Generation 2: Chapter 2

When I woke up the next morning, the only noticeable change I could see was that I was taller. Nothing really spectacular.

I quickly grabbed a cigarette and began smoking before I had to face my life as an adult.

The smell of something baking overwhelmed my nostrils, though it was mixed with the smell of smoke and booze that resided in my room. I climbed down my attic ladder(I know what you’re thinking, I got banished to the attic. No, that is not what happened. I chose the attic as my room due to the fact of it’s size and because I wouldn’t have to worry about disturbances.), and made my way through the quiet house. Archer and Rowan must have already gone to school.

I walked into the kitchen to see my sister, Rosi, silently cursing over a mixing bowl. I bit back a laugh and continued to watch her frustration.

“Dammit!” She growled. I did let out a laugh then, which caused her to turn towards me with a glare on her face. The glare quickly turned into wide eyes and aping mouth, though that lasted only a millisecond before it turned into a grin. She dropped what she was doing and ran towards me before she pounced.

“Happy Birthday, little brother!” She whispered in my ear. I smiled as I rested my head on her shoulder.

“I’m not so little any more,” I said. I felt her tense against me before she hugged me tighter.

“No, you’re not. Hey, I’m making you waffles, you’re favorite,” Rosi announced.

“You know me so well.”

Rosi turned back to her baking, which I soon learned was her second attempt at perfecting my favorite breakfast.

“You know, you look just like her,” Rosi said quietly after she put the waffles in the oven and walked back over towards me. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the her, was our mother. I was the only one that looked like her clone, save the stupid freckled that dotted my nose. It had been years since she had died, but that didn’t dull the sting I still felt.

It certainly didn’t dull the sting I felt when I looked in the mirror and saw her staring at me. The only thing Rowan got from her had been her hair, Archer got her eyes and face, and Rosi looked nothing like her. I got everything, and I hated it.

“Yeah, I know. Every time I look in a mirror, I’m reminded of how much I look like her.”

“At least you remember her. Rowan never knew her, and Archer never will.” My youngest brother had still been a fetus in her stomach when she died. He had been taken from her womb by caesarean section.

“You know, sometimes I envy Archer,” I said. Rosi looked at me with confusion. “He doesn’t know what to miss.”

“Uriah-” I cut her off.

“And then, there are times I envy you. You got to know her the longest.” Rosi looked at me and bit her lip, her body language looking as if she wanted to move towards me, but resisted.

“At least you look like her.” Damn, I should’ve shut my mouth. Rosi despised the fact that there wasn’t trace of our mother to be seen in her. “I mean, where the hell do I get this damn red hair from, huh?”

“Maybe it’s recessive,” I offered. Rosi looked like she wanted to say more, but didn’t, and finished up with the waffles. When she was done, she smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Thanks, Rosi,” I said, taking a plate walking towards the table on the back porch. The house we lived in now was a refurbished victorian house. We had moved a few months after the death of our mother. Daddy couldn’t take it. He said that her presence was drowning him there. Silently, I agreed.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my dad. I just wasn’t as close to him as I had been with my mom.

Rosi soon joined me at the table.

“So, what do you plan to do now?” She asked.

“Buy booze legally.” Rosi scowled at me. “Either way, why do you care, it’s not like you’ve done anything extraordinary.”

Rosi looked at me with a hurt expression on her face, and stood up from the table.

“Rosi, I didn’t mean it!” I called after her. I sighed as I ran my hands over my face.

—————-

“Happy Birthday, Uriah!” Rowan yelled in my ear as he pulled me into a manly hug. I winced at pain in my ears from the noise.

“Thanks!” I yelled back in his own ear. He also winced and began to rub his ear.

“School sucks without you,” Rowan confessed. I answered with a smirk that made it’s way on to my lips.

“Happy Birthday, Uri!” I looked down to see Archer smiling up at me.

“Thanks, kid.” I bent down to hug my kid brother.

“You look like her,” Archer whispered quietly in my ear. My eyes widened, and I pulled away in shock.

“Like who?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

“Our mother,” He said in a casual way, though there was absolutely nothing casual about this conversation. Archer had never seen our mother, we didn’t keep picture of her in the house, and he had never asked what she looked like. Rowan stared at us in confusion. Rowan barely remembered what she looked like, as he had only been a toddler at the time.

“Ho-How do you know that?” My voice was shaking, and I hated it. I couldn’t help it. Archer looked at me with a knowing look on his face that seemed too mature for someone of his age.

“I’ve seen her.”

“Arch, stop lying,” Rowan intervened.

“I don’t lie,” Archer said, and stalked off. I could only think of a few choice words that seemed appropriate.

“I need alcohol.”

———————–

A few hours later, I find myself in a rougher part of town in search of my connection, Tick. Honestly, I didn’t need him anymore, but he sold his products cheaper than the stores did.

“Tick,” I shouted. “Man, you in here?”

No answer. It was then I saw a body. Tick’s body. I ran over to him and hit him a few times in hopes of getting a response. Nothing.

I put my fingers to his neck and tried to find a pulse. Nothing.

“The boss ain’t gonna be to happy about this,” A deep voice said. I looked up to see a large man wearing a suit and hold a gun in his hands.

“Hands up, boy.” I did as the large man asked. He walked over towards me, gun pointed straight at me. He then grabbed my arm and pulled me along with him.

“Somebody’s seen something they shouldn’t have.”