Conspicuous Secrets

chapter one__REWRITTEN VERSION

Hello everyone:) Welcome to the new and improved version of Conspicuous Secrets:) This has been completely rewritten and polished for publication preparation. I can assure you that you will love this version even more than the first<3

~chapter one~

It felt like a ribbon was strung around my life and the man on the other end of the phone, even while halfway across the country, was the only one holding the two ends and keeping it together.

"You can't forget," his voice repeated as if he hadn't already drilled the lies into the deepest parts of my brain. "Your names are Lydia and Jaxon King. You recently moved here from California, and your parents died in a house fire...if any questions come up about your age and independence, say you have an uncle in the area that has legal custody of you."

My elbows dug hard into the kitchen table as I sat with my chin resting on my closed fists. The constant ache in my chest was fine-tuned, having resided there for almost five months now. I couldn't remember a life without constant anxiety and worry seeping into every passing second.

My brother was standing on the other side of the table with his large palms flat on the wood and his eyes glued to the cell phone between us. As if feeling my gaze, his head tilted up and I found an all too familiar sense of loneliness swirling in his hazel eyes. Once we stepped off that plane two hours ago and unlocked the front door of this old house, we were on our own.

"Do you understand?" Detective Matthews asked us, his voice sounding deep, maybe weighed down by the amount of stress from our situation.

"Yes," we both answered him. How could we not? We'd been over it a thousand times by this point.

After assuring him that we were settling in and that we'd each text him every day and call him at least once a week, he finally ended the call. The long moment of silence after, made my skin crawl, and forcing air into my lungs took more effort than it should have. My brother grabbed his phone and shoved it back into his pocket.

I looked around at the new place we were supposed to be calling home. The walls were dull and bland, and the ceilings were cracked. Dust bunnies crowded the corners and I could guess that more than a few spiders called this place "home" first. I only hoped they didn't try to stake a claim against us.

We were somewhere in Ohio in an average house that had very little furniture. In each bedroom we had only our beds, leaving us no choice but to keep our very few belongings in boxes. There wasn't much that we could bring with us, so there wasn't much to unpack.

This place wasn't pretty and it wasn't anywhere near new, but was still more than we technically needed so I was thankful. Matthews and his partner had been too kind to us. Because of them, we were able to stay here in the first place. Even with the mostly empty space between all of the walls, I was thankful to have a safe spot for just my brother and me. It wasn't quite our house, but we could set our own rules.

My brother silently disappeared into his bedroom.

A safe place. That was a new thing for us. Foreign, even. I hadn't felt safe in years. Not since before Mom died. Even when she was still around, I knew there was only so much protection she was able to provide at the time. She was very limited in everything. We all were.

The last five months had felt like a lifetime. We'd been moved from place to place, temporary home to temporary home—usually moving back and forth between the houses of a few detectives over our case. Since the moment we met them, they repeatedly told us that we were safe now. We were safe. Then why did we never stay in one place for very long? Why were we now halfway across the country from where we started? Why did "permanently safe" seem so far away? Because we weren't. Their words said so, but I had a feeling we were so far from it.