An Unexpected Reunion

"My Big Brother"

His eyes shined a light purple and he smiled at me widely. “My little brother.” He said reaching up to touch my face softly. I flinched not understanding, and I saw pain flash across his face, but it disappeared as quickly as it was there. “You don’t remember…” He said as more of a statement than a question. He put his hands on either side of my face, and I watched fond memories of what was he and I, pass before my eyes. I remembered him, I remembered every detail everything he hated and loved, everything we had done good and bad. The emotions came on, strongly and quicker than I had expected. Everything we felt in those moments came rushing back. It was almost unbearable, my head started to spin a bit at it all. However, I sat still wanting to see it all, and slowly starting to remember. 

We had been split up trying to run from the orphanage when we were 5 years old. Kane and himself got away, but I was found and taken back. My only goal was to find him but the people at the orphanage insisted he didn’t exist. Soon enough I stopped believing my own thoughts and decided to move on and make a life for myself. After I found Eliza and we had Evelyn I didn’t have much time to really think about it anymore. I tricked myself into thinking he was some imaginary thing, I made up.  

“What happened to you Mark? What turned you into this?” I asked. 

“Multiple factors Matt, I wanted revenge, respect, and I wanted people to fear me.” He said removing his hands from my face. I nodded in understanding unsure what to respond with. 

“What happened to Kane?” I asked him concerned. I noticed he wore a mask, but I was unsure why.

“They found us and put us into a bad foster home. That’s where I met Paul, he wasn’t paying attention one day and lit some gasses on fire in the garage. You can guess the result, but I thought Kane was out of the house. We were playing with sticks just minutes prior to when I saw it happen. I ran through the woods screaming for him to get him away from it all. Once I finally came out of the woods not able to find him, I figured out Paul had blamed me for the incident. I knew dealing with the foster parents were worse, so I ran for it and stumbled my way into wrestling. I had a hard time being bubbly and adrenaline rushed like the other wrestlers and from that ‘The Undertaker’ had arisen. I mended the relationship with Paul, and I figured out Kane was alive, and we had mended our relationship, at least I thought we did, he and Paul turned on me last night. The rest of the ministry also left and battered me down bad. With my character also came some weird power I can’t explain.” He said finishing the story. I let all this sink in slowly as I nodded. 

“I’ll protect you.” I told him, without even thinking of what might come along with it. He smiled and nodded running his hand through my hair. I smiled at him not believing I really had a twin; this was odd but made me really happy at the same time. My stomach grumbled loudly, making Mark laugh. 

“You should feed that monster; I know a good diner down the road we could get some food and just talk. They don’t close till late, so we have time.” He proposed. I nodded and got up off the bench and followed him as we walked there. 

After a while of walking, we finally got there. He was right, it was a cozy little diner that barely had anyone in it and played some old blues songs. We sat down and looked at the menu for a moment before the waitress quickly came over giving us a wide smile. “How can I help you gentlemen?” She asked. 

“Steak and potatoes with corn please.” Mark and I both said at the same time by accident. We smiled widely at each other and laughed. The waitress laughed as well, also not expecting it. “And what can I get you boys to drink?” She asked politely. “I’ll have an orange juice.” I told her handing her the menu. “I’ll have a beer.” Mark said handing her his menu as well. She nodded handing our order in to the chefs and coming back with our drinks. I rocked my head slightly to the beat of the music that was playing on the radio loudly as I sipped at my orange juice. Mark looked at me amused making me chuckle, almost like a child. “What!” I exclaimed smiling before kicking him under the table. “I’ve never seen someone so happy sipping orange juice.” He said smiling and kicking me back. “What’s not to be happy about? Good orange juice, good music, and my brother.” I said shrugging. His eyes shined the same purple I had seen before when he smiled at me in the park. I assumed I was seeing things but now I was sure I had seen it. 

“Do you know your eyes shine purple when your happy?” I let my mouth say before thinking. 

“My eyes do that with any strong emotion I feel. You can do the exact same things I can Matt, you just have to reach down and find it.” He said shrugging. I nodded and sat up straight as our food was brought to us. We talked and laughed while we ate before eventually deciding we should head home. As we were walking towards my car though Mark grabbed my arm and pulled me to a different direction. I looked at him as we walked towards a jewelry store. He looked at me and I heard him say he wanted to get matching necklaces, but his mouth hadn’t moved. I stared in shock, weirded out by it. This look made Mark chuckle, but I heard a response, ‘it’s not weird Matt, we can hear each other’s thoughts and respond without even having to utter a word. You’re just not use to having someone in your head. We aren’t really, "normal" twins.’ I nodded at his explanation and smiled. This made me even happier I had someone I could talk to without even having to say a word. We walked into the Jewelry store and immediately made our way to the counter. 

“Hi, can we get this symbol split in half? Also, we need it done by tomorrow?” Mark asked showing her a drawing of his symbol. She nodded and took the picture of the symbol before handing it to the guys in the back. Mark started to pay but I stopped him and pulled out my wallet. “Nope.” Mark said handing her his card before I could give mine to her, I groaned at this making Mark laugh. “I feel like I’m taking your money Mark, you already paid for food.” I told him. Once again he only chuckled giving the lady his number so he could be notified when it’s done. 

“Also are we not going to talk about how you randomly carry around photos of your symbol?” I said, as we exited the store. “Business.  you always have to have them Matty.” He said smiling and putting his arm around the back of my neck and resting it on my shoulders. “Will the symbol look good cut in half?” I asked him, thinking about what he said in the store. “Probably not but it’s our best bet, bracelets are too obvious and if the necklace cut in half vertically their less likely to tell what it is. You probably won’t want to be associated with me too much.” He said smiling at the last bit. I nodded knowing he was right Vince would be ticked. Once we got to my car something else popped into my head.

“Mark what did you mean when you said we aren’t normal twins?” I asked him once I got into my truck and rolled the windows down to talk to him. 

“All in due time Matty.” He said smiling as he began to walk off. 

“Do you need a ride home?” I asked him just loud enough so he could hear me. He shook his head waving me off. I got home and happily laid down.  Eliza and Evelyn were both asleep. I was happy I took off my mask for Mark. I have a twin who cared for me and would protect me. I have a big brother, and I trusted him with everything in me, I don’t know what Vince was concerned about he wasn’t a bad guy. Little did I know in that moment how wrong I was.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading🧡 I hope ya enjoyed.