The Wish List

I Try To Be Kind

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

~Plato

I had never seen someone look so dumbstruck by the sight of something as I did the second we pulled up to the house.

Ty was gaping at the three story Victorian style building in front of us, his eyes roaming it as if it were the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"This. . . this is your house?" He finally breathed out, still staring out the window. I nodded, stepping out of the car and throwing my hair up into a ponytail so it wouldn't blow into my face.

"Mr. Ty, would you like help out?" Sienna asked when he didn't move. He coughed, as if covering up some sound, before joining me outside of the car. The odor radiating off of him was so strong that I took a step back and shook my head.

"You need to take a shower." He sent me a dark look.

"Like I don't know that." He paused for a second, "Why did you bring me here?" I looked down at the concrete below me, at the way the tips of my shoes were inches from the crack.

"Because I told you I was going to get us coffee." Was all I said before Sienna led us up the stone pathway to the house, humming to herself. I prepared myself for Ty to be even more shocked when we walked in through the front door, but he seemed too caught up in his own thoughts to even take in his surroundings.

"Ms. . . Alyssa, what would you like in your coffee?" Sienna questioned, taking my jacket and hanging it up despite my protests.

"The usual." I gave her a small smile and turned to Ty, "What do you like in your coffee?" His head snapped up as if I had just woke him up from a dream.

"What?" He questioned.

"Your coffee, how do you like it?" He shook his head, mumbling something under his breath.

"Any way. I'm not picky." He responded, keeping his eyes lowered to the ground as if he were ashamed.

"Oh, Sienna. Can we make some of your amazing scones too?" I piped up again. I saw Ty's head lift a little at the mention of food.

"Of course, Alyssa. I'll get the batter ready!" I nodded and walked toward the living room, turning the TV on.

"You like football?" I muttered, flipping through the channels until I found ESPN. Ty only shrugged as an answer, still not looking at me.

"Okay, okay." I sighed and grabbed Ty's wrist. He immediately yanked it back and stared at me in horror.

"Wow, don't worry." I whispered, "I was only going to take you upstairs. But I guess you can just follow me." He nodded and walked behind me as I skipped a couple steps as I went up them.

"Can I see?" I took the back of my shirt and pointed toward the tag then at him, almost as if I were talking to a child.

"Yeah." I smiled as best as I could and stepped behind him, pulling the back of his long sleeved ratty blue shirt down and checking the size.

"It's kind of small." He mumbled, "It's tight around my biceps." I let the shirt move back into place and walked into my brother's room.

"My brother is a large. I'm guessing one of his shirts should probably fit better since you're wearing a medium. Um, and what size pants are you?" I stopped dead in my tracks when I grabbed a hold of Jason's shirt.

What the hell am I doing? This is some guy off the street, and I'm letting him wear Jason's stuff? Why?

"I don't know." He replied, taking the blue v-neck I was holding out to him before I could change my mind.

I'm doing this for Steph. She had wanted me to give him the box under the bed anyway, right? So why not donate some of Jason's old clothes too?

"Try these." He was about Jason's height, so I'm sure the length of the pants wouldn't be a problem. It was the waistband that would probably screw everything up. Jason had quite a bit of muscle and Ty looked as if I could fit both of my hands around his torso.

"Why are you doing this?" He finally choked out, speaking more then a few words for the first time since we got here.

"Doing what?" I responded.

"Helping me. Giving me all of this." I walked toward my brother's bathroom so I didn't have to face him as I responded.

"It's for Steph. I don't know who you are, Ty. But my sister liked you a lot." I looked over my shoulder to find him staring down at the clothes in his hands with a look of pain on his face.

"She talked a lot about you." He whispered, "When she sent me letters, they were always about you coming to visit, or your Prom, or your graduation." He was finally meeting my eyes now, his own blue ones dark.

"She never mentioned you. Not once." I responded honestly. He nodded, as if he already knew.

"That's because she didn't want you to know." I frowned.

"What do you mean? Steph told me almost everything, she didn't want to hide anything, she couldn't." He gripped the clothes in his hands so tight I saw his knuckles turning white.

"She didn't want to tell you that she gave her allowance to me every day so I could try and find a job. So I could send it to my parents in return for taking care of my daughter. She didn't want to tell you because she was afraid." He said, his eyes starting to glisten.

"Afraid of what?" I questioned.

"She was afraid you wouldn't understand and you'd stop her from doing it. All of you, her family. She was so afraid of disappointing you all that she didn't get a chance to prove how wonderful she really was."

*

After getting Ty situated with the shower, I went back downstairs and sipped at my coffee while I watched some low scoring football game on TV.

"Do you have any razors?" I jumped at Ty's sudden appearance, at his voice cutting into the silence, spilling the coffee across my lap. I set the cup on the table and stood up, spinning around to face him. I couldn't help but stare at him in surprise.

He looked nothing like the scruffy and dirty guy I had brought home. The man that stood in front of me looked more like someone that had just walked out of an Abercrombie magazine. His once greasy dark hair was now glistening with the shininess of being clean. His eyes were lighter, making them stand out against his ashen cheeks. 

"Do you?" He repeated. I swallowed and started to walk down the hall to my parents bathroom.

"Yeah. We just keep them in here because my brother doesn't want my nephew to get a hold of one." I opened up the child safety lock on the cabinet and handed Ty a razor, shutting the door after a second.

"My parents do that with Tess. They make sure everything's locked up, or maybe they do that because I'm there." He shrugged, stepping in front of me so he could see himself in the mirror as he shaved his beard. I stood back, halfway in the bathroom as I watched him completely rid himself of the guy I had brought in.

"Alyssa?" Ty spoke up again, saying my name for the first time. I looked up in shock, admiring just how different he looked.

"What?" I said. He reached over and touched my shoulder, a look of sincerity in his eyes so bright I had no doubt what he was saying was honest.

"I was wrong, about you not being like her." His lips tugged into a smile, "I know exactly where she got her heart of gold from."

***AN***

Not a super eventful chapter, but I hope you enjoyed anyway!

Let me know what you thought!

~ChasingMadness24