Rachel Shore's Answers

Chapter 7: He's Alive!?

"His sister's name is Rachel. Yours is Lilly. What do you mean by that?” he asked.

I paused unsure of what to say. I hadn't thought that one through very well. Now I have to explain what happened. I guess the best place to start is honesty.

"My name is Lilly. My name is Rachel Shore."

"Why did you say you were Lilly then?"

“I didn’t trust you at first. What am I supposed to say? Hi, I lied, my name is Rachel.” I tried to make is sound really dumb but I realized it actually would have worked.

“Yeah that’s actually a pretty good start.” He paused then stared me in the face for a while trying to read it and finally said “Let me talk to Chris. Please don’t try to follow. We need to talk privately.”

“Wait. Can I call Kallen please. She has to know I'm alive.”

“Not unless you want her to die. I guess that’s up to you. I need to go talk to Chris.”

I stayed behind and deliberately forced myself to not listen. It was hard because I knew that they were talking about my brother and I just wanted him back. I was also irritated with the way he impatiently answered me.

I paced around the room a few laps before going to the library and grabbing the Hardy Boys book that I had started earlier. It took every ounce of will power I had not to eavesdrop on their conversation. I heard the door creaking and wondered if they were ready to talk.

Again only Charlie came out. “He needs a minute after that roller coaster of emotions you threw at him” he said and laughed.

“I really didn’t mean to” I laughed back.

Charlie continued to stare at me for several minutes. I was feeling very uncomfortable. Finally he just said “I can totally see the resemblance. Not only that but the fact that you will keep fighting even when you don’t have a chance is just like him. I can’t believe I actually get to meet you. I can’t believe we didn’t realize that you were Rachel. You haven’t…”

I stopped listening as he droned on about all kinds of random information. These two know where my brother is and they need to tell me. I have to see him. I can't believe that he's alive. As my thoughts raged I nodded along as if I was actually listening. Charlie stopped talking for a moment before saying.

“… Ah. There he is. Finally emerging from the cocoon.”

Chris came out of the room and kept looking at me. Finally he said “So. Now it’s Rachel. Now there’s honesty. On another note I'm pretty happy you're alive.”

“You do realize I wouldn’t be if you two hadn’t been there.”

 He smiled and kept looking at me finally he turned away and said “We should probably not show your face around for a while. We don't want people to recognize you and realize something is up.”

Looking at his face I noticed that his eyes were really red and puffy. I know I didn't actually do much but I felt bad for the part I played.

"I get it for the most part Chris."

He turned back around "What do you mean?"

"About fearing that you broke a promise."

"Really?"

"Yeah. My parents died and I promised both of them that I would protect my brother. That I wouldn't let anything happen to him. I broke that promise."

"He's alive. You didn't break any promise."

"Is there any way you could take me to him?"

"Not yet but hopefully soon you will."

I felt very disappointed. I thought that I had a foolproof method for getting sympathy. I thought I would get a chance to see my brother again.