Truth Be Told

eight

a/n: 

it's been a while. and by that, i mean, a really, really long while. i haven't updated in over a year and to be honest, i haven't been writing much for some time now. (when all you do at work is write, the last thing you want to do when you get home is stare at the blinking MS word cursor.)

but this story does have a special place in my heart. it's a struggle to write, mostly because the issues i'm trying to talk about here are issues i've been facing, and i've yet to personally make sense of them. i'm not sure if i can do it justice, but here's to trying.

this chapter has one of the most long-awaited confrontations, so i hope that makes up for the long hiatus this story has been in.

as always, thank you and i hope you enjoy!

sam xo

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E I G H T

COLIN USED TO BE a very difficult kid. At least, that's what his parents always say. They would talk about how often he used to throw tantrums, and how he would sometimes break his brother's toys whenever he got jealous or mad.

One of the stories often passed around whenever they had a big family reunion with all the aunts and uncles was how, back when Colin was five, he tried to get rid of his younger sister by writing to Santa and asking for him to take her away because, his parents quote, "she cries too much."

Everyone would laugh when they got to his parents' favorite part: Him crying on Christmas morning when he actually thought Santa took Cindy away. They said he looked all around the house and cried and apologized over and over to his parents. Turns out their uncle just took her out for a drive because she was being fussy and wanted to open everyone's presents.

Colin vehemently denies it, though the letter—which his parents kept all through these years—pretty much speaks for itself, grammar and spelling errors notwithstanding.

In any case, back when he was a kid, he was always jealous of his brother. He looked up to Clark and often tried to be like him. He wanted the same toys, the same friends, the same clothes—and most of all, he wanted his attention. He hated it when Clark chose to play with Cindy over Colin... which was probably why he wanted to ship her off to the north pole back then.

Point is, Clark has always been the better kid. He was the one everyone just adored, whether it's teachers or parents or classmates or even waitresses. He ate his greens, studied well, and did his chores without complaint.

Between the two of them, Colin was the one the adults had to keep an eye on—so imagine everyone's surprise when Clark decided to drop out of college right before his senior year, pack his bags and go off to god knows where.

It's been a while since he heard from his brother. These days, much of what he knows about Clark's whereabouts come from what he sees on Facebook, and that Sunday morning, Colin stumbles across photos of Clark in hiking gear, standing atop a mountain of some sort. He came with a group, and the grin he proudly wore in each photo irked Colin.

In the aftermath of his brother's sudden departure, Colin was forced to step forward and fill the shoes Clark left behind.

Things between the two of them have gone downhill since.

Colin had just woken up, and was yet to gather enough willpower to leave the comfort of his bed when he stumbled on the stupid photos. It felt wrong to think so, he can't help it: Clark shouldn't be having this much fun, right?