The Dark Stranger

Hometown

"The Dark Stranger"
© VeGirl 2014

To shake the feeling of being watched, I decide to meet Eddie's request and take a few days off to go see my mother and father in Phoenix.

I like the freedom of the open road as I blast down highway 17 south. The sky is deep blue as always and the sun blasts its heat down. I send a thanks' to the lord almighty for aircondition in my car, or perhaps the engineer designing it.

Eventually I roll my car into a stop on my parents' driveway and a wave of heat meets me as soon as I open the door. The dry heat seems to be even worse that the few miles north where I live.

With my overnight bag on my shoulder I ring the doorbell before I open and step inside. "Honey, I'm home!"

"Sam?"

I see my brother peek around the corner just before my parents shows up behind him. "Nick, you're home!" I hurry up and throw my arms around my brother. "I didn't know you'd be here," I mumble as he holds me tight.

"Yeah... Emily and I broke up and I moved back here to stay a couple of weeks until I get a new apartment," he says with an embarrassed look. "But I'm glad I am, so I get to meet you, sweetie."

He releases me so I can hug my parents as well. They seem a little on edge and cast me worried looks just like everybody else around me. What is it with everybody, or am I getting neurotic, reading in too much?

"Are you okay since our last talk, sweetie pie?" my mother asks worried.

I'm not really sure what she means, but I decide to go along. "Sure, you don't have to worry." I smile and see how she relaxes before me. "I love you Mom."

Tears fill her eyes and she hugs me hard.

It is little later, after I have been properly fed, when Nick and I sit on the back porch, watching the sun set that I got the idea why she was so worried. Nick lay his arm around my shoulder. "I'm so glad that you are okay and that you didn't totally freak out when they told you that you're adopted; well, you and me both." He adds.

I furrow my brows, trying to recall that particular conversation, but come up with nothing. Adopted! "Yeah I'm okay, how about you?" I feign a cool collected expression.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I've always known."

"Yeah, me too," I reply and realize that is actually true; I have always known that there's something else out there, but this particular reason was lost on me. "Do you remember how it was earlier?" I ask carefully.

"I was young when they took me in, so I don't remember anything else before that, and that life doesn't matter to me." He smiles warmly at me, the brotherly way that makes me feel safe. "I know that I'm the younger brother, but I remember when you got here. You were a mess and I knew we had to take extra care of you." His tone of voice is caring and considerate and my eyes well up. "Oh, come here!" He encages me in those strong arms of his and I realize how much I have missed him.

"I'm so glad I got you for a brother," I sob into his shirt, making a mascara-smudged wet stain color it dark. "I remember you defending me in school against the older guys. You've always been my guardian angel."

He chuckles soft now, making me laugh the tears away. "You needed it. You were like some lost little bird that had fallen out of the birdsnest." He holds me on an armslength smiling soft at me and I smile at him, feeling more whole that I have done in a good while.

* * *

Nick decides that he and I are going out the next night. I haven't decided how long I will stay here, so I take him up on his offer. A few of his highschool friends are having a party and he invites me along. "You look like you could need a good time."