The weekend seemed to fly by in a blur and before Tyler knew it, Monday was here and his brother was off to class. Immediately when Skylar closed that front door, the ache blossomed in Tyler’s chest again, reminding him that there were hours of pain ahead of him.
At least he had a lot to keep him occupied today. There were his online classes, which would kick out three of those hours that Skylar was gone. And then he had his paper that was coming up due that he hadn’t touched all weekend because spending time with Skylar was way more important. And finally, he had his research. He’d managed to grab those papers from the trash can while Skylar had gone out to grab them breakfast and they were currently tucked into one of his textbooks that he knew Skylar would never even imagine opening.
One glance at the clock told him that he had plenty of time to read a few pages before his first class started. He was just about to grab his textbook of hidden treasures when he noticed that there was a message on their answering machine. Quickly, he shifted gears and headed to the phone to play the voicemail.
Hi, Mr. Briggs, this is Ronnie over at Ironwood Cemetery. I was givin’ ya a call to let you know that there was a…uh…disturbance, it looks like at yer son’s grave. I am really sorry for this inconvenience. I have my guys out there now working to get it taken care of and I wanted to express my apologies. Let me know if there is anything ya need from me. Have a good one, sir. Bye.
Oh, there had been a disturbance, alright. The person occupying the grave had punched his way through the coffin and dug himself out of it. Of course, that had been nearly three weeks ago, so why the guy was just calling them about it now was way beyond him. Then again, it did make sense. This was a small town, and Ironwood was the only cemetery around, so it was no wonder the guy wasn’t on top of things. He was probably too busy tending to all of the dead bodies every day. After all, there probably wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t get a phone call.
Sighing, Tyler deleted the message and pulled out his phone. Ronnie from Ironwood called to let Dad know there had been a “disturbance” at my grave LOL He smiled as he hit the send button and waited impatiently for Skylar’s response.
Do you think they called Dad’s cell? I haven’t heard from them. Hopefully they don’t have cell reception wherever they are. Came the response.
Hmm…not what Tyler had been expecting. I’m not sure. I doubt it since it took him nearly three weeks to call about the issue. I’m pretty sure the guy doesn’t have time to sit around and make phone calls. He waited for a few minutes with no response, chewing at his bottom lip. Finally, when there was no response after five minutes, Tyler shot another message. Are you mad?
The three little bubbles popped up almost immediately. No, not mad. Just worried. We’ll talk when I get home. McDonald’s for dinner?
Well, that’s what everyone loved to hear. We’ll talk. Sounded like a bad breakup line. Yeah, that works for me. It wasn’t like Tyler was going to eat it, anyway. Surprisingly, Skylar hadn’t noticed that every night while he was scarfing down his food, Tyler was just sitting there leaving his own untouched. Or maybe he had noticed and he just hadn’t said anything. Either way, it was a relief.
Tyler tossed his phone onto the counter with a groan before he moved into the living room. He snatched the textbook from the coffee table and pulled his research that he’d hidden in there before flopping onto the couch. There were at least fifteen case files in his hand. In no particular order, Tyler started pouring through the information, taking notes as he went along in his journal.
By the time he’d gotten through all of the case files, it was well after 3:00 in the afternoon. He’d missed class, but he couldn’t be bothered with that right now. Instead, he was laser focused on one case in particular. It was the closest to his and Skylar’s case that he’d seen in the pile, so he was making comparisons.
A girl brought her boyfriend back to life after a tragic car accident had cut their relationship short. Everything was normal in the beginning, but then the girl started noticing changes. Small, at first. And she brushed them off as her being paranoid. But then they started getting bigger. The boyfriend started isolating her – she wasn’t allowed to go out with friends or family. And she wasn’t allowed to leave his side for more than a few hours. They even moved away so the boyfriend wouldn’t be discovered since he was supposed to be dead.
As he read through the case file, Tyler wondered if the boyfriend had felt physical pain when his lover wasn’t around him. Maybe he’d just been trying to make the ache go away? Did anyone ever think of that? Maybe his plan wasn’t to isolate the girl, but to feel better in his own skin? There weren’t really notes from his point of view since he hadn’t been studying himself. That was less helpful. At least Tyler was documenting his return. Amateurs.
After the isolation, he started to become possessive. She hadn’t been allowed to even speak to her friends and family. Her whole life had been consumed by her boyfriend.
The story continued with vague descriptions of what the boyfriend behaved like – he’d force her into situations she didn’t want to participate in, mostly sexually, and when she didn’t do as she was told, he would become violent. Tyler would never do that to Skylar. Clearly, this girl hadn’t loved the boyfriend like Skylar loved him.
Of course, there was no research on it. All this stupid file said was that they’d been dating for three years and they were about to be married the following year. People dated without having love for one another all of the time. Look at Skylar and Jessie. Sure, she was a great girl, and she was gorgeous, and sweet, and kind. But Skylar didn’t love her. Not the way he loved Tyler. And eventually, that was going to be the reason their relationship ended. And Tyler was hoping it happened sooner rather than later.
Another one of the files talked about a young boy who had been resurrected by his father. The boy had went on to live a normal life until he turned eighteen. At that point, he’d apparently written a suicide note entailing all of the strange things that had been happening to him since he was little and how he couldn’t handle it anymore. The father had found him with his wrists cut open in the bathroom the morning of his eighteenth birthday. It was actually a tragic story.
Everything else was just fragments. Spells that had been done so horribly wrong that the people didn’t even come back in one piece. Obviously, those stories didn’t have much to tell – and they were the ones Tyler hated reading about the most. He could almost feel the grief from those families coming off the pages.
There were some success stories, however. There was a couple in Pennsylvania that had gotten a happy ending. The boyfriend brought the girlfriend back – did the ritual correctly through and through, and they lived on to grow old together. From what he understood, the couple was still alive today, living their best lives.
And then there was another success story that caught his eye. A teenage girl had been brought back by her best friend after she’d committed suicide due to bullying. It hadn’t been too far from Briar Hollow. Apparently, the girl and her friend went on to finish school and they even went to college where they got their degrees in Magic and Occult Science. That was actually impressive. Tyler jotted down a few notes so he would remember to look these women up. He had a few questions he wanted to ask them.
He’d been so engrossed in his research that he hadn’t even noticed the JEEP pull into the driveway. When he heard the key being shoved into the lock, Tyler quickly scrambled to shove all of his files back into the textbook he’d been hiding them in. He then snatched his journal off the counter and tossed it into his bag next to the paper that was due later this week. Yeah, he needed to work on that.
His fingers curled around the notebook for his anatomy class, ripping it from the bag and tossing it haphazardly onto the table so it at least looked like he’d been working on schoolwork. It took everything in him not to immediately turn around and greet Skylar when he walked through the door. He needed to at least pretend he was engrossed in his studies.
“Hey!” Skylar called out as he kicked the door closed behind him. “I hope you don’t mind, but I went a little off the menu with your McDonald’s order. I know you usually get the fish around this time, but I didn’t want it stinking up the car, so I grabbed you nuggets instead.”
Tyler didn’t miss the way his chest immediately stopped aching when Skylar walked through the door. Just another thing to add to his journal later. “No, I don’t care,” he answered with a shake of his head. It wasn’t like he was going to be eating it anyway. “How was practice?”
A wide smile came to Skylar’s lips when his brother asked him about practice. “Dude, it was great!” he answered, kicking off his shoes before he dropped the bags onto the table next to Tyler. “Coach said he was talking to some scouts for the NFL and he thinks I have a great shot at getting picked for early drafts! He wants to spend some extra time working on my arm, but he has a really good feeling.”
Now, it was Tyler’s turn to smile. “That’s amazing,” he congratulated. “I always said you had an arm that could take you all the way to the top. And you never listened to me.” Shaking his head, he pushed himself out of the chair he’d been sitting in, crowding into Skylar’s space. “Guess now you know I was right. Like I always am.”
Snorting out a chuckle, Skylar playfully punched Tyler in the arm. It was something they’d always done, but this time felt different. Maybe it was just because it was the first time he’d done it since Tyler came back? “Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, shaking the thought out of his head. “Hey, I’m gonna grab a quick shower. Don’t eat my Big Mac while I’m in there!”
As Skylar walked towards the shower, Tyler rolled his eyes. As if he wanted that disgusting grease bucket of a sandwich. Even when he had actually liked the taste of food, he hadn’t been one for McDonald’s burgers. There was just something about them that didn’t sit well with him. Fast food in general, but burgers were worse than chicken nuggets as far as he was concerned.
When he heard the water turn on in the bathroom, Tyler was laser focused on the sound. He could pinpoint exactly when Skylar stepped under the hot spray by the way the noise changed. His eyes slid closed as he tried to imagine what it would be like to walk into that room and join his brother. Maybe one day.
Quickly, Tyler’s eyes snapped open as he shook his head. No – he wasn’t going to think like that. The last thing he needed was a raging hard-on when Skylar walked out here. There was no way he’d be able to explain that away. And it wasn’t like he could retreat to his own room since Skylar had typed those daunting words this morning – We’ll talk.
Skylar was out of the shower and back downstairs in less than twenty minutes. It took everything Tyler had in him not to stare at his brother’s crotch in those gray sweatpants he was wearing. The thought had him wondering if Skylar thought the same thing when he would walk around in his own pair of matching pants. Something he’d have to explore later.
As Skylar grabbed his bag of food and headed into the living room to take his usual spot in front of the television, Tyler obediently followed. His mouth was dry, and he felt a sense of dread as he waited for his brother to strike up the conversation. He’d had so many of them with himself throughout the day that he might just explode if Skylar made him wait any longer.
Much to his horror, his brother started stuffing French Fries in his mouth like this was just another Monday. “Sky,” he started, biting into his bottom lip as he tried not to get too jealous of those damn fries. “You…said you wanted to talk.”
Almost as if his words reminded Skylar they had important matters to discuss, Skylar quickly nodded and focused on his brother rather than his food. “Yeah, that’s right, I did,” he remembered. “I texted Dad to make sure he hadn’t heard from this Ronnie guy today.” He could see Tyler was going to speak, but he wanted to get this out. “He didn’t. You were right – Ronnie only called the house. I played it off as if I was just trying to see if they had reception. I didn’t mention Ronnie. But…they’ve been gone for almost a month. They’re going to be coming back soon, Ty.”
For a minute, Tyler didn’t really understand what the big deal was. So their parents were coming home. Who cared?! This was their house. They had every right to be here. It didn’t take long for the realization to hit, though. If they came home and saw Tyler, they would have questions. “Oh,” he breathed, biting into his bottom lip as his mind started racing.
He was going to have to leave. But how? Skylar was still in school. And he was physically enrolled – he wasn’t taking online classes. Not to mention he was potentially a first draft pick for his arm! There was no way Skylar was going to leave right now! What the hell was Tyler supposed to do if his home was taken from him?! He’d already lost access to his school, his dorm room, basically his town, and now this?! He couldn’t lose Skylar – he wouldn’t.
“Yeah,” Skylar mumbled. “So, I did a quick Google search between classes today. Surprisingly, a motel isn’t really all that expensive. There’s one right out of town that isn’t terribly priced. I figured you could hang out there until this semester is over, and then we could figure out a more permanent arrangement before classes start up in the fall.”
A motel? Was he fucking serious right now? “A motel?” Tyler asked. “Just outside of town? But won’t that be a far drive every day for you? I mean…it just doesn’t seem feasible. Unless you’re planning on skipping class and football practice a few times a week. I guess that could work. But you’d probably get behind in your classes.”
Shaking his head, Skylar chuckled. “No, Ty, I would stay at the dorms and finish this semester. We could hang out on the weekends and stuff like we did this past weekend, but I wouldn’t drive to and from the motel every night.”
Panic shot through Tyler like lightning. “You want me to stay in the motel by myself?” he asked, just to make sure he’d heard his brother correctly. “And I would only see you on the weekends?” He couldn’t believe Skylar was actually entertaining this idea. But the proof was right in front of him as Skylar nodded and went on about how they’d still talk every day, or some shit. “Are you insane?!”
Without another word, Skylar’s mouth snapped shut. He didn’t understand why Tyler seemed so upset. “What do you mean?” he asked, shaking his head. “You know Mom and Dad can’t see you, right? I didn’t even tell them what I did. They’d be freaked out and confused. It wouldn’t be a good situation for anyone.”
Anger quickly built up inside of him when his brother tried to explain this off as if he didn’t know he wasn’t allowed to see his parents ever again. “Yeah, Skylar, I get that,” he snapped, his words holding more venom than he’d intended them to. “I understand that I am some sort of freak Frankenstein who can’t be seen because I’ll scare people! But you don’t understand how fucking lonely it is! And now you’re telling me that I’m going to be shipped off to some no-name motel in the next town when Mom and Dad come back?! Why did you even bring me back if you’re not going to be with me?!”
A pang of guilt shot hard through Skylar at his brother’s words. He hadn’t even been thinking about this from Tyler’s perspective. “Fuck…I’m sorry, Ty,” he apologized, moving slightly closer to the other man. “I didn’t even think about it that way. Jesus…I never just…sit back and think before I open my damn mouth. I’m sorry.”
When Skylar realized that his brother was doing everything possible to not make eye contact with him, he felt even more guilty. In their twenty two years on this Earth, the only time Tyler wouldn’t look at him was when he was so upset that he was about to cry. And Skylar hated that he was the one to make him feel that way. Quickly, he caught Tyler’s chin between his thumb and index finger, forcing the other man to look at him. “Hey, I’m sorry. You’re not some kind of Frankenstein project, okay? I’m sorry I made you feel that way. I guess I just thought that you never really had a problem being alone before, so you wouldn’t care now.”
Tyler frowned deeply as his brother tried to explain himself. “Yeah, but that was different,” he muttered. “At least before I had a choice. If I wanted to be alone, I could. But I could also go out and spend time with people if I wanted to. Now, I’m stuck. I’m confined to this house so no one knows you brought me back.”
His hand slowly moved to grip Skylar’s shoulder, holding him close. “You’re the only thing keeping me from total isolation, Sky,” he explained, ice blue eyes locked on his twin’s identical orbs. “Please…don’t leave me? I need you.”
Well, when he put it that way, Skylar felt like even more of an asshole. “Yeah, I’m sorry, I didn’t think about that,” he apologized once more. Without thinking, he pulled Tyler close, hugging his brother tightly. “I understand what you’re saying. And we have another month before Mom and Dad come back from their cruise. We’ll figure something out. I’m not going to leave you. Never. I promise.”
At Skylar’s promise, Tyler felt his whole body start to warm. His arms wrapped around the other man tightly, pulling him flush against him and holding on for dear life. “I’m never going to leave you, either,” he parroted back, letting Skylar know that he was stuck with him for life. Whether he wanted him or not.