by Kasi Blake
It was morning—an hour after dawn—and Nick was in his brother’s office. He sat on the cushioned window seat and stared through the tinted glass, taking in the incredible view of the rain forest. His eyes scanned the trees as far as he could see, searching for visual signs of a border monster. Killing something would be a nice distraction. He threw a couple aspirins into his mouth and used a bottle of water from his brother’s personal fridge to wash them down. Still hung over from last night, he was finding it hard to concentrate.
Alec dragged his chair from the desk, using it instead of the cane as he made his way to the bookshelf. Nick watched as his brother struggled to climb up on the chair. Once he made it, he teetered on the edge of the seat, arms extended as he swept the shelf above his head, blindly searching. Nick imagined his brother falling and breaking his neck. An inner voice warned him to go over there, hold the chair steady, but he didn’t move. Part of him, a mean and vengeful part deep inside, wanted Alec to fall. He was the only family member who wouldn’t go away.
“Got it!” Alec took his time getting down from the chair so he wouldn’t hurt himself. As soon as his feet touched the floor, he held up his prize. “I knew I still had it. Here. Catch.”
Alec threw the object and Nick caught it, a signed baseball. It brought back a bittersweet memory. Alec asked, “Remember when you got it?”
Their dad had taken them to a game one sunny Saturday afternoon. They’d feasted on hot dogs and nachos. His dad caught a foul ball during the second inning. After the game he’d found a player to sign it before giving it to Nick. The memory used to be one of Nick’s favorites. Now it was an albatross around his neck.
“It’s yours,” Alec said. “Keep it.”
“I don’t want it.” Nick opened his fingers and the ball fell to the floor. It rolled across the hardwood to Alec’s feet, but his brother didn’t stoop down to retrieve it.
“It’s been years,” Alec said. “You should talk to them. They feel terrible over what happened.”
“You make it sound like they accidentally stepped on my foot. They tried to kill me.”
“What would you have done in their place? They were under a great deal of pressure. Everyone on the board wanted you dead. If the prophecy comes true, the world ends. Mom and dad were scared. They were reminded again and again by others that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and billions of lives are worth more than one.”
“Not when the one is your own son.” This wasn’t what he wanted to talk about. He was in Alec’s office for advice on what to do about Bay-Lee. He’d been hoping Alec knew the perfect girl to fix him up with, but that wasn’t going to happen. “You seriously want to know what I would do if someone told me my son needed to die to protect the world? I would fight for him. I would die for him.” He made a face. “And not everyone on the board wanted me dead. Van didn’t.”
“Holding a grudge against your own parents isn’t healthy.”
“I’ll tell you what’s not healthy.” He stood, unable to sit a moment longer. “Meeting with them is not healthy. They could try to poison me over dinner.”
Alec sighed and rubbed his forehead.
Before his brother could say another word on the subject, Nick jabbed the air with his finger. “If you bring them up again, you and I are finished. Understand?”
Nick glanced at the papers on his brother’s desk on his way to the door. A list of names and dates caught his eye. Alec had a list of student birthdays. Nick froze in place, staring down at it.
Alec swept it under the clutter on his desk.
Their gazes clashed. Alec wasn’t going to explain why he had the list, and Nick wasn’t going to ask. He knew his brother well enough to know Alec wouldn’t confide in him. Still angry about the baseball, Nick continued to the door.
He walked out without another word. As he traveled down the hallway another memory surfaced, the night he’d found his brother in the woods, near death. At first he hadn’t even known it was Alec. The boy had changed, grown up with different features and different mannerisms. If he’d known it was Alec, he might not have saved him…