Voices in the Dark

The Photograph

  Chapter 17- The Photograph: (Alec's P.O.V.)

  Evie and I didn't talk much on the flight. We slept most of that time.

  Once we landed, we found a hotel near where my dad's funeral would take place. I don't know when Evie's family members is having their funeral.

  "Would you like to go to my family's house with me?" I asked Evie once we were settled.

  "Sure, when?" she replied.

  "In an hour," I said.

  "Alright, I'll go change into something more presentable," she said.

  I just now looked at her appearance. She had dark brown shoulder length hair and dark brown eyes, almost black. I still say that she looks familiar.

  She walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

  Awhile later, I heard the shower running.

  She walked out of the bathroom about ten minutes. She's wearing skinny blue jeans, dark blue blouse with sleeves that flow out at the elbows, and black ankle boots. She also curled her hair so that her hair reached mid-neck.

  We bought her new stuff at the airport.

  I walked by her and entered the bathroom. I got ready and walked out ten minutes later. I'm wearing dark washed blue jeans, white t-shirt, and my combat boots. I didn't do anything with my hair besides dry it because my hair is un-tamable and lets face it, I'm hot and irresistible.

  "You ready?" I asked Evie.

  "Yeah," she said, getting up.

  I barely heard her mumble:

  'Great, I find out that I have a brother and he ends up being cocky and he's sure as hell not hot and irresistible.'

  Did I say my that out loud? Wait a minute....what does she know about looks and guys, she's probably never even had her first boyfriend.

  "One, yes, you did say that out loud. Two, I know a lot about guys because three, I have had many boyfriends. So ha, you're not the only one that people find attractive in this world," she said, walking towards the door, leaving me stunned.

  After awhile,I grabbed my phone and made my way out of the hotel room.

  Ha, she admitted that people find me attractive.

******************************

  We pulled into the winding driveway of the 'big house' as my family used to call it. It wasn't a mansion, but it wasn't a normal two or three story. It was in between. It had about four to five floors and could easily fit AT LEAST fifty people. The house had a black roof and a white outer paint. Also, I should mention that this wasn't my house, it was my 'other' grandparents that wanted nothing to do with me after my mom died.

  The driveway was long and the property wasn't placed in a huge neighborhood. The next house was about a half mile away.

  We drove up and parked besides a bunch of cars.

  When I turned off the ignition and turned towards Evie.

  "There's a couple things that you should know," I said.

  "Before you tell me, you really should learn to keep your thoughts to yourself because, yes, you ARE attractive, BUT...very big but, I am hotter than you," she stated.

  "Now who's cocky? And no, you aren't 'hotter' than me because my attractiveness became known as a baby. So ha," I said, quite proud.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

  "It means that you were probably a very ugly baby to become what you are now," I said, two can play at this game.

  "What I am now. Hmmm.....you're going to wish you hadn't said that," she said, smiling mischeviously.

  "What can an 11 year old girl possibly do to an 18 year old man?" I asked.

  "Oh.....trust, a lot of things," she said, laughing like an evil grimlin.

  "You know, you might be 11 and look like you're 9, but you act like a 13 year old on her you know what," oh yeah, I went there.

  "I know, but at least I'm not a man who acts like he's still going through early stages of puberty," she shot back.

  I'm gonna have my hands full.

  At that thought, I got back to what I was going to say and told her my story.

  Then I told her who to stay away from in my family.

  After all of the heavy talk, we stepped out of the rented vehicle and entered the house.

  The house looked empty so we headed to the back patio.

  I leaned down to Evie's height which was pretty short and whispered,"Stay close to me at all times." 

  "Alright," she said.

   At that, we walked through the sliding doors that open up to the patio.

  There was people strung all over the huge space. I saw that they were having a BBQ. A few people looked at us, but not many.

  One that WAS looking at me was my 'step-mother' whose name is Martha. I looked closer and she wasn't actually looking at me, but Evie. I looked at Evie and she was looking at her too with her mouth open.

  Martha walked over to us and both her and Evie embraced while I stood by and was confused at how they knew each other.

  When they finally broke apart, they looked at each other.

  "I'm so sorry sweety for everything," Martha told Evie.

  "I'm not just going to say it's alright Martha," she said, emphasizing the name.

  "I know that you're upset with me, I can never fix that, but I can try and rebuild our bond," she said.

  I feel like I should say somethibg to acknowledge my presence.

  "Kmmhm." I coughed into my hand.

  'Yay! I got their attention............ finally.'

  "Oh, hello Alec, I'm sorry that you wasted your money for nothing," she said, I had to have a minute to think about what she meant. Then I figured out that she was talking about the lung money.

  "No, it was for something. It showed my 'father' that his son still cared," I stated, looking her straight in the eye as I did so.

  "Well....oh! Evelyn, this is Alec and Alec, this is Evelyn," she said, gesturing to both me and Evie.

  "My name is Evie, not Evelyn. I don't like that name. It was given to me by some woman I never knew," she told Martha. "And Alec and I have already met, his grandparents are adopting me as their own grandchild."

  "Then you know already.....," Martha trailed off.

  "Know what?" I asked at the same time that Evie did.

  "It's better if I show you instead," she motioned us to follow her into the house. She led us up to my dad's old room when he was younger.

  "He hid something here for......both of you because we agreed that the gathering would be here and he knew that you'd be here," she said, while I looked at Evie, puzzled as to how she knew my father.

  Martha pulled a normal sized trunk out from under the twin sized bed. After placing it on the bed, she took a key from under her blouse and unlocked the trunk.

  But what she pulled out was the most surprising.

  It was a picture.

  In it, a seven year old me and my dad, but also a tiny itty bitty baby. A baby girl.

  Both children looked like my father.