Unrelated

He always kept his head down. Maybe as a result of instinct, possibly habit. Myers couldn't differentiate between the two sometimes. If they noticed, he almost never looked a person in the eye. That day formed a great part of the 'almost.

The eyes he couldn't avoid had bags under them. Kinda like his. Unlike his, the pair had wrinkles, the effect of old age. Myers' s bags were caused by a lack of quality sleep particularly because of the pair of those eyes.

"Sir..."

Once again his eyes found solace in the ground. Maybe if they weren't so glued to the earth all the time, this encounter could have been avoided. Maybe.

Myers did not believe that.

"Don't call me that boy."

Boy

Myers. His name was Myers. He would never say that. Not to the man before him at least.

"Still not learned to hold eye contact?"

"No sir."

"I told you not to call me that."

How could he stop? After all the years that word was seared into his mind. He couldn't just stop. He wished he could.

"Let's go for a walk boy."

"I'm working."

"You don't have a job."

The cracked bowl in Myers' hands spoke in volumes. His cheeks turned a faint shade of pink.

No, he didn't have a job. How could he? They never gave him much attention. No one ever did.

The man wrapped his arms around Myers' shoulders. Together they walked through they masses. Myers was never so aware of the callings of the market women as he was that moment.

They never gave him much attention. No one ever really did.

"So, your name's Myers. You still go by that?"

"Yes sir."

"I'm Jonas. Call me by that, not sir."

Myers knew that already. The name of the man that tormented his beginnings and present would never be foreign to him. But it was unspeakable until that day. Not even in his dreams would he mention it.

They looked at him now. Never had he felt so out of place in his safe haven. He was used to being invisible, not noticed ever. Not for the good reasons anyways.

"You hungry?"

"No si- No, I'm not."

"Are you sure?"

Myers nodded. Speaking so much in a little space of time was overwhelming. Speaking to him.was overwhelming.

"Let's have a seat yeah?"

"Okay."

The bench wasn't exactly neat but Jonas didn't seem to care. This wasn't the same Jonas Myers never warmed up too. This was the Jonas who frequently ruined his sleep. The only good thing he had left.

Myers made sure he kept his distance. A mixture of instinct and habit.

"You don't seem too surprised to see me."

Myers shook his head. His eyes found the little green growth between cracks if the pavements interesting. It took his mind off their stares. Their callings. Their honks. The memories.

"Someone tell you I was coming?"

"No. I dreamt you would come."

Jonas laughed a hearty laugh. It was foreign to Myers but he would prefer that over the usual any day. Any time.

"You still dream. You probably have some gift in there Myers."

Gift?

A nice name to call a curse. It wasn't much of a gift when he was a little boy screaming in the night. It wasn't much of a gift when it made him a freak. It wasn't much of a gift to Jonas back then.

Myers could not appreciate the compliment.

"Myers. Look at me."

He didn't. He couldn't.

"Why are you here?" Myers forced himself to ask.

"I came for you Myers. I came for you."

There was sincerity in his voice. One Myers couldn't bring himself to believe. It wouldn't work on him this time.

"How did you find me?"

"I won't lie, it was hard. You really wanted to disappear didn't you?"

Myers tucked his hands in between his knees.

That was a pleasant way to put it. An innocent way.

TThey had their attention on them. A change from waht he was accustomed to.

"Why are you here?"

He didn't intend for it to play out this way. He didn't intend for this to happen.

His teardrop created an interesting shape on the pavement. Myers did not wipe the ones that followed away. It would make him more vulnerable.

"I came for you. I came to find you."

"Why? For what? What more do you want to do to me?"

Myers wanted to go back. Back into his dreams. Then at least, he would know he could wake up and start all over. At least, he would know the tightening suffocating feeling of his heart wasn't real. At least, he would know there was none to see his tears.

"I want to say I'm sorry. I know I've hurt you and I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?"

Myers but his lip. He had craved to hear those words for so long. So why did they hurt so much? Why do they cloud his vision with so much anger?

"I know it's hard to believe but-"

"It's a trick. One of your old tricks again. Why can't you leave me alone? Am I not miserable enough?"

"Myers I'm sorry."

They never took their eyes off them. That day, they saw a flood of emotions unleashed by someone they didnt really see.

Myers' hands trembled. His eyes burned from the hot tears that fell. He didn't push them back. He felt Jonas' hands rest on his shoulders.

"I know my words can never compensate for the life I took away. That's why I'm here to offer you a new life."

"Stop it." Myers whispered.

"I'm not trying to hurt you anymore Myers."

"Just stop! Stop lying to me. Stop trying to build hope within me because I know you're going to take it away again."

It was the anger. Myers held his gaze. Jonas looked away.

"You have every right to think that way. I've been horrid to you in the past. I know I can't change that. But please allow me to make it right. Please, I'm an old man-"

"So this is what it's all about? Self-redemption? Self-righteousness? "

Jonas looked away for a brief moment. Myers scoffed. He stood up to leave. Jonas crossed his path.

"I want to make things right with you. Please let me. Allow me to help you restart your life....I want you to come back home. This life you're living is not worthy of our family. It's not a life fit for my sons."

Myers licked his dry lips.

"Take up the family name again. Everything I own would be yours. You would have new clothes. A new life."

"Isn't Jeremy available? Or your precious Ben? How about your darling Olivia?" Myers spat.

"They're dead. A lot has happened since you left."

Myers saw truth in the old man's eyes.

Jeremy was dead...

"How did they die?"

"Come back. Please."

Myers could not make a decision at that moment. It was too much to ask of him. Jonas never stopped trying till Myers finally finally succumbed.

They wouldn't see him again. They wouldn't see him for a long time. By the time they would, the tables would have turned on them. He would stand out. For all the positive reasons.

The journey back was nerve-wreaking. He hadn't been home in years. He hadn't had a home in years. Jonas never left his side. He answered all his questions. That made him taste a little of what fatherly love felt like. A feeling that was alien to him.

The mansion was still grand. Most of the staff had been changed. That was a good thing.

Myers saw respect in their eyes. It made him feel strange. It made him feel more like a person. More like his father's son. The doors were opened. They were met with smiles.

Myers' eyes teared up once again. Not because of the nostalgic effect of his presence in the mansion, but because he saw them all: Ben, Olivia and Jeremy, alive and full of smiles. That meant something. He wasn't sure it was a good thing.

They hugged him. Jeremy wrapped his arms around him.

"Father said you were dead."

"We wanted you back home. Welcome back home brother."

Brother.

Myers smiled. Brother... The acceptance he longed for.



There was an uneasy feeling deep within him. Why couldn't he accept it as it was? He had all he wanted.

A family that loved him. A roof over his head. Food on his table. Yet it felt so unreal. Myers hated the thought of it not being his reality.

His father may have lied about the health status of his siblings but he fulfilled all his promises. Everything under his father's name was made his. Nothing was spared, not even the mansion they shared.

Call it instinct, but there was something wrong. His father's decision were seemingly too abrupt. He wasn't his father's son generically. Under any case, he should not have any right to be his father's sole heir.

He waited for the recognised pattern when they turn on him. They had already shown their displeasure at their father's decision. It was only a matter of time.

It didn't happen. Myers had a hard time believing they meant it. That they meant it when they searched for him. They actually wanted him back. They were remorseful. It took a while but he stopped looking over his shoulders with every move he made. He warmed up to them and put the past behind him for good. Or as much as he could, his scars were a constant reminder.

He would find out why his father wanted him back do badly later in his life. When he would answer the call of his family's doctor ahead of Jeremy.

His father hadn't lied. He had only made a prediction not too far from the present. They all wouldn't be around for much longer.

His father had Huntington' disease. It was hereditary.