A never ending train.

Chapter 2: A new interest.

I was interrupted from my sleep again but this time it was by a loud thud coming from outside the door. I woke up sharply and called to the person behind the door. "who is it?"

The professors son, Mateo, responded. "Hey it's me. We missed dinner so now we have to have breakfast." He paused for a moment waiting for my response.

"Ok, I'll be right down." He was a quiet lad. He had something special about him to me. He was quite tall for his age, but not as tall as me. His hair was hazel brown slightly curly, and his eyes stood out in the sun like a brown leaf in Autumn. There was an elegant grace to him, by the way he walked so full of pride and how he talked with his chin raised high to the sky. I liked the way his eyes would glisten as he talked, and how his eyebrows seemed to lift slightly at the corner when something amused him. I put a shirt on and shorts and made my way downstairs. Before I did I stopped and went in the bathroom to go brush my teeth, I got the toothbrush out of my bag and put the toothpaste on the brush. Mateo suddenly appeared. He was wearing a different shirt from yesterday. It was yellow and his shorts were white. I know what you're doing, trying to get my attention aren't you?  I continued to brush my teeth and spat out the toothpaste in the sink. Then I splashed my face with water to wake myself up a bit from the the haze of sleep and went downstairs to join the others. Mateo's dad, Carlos Castillo was sitting at the table in the dinning room. I liked the name Carlos. He reminded me of my father. Mateo's mum, Maria Castillo sat at his side watching him admiringly like a child watches birds nesting in trees. Their cat rubbed against my leg. She was a little tortoiseshell cat. I saw my old cat in her and it moved me. I bent down and stroked her soft fur. She purred back at me gratefully. I sensed someone watching me. Something told me it was Mateo. I felt my hair prickle under his gaze. Something about knowing he was watching pleased me. Let him watch.  

I sat down at the dinner table and greeted them. Maria hair stood out to me. It was beautifully shiny hazel brown, similar to her son's. She wore a necklace around her neck that had a diamond on it and it caught me eye as it reflected the sun's beam. Her eyes were brown like Mateo's too. Carlos however was not like his son. He had jet black hair, growing grey ever so slightly at the top. His eyes stood out to me because of their colour more than anything. Green, they were. Their colour contrasted so strongly with his wife and son. Suddenly, another boy that looked around Mateo's age appeared from inside. He had jet black hair just like his dad and green eyes. He was a similar height to Mateo but he was a bit taller. He had two bracelets on his left wrist and a watch on his right. I gestured towards him.
"Who's that?" I asked curiously.
"Mateo's brother, Diego." Carlos replied. "Older than Mateo by a year." He noticed the look in my eyes and seemed to echo my thoughts. "Mateo's 17 by the way. And Diego, well, he is barely ever home so that is why you haven't met him yet." 17? He's 6 years younger than me?
"Does Mateo have any other siblings?"
"Yes, a sister" Carlos replied with a glint of grief in his eyes, but it dissipated immediately. "I'm full of surprises George!" He laughed, but I could tell it was in jest despite his pain.
"Where is she?" I asked.
"Probably down by the lakes somewhere. I'll introduce you later." I nodded. Then Diego walked up to the table and sat down. Carlos introduced me. I held out my hand and he shook it.
"Nice to meet you sir." Diego added politely. He was much more resigned than Mateo, I could tell he was not at all as sociable as his brother was. He tapped his foot on the floor impatiently and his eyebrows lay flat on his forehead.

"George?" I heard a voice from behind me. I turned around to see Mateo calling my name.
"What's up?" I asked him. He beckoned me over so I made my excuses and followed him. He led me to the guest room. "Why are you taking me here?" I asked him concerned. He walked over to his desk where a book lay. He picked it up and flicked through the pages till he stopped it on one.
"Here." He passed it to me and showed me the page. "These are all my drawings, it's all mostly nature." The drawing he had stopped on was of two squirrels in a tree. One was sleeping and the other was resting it's head onto the first squirrel and they looked fully relaxed.