Forces of Nature

Welcome Home Riley

A crashing sound startled me awake. I bolted out of bed, my heart pounding. What the hell was that? Another crash came from downstairs. Oh, my god. Someone was in the house. What do I do? I thought frantically. I needed to call the police. Where was my cell phone? Scanning my dressers and nightstand I couldn't see it. Then I remembered. I'd left it on the kitchen counter the night before, along with everything else I'd need for my first day of school. Well wasn't that just craptastic. Good one Noah.

Barely breathing, I tiptoed to my closet and swung it open noiselessly. Leaning against the wall was an old hockey stick from my middle school days. Bingo. I grabbed it and stealthily crept from my room and down the stairs, my heart threatening to pound its way out of my chest. It seemed like someone was rummaging around in the kitchen. I could hear cursing and a draw being slammed shut. Great. My cell was in there. So was the closest landline. The other phone was in the living room. To get to it I'd have to walk past the kitchen door. So basically I had two options. Try to sneak past and get to the phone in the living room, or face the intruder head on and hope I had a good swing in me. Rearranging my grip on the stick, I opted for plan B. No way was I going to let some bastard scare me in my own house.

Letting out a shriek like a banshee I charged into the kitchen, hockey stick raised like a cricket bat.

The intruder screamed and spun around to face me.

"Riley!?"

"Jesus Christ Noah! You scared the crap out of me."

My brother leaned heavily on the kitchen island, one hand over his heart. His everyday suit looked crumpled, like he'd slept in it and he had a few days growth covering his angular jaw.

"I scared the crap out of you?" I screeched. "You're the one crashing about the house at-" I checked my wrist, where there was no watch. Not that I ever wore one, but recent events had me more than a little flustered. "-well, whatever time it is this early in the morning! Aren't you supposed to be in Japan or something?"

"China," he said, running a hand through his short brown hair and attempting to smooth out his suit. "As you can see, I came back early."

"Whatever." I scowled at him, a little peeved that he'd just scared the bejeezus out of me.

"Well, this isn't quite the welcome home I expected," he said, glancing at the hockey stick. "But it's nice to see you, kid."

Unable to stay mad at him, I dropped the stick onto the island and leaped towards him. He caught me in a tight hug and in that moment, all of my loneliness evaporated. My big brother was home. Nothing could have made me happier. Okay, maybe one other thing could have: him being home for good. No more business trips. No more of his brief trips home where I was constantly filled with dread and anticipation of the next time he would leave. Yes, I was definitely tired of living alone, while Riley used our house as a pit stop.

We broke apart, with Riley ruffling my hair and smiling broadly.

"It's your first day of school right? How about I make you breakfast."

I was about to tell him I wasn't hungry, that I never ate early in the morning, but his hopeful expression made me bite my tongue. He was in such a good mood and I was loathe to ruin it. It was like he finally sensed my feelings about our lack of relationship and was trying to make up for it in his own way. Heck, if he was making breakfast as an apology, maybe things were looking up. Maybe this time it would be different. Dare I hope that he'd decided to make a lifestyle change? One that meant he'd stop treating our house like a hotel? No. That was to good to be true, I decided, crushing that little flare of hope inside me before it could crush me like it had many times before. And looking deep into his hazel eyes, I could see it. He was still Riley Duke, co-owner and President of Azalea Shipping. Not Riley Duke, loving brother of Noah Duke. But, even as that familiar feeling of dread washed over me, that nagging thought in the back of my head rearing up to tell me "he's only going to leave again", I found myself being caught up in his good mood. Might as well enjoy the time we do have together, I thought.