“Your parents would be so proud of you, if they had any idea what kind of work you’ve been working on; but they never will. Still, it must make you happy to know they’d approve.”
“Don’t you get much approval from your parents, Brand?”
“I’ve always been a failure in my Dad’s eyes.”
“I can’t believe that, what about all those football games you won? Wasn’t he there to watch?”
“He was only there to see me fail.”
This was a different side of Brand that I wasn’t used to seeing. “Why do you feel that way?”
“My parents divorced when I was young. It was a few years after my Dad’s affair and after they tried to make it work he moved out and we’d go see him on some weekends. He always had a different girl at his place whenever we arrived and his attentions were directed to her the entire time. It was as if we didn’t exist. Some weekends he’d cancel our stay because of his new girlfriend. Why couldn’t he see that there were more important things in life, like his kids?”
“I’m sorry, Brand.”
“I thought playing football would make him proud because he played back in his day and isn’t that what fathers want is for their sons to follow in their footsteps? Well, not my Dad. The last game in the State Championships, the one we lost, my dad was there with a new girlfriend. After one particular play, I looked over at him and saw a glimmer of pride in his eyes so I made the next play ‘over the top’ spectacular. When I looked at him, I finally saw what I’d been yearning for over the last eighteen years of my life; my father’s approval. As soon as it was there it was gone and the all too familiar look of disgust washed over his face. You know what the sad thing is? I repeated the play over fifty times to get him to look at me that way. I realized at that point it certainly wasn’t worth the effort as it wasn’t what I thought it would be. It was my proudest achievement but my largest disappointment. I decided at that point I was going to live my life for me not for him. I continued the game not repeating again and we lost. The look on his face wasn’t any worse with my loss than it was after my fantastic play. Now, do you understand why I went into Performing Arts instead of football? I’ve moved on, Calli.”
“I had no idea, Brand. I’m sorry. So, you wanted to be an actor?”
“Yeah, movie stars get laid all the time!”
“I don’t believe you’ve moved on, Brand, you are still seeking your father’s approval.”
“What?”
“You continue to seduce girls by getting what you want. You want your father to be proud of your sexual triumphs, you want him to say, ‘like father, like son’, or ‘that’s my boy’ so you continually chase after girls, like your father.”
He threw his arms in the air. “What, are you a shrink now? What am I supposed to do? Stop chasing girls? It’s what comes natural to me and it would be a shame to stop.”
“Don’t you find it strange that you chose your major based on the amount of sex you’ll get from it?”
“Hey, I’m a guy!”
“No one is arguing that you aren’t. I just find it interesting that one of your biggest issues with your dad is being played out in your day to day life. Aren’t there more important things in your life, Brand?”
“I’m not like my Dad! He abandoned my mom when she needed him most. I would never do that. What kind of a man would cheat on his pregnant wife? The day I was making out with Suz and my mom came in and interrupted us, I took Suz home and then came back and talked with my mother. She of course didn’t know I knew about the affair because she had no idea she’d told me; imagine her surprise when I sprung it on her.”
Suz appeared in the still opened doorway where she was clearly eavesdropping and confronted Brand. “You liar, your mother never came into the room!”
Brand looked at me and asked, “Should I continue to protect her or should I let this play out?”
“Protect me from what?”
“Suz, I’m your half brother. Your mother and my father had an affair.”
“You’re nothing but a son-of-a-bitch liar! I don’t know what I ever saw in you.”
Brand looked at me. “Should I repeat?”
“Nope,” I said, “she needs to hear this.” I’m not entirely sure if I was making that decision based on what the future would hold for her or whether or not it was just my own mind wanting Suz to know the truth to get her to lay off her attentions to Brand.
“What are you talking about?”
“We are half brother and sister, Suz. I found out and put a halt to our relationship rather than tell you.”
“My mother never cheated on my father. You’re lying.”
“Come on, Suz, he’s telling the truth.” I tried to help Brand.
“You’re both trying to screw with my head, you both hate me and want me to hurt.”
I couldn’t let that hurtful comment slide by without a rebuttal. “Are you saying you never screwed with anyone, Suz?”
“What?”
I continued, “You’d never purposefully hurt anyone and then live a lie for years? There’s a phrase that says, ‘Takes one to know one’. You are only suspecting Brand is lying because you’re so good at it yourself.”
“I don’t—”
“I know you set the firework in middle school, Suz. I know you only became my friend out of guilt and it’s been one huge lie for you to continue doing it. You were so relieved when you saw me hugging Brand at Cedar Point and you used that moment to justify finally breaking off our friendship.”
Suz’s face lost all color and her voice dropped to a whisper. “How… when… I never told anyone that.”
Uh-oh. My face must have shown my thoughts because Brand said, “It’s not too late, Calli.”
Suz’s face lit up with anger. “Wait! Your mom must have spoken to my therapist; it’s the only way you could have figured that out. That’s a breach of patient/doctor confidentiality. I could sue your mom.”
“You could sue your own therapist, but not my mom.”
“I’ve always hated you, Calli. You get everything you ask for, you never have to struggle for money, or clothes, and everything always works out for you. You ended up with Brand instead of me.”
Brand jumped up from his seated position. “Haven’t you been listening? You are my sister, Suz. Can you say incest?”
“I don’t believe you. My mother would never cheat on my father.”
“We are not a couple, Suz. We’re just friends.”
“It’s still more than what I ended up with! Alright… well, what about the fact that Brand said his mom came in while we were making out? That never happened. We kissed and then he stopped and took me home. He’s lying.”
“Alright, Brand, fix this.” I said realizing this had gone too far.
Brand looked at me with a resigned expression. “Can’t undo it now. It’s been too long. Suz, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Brand?” I wasn’t certain what he was about to tell her.
“Suz, I have an ability that I use on people, mainly girls,”
“Brand!”
He winked at me with his head turned so Suz couldn’t see. “I’m a hypnotist, Suz.”
“No you’re not.”
“Yes, I am. I am able to get people to do and say what I want and I’m able to mess with their memories to cover up what we’ve done. In fact, the day my mom came in and caught us making out, you told me about the firework in the bathroom and being Calli’s fake friend. As soon as you told me you immediately regretted it so I made sure to help you forget you’d ever said it.”
Now I knew he was lying; but I appreciated his intent to give plausibility to a different avenue that I could have learned about her secret. It would take the heat off her therapist and my mom.
“I’m not buying this, Brand. No one has that kind of control over someone else’s thoughts.”
“What about the hypnotist at the school assembly in high school? Are you saying the kids wer
e faking it? I don’t know about you but Arnold Hoffman seemed to be telling the truth when he said he didn’t remember picking his nose in front of everyone, yet we all saw him do it. Why couldn’t I be able to help you forget certain aspects of your memory? What you need to ask yourself is, was it so wrong of me to want to protect you from the pain of it all?”
“It can’t be true, Brand.”
“Believe what you will, but that is the reason I turned my back on you, and believe me, no one wishes it wasn’t true more than me.”
“Really?”
“Hell yes. If it wasn’t true, I’d be with you right now. Why don’t you talk to your parents about it? When you do, tell them that you think you might be pregnant and that I’m the father. That will get them to fess up real quick.”
Suz frowned. “What if my parents’ story doesn’t match your mom’s story?”
“Then you come and find me. For now, give me a hug and try to believe I only want your happiness and it’s why I did what I did.” Brand and Suz hugged with Brand holding the hug a little longer than Suz, and then she left.
After he sat back down, he ran his fingers through his hair and exhaled loudly.
“Brand, do you really feel that way about Suz?”
“What do you think?”
“I’m not sure what to think.”
“I think you nailed it on the head when you said I’m just like my dad. I guess learning of his affair affected me more than I thought and I went on a binge of a ‘what does it matter?’ kind of thinking.”
“Perhaps you were trying to fill the empty space inside with much needed love and praise. I’ve noticed you need everyone to like you and that you can’t stand it when someone doesn’t. I’d say that goes back to your need for your father’s approval too.”
“Yeah, well I haven’t accomplished much. My world is still rocked every time Suz comes near me.”
“I’m sorry, Brand. I didn’t know or I wouldn’t have lit into her just now. But, thanks by the way, for covering for me.”
“Yeah, you know, she went on and on about the lies and the lying, and yet she’s been lied to her whole life, as have I. It’s not very fun to find out everything you thought to be real really isn’t.”
If he had any idea how completely I understood him, he’d be shocked. “I stand corrected, Brand, on when you should or shouldn’t use your powers. You have a reliable gut instinct and quick wit; I’ll have to trust you when you decide to repeat.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “You have no idea how many lines I tried in order to come up with the hypnotist line. In fact, Suz threw that at me on one of my tries.”
Three bleached blonde, excessively endowed girls bounced in the doorway. “Brand, do you want to hide out in our room?”
Brand looked at me and smiled exposing his dimples. I had to admit, his looks had matured in the last year. He was much more handsome than in high school and I could see what the girls were excited about. Plus, he owned his confidence, at least on the outside. I’d just seen his inner self-loathing side and I must say it really changed my image of him—for the better.
“Thanks ladies, but no, I must face my mistakes.”
The three let out a collective sigh and put their hands on their chests, as if they needed to draw any further attention to that region, and then bounced down the hall.
“Calli, are you going to come and watch?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
Chapter 9 - Freedom to Choose
A few hours later we left the building and climbed into my car. The river dunes were located out of town and were a popular place for indie-band concerts because of the ‘stadium seating’ and acoustics. It was also a perfect location for college benders or the occasional ‘fight’ because of its secluded atmosphere. However, those kinds of events usually took place in the summer months, not the end of November. We hadn’t been hit yet with a substantial amount of snow and what had fallen had melted with the rain that followed.
When we pulled up to the parking area we were both surprised by the amount of vehicles. I cast a glance over to Brand. “How many guys did you tick-off?” He didn’t answer.
We exited my car and walked toward the edge of the dune overlooking the river below and found roughly two-hundred people gathered for the carnage. We began our descent through the damp sand and as we neared the bottom I noticed the large group of guys waiting for Brand.
“How many different Fraternities did you offend, Brand?”
“Oh damn.” Brand muttered under his breath.
I followed his line of sight and found Suz along with her group of friends huddled together in their matching fur-trimmed parkas. I quickly read Suz’s mind to find out if she was here to see him go down or to watch him kick ass. She was here to watch him kick ass and she’d apparently told all her friends about his fighting skills… and they’d told all their friends, and so on and so forth. I touched on a few other minds and found they were here because of what they’d heard about Brand.
“I can’t believe you are more upset with her presence verses the thirty guys waiting for you down there.”
He grunted something inaudible in return.
“I’m going to stay up here. I know I don’t need to wish you luck, Brand, but good luck.”
He winked at me. “Piece of cake.”
He continued down to the bottom of the dune along the bank of the river and I sat down on the damp sand in a spot that gave me a good view of Brand and most of the onlookers. Suz shot some nasty daggers my way causing me to turn my head and that’s when I saw him.
Freedom stood by the edge of the river with his arms folded across his chest wearing his sunglasses and long leather duster/trench coat. I wasn’t sure if I should communicate with him or not, of course, if I waited long enough he’d probably talk to me, like last time. However, I wasn’t sure if he’d seen me yet.
My attention was brought back to Brand who was being circled by the many buff college guys. Sheez, Brand, you never do anything half-way do you? I thought to myself. The boys were yelling insults and curse words at Brand who looked positively bored. I recognized one of the boys to be Travis from the Mixer a few months back. I remembered he was an unaltered and suddenly my mind filled with the realization that at least two-thirds of these angry guys were unaltered.
Why was there such a concentration of people without powers about to fight Brand unless… my eyes shot over to Freedom. I tried to read his mind but only found a strange blackness. His blocking ability was really good. A few of the boys glanced over at Freedom, who nodded back, and then they attacked Brand.
I was afraid for Brand initially, but within five seconds it was clear that Brand could hold his own and had already taken down three boys. I wondered how many repeats Brand had to do; I was certain it was many. A couple more boys dropped to their knees, vomiting up their lunches due to Brand’s signature moves. As more boys went down, it was easier to see exactly what he was doing. He really was a flawless fighter landing perfect hits and punches disabling his foes with one or two hits. The whole crowd gasped when Brand successfully eagle-clawed one unfortunate soul who fell to his knees in agony.
My eyes found Freedom again. He had a smirk on his face that was hard to read. I hated the fact that he was wearing sunglass because I couldn’t see where his eyes were; I couldn’t tell if he was looking at me or not. Only Freedom would understand the possibilities and advantages of having a group of unaltered guys attack a person of powers, but was Freedom trying to figure out if Brand was a person of powers?
Brand was down to the final five contenders who were nervously dancing around him not wanting to engage. Finally, the cheering crowd urged the battle on to the finish. To everyone’s surprise, except mine, Brand was the last one standing. I was very proud of him and my beaming smile was evidence of it.
I watched as Brand stepped over a couple guys and approached Freedom. I wanted to yell, “Wait!” or “Don’t” but it was too late. All I cou
ld do was read lips at that point.
Freedom said, “You don’t need to be in college, son. I can offer you employment right now.”
Brand’s head bobbed as he replied something back.
Freedom laughed and then said, “Well, I’m sure you are, but this job would not be lacking in women. However, I need to know, would you have a problem with fighting at night?”
Yep, there it was. Freedom was trying to figure out if Brand was a person of powers.
Brand answered.
Freedom asked for clarification, “You don’t have a problem with fighting in the dark?
Brand’s head shook back and forth.
“Where did you learn to fight? Have you had any formal training?”
I saw Freedom reach into his pocket and pull out a business card and hand it to Brand, then turned and walked into the crowd and disappeared from my view.
Brand turned his head and searched the crowd until he found me; but before he could move toward me he was surrounded by girls. He didn’t look too happy and he pushed his way through them ignoring their advancements.
I looked up the hill and saw Suz leaving with her friends; that was a relief at least. We wouldn’t have to worry about her confronting Brand again. The new concern floating through my mind was would she spread the rumor that Brand was a hypnotist and would it fly as quickly as her rumor that Brand could beat any number of fighters?
Brand finally found me. “Did you see that creepy looking dude?”
“Yeah, what was that all about?” I asked naively.
He handed me the business card. “He wanted to hire me to be his bodyguard. There’s more, but I’ll tell you in the car.”
I looked over at him admittedly shocked knowing he must have sensed Freedom was more than what he appeared to be. We ascended the hill, shrugging off congratulations along the way, and climbed inside my car.
He launched into his pent up concerns. “Calli, that guy knew about the Shadow Demons, I know it! He was very concerned about the dark and nighttime as if he knew the dangers associated with it. Only another person of powers would know that.”
Unaltered #2_A Diamond in my Heart Page 10