A Way to Pass Time

9

Ch. 9

Everything was pure chaos. I don't really know what happened after that. Something about getting in the car with Kale, Lindsey, Peter, and the random kid, then making our way back to Louis's shop. This was just one of those days apparently. I was very close to laughing hysterically when we pulled up to the bakery.

Sheila and Louis were there waiting for us, strangely. As if expecting us. I narrowed my eyes at Kale who was trying his best to look at everywhere at me. Lindsey said some things to Sheila that I didn't hear and then was ushered into the warm shop. Nothing and no one could stop the way I just seemed to faint into a booth seat.

Peter and Lindsey soon followed me while Kale just leaned against a table. Louis and Sheila hanging around us all.

Plates of cookies, cakes, and sweets were put on the table and it was strangely silent as we ate. It was strange. I've been used to the silence for such a long time, but it was just plain creepy hearing nothing from the loudest bunch of people I knew. A horrifying thought occurred to me.

They don't need me to fucking HUG them or some shit like that, do they? Because I definitely couldn't do that. Touching others is a big no-no in my world.

"So... who is he?" Peter asked, pointing to the little kid that was munching on some pastries. The first to break this freaky silence. I don't know why I didn't like the silence before, because now I had three pairs of Golden eyes staring at me.

I shrugged -the universal answer to everything. Did I really have the guts to say it? Their pointed looks seemed to grow with increasing power, forcing my hand.

*He's my brother*

I shrugged again.

Everyone but Sheila and Louis seemed to freeze. Jaws hit the floor, and a pair of wide, gray eyes looked at me.

"So it IS you..." Henry said, awed.

The sixteen year old gap between me and my younger brother, didn't faze the look of similarity between us. Our eyes, our hair, our face. If I was the same age as him, I would be the female version of Henry White.

So he didn't remember me.

I guess it wasn't a surprise. He was only four when I left the house. He wouldn't remember me four years later.

I banged my head in defeat. How much more would I have to take of this? All this family-Golden stuff... it was too much. Way to pass time -my ass!

"You have a brother?" Kale blurted. His eyes widened and his cheeks flushed. It was if he was embarrassed to ask the question that everyone was thinking.

*Henry White* I wrote. *I was sixteen when he was born, I left when he was four years old, and it's been four years since. He should be... eight now?*

Henry frowned, looking troubled. He opened his mouth. "I can't read that well yet."

My hand smacked my face as I fought another wave of exhaustion. This had to be a joke. Surely eight-year-olds had a higher reading level than what I've been writing. Maybe we weren't siblings after all. Oh god... my life.

I glanced back at the kid. He was looking at me, as if expecting me to explode into confetti and streamers. If only I could. *He doesn't even remember me.*

"I've heard of you," he said. "Mother and Father would speak of you sometimes."

So I'm the laughing stock of the family. Great. I gritted my teeth, ignoring him as best as I could. *What do we do with him? Better yet, WHY IS HE EVEN HERE?* I glared at Kale. This was all his fucking fault. He just had to mess with my life and my past.