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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: Do any of us really own anything? Can anyone claim to possess the lives of these characters that we hold so dear? You betcha. But it isn’t me. Don’t own them. Just borrowing them. This is just my feeble attempt to keep the Pretender alive and well until we finally get to find him again on DVD release. If anyone tries to sue, I’ll disavow all knowledge.
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The Straight Path Lost Part 10
By Phenyx
08/15/04
Ethan closed his eyes and listened to the silence. ‘Silence is golden,’ he thought to himself. How few people truly understood that old phrase? Silence was pure. It carried a weight far greater than it should. Like solid gold, complete silence had a distinct density to it.
Silence was rare. The world carried a constant hum, more so in this modern world of computers and cell phones. There were few places devoid of some type of mechanical buzz. Florescent lights, ventilation fans and traffic noises followed mankind throughout the civilized world.
Away from the hubbub of society there were other sounds. The noises of nature were everywhere. Birds singing, wind in the trees, the occasional bark of a dog all prevented the arrival of silence.
For Ethan, another sound persisted as an almost continual drone at the edge of his consciousness. The murmur of voices skittering through Ethan’s mind was an eternal presence. The constant hiss of a dozen whispers was the background noise of Ethan’s life.
But today, at this moment, even Ethan’s inner sense was quiet.
Standing at the foot of the porch steps, Ethan inhaled deeply and savored the biting cold as it tickled his lungs. The air was crisp, cold without being damp. More snow had fallen during the wee hours of the night giving everything a clean, smooth look to it.
It was early, still dark at this time of year, when the nights were long and the days fleetingly short. A full moon shined brightly overhead, giving the scene an icy blue color that seemed fitting, for it was quite cold. Ethan’s breath puffed from his nose and mouth in billows, like smoke from a dragon.
This was a peaceful place, far from the nearest city. A rented farmhouse on the edge of nowhere, it had taken weeks for Jarod to find it. Once located, the large rambling structure had been scrutinized for days to make sure it was safe. The building was old and the heat wasn’t very efficient. They’d been warned that a heavy snowfall could shut off the electricity. But the nearest town was fifteen miles away and the tiny burg had only one middle-aged man on the entire police force. The place was well isolated, making it a safe haven for the family to gather for a few days in order to celebrate the holidays. Extra wood for the fireplace and sweaters to keep them warm simply added to the festive atmosphere.
Ethan smiled as his inner sense kicked back on and began to tingle. More a feeling than a sound, the sensation whispered across Ethan’s shoulders and tickled down his spine.
“Good morning, Jack,” Ethan said softly.
A moment later, what had seemed to be an empty shadow shifted and took on the shape of the gangly boy.
“Still trying to sneak up on me, little brother?” Ethan chided.
A mischievous grin broke out on the boy’s face. “Can’t blame me for trying,” he answered. “One day I’ll trick you into thinking it’s Jarod creeping up on you.”
Ethan chuckled obligingly. Jack would never fool Ethan in that way, though Ethan wouldn’t dash the boy’s hopes by saying so. For even though Jarod and Jack were clones of the same flesh, Ethan knew them to be very different on a psychic level.
Jack hummed with enthusiasm and an almost desperate eagerness to please. The boy’s aura vibrated with a need for acceptance that Ethan understood only too well. It was this same desire in Ethan that Dr. Raines had exploited so well for all those years. Jack was easily interpreted, his thoughts and feelings broadcast without interference.
Jarod however, was the opposite. Jarod carried none of the desperate eagerness that Ethan and Jack shared. Not that Ethan could sense at any rate. Jarod was almost impossible to read, a fact that had frightened Ethan badly when the two brothers had first met. The elder pretender seemed to be enclosed within an envelope that Ethan’s inner sense could not penetrate. It had taken a while for Ethan to understand.
Ethan had come to realize that Jarod had a highly developed defense against mental probing. Whether it was a natural aberration or a learned behavior Ethan wasn’t sure. But the fact was, Jarod’s mind was not easy to reach through telepathy. On the one or two occasions when Ethan had made a concerted effort to break through the barriers, Jarod had glared at him in angry confusion. The pretender had been aware of Ethan’s efforts on some level, exactly how much so, Ethan wasn’t sure.
Jarod had been only the second person in Ethan’s life that he had been unable to sense. The first had been Dr. Raines. It was a similarity that had made Ethan very uncomfortable. If it had not been for Miss Parker, Ethan knew that he would never have felt at ease in Jarod’s presence. It had been her belief in the pretender that had gained Ethan’s trust.
Ethan had known Parker forever, long before they’d met on that train. Her mind was like an open book and she glowed with the radiance of her own inner strength. It had been her voice, so like the whispers in his mind, which had brought Ethan back to sanity that day. It had been Parker’s confidence in Jarod, her trust in him, which had given Ethan the power to trust him as well.
It had been an epiphany of sorts for Ethan, to learn that two people could count on each other so completely. Jarod and Miss Parker had, at the time, been at each other’s throats. But Ethan had seen the waves of faith that glowed from Miss Parker and it had confused him badly. Like a whirlwind of contradictions, Ethan’s half-siblings had made his head spin.
Perplexed and frightened, Ethan had been forced to step back a bit, to remove himself from the situation long enough to regain his bearings. Ethan had never told either of them that they had been the reason he’d left so abruptly. To explain would have meant telling Miss Parker about the feelings he could sense emanating from her. The auras, the thoughts and the colors Ethan could see had been a secret he had never shared with anyone. Not even Dr. Raines had realized the true extent of Ethan’s skills.
“Where is he?” Jack murmured, jerking Ethan from his thoughts.
“He’ll be here,” Ethan answered.
With a frustrated sigh, Jack stomped one foot impatiently.
“Calm down, Jack,” Ethan soothed. “The trees aren’t going to get up and walk away. We have plenty of time.”
“I know,” Jack grumbled. “But I’ve never chosen a Christmas tree before. I’m eager to get started.”
“We’ll need an axe,” Ethan suggested. “Why don’t you go get one from the shed?” Before Ethan had finished speaking, the boy was dashing off across the snow.
There was a soft sound as the door to the house opened and closed. The absence of any feeling from his inner sense told Ethan who was behind him. He turned and saw Jarod standing on the steps pulling gloves over his hands.
Jarod straightened the wool cap on his head and flipped up the collar of his coat. He was just about to descend the stairs when the back door opened again.
“Jarod,” a voice called softly.
Ethan had to squint against the brightness pouring from the house. He knew that the illumination had little to do with the lights in the kitchen. Miss Parker was standing in the doorway, holding something out toward Jarod.
“Here,” she said, handing the pretender a thermos. “Some coffee to help keep you idiots warm. Don’t get frostbite. I expect you all to come back with the same number of appendages you left with.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Ethan answered with a grin.
“It’s cold out here, Parker,” Jarod scolded. “Go back inside where it is warm.” Casually leaning forward, Jarod kissed her as he pulled the fluffy edges of her robe more snugly around her. The aura that Ethan could see around his sister suddenly brightened to a blinding intensity and wavered outward until it encompassed the man holding her.
“I’m going back to bed,” she huffed when their lips had parted. “No one in their right mind is up at this hour.”
Jarod smiled, ignoring the intended slight. “We’ll be back for breakfast,” he said. Turning, the pretender came down the stairs to join Ethan just as Jack bounded up to them, a long axe propped on his shoulder.
The trio of brothers headed off through the snow. For a time, they crossed the fields without speaking. The crunching of the snow beneath their feet was the only sound. The moonlight was enough to guide the way, so they had no need for the flashlight Ethan had in his pocket. They trudged on, each man savoring the surroundings in his own way.
Several minutes passed before Ethan said suddenly, “You are good for each other.” His voice was soft, yet it seemed very loud in the emptiness.
“What makes you think so?” Jarod asked with genuine curiosity.
“She keeps you grounded,” Ethan said with a shrug.
“Yeah,” Jack piped in. “You don’t give orders so much when Miss Parker is around.”
“I don’t give orders,” Jarod denied.
Ethan and Jack cast each other a sidelong glance and scoffed simultaneously.
“I don’t!” the pretender cried.
“No,” Ethan said sarcastically. “You simply know what’s best and make suggestions that no one is permitted to argue with.”
Jarod chuckled. “Parker and I argue plenty.”
“Exactly,” Ethan replied. “She keeps you humble.”
The pretender smiled wryly. “She makes me feel like an idiot at times.”
“Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” Ethan explained. “You tend to get a little cocky when you’re being the genius, big brother.”
“Keep it up, little brother,” Jarod growled. “And I might just deck you.”
Ethan grinned. He always loved playing this game with Jarod. It had taken practice, but once they had learned to relax with one another, the brothers had found this easy way of talking. Ethan could say just about anything to his big brother. They could have the most serious of discussions this way, veiled in taunts and petty insults.
“Are you and Miss Parker going to get married?” Jack asked with little grace.
“What?” Jarod seemed stunned, as though someone had tossed a bucket of cold water over his head.
“Married,” Jack repeated firmly. “Are you going to get married and have kids?”
“It’s a valid question,” Ethan added, when it appeared that no answer was forthcoming. “The two of you have been a couple for the better part of a year now. When do you intend to make an honest woman of her?”
“It’s only been eight months,” Jarod corrected.
“Don’t avoid the question,” Ethan said. He placed one hand over his heart as he lifted the other in the air, and began to expound dramatically. “You have besmirched my sister’s honor, sir. I demand satisfaction.”
“Shut up, Ethan.” Jarod’s tone was sharp and curt.
“Please don’t be angry,” Jack pleaded. Ethan felt his younger brother’s tension increase. He placed one arm around the boy’s shoulders in response.
Jarod sighed. “I haven’t really thought about it,” he said finally. “Parker never wanted children. We are both too messed up to raise a kid, anyway.”
“I think you would be a great dad,” Jack smiled in near rapture.
“Oh, sure,” the elder pretender mused. “I’d take paranoid overprotective behavior to a whole new level of neurosis.”
Ethan nodded, unable to argue.
“Seems to be little point in getting married if we are never going to start a family,” Jarod said.
“Mom says that two people get married because they love each other,” Jack said with sudden conviction. “They promise to belong to each other forever and ever.”
They walked in silence for a few moments before the boy added, “I think you should marry her.”
“What you think is irrelevant,” Ethan chided. Wrapping his arm around Jack’s neck, Ethan pulled the boy close in a playful headlock and scrubbed one hand through the thick brown hair.
The boy laughed, twisting away from Ethan’s grasp. “But you love her, don’t you?” Jack asked his eldest brother.
“Jack,” Jarod sighed in exasperation.
“You love her, don’t you?” Ethan repeated quietly.
Jarod’s gaze met his brother’s in a solemn moment of silence. “Yes,” he finally answered.
“Does she feel the same?” Ethan asked. He watched as hesitation darkened Jarod’s features. Ethan wanted to tell his brother what he had seen. He ached to find some way to explain what he already knew. But, like an iceberg concealing its true depth, Ethan fiercely protected the secret of his talent.
Ethan watched as Jarod’s face took on a faraway look. The pretender’s eyes fluttered closed in thought and one gloved hand brushed absently across his lips. His eyes opened and Jarod looked down at the thermos he carried. Jarod’s fingertips caressed the metal container and as he did so, a smiled began to spread across his face.
One did not need to be an empath to see what thoughts were running through Jarod’s head. Ethan knew that his brother was remembering the hundreds of moments that had occurred between him and Miss Parker in the last eight months. Moments when she had saved for him the last slice of dessert or slept on a miniscule corner of mattress so that he could have more than his share of the bed.
How many times had Ethan seen Miss Parker leave the last three bites of food on her plate, only to nonchalantly pass them to Jarod? How often had she perched on the corner of the couch to watch some senseless film for the hundredth time, while Jarod sat contentedly on the floor with his back propped against her legs? This had not been the first time Parker had risen early to see Jarod off on some new adventure. Ethan knew that it would not be the last.
Love, true and lasting, wasn’t in the romantic declarations. It wasn’t in roses or poetry. Real love was in the details, the dull minutia of daily life. True love meant caring for someone when they were sick, tolerating that person when a bad mood made them unbearable and finding security in simply being in the same room with them. This was the kind of relationship Ethan had seen blossoming between his half-siblings. He envied them both.
“Yes,” Jarod said finally as his grin widened. “I believe she does.” With a flick of his wrist, Jarod tossed the thermos in the air, letting it twirl several times before he caught it.
“Then you should get married,” Jack nodded at his twin in triumph.
The thermos hopped into the air again, turning end over end before returning to Jarod’s palm.
Without warning, Ethan was abruptly assaulted by a powerful sensation. Darting from his older brother like an arrow, the feeling pierced through the air with a force that stole Ethan’s breath. Nearly visible in its intensity, emotion poured from Jarod in a flash of heat like a blast from a furnace.
Yet, as quickly as it had appeared, the sensation was gone, doubling back on itself and vanishing behind the blankness that was Jarod. Though the moment had been brief, Ethan still had no trouble identifying what he had felt radiating from his brother. Joy, pure and simple, without reservation, was one of life’s most basic emotions and easily recognizable.
“Maybe,” Jarod was saying. “If she’ll have me.”
“She will,” Ethan replied automatically.
Jarod glanced at Ethan warily.
“Like I said,” Ethan said with a shrug. “You are good for each other.”
The older pretender smiled indulgently. “Right. She makes me humble,” he nodded.
“And you make her happy,” Ethan added gently.
“That’s all that really matters, isn’t it?” Jarod asked.
Ethan nodded solemnly. Jarod absently played with the metal container he carried as Jack dashed off to inspect the tree line. When the boy returned a moment later, the three continued their trek through the snow.
Ethan felt his earlier serenity return. The silence was gone, lost in the crunching of footsteps and Jack’s whistled Christmas carols. Yet the feeling of contentment persisted. Life was good. Ethan had his family around him and for the first time he began to believe that they were all going to be okay.
Jarod was finding his place in this world. It may not be the path the pretender had been looking for, but it was a good life none-the-less. Ethan knew that his brother would always need to be cautious, always need to run from those who pursued him. But the life Jarod was settling for was no longer one of loneliness. He had a partner now, one that had been with him all along. The years of conflict between Jarod and Miss Parker had simply been the friction caused as two separate pieces learned to fit together into the oneness they were meant to be.
They were good for each other. Together they were going to be just fine.
The End.
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The Straight Path Lost Part 10
By Phenyx
08/15/04
Ethan closed his eyes and listened to the silence. ‘Silence is golden,’ he thought to himself. How few people truly understood that old phrase? Silence was pure. It carried a weight far greater than it should. Like solid gold, complete silence had a distinct density to it.
Silence was rare. The world carried a constant hum, more so in this modern world of computers and cell phones. There were few places devoid of some type of mechanical buzz. Florescent lights, ventilation fans and traffic noises followed mankind throughout the civilized world.
Away from the hubbub of society there were other sounds. The noises of nature were everywhere. Birds singing, wind in the trees, the occasional bark of a dog all prevented the arrival of silence.
For Ethan, another sound persisted as an almost continual drone at the edge of his consciousness. The murmur of voices skittering through Ethan’s mind was an eternal presence. The constant hiss of a dozen whispers was the background noise of Ethan’s life.
But today, at this moment, even Ethan’s inner sense was quiet.
Standing at the foot of the porch steps, Ethan inhaled deeply and savored the biting cold as it tickled his lungs. The air was crisp, cold without being damp. More snow had fallen during the wee hours of the night giving everything a clean, smooth look to it.
It was early, still dark at this time of year, when the nights were long and the days fleetingly short. A full moon shined brightly overhead, giving the scene an icy blue color that seemed fitting, for it was quite cold. Ethan’s breath puffed from his nose and mouth in billows, like smoke from a dragon.
This was a peaceful place, far from the nearest city. A rented farmhouse on the edge of nowhere, it had taken weeks for Jarod to find it. Once located, the large rambling structure had been scrutinized for days to make sure it was safe. The building was old and the heat wasn’t very efficient. They’d been warned that a heavy snowfall could shut off the electricity. But the nearest town was fifteen miles away and the tiny burg had only one middle-aged man on the entire police force. The place was well isolated, making it a safe haven for the family to gather for a few days in order to celebrate the holidays. Extra wood for the fireplace and sweaters to keep them warm simply added to the festive atmosphere.
Ethan smiled as his inner sense kicked back on and began to tingle. More a feeling than a sound, the sensation whispered across Ethan’s shoulders and tickled down his spine.
“Good morning, Jack,” Ethan said softly.
A moment later, what had seemed to be an empty shadow shifted and took on the shape of the gangly boy.
“Still trying to sneak up on me, little brother?” Ethan chided.
A mischievous grin broke out on the boy’s face. “Can’t blame me for trying,” he answered. “One day I’ll trick you into thinking it’s Jarod creeping up on you.”
Ethan chuckled obligingly. Jack would never fool Ethan in that way, though Ethan wouldn’t dash the boy’s hopes by saying so. For even though Jarod and Jack were clones of the same flesh, Ethan knew them to be very different on a psychic level.
Jack hummed with enthusiasm and an almost desperate eagerness to please. The boy’s aura vibrated with a need for acceptance that Ethan understood only too well. It was this same desire in Ethan that Dr. Raines had exploited so well for all those years. Jack was easily interpreted, his thoughts and feelings broadcast without interference.
Jarod however, was the opposite. Jarod carried none of the desperate eagerness that Ethan and Jack shared. Not that Ethan could sense at any rate. Jarod was almost impossible to read, a fact that had frightened Ethan badly when the two brothers had first met. The elder pretender seemed to be enclosed within an envelope that Ethan’s inner sense could not penetrate. It had taken a while for Ethan to understand.
Ethan had come to realize that Jarod had a highly developed defense against mental probing. Whether it was a natural aberration or a learned behavior Ethan wasn’t sure. But the fact was, Jarod’s mind was not easy to reach through telepathy. On the one or two occasions when Ethan had made a concerted effort to break through the barriers, Jarod had glared at him in angry confusion. The pretender had been aware of Ethan’s efforts on some level, exactly how much so, Ethan wasn’t sure.
Jarod had been only the second person in Ethan’s life that he had been unable to sense. The first had been Dr. Raines. It was a similarity that had made Ethan very uncomfortable. If it had not been for Miss Parker, Ethan knew that he would never have felt at ease in Jarod’s presence. It had been her belief in the pretender that had gained Ethan’s trust.
Ethan had known Parker forever, long before they’d met on that train. Her mind was like an open book and she glowed with the radiance of her own inner strength. It had been her voice, so like the whispers in his mind, which had brought Ethan back to sanity that day. It had been Parker’s confidence in Jarod, her trust in him, which had given Ethan the power to trust him as well.
It had been an epiphany of sorts for Ethan, to learn that two people could count on each other so completely. Jarod and Miss Parker had, at the time, been at each other’s throats. But Ethan had seen the waves of faith that glowed from Miss Parker and it had confused him badly. Like a whirlwind of contradictions, Ethan’s half-siblings had made his head spin.
Perplexed and frightened, Ethan had been forced to step back a bit, to remove himself from the situation long enough to regain his bearings. Ethan had never told either of them that they had been the reason he’d left so abruptly. To explain would have meant telling Miss Parker about the feelings he could sense emanating from her. The auras, the thoughts and the colors Ethan could see had been a secret he had never shared with anyone. Not even Dr. Raines had realized the true extent of Ethan’s skills.
“Where is he?” Jack murmured, jerking Ethan from his thoughts.
“He’ll be here,” Ethan answered.
With a frustrated sigh, Jack stomped one foot impatiently.
“Calm down, Jack,” Ethan soothed. “The trees aren’t going to get up and walk away. We have plenty of time.”
“I know,” Jack grumbled. “But I’ve never chosen a Christmas tree before. I’m eager to get started.”
“We’ll need an axe,” Ethan suggested. “Why don’t you go get one from the shed?” Before Ethan had finished speaking, the boy was dashing off across the snow.
There was a soft sound as the door to the house opened and closed. The absence of any feeling from his inner sense told Ethan who was behind him. He turned and saw Jarod standing on the steps pulling gloves over his hands.
Jarod straightened the wool cap on his head and flipped up the collar of his coat. He was just about to descend the stairs when the back door opened again.
“Jarod,” a voice called softly.
Ethan had to squint against the brightness pouring from the house. He knew that the illumination had little to do with the lights in the kitchen. Miss Parker was standing in the doorway, holding something out toward Jarod.
“Here,” she said, handing the pretender a thermos. “Some coffee to help keep you idiots warm. Don’t get frostbite. I expect you all to come back with the same number of appendages you left with.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Ethan answered with a grin.
“It’s cold out here, Parker,” Jarod scolded. “Go back inside where it is warm.” Casually leaning forward, Jarod kissed her as he pulled the fluffy edges of her robe more snugly around her. The aura that Ethan could see around his sister suddenly brightened to a blinding intensity and wavered outward until it encompassed the man holding her.
“I’m going back to bed,” she huffed when their lips had parted. “No one in their right mind is up at this hour.”
Jarod smiled, ignoring the intended slight. “We’ll be back for breakfast,” he said. Turning, the pretender came down the stairs to join Ethan just as Jack bounded up to them, a long axe propped on his shoulder.
The trio of brothers headed off through the snow. For a time, they crossed the fields without speaking. The crunching of the snow beneath their feet was the only sound. The moonlight was enough to guide the way, so they had no need for the flashlight Ethan had in his pocket. They trudged on, each man savoring the surroundings in his own way.
Several minutes passed before Ethan said suddenly, “You are good for each other.” His voice was soft, yet it seemed very loud in the emptiness.
“What makes you think so?” Jarod asked with genuine curiosity.
“She keeps you grounded,” Ethan said with a shrug.
“Yeah,” Jack piped in. “You don’t give orders so much when Miss Parker is around.”
“I don’t give orders,” Jarod denied.
Ethan and Jack cast each other a sidelong glance and scoffed simultaneously.
“I don’t!” the pretender cried.
“No,” Ethan said sarcastically. “You simply know what’s best and make suggestions that no one is permitted to argue with.”
Jarod chuckled. “Parker and I argue plenty.”
“Exactly,” Ethan replied. “She keeps you humble.”
The pretender smiled wryly. “She makes me feel like an idiot at times.”
“Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” Ethan explained. “You tend to get a little cocky when you’re being the genius, big brother.”
“Keep it up, little brother,” Jarod growled. “And I might just deck you.”
Ethan grinned. He always loved playing this game with Jarod. It had taken practice, but once they had learned to relax with one another, the brothers had found this easy way of talking. Ethan could say just about anything to his big brother. They could have the most serious of discussions this way, veiled in taunts and petty insults.
“Are you and Miss Parker going to get married?” Jack asked with little grace.
“What?” Jarod seemed stunned, as though someone had tossed a bucket of cold water over his head.
“Married,” Jack repeated firmly. “Are you going to get married and have kids?”
“It’s a valid question,” Ethan added, when it appeared that no answer was forthcoming. “The two of you have been a couple for the better part of a year now. When do you intend to make an honest woman of her?”
“It’s only been eight months,” Jarod corrected.
“Don’t avoid the question,” Ethan said. He placed one hand over his heart as he lifted the other in the air, and began to expound dramatically. “You have besmirched my sister’s honor, sir. I demand satisfaction.”
“Shut up, Ethan.” Jarod’s tone was sharp and curt.
“Please don’t be angry,” Jack pleaded. Ethan felt his younger brother’s tension increase. He placed one arm around the boy’s shoulders in response.
Jarod sighed. “I haven’t really thought about it,” he said finally. “Parker never wanted children. We are both too messed up to raise a kid, anyway.”
“I think you would be a great dad,” Jack smiled in near rapture.
“Oh, sure,” the elder pretender mused. “I’d take paranoid overprotective behavior to a whole new level of neurosis.”
Ethan nodded, unable to argue.
“Seems to be little point in getting married if we are never going to start a family,” Jarod said.
“Mom says that two people get married because they love each other,” Jack said with sudden conviction. “They promise to belong to each other forever and ever.”
They walked in silence for a few moments before the boy added, “I think you should marry her.”
“What you think is irrelevant,” Ethan chided. Wrapping his arm around Jack’s neck, Ethan pulled the boy close in a playful headlock and scrubbed one hand through the thick brown hair.
The boy laughed, twisting away from Ethan’s grasp. “But you love her, don’t you?” Jack asked his eldest brother.
“Jack,” Jarod sighed in exasperation.
“You love her, don’t you?” Ethan repeated quietly.
Jarod’s gaze met his brother’s in a solemn moment of silence. “Yes,” he finally answered.
“Does she feel the same?” Ethan asked. He watched as hesitation darkened Jarod’s features. Ethan wanted to tell his brother what he had seen. He ached to find some way to explain what he already knew. But, like an iceberg concealing its true depth, Ethan fiercely protected the secret of his talent.
Ethan watched as Jarod’s face took on a faraway look. The pretender’s eyes fluttered closed in thought and one gloved hand brushed absently across his lips. His eyes opened and Jarod looked down at the thermos he carried. Jarod’s fingertips caressed the metal container and as he did so, a smiled began to spread across his face.
One did not need to be an empath to see what thoughts were running through Jarod’s head. Ethan knew that his brother was remembering the hundreds of moments that had occurred between him and Miss Parker in the last eight months. Moments when she had saved for him the last slice of dessert or slept on a miniscule corner of mattress so that he could have more than his share of the bed.
How many times had Ethan seen Miss Parker leave the last three bites of food on her plate, only to nonchalantly pass them to Jarod? How often had she perched on the corner of the couch to watch some senseless film for the hundredth time, while Jarod sat contentedly on the floor with his back propped against her legs? This had not been the first time Parker had risen early to see Jarod off on some new adventure. Ethan knew that it would not be the last.
Love, true and lasting, wasn’t in the romantic declarations. It wasn’t in roses or poetry. Real love was in the details, the dull minutia of daily life. True love meant caring for someone when they were sick, tolerating that person when a bad mood made them unbearable and finding security in simply being in the same room with them. This was the kind of relationship Ethan had seen blossoming between his half-siblings. He envied them both.
“Yes,” Jarod said finally as his grin widened. “I believe she does.” With a flick of his wrist, Jarod tossed the thermos in the air, letting it twirl several times before he caught it.
“Then you should get married,” Jack nodded at his twin in triumph.
The thermos hopped into the air again, turning end over end before returning to Jarod’s palm.
Without warning, Ethan was abruptly assaulted by a powerful sensation. Darting from his older brother like an arrow, the feeling pierced through the air with a force that stole Ethan’s breath. Nearly visible in its intensity, emotion poured from Jarod in a flash of heat like a blast from a furnace.
Yet, as quickly as it had appeared, the sensation was gone, doubling back on itself and vanishing behind the blankness that was Jarod. Though the moment had been brief, Ethan still had no trouble identifying what he had felt radiating from his brother. Joy, pure and simple, without reservation, was one of life’s most basic emotions and easily recognizable.
“Maybe,” Jarod was saying. “If she’ll have me.”
“She will,” Ethan replied automatically.
Jarod glanced at Ethan warily.
“Like I said,” Ethan said with a shrug. “You are good for each other.”
The older pretender smiled indulgently. “Right. She makes me humble,” he nodded.
“And you make her happy,” Ethan added gently.
“That’s all that really matters, isn’t it?” Jarod asked.
Ethan nodded solemnly. Jarod absently played with the metal container he carried as Jack dashed off to inspect the tree line. When the boy returned a moment later, the three continued their trek through the snow.
Ethan felt his earlier serenity return. The silence was gone, lost in the crunching of footsteps and Jack’s whistled Christmas carols. Yet the feeling of contentment persisted. Life was good. Ethan had his family around him and for the first time he began to believe that they were all going to be okay.
Jarod was finding his place in this world. It may not be the path the pretender had been looking for, but it was a good life none-the-less. Ethan knew that his brother would always need to be cautious, always need to run from those who pursued him. But the life Jarod was settling for was no longer one of loneliness. He had a partner now, one that had been with him all along. The years of conflict between Jarod and Miss Parker had simply been the friction caused as two separate pieces learned to fit together into the oneness they were meant to be.
They were good for each other. Together they were going to be just fine.
The End.
