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Behind the couch, there was a bay window with a cushion. The daughter sat down in the window after following us in and listened to the conversation between the social worker and her parents. As usual, I zoned in and out of their conversation. But I heard bits and pieces of it.
“… lost her parents in a tragic car accident.” She was telling them about what had happened that night. “… driver survived… in the hospital…” I couldn’t help but feel the deep-seated anger at those words. The driver had survived the accident while both of my parents were thrown from their vehicle and died. He didn’t deserve to survive.
She continued, “… died days later… to multiple organ failure.”
The girl’s Mom placed her hand on mine. I hadn’t noticed that I had started shaking. Her hand was warm and felt familiar. I looked up at her, my eyes glazed, but no tears fell anymore. I can’t remember the last time a tear fell from my eyes—not since that night, at least.
“We’ll take good care of her, treat her as our own.” She looked at her daughter sitting on the bay window, and she got up and walked over to us.
“Madison, this is Chyler. She’s going to be living with us from now on. She’s going to be your new sister.” She looked up to her and smiled.
Madison held her hand out to me.
“Hi, Chyler. Welcome home.” She beamed at me, and her smile told me she wanted me there, that I was home.
Home.
This was my new home.
CHAPTER 16
Chyler
Atlas and I were inseparable over the last few weeks. When he wasn’t in the office working, and I wasn’t filling in for a shift at the bar, we were together. Last week, he took me to a Twins game, said that his boss had extra tickets, and offered them to him. We managed to end the night in the bathroom of Austin’s Bar—not surprising in the least.
The stall where I ended Brodie still had a broken lock and the tiles were shattered on the wall behind the toilet, clean but shattered. I couldn’t help but smirk, remembering the look on her face as I squeezed out the last breath from her lungs. Dark and morbid, maybe, but I am only here to please one person these days. Atlas.
Another night, we went on an evening river cruise along the Mississippi. It was a beautiful night, and we spent the entire cruise on the top deck, taking in the view. He caged me in against the rail, my back pressed into his chest, and peppered kisses along my neck and behind my ear.
If this was the honeymoon phase of a relationship, I never wanted to leave it. Everything was perfect in our little bubble of life. I didn’t regret dropping my walls for him and letting him in. Telling him about my parents was a giant weight off my shoulders. He held me all day and night as I finally grieved every second of their death. He even took the following day off from work to ensure I was okay. And I was; because of him. For the first time since my fifteenth birthday. I had come to terms with the loss of my parents, and he held me as I finally allowed myself to grieve them.
Atlas and I were sitting at our favorite coffee shop—Caribou, enjoying the cool morning before the weather became a hot and humid mess. I turned my gaze to him and tilted my head in question.
“You know, you’ve never told me about your family.” I had told him about my parent’s accident, and after that, we kind of just fell off the topic of family. I was curious about his.
“There really isn’t too much to tell. My parents live out in Virginia, and my brother passed away about eleven years ago.” He shrugged and took a sip of his coffee.
“Passed? How old were you?” I pressed. If he didn’t want to talk about it, I wouldn’t push him further, but I was genuinely curious. I didn’t know he had a brother.
“We were nineteen, and he was my twin. I don’t really talk about him anymore.” My heart squeezed. Losing my parents was devastating, but I couldn’t imagine losing a twin sibling. The bonding between them of over eighteen years together…
“Kaleb wasn’t just my brother and twin; he was my best friend. We did everything together and even chased the same girls if you could believe it.” He chuckled, making light of the conversation.
“Do you think you both would have chased me?” I asked with an amused tone. It was a stupid question to ask, but I was curious about what it would be like to have twins chasing after me simultaneously, especially him and his brother.
“Oh, without a doubt, and he might have won you over me, though. He was a catch. The girls always ran to him first.” He winked and swirled his coffee cup around.
After a few minutes, he blew out a breath and continued.
“When we were seventeen, he got heavy into drugs. My parents and I tried everything to get him help, but he refused at every turn. Nothing we did worked for him, and eventually, he died of a drug overdose at nineteen.” He looked up at me, and his eyes were heavy with the thoughts of his brother. I couldn’t help but get lost in them.
“We can only control so much in our lives.” His voice cracked slightly as he spoke. I could see him holding back his true feelings about the situation. I placed my hand on his and squeezed it.
“I’m so sorry about your brother, Atlas. I wished you could have helped him more.” I said softly, looking deep into the blues, greens, and browns of his beautiful eyes. The pain and regret he felt for his brother was a heavy burden. I could tell he blamed himself for his brother’s actions.
“So do I, Chy… So do I.” He brought my hand to his mouth and kissed my knuckles. He then cleared his throat to change the subject.
“Your place or mine tonight?” He asked.
