Fortuity // Seth Clearwater

.1.

After the fight with my mom before I left, I had never felt more ready to leave the nest. Never more hopeful for my future as opposed to completely ruined by my past. 

I had checked into a motel in La Push the second I arrived, planning on testing the waters with the internship and determining what to do from there once I got a sense for how long I would be living here, and if it could lead to a more permanent position. 

One plus side to being ignored by your mother your entire life was being forced to work to earn my own way. I had worked multiple jobs since the age of 13, putting away my own savings to put myself through college because I knew my mother wouldn't care. To my surprise, she ended up chipping in with her own savings because she was drunk one night, which allowed me to keep some savings.

Then through college I maintained my jobs and picked up as many shifts as I could to grow my bank account. It sucked and I was tired all the time, unable to function like a human being, but it meant I was now free. I had the means to be on my own and that made every sleepless night and every shitty customer worth it. 

The motel was modest and situated right in the middle of town. La Push, as I came to realise, was tiny. Most of the geographical space of it was taken up by forest and bordered by beach, meaning the residential area was close together and impossible to live in without knowing everyone. 

This kind of lifestyle wasn't something I was familiar with, living in suburban run down homes where no one looked at their neighbours or spoke to their roommates. Everyone kept their heads down and went about their business. So seeing such a small community up close was intriguing to say the least. 

I felt like I belonged in a community like this. It was homely.

I began my internship tomorrow - 10am-4pm in the office as my base hours. 

If you had have asked me two days ago, I would have been buzzing with nerves and excitement at the door I was about to open which would lead onto the rest of my life. 

But now, all I could think about was the fact that I had a brother, and by some insane coincidence, I had ended up working in his hometown, where I would have been conceived.

Coincidences had always been ruled as just that in my eyes - coincidences. 

But something about this phenomenon made me believe that fate had to be a possibility. Fortuity. Lady Luck. It all had to mean something, surely. Because cosmic connections and impossibilities like this didn't happen. They just didn't.

That fact alone was the reason I found myself up late last night on my laptop trying to research the name 'Paul Lahote'. 

I hadn't found much, to my dismay, only recognising the location of La Push in general in his search. But that gave me hope that he was here. 

Maybe he knew about me and would be looking? Maybe he would hear his last name and take a second glance. Would I know him if I saw him?

For all I know he could be the receptionist at the motel, the cab driver that dropped me here, the man that walked past me on the street.

I was clueless and hopeful, filled with pictures in my mind of what my brother could look like as well as what our life would have looked like if we were able to grow up together. 

The next morning, despite my late night failed Nancy Drew investigation, I rose before the sunrise for a walk. I had always been an early bird, allowing the sun to wake my body and bring me outside. I usually went for runs in the mornings or just walked, taking in the fresh air and grounding myself.

That's exactly what I did on this morning, sliding into my denim ripped jeans, gray long sleeved top and black puffer vest for my stroll, I hid my long brown hair under a gray beanie and let my feet guide me where they felt most natural.