, who looked out-of-place standing in the kitchen.

I opened the door to my room and switched the light on, my eyes adjusted and settled on a large cardboard box sitting on my bed. Which had been made, for a change.

"What's that?" I heard Dwayne ask as he stood at the door, I shrugged before gesturing for him to come in where he had been standing in the doorway. He closed the door and leant on it while I grabbed a pair of scissors from my desk and went over to cut the tape at one end of the box. The label addressed it to my dad, why was it on my bed?

I reached into the box then pulled out the long black case, then it clicked and I realised what it was.

"It's the guitar my dad- Peter- promised he'd get me." I answered, flipping the clips on the case and opening it to reveal the brand new Fender Jaguar inside, the brilliant purple colour standing out against the soft red material lining the case.

"It's nice." He said as he came to stand beside me, looking down at it.

I nodded, "He was gonna teach me how to play it. I always wanted a Fender guitar." I said quietly, my hand stretching out to run over the smooth surface of the guitar.

I carefully lifted it from the case and held it, my thumb strumming over the strings of its own accord and they each released a soft note, it would need tuned to sound perfect, along with an amp of course.

My hands started to shake after a few seconds and I quickly returned the guitar to the case, clipping it shut and putting it back into the box. I closed the end of the box over as quickly as I could and made sure it was sitting how I found it, it was obvious it had been opened, but I wanted to leave as little a trace as possible that I'd been here.

"You're right, I'm not ready for this."

He nodded in understanding, "Then we'll go. You can come back another night."

It sounded like a better plan, I looked around catching sight of some clothes strewn across my chair and looked at the ones in the wardrobe, "Do you mind if I grab some clothes?"

"Sure."

I dug out an old rucksack from the bottom of the wardrobe and looked around trying to decide what was the best thing to take, why did all my clothes have to look so different?!

Hoodies and jeans seemed like the best idea, I tried grabbing some stuff that looked warm, the cave was a little on the chilly side. I threw in a pair of boots and a pair of Converse for good measure, nothing matched but I guessed as long as I had extra clothes it was better than nothing.

A sound from downstairs had my attention and I turned to see Dwayne take a step towards my bedroom door and open it quietly. The front door was shutting which meant they were home.

He looked back at me and made a gesture towards the window, my eyes strayed in that direction but I was too busy listening to the sounds of their voices floating up the stairs.

"Did you leave the light in the kitchen on?"

"No... You must have."

In the silence that followed my throat felt too tight and my palms became sweaty, the panic didn't really kick in until a voice called out my name hesitantly.

"Bryn?"

My mom's- Julie's- voice sounded strained, like she was afraid of their not being an answer. I made a move to go for the door before Dwayne caught my arm. I broke out of my trance to meet his eyes, he shook his head slowly and I knew he thought this was a bad idea, but they would know I had been here even if we left.

"Stay here." I whispered to him, I could see his disapproval as I shut the door after me, but he must have just decided to let me get on with it. Every step over to and down the stairs took effort, but eventually I found myself looking up to meet their eyes, which were filled with so much relief it sickened me.

"Where on earth did you get to? If you decide to stay away from home for the night, it's nice to call us and let us know. We were going to call the police soon if you didn't come back. Are you feeling better?" My dad- Peter- sounded stern to begin with, but by the end his voice had softened slightly.

"No." I answered flatly.

"Bryn I was starting to get worried." Julie said, coming to the bottom of the stairs, her arms stretched out to welcome me with a hug, but I stayed put. Her eyebrows creased and she stared up at me in confusion, "What's wrong?"

I tried finding the right words, some remark I could make that would let them know they'd been caught. This wasn't a situation I wanted to drag out, though. The longer I stood here, the more I wanted to leave. The quickest way to find out what I wanted was to be straight with them.

"I know you've been lying to me."

The silence that followed was thick with tension and I could see them trying not to share a glance, Peter attempted to smile, "What are you talking ab-"

"You're not my parents."

Any trace of his smile was well and truly washed off after I said that, he and Julie had matching mortified expressions, I was waiting on them telling me I was crazy and that they were my real parents. I would've welcomed the feeling of relief that it was all a big joke or mix-up.

"How did you find out?" Julie asked in a shaking voice, and I knew then that it really was the truth. Rather than feeling relief that I finally knew, I felt empty.

"You're not even going to try and deny it?"

She flinched at my cutting tone and Peter stepped forward, "Who told you that we weren't your parents?"

I shrugged, "What difference does it make? The only thing that matters is that it wasn't you two that told me. I should've known years before now."

Peter sighed, "We were going to tell you-"

"When?!" I demanded, "You sure as hell were going to take your time, weren't you?"

"The older you got, the harder it was to come round to the idea of telling you." Julie told me, her eyes swimming with tears, "We didn't want to have to tell you that we weren't your parents when that's what we've been for the last eighteen years. We've been looking after you since you were a baby, Bryn. That's what parents do."

"But you're not my parents, not really. And you were supposed to tell me! So what was it? Did you guys legally adopt me or just decide to pretend I was really yours?"

Peter shook his head, "We went through everything right, we have all the papers."

"Where are they?"

"In our room, I can show you them if you want." He offered, I found myself nodding and he made a gesture for me to lead the way upstairs. I kept a safe distance ahead and made sure not to hesitate at my door, Dwayne was probably still in my room.

I clicked the light on in their room and looked around, Peter put his hand on my shoulder as he passed me and I shuddered, edging away from the doorway where Julie had stopped.

He went into their closet and emerged a minute later with a small folder, something I wouldn't have noticed, it looked dull and boring but thin enough that it could be placed somewhere and not stand out. He set the folder on the bed and looked at me expectantly, I edged my way over and he pulled out some sheets and handed them to me.

They had a lot of writing, signatures and official language I didn't want to take the time to read. But the paperwork was all there, it was all to do with adoption. He handed me a certificate that had my name on it with theirs, telling me they had become my parents. But they weren't originally.

I flipped back through everything again realising I didn't see my name connected with any other surname other than Williams.

"What was my last name before you adopted me?"

Peter sighed, "We don't know, they couldn't tell us. There was no record of your birth in any hospitals so they were never able to find out what it was."

I looked at them both in confusion, "How come my first name is still Bryn? Did you change it before you adopted me?"

I watched as he dug out a piece of paper from the back of the folder, it was small and didn't look official, it was half the size of the other sheets and crumpled slightly.

He held it out to me, "You were found outside a hospital about an hour's drive from here, this was all the people at the hospital had to go on."

I opened the piece of paper to find a note written inside: Her name is Bryn, she was born November 9th. I can no longer look after her, please find someone who can. And please tell her I'm sorry.

"Your name and birthday were the only things we could keep the same, you needed a new last name. And new parents. We had been on the waiting list for a baby when they called us, they said they had tried to find out where you came from but you were a mystery. Your birthday and your name didn't match any records in any hospitals, it was like you just came out of nowhere." Julie explained.

I looked at her, "So it was that simple, hmm? Just sign the papers and pretend I was yours all along."

"We didn't know who left you at that hospital or why, and we didn't care. We loved you and we took you in to raise you, that's what whoever left that note wanted us to do." She explained.

"They also wanted someone to tell me they were sorry, but you guys weren't in as big a rush to do that, right?"

They both were silent for a few minutes at least, I remembered Dwayne in the other room and decided I had spent long enough here. They were too shocked to tell me everything, I knew that, they would have never anticipated someone else telling me.

"I'm gonna go." I told them, after I had folded up the note and put it in my pocket.

"Go where?" Julie asked, "Where have you been this past day?"

"Staying with friends. Not Nick." I told them, that was as much as I would tell them, too.

"We know, we saw him earlier and he said he hadn't seen you either." Peter said.

I blinked, "Did he stop by the store?"

"No we stopped him and some friends out near the boardwalk, we didn't open the store tonight. We stayed here in case you came home then decided to go out and look for you. But we realised if you weren't with Nick then we had no idea where you'd be. We need to at least know where you're staying." He pleaded.

"No you don't, actually. I think that's my business... Peter." It felt weird saying his name out loud, in my head it was a battle not calling him dad but out loud it sounded wrong. He grimaced at the sound and I turned to go out the door.

Julie caught my arm, "You can't leave, there's so much to talk about, Bryn. You can't just walk out after this!"

I pulled my arm out of her grip, "I'm not your child, and I'm an adult, I can do whatever I want."

Ignoring any of their attempts to call me back, I made a break for my room, making sure not to open the door too wide in case Dwayne was standing near it. When I had it closed I turned to see him leaning against the wall near my window.

"Ok you can say 'I told you so' now." I said, half-joking, and he leant off the wall with a serious expression. A sound on the other side of the door registered with me and I hurriedly leant all my weight against the door just in time as someone turned the handle on the other side.

"Bryn, open the door, I want us to talk about this." I could hear Julie saying on the other side of the door, I leant heavily on it as she continued to try and open it, grateful when Dwayne came over and put his hand to the door, he would probably be able to hold back both my parents.

"Get your stuff. Take another bag so you don't have to come back right away." He told me, I nodded and grabbed a bigger bag from under my bed reserved for holidays and stuff, a black holdall I had stuck random badges on when I was younger. Rather than sort out clothes I just grabbed the first things I got my hands on, hardly even noticing what clothes I was picking up, just shoving as much into the bag as it would hold.

Thank God for my room being messy with clothes everywhere, once the floor had been cleared I grabbed some pairs of shoes and threw them in before opening a random drawer in a chest of clothes. There were lots of t shirts inside so I bundled them in before zipping the bag closed and grabbing the other one.

I nodded to Dwayne who still had his hand against the door, he hesitated before grabbing the edge of my desk and pulling it over with ease. Random objects rattled on the surface as he dragged it in front of the door, I caught sight of my shoulder bag and decided to take it as well, throwing it over my shoulder just as Dwayne got my window open.

He took the larger bag off me and held his hand out for me, I took hold of it tightly and waited until he was out the window before climbing up on the ledge and out onto the porch. He pulled me close without a word and I let a relieved breath out as our feet left the roof and we headed back to the caves.

Author's Note: Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, please review!