Walls

Chapter 2 - Meeting

Sarah

I tried to keep the confusion from my features as mum opened the front door weighed down with bags and ushering two children in front of her. The girl was one of those kids that just looked so innocent and delicate, she was like a little angle. She had mousey brown hair that framed her pretty face before tumbling all the way down to her waist. She stood close to the little boy who could only be about 7 or 8. The family resemblance between them was striking, you would tag them as brother and sister anywhere.

This is the part where mum tells me that my brother, Peter, and I are such a disappointment that she has adopted other children, isn't it? Then I remembered the hot chocolates and registered the downcast, puffy red eyes that the two kids were trying to hide.

Crap! Mum has been at work...she works as a nurse at the hospital! That fact combined with the tears that had begun to silently fall from the girls sad hazel eyes can only mean that this is much worse than I thought.

I quickly moved forward to take one of the bags from mum as Peter materialised at the bottom of the stairs. "Hey, what's going on?" he greeted us. As I put the bags down I glanced back up.

And that's when I saw him.

He was loitering behind my mum, obviously not wanting to be here. I didn't blame him, he looked like the kind of guy that would have issues following some of our house hold rules.

Although saying that, he didn't look anything like a child, he had to be at least 5 years older than his siblings, older than me probably. He didn't look much like his brother or sister either, and that wasn't due to the fact he didn't seem to have shed a tear whereas they had both begun crying again. Not so silently in the case of the boy.

As mum leaned down to try and comfort the children I couldn't help but think that I'd seen the older one before. The way his shaggy blond hair fell into his dark blue eyes, his strong build; it was so familiar, he definitely reminded me of someone. I just couldn't think who.

I shook off the sense of familiarity and tried to watch him in a more subtle fashion as he turned away from us. Wow, he really doesn't want to be here I thought to myself as I continued to compare him with his siblings, the stark contrast in hair and eye colour, their general build, and even from these first impressions it was clear to see that they were in completely different universes on the personality front.

Perhaps they weren't siblings, as they had arrived together I had just assumed that they were. Maybe I was just jumping to conclusions. Even as my internal debate continued my subconsciousness was trying to pull me back to some distant memory. I knew that guy from somewhere. I was certain.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when mum sighed heavily shoving the rest of the bags at Peter, who was apparently still waiting for his answer. Putting the bags down next to the one I had taken, he turned to me with his eyebrow raised. I shrugged my shoulders at him, I was just as confused as he was. Out of the corner of my eye I saw mum crouch down and pull the trembling children into her arms.

The need to comfort and help took over as I quickly walked back into the kitchen, grabbing a tray as I rounded the breakfast island, and carefully balanced all the hot chocolates on it. Call it maternal instinct or whatever, I just couldn't help it when people were upset.

Mum looked up and smiled gratefully as I approached her and interrupted the sobbing by kneeling down, next to the boy. His hair was a shade lighter than the girls but they shared very similar facial features and the same slim build.

I frowned slightly as he looked at the floor, shyly refusing to meet my eyes. "Hey, it's ok, I don't bite" I said softly, using my gentlest voice. As he lifted his tearful eyes up to mine, he looked so small and vulnerable, I couldn't help but want to protect him. I smiled warmly as I handed him one of the mugs. He simply looked at me for a little longer, then wrapped his hands around the mug tightly, dropped his head and averted his eyes once again.

I sighed and handed out the other mugs as Peter retreated to his room, seeing that he wouldn't get a hot chocolate and evidently deciding that he would get an explanation when our guests had gone.

Mum looked up and frowned when she saw that he had disappeared, then turned to me with such deep sadness crossing her features that I immediately braced myself for the worst.

"Sarah, this is Summer, Mathew and Ray", at the sound of his name the older boy turned back around and I thought I saw a look of guilt flash across his face. Interesting..... I smiled at the younger two, and gave the last hot chocolate to Ray. Summer offered me a slight smile before quickly looking back at the floor. "They are Henry and Anna's children" mum explained.

So that's why he looked familiar!

He was almost the spitting image of his farther. Henry Galvan was one of my father's closest colleagues and over the years they had become good friends outside of work too. I have always thought that the two men were very similar in many ways. They were both quiet and very dedicated to their work. Dad didn't talk about it much, but I knew that both him and Henry worked in one of the labs in the middle of town and were well known in the world of science. Anna, however, was an old school friend of mum's and the four of them go out sometimes. It's like a double date, but weird because they're my parents.

"They are going to be staying with us for a while" Mum's sad voice brought me out of my thoughts. I looked at her for a moment, reading the message in her eyes.

"Ok" I took a sip of my hot chocolate to stop me from demanding an actual explanation and making this an awkward situation for us all.

Evidently I would have to be patient to find out what is going on here.