Storming in the Past

Chapter Sixteen

I ran off into of the woods. I hoped my brother wouldn't hate me. Finally I reached the village. I saw a woman getting water.
"Hello," I said, hoping she spoke my language, "uh, do you know where Alex Damen is?"
She nodded her head.
"I do. He's at the blacksmith." The woman's bright blue eyes looked me up and down, the slightest bit of confusion showed in them, "Wow, you sure look like him, are you related?"
"Uh, cousins." I said, lying, and ran off.
I heard the banging of a hammer and looked inside the building, my brother! He looked so much older now. Slowly I walked in.
"What do you want?" He said, not even looking up to see who I was.
"Alex-" he whipped his head up.
"Reed!" He ran over to me. He was a lot taller than me and had much more muscle.
"I'm so sorry how I treated you!" His voice cracked with emotion, "I missed you!" He hugged me and looked down at me. "How did you get here?"
"I have a friend who I'm traveling with. His name is Sam."
He smiled, "Wait, I have something to show you." Alex disappeared into a room in the back and came back minutes after, holding something in his hands.
My eyes widened. "You kept it?"
He was holding my invention that I used to work on all the time when I was little.
He smiled, "Yeah."
"Wait," suddenly I realized how far away we were from home, "what happened to the house?"
"Oh," he turned away, "after you left a war broke out. Big war. I had to fight in it, lost some of my friends, anyways," he turned back to me, "the house was burned down in it."
"What about my invention? How didn't that burn?"
My brother's face went red, "Well," he shuffled his feet, "I took it with me when I went to fight." He stared at his feet, "I missed you Reed."
I smiled and looked outside, the sun was setting.
"I have to go. I don't think I'll be back tomorrow but I will the next day."
I walked to the door, "Bye, Alex." I said, staring at him, sweat defined his dirty face, his brown eyes seemed like fire in the setting sun.
"Bye Reed!" He smiled.
I ran out the door and back through the woods. Sam was standing up waiting for me.
"How did it go?" Sam asked me.
"I found Alex! He said he was sorry and that he missed me."
Sam nodded, "Good," he said, as if I had said something else he would have attacked my brother.
We started walking home. I was in a very good mood, but I wouldn't be this happy for a long time after this.