Dissolving

Chapter 14 - Secrecy

I am relieved when school is finally over.

It is Friday afternoon and I am more than ready for a relaxing weekend. I didn't sleep well last night after it took me forever to fall asleep in the first place, what with the stranger's words going around my mind like a carousel.

Why was he asking me about Sean?

How does he even know my brother?

Why did he disappear when Jack showed up?

Why was he watching us in the car park?

Also, I cannot seem to stop wondering about my brothers are acting so secretive. After I noticed their weird behavior last year, it sort of fizzled out for a while and I completely forgot about it. And then they picked it up again after I got injured. Last night was the most obvious they have ever been about this. I mean, they didn't even really try to hide that they were having a "secret" meeting in the backyard. Actually, if that was them trying, somebody should probably tell them that they are not very good at hiding stuff.

Apart from hiding a dead sister from us for years.

And never telling us that our father is still alive.

Nothing makes much sense to me right now and I guess the twins are just as confused. Otherwise, they would have either explained things to me – I hope – or they wouldn't have agreed to continue with our investigation. I really hope to catch Luke sometime this weekend to put my ingenious plan into action and move things forward.

"Shut the door behind you, ace. I'll be upstairs!" Jack shouts, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I blink a few times, trying to figure out what is going on only to realize that I must have walked into the house behind my brother without even noticing what I am doing. I don't remember getting out of his car, either. This should probably worry me a bit, but being absentminded isn't necessarily a new experience for me. I am just glad that Ben is not around to scold me.

He had to stay back at school for some roadshow thing that takes place at the high school. The twins are still there, too, since they are high school kids, obviously, and that event is for grades 9 and 10. They should be home in about an hour or so. This resulted in Jack having to drive me home, since nobody else was available. I know that he was not very amused by that because he wanted to go somewhere else and, instead, was forced to come home.

Now that Jack is 18, it looks like Alex finally trusts him to stay home alone with me. Before his birthday in January, my oldest brother would always make sure that one of the grown-ups is also around when we come home from school. I never really understood his reasoning, because Jack isn't a different person, only because he is now legally an adult. He has always been one of my more mature brothers and I am pretty certain that he could have looked after the twins and me just fine. Not that the three of us ever believed that we needed looking after, of course.

My mind is still a bit blurry as I take a few steps backwards to close the door, as Jack instructed me to. When I turn back around, my eyes fall on a big white envelope lying on the floor in the middle of the hallway. I lean down and pick it up, wondering where it might suddenly have come from. It is kind of thick and heavy.

And it is addressed to Jack.

But the address is kind of weird. Instead of stating our street name and number, it has a P.O. Box number on it. It takes me a moment to connect the dots, but when I do, a small gasp escapes my lips.

On the way home, Jack said that he had to detour into downtown to stop for something before we could drive to our house. I didn't really pay this much attention, since I was musing over how and when to talk to Luke, so I barely acknowledged his announcement and just stared at my phone. My plan was to act like I was reading something online to make it less obvious that I am plotting my next steps in my head and didn't want to have a conversation with Jack.