when you were my father

little explanation

Feet pounded down the stairs, Lea appeared in the basement-room that I sat in with a confused expression on her face. "Okay, so I let you guys come down here without me asking any questions earlier and it practically killed me inside. So I've decided that in order for you to stay here any longer, you have to answer my questions or I'm calling the police. Alright?" Her arms were crossed, and she leaned to one side.

"Lea, c'mon. You have your secrets, can't we?" DJ asked, rolling his eyes. "Besides, what do you care?"

"Well, just you know... making sure there aren't murderers in my basement right now?" Rolling her eyes back at her brother, she smiles and stares us down.

I glance over at Micah, unsure what to tell her. As soon as Lea had stepped into the room, Isla had calmed down and now her tear-stained face was resting on our brother's shoulder. He shrugged in response to my glance, leaving me still debating about what to do.

"We're not murderers, well at least not on purpose." She glanced down, sadly, before looking back up with her normal serious resting face. "And right now is not a good time to talk, so if you could go?"

I could tell the teenager was taken back by this response but she tried not to let her surprise show. "Since you're all being awfully rude to me, I'll just go call the police..."

"We didn't do anything wrong, so really that doesn't mean anything." Micah pointed out, but Lea continued to smile.

"That man..." She pointed to Brian. "is Brian Axti, I knew I'd seen him somewhere earlier and I figured out why. I wrote a paper about the worst criminals from our town a while ago and his father was included."

"So?" I asked, not seeing the point. Being someone wasn't illegal.

"Fifteen years ago, Brian Axti was reported dead. This means, that he must have faked his death since you're not dead. Brian Axti killed his own mother shortly after his father, Mark Axti, was arrested. Then, the day before his supposed death, he was charged with manslaughter. He killed two men that found him at the library, pretending to be James Reyes."

I stared at Brian, trying to figure out if this information was true or not. He looked down and frowned, I got my answer, it was.

**********

"Is this true?" I asked Brian after limping out of the room to talk to him privately. "Did you kill your mom and those two men?"

"Kami..."

"What? You're my dad and I really just want you to tell me the truth." I asked, looking into his eyes.

"I'm so, so sorry."

"So, it is true."

"Yes, well no." He inhaled, sounding like he was going to explain something long. "I did kill my mom, but not on purpose. You see, she was old and I... I accidentally gave her the wrong medicine. She ended up overdosing, and..." His eyes showed great pain and I felt slightly bad, even though I didn't want to.

"And those men?"

"I didn't kill them..."

"Then who did?"

"Well, Valentina."

"Valentina?" I asked, thinking I must have heard him incorrectly.

"Yes, she's... umm... your sister."

"I already knew that, but she's like a teenager and Lea said that you disappeared or died 15 years ago. So she would have been..."

"Just two years old," He cut in, staring at me seriously.

"Exactly, a two year old can't kill two men."

"Most two year old's can't, but, well, Valentina's not normal."

"In what way?" Raising my eyebrow, I stare at him back, confused. I can tell I'm about to discover something, but something's definitely holding him back.

"She's..."

"Can you come back inside?" Micah suddenly asked, appearing beside us. "She's asking way too many questions and I don't have answers."

"Mkay," I replied as he walked back into the basement. I glanced at Brian, raising my eyebrows sarcastically before following my brother inside.

He remained in the backyard for a minute or two, thinking of anything under the sun.