The irony of you and Caleb befriending the Mitchell twins sinks into you. If they’re twins, Sean might tell you a lot about how Taylor’s supposed to be. You’ve noticed Taylor has changed a lot, and you’re unaware of how much of Scott was really the late Scott Bickelmeir, and how much is actually Taylor’s own take on him.
Besides, Carson and your dad are right. You’ve spent too much on this. You’d surely love to continue working on compounding that sigil, but you figure a little distraction shouldn’t bother you. You chuckle as you realize you might get ideas from the distraction itself.
You immediately make up your mind. "Actually...come get me at my house. Tell the guys I’m going."
"Great!", Caleb exclaims. "I’ll send you a text as soon as we’re getting close. Just wait until you meet Sean. He’s super nice!"
You giggle nervously as the thought encompasses your mind. Either Sean’s the evil twin, or I got stuck with him. "Uh...sure", you stammer. "Love to meet him."
As Caleb drops the call, you gather all the books. You’re about to mindlessly place them on your book bag, but you decide to keep them on the hideout this time. You decide to hide them out somewhere safe, somewhere hard to see, and somewhere as far away from the door as possible, and as you move away, you send a text to Taylor: [going w/caleb to c a flick. hve fun w/lucy.]
As you get into the car, you see Taylor’s reply: [Hve fun u 2.]
You make a short trip to your home, and surprisingly, only your mother’s there. "I thought you’d be staying out late," she says.
"Caleb called. Wants me to see a movie with him and some friends from school." You realize the eerie silence in the house. "Uh...where’s Dad? And Robert?"
Your mother sits down with a sigh.
"Your father said something about checking out some new software, but I bet he's trying to sneak up to work." She looks at you in a conspiratorial way. "He thinks I don't know, but I still let him." She turns back to a cup she’s drinking from, and then tells you about your brother. "Robert’s in a study group with some friends from school. He should be arriving a little late."
If your nerves weren’t on edge, you’d dismiss your mother’s concern; however, both your father and your brother gone could only mean something. You go upstairs and drop your books as you ponder the possibilities. Your dad must have gone to Blackwell once again; maybe to report how everything’s going, just like with Lucy’s double. And as for your brother? You can’t imagine what’s going in that mind of his, but you’re glad you left the books back in the basement. You don’t want any of them nosing through your belongings.
--
Before the hour could end, you listen to the blaring sound of a horn, followed by a buzz from your phone. [dude im n ur home. where r u?]
[coming downstairs now], you reply back, and dash downstairs. Outside, you stop dead in your tracks as a familiar face emerges from the driver’s seat of the truck in the driveway. You approach with caution, as Caleb gets out and presents him. "Yo, Will! Sean, this is Will. Will, Sean Mitchell."
The resemblance is startling; in fact, you were almost about to ask him where he left Lucy. He puts out his hand with a smile, exactly as Taylor often did when meeting you. "Hey, Will! Nice to meet you outside of school."
"Right. I don’t see you that much," you reply, still unnerved by how similar he is to his brother. "Nice to meet you."
You get behind Sean’s car, and you notice that the Mitchells share more than just looks; they seem to share some tastes as well. You keep listening as Sean and Caleb start talking about work, about school, and about girls, and a wild thought forms on you. Taylor had success with Lucy. What if we could use Sean to lure Lucy’s duplicate?
--
The movie, it turns out, isn't a new one in a theater, but a straight-to-streaming horror movie, and you watch it (of all places) in the Top S(h)elf Storage Complex. That's where Carlos Montoya (whose family owns the complex) has his makeshift studio, but at least it's inside a climate-controlled unit, so the viewing experience is pretty comfortable, even if there's a half-dozen of you crowded into the room. It's an interesting choice of venue, and it occurs to you that if you ever need a new work space, you might try renting such a unit yourself.
The movie itself is godawful, but the company is good, and pretty soon you're hooting at it along with the others, riffing on the bad dialogue and cracking wise at it. Mike Hollister, who with Carlos hosts a YouTube movie-review channel, even compliments you on your insults and invites you to make an appearance on an upcoming video. You tell him you'll think about it.
When it's over, everyone agrees to watch the first [Matrix] to clear the stink out, and during the changeover you sidle up to Sean. "So how’s Caleb doin’ at Salopek?" you ask. (It's the best you can come up with.)
He laughs, and it's a bit eerie how much he sounds like Taylor. "Well, he was a bit disappointed when he found out what it was like, but he's doing his best. He’s a good worker. Your dad’s showering him with praise." You feel your mouth filling with bile as he mentions that; Caleb seems more like what your father would like you to be, rather than what you are now, but he always liked science and engineering.
Caleb must have heard his name, for he scoots over to joint you. During the brief chat that follows, he mentions about how Carson has seen you with Scott Bickelmeir. Sean makes a face, and calls him a creep.
"He seems like a nice guy to me," you protest.
"If you wanna hang around him," Sean says, "don't come bitching to me when you get burned."
Caleb jumps in. "You got some kind of history between you?"
Sean's expression blackens.
"Yeah, you could say that," he replies. "He was a friend of my brother, Taylor. Bad influence." He grimaces. "They were together the day Taylor died."
Caleb, ever the undiplomatic doofus, asks for details, and Sean briefly recounts the story of Taylor's traffic accident. You offer your condolences, which Sean accepts with a shrug.
The movie starts shortly afterward, but you don't pay a lot of attention to it, as you've seen it many times before and have other things to think about. Indeed, you're on the verge of point of making an excuse and texting someone for a ride, when your eye falls onto Sean's bare bicep, and the tattoo that encircles the muscle.
You'd noticed it briefly before, but had assumed it was just the typical barbed-wire or Maori design. Now, sitting directly beside Sean with your nose only a few inches from his arm, you do a double-take and feel your jaw fall open.
It's a tattoo of a sigil, like those in the primer you stole from Blackwell. Instead of taking the form of circle, it is a ring that circles Sean's arm. The symbols are unfamiliar, but the style is unmistakable.
You nudge him and in a low voice ask him about it.
"Oh, it's just something I had done after my brother's death. No biggie. Just something to remember him by."
"Where'd you get the design?"
"It was in some stuff he left behind."
Carlos calls out for quiet, so you lapse into silence. You've got a lot to think about anyway.
Taylor has said that he wants to reconnect with his family, and with Sean here it would be easy enough to get him to drop you off at the basement, where you could surprise the brothers by reintroducing them to each other. And there'd be a bonus for you, for after Sean has understood what is going on, he would surely be anxious to help you both out by supplying you with the stuff he mentioned. He would also be a great recruit in your secret battle against Blackwell.
But just as you wouldn’t want your brother to get involved, you feel it’s for the best to consult with Taylor first. You excuse yourself and move to a corner to text him. [Yr brother sean showd up at the movie. Want me to bring him back so u can c him?]
Taylor takes a very long time answering, and you grow more and more anxious as you wait and pace. When it does come, it’s very short and sounds very calm, but it worries you: [Leve him alone n leave it 2 me.]
The reply leaves you in an agony of indecision. If Taylor was willing to see Sean today, you could get Sean to stop by his house, maybe, and give you those papers. Of course, if Taylor only wants to delay the meeting, you would get your chance at the papers later. So perhaps it is best to respect Taylor's wishes, and to leave Sean alone.
On the other hand, maybe you could still wheedle those papers out of Sean without telling him why you want them, and without taking him back to the basement to see his brother.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author