The AH family

Ch. 39

Its been hours, at least four, since Ryan saw the face of that young boy. The boy that wasn't Ray. When Geoff had said they thought they had found Ray, he was happy, overjoyed. yet terrified at the same time, and at that moment he had no idea why. Now he knows.

In the back of his mind, he was scared Ray would end up there. In that building, in that room, laying motionless on that table, under that cloth. Part of him may have also been worried it wasn't him, that he's still out there, somewhere, and he's scared, alone, or worse. He's also terrified that part of him was right. Maybe he was also scared that the second that sheet was lifted up, whether it was Ray or not, he would break down, just let everything he had been holding in out. Ryan knew that he had made it rather obvious, he stopped trying to hide it, Ray was his favorite.

Ryan feel weight shifting on his bed. He quickly lifts his head, just in time to be pulled into Geoff's arms. He hadn't realized that he had been sitting with his knees up to his chest, and he certainly didn't notice when tears had slipped down his cheeks. It took him a second to react to being pulled into his brother's arms. He wants to push away, to tell Geoff that he's fine and that he's just tired, but instead he leans his forehead against Geoff's shoulder, finally letting his tears fall. Geoff's hand travels up to gently stroke Ryan's hair.

"Its okay Rye..." Geoff murmurs gently. Ryan tries to reply but can't find the words, so he stops trying. Instead he pulls Geoff closer and Geoff in return does the same.

"But Geoff..." Ryan mumbles.

"Shhhh...Its okay..." Geoff whispers, running his fingers through Ryan's hair.

"No, Geoff!" Ryan shouts, honestly louder than he intended. "I-Its not okay!"

"What? Ryan, why?" Geoff asks, stunned at Ryan's outburst. Ryan's never done anything like this before. "Of course its okay..."

Ryan simply sighs, ashamed of himself for yelling. "We don't know that. All we know is that he's not the boy in the morgue. But he could be alive, he could be dead. We don't know..." He whispers the last sentence. "I-I'm sorry..."

He looks back up at Geoff, who had just been staring down at his hands during Ryan's rant. "G-Geoff?" After several seconds Geoff takes a deep breath, and looks back at his brother.

"I... I know Ryan... I know..." Geoff mumbles keeping his gaze down.

"Geoff..." Ryan whispers, surprised at Geoff's reaction. Somehow he wasn't expecting his brother to act this way. Geoff has always been the strong one, never emotional, always laughing. Ryan doesn't really know what to say, so he says nothing. Ryan scoots closer to his brother, wrapping his arms around Geoff's back. Geoff buries his face in Ryan's shoulder.

"Ryan..." Geoff mumbles, pulling away and rubbing the tears away with his sleeve. "You're right, but... we have to hope for the best. Even though we have no idea if he's okay or not, we have to hope he is." Geoff says, looking Ryan in the eye.

"Yeah...yeah..." Ryan whispers.