Her Strength

Chapter 1.2

I could have fallen asleep in seconds or in hours, I wouldn't know. Everything was a blur. My dream, however, was a crystal clear vision of the past. The first time I met Alex's son, Isaiah.

It was two years ago and I had just moved to Cliffmond, a small town renowned for nothing important, in the middle of nowhere. Mom had just married Alex and they had decided to move to his hometown to start fresh. I think Mom wanted a life completely different to the one she had with my Dad who had died when I was 3 but she was happy so I was happy. Isaiah hadn't been able to come to the wedding because of his college exams and so it was decided that we would all see him at the new house. While mom had met him in the past, for reasons such as illnesses, sleepovers and other coincidental occurrences, we had never seen each other in person, only over Skype.

I was so engrossed in my surroundings, I failed to notice the man sitting on the porch but when I did, he stole the spotlight. With hair blacker than anything I had ever seen and green eyes that seemed to suck the soul out of anything that moved, he was as spine chilling as he was beautiful. I found it peculiar that he wore a smart v neck and fitted trousers as they didn't seem to fit the eyes boring a hole into me as walked towards them. But then he smiled and I felt foolish for being intimidated. As it turned out, he was polite and charming. Mom loved him, Alex loved him and I could grow to love him too.

At dinner, it was revealed, that Isaiah was the shining example in town. He was everything someone would want to be. He was attending Harvard and yet remained loyal to his hometown. His father bragged throughout the entire meal, beaming with pride. And so did I, after all, he was my new brother.

By the end of the evening I was enchanted by the gentleman that was Isaiah and as we walked back from the shop together with candy for the movie we were watching as a family, I told him as much.

" I'm glad your my brother, " I said softly, " your really nice."  Mom always said it was important to say how you feel.

At my confession, he glanced at me and grinned. " Thank you, " he replied tipping an imaginary hat.

Giggling I stated, " I thought you were scary at first, you know." I continued walking until I realised he was no longer with me. He stood frozen, staring at me once more with eyes that seemed void. A smirk spread across his face and I gulped, confused at his change in behaviour.

" Scary, huh?" He asked, reaching into his pocket. I followed his every move, frightened and bemused at my reaction. It was cold and I hadn't worn a coat. The stop was not welcome.

" H-hey it's cold, why'd you stop?" I asked, irrationally jumpy. I watched as he took out a cigarette before lighting it and taking a puff, never taking his eyes off my own.

" How old are you, kid?"  He asked, ignoring my question. The sugary quality of his voice had been discarded.

" Fifteen.  W-what about you?" I stammered shivering as a gust of wind blew my hair back, exposing my nape to the frosty air.

"Twenty," he answered, " have you ever smoked? "

I froze at the line of questioning as I told him that no, I hadn't. At this, he began striding towards me, stopping merely an inch in front of me.

"Here," he offered, holding his cigarette to my lips and at my wide eyed refusal he continued " Its not scary, it's just a puff, it'll feel good and then we'll go home and watch the movie as a family," he murmured. My heart was in my throat but I wanted to be a family or maybe I was just curious so I went to hold the cigarette.

"No, no"  he chided, " I'm your brother, I'll do it.'" At his mocking tone, I was brought back to reality but before I could speak, I had inhaled a lung full of nicotine and was coughing, bent at the waist. Tears in my eyes, I looked up to see his figure looming over me. I stood shaking my head, indicating that I didn't like it which was received with a gentle smile. Seeing his expression, I relaxed, only to have smoke blown in my face. I stood in shock. He stared at me with dead eyes daring me to comment on what he had done. At that point, his deceptive nature terrified me and as he trailed a finger down my cheek, a tear trickled down my cheek. I was confused, he hadn't done anything terrible and yet I felt mentally tormented, maybe because he had so easily been able to hid this side of himself and it made me question reality and my perception. Perhaps I was seeing things, stirred up by the dark night and the cold air.

" Don't tell anyone I smoke, okay?" He said softly before walking ahead of me, waiting for me to follow. And I did.

Isaiah stayed with us for a week and was perfectly nice the entire time, whether we were alone or not. Every meeting afterward was also a pleasant experience. I chalked up our initial meeting to my fearful nature and his college stress. It was normal for people to experiment with smoking and that's exactly what he was. Normal.