BORROWED [Watty Awards Finalist/NEWLY EDITED!]

Chapter Seventeen

|Lost and Found|

The flames dance between me and the familiar face. This face isn't a ghost, or a blast from the past. It's living, breathing, and only a few feet away. Our eyes connect. I rub mine, making sure I'm not delusional from the snake bite earlier. My arms drop back to my sides, and the same face still stares back at me.

"Finn," I say, pausing, "remember that brother I told you about? Well he's here."

"Didn't your mom–"

"She's not my mom," I say to him, "and he's not my real brother." Finn steps in front of me, rubbing both sides of my arms. His body blocks the heat from the fire, sending chills over my body.

"Talk to me, Iris," says Finn. "What's going on with you?" He looks down at me. His body is silhouetted by the crackling flames behind him. I step past him, pushing through people crowding around, trying to steal a bit of heat from the bonfire.

"I'll tell you later," I mumble over my shoulder. The boy I once knew as my brother turns to face me as I round the fire. I head straight for him. Before he even says a word edge-wise, I shove him hard. His hands pull from his pockets as his arms flail in the air to catch himself from falling.

"Irissa!" he says, his eyes wide.

"You're dead?" I say. "Why aren't you dead, Chase?"

We're both a good distance from the fire now. I hear Finn calling my name from behind, but I ignore him. Instead of the fire being back at the pit, it's swirling inside of me. I'm so angry, I can barely contain it. Now, at any moment, fire will shoot from my mouth. I stop charging Chase, now standing a few feet from him under the desert moonlight. The mumbling of voices from afar tells me that we have an audience, so I grab Chase by the arm and pull him away even further into the darkness.

"Irissa, let me explain before you leave me for dead out here," he says, yanking his arm free.

I push him one more time for good measure. "That would be double jeopardy, since you're already considered dead. In my case, it wouldn't be murder, so start talking!" He shakes his head; the mop of black hair falls over his forehead effortlessly.

"The way you're reacting tells me you already know that I'm not your brother," he states, "and that Evelyn isn't our mom."

So, she isn't his mom, too?

I nod. "Bingo!"

He raises his hands, palms out. "Okay, calm down. I will explain as much as I can, Iris."

I look over my shoulder at Finn, waving my hand to tell him everything is okay. He backs away, walking toward the fire again. Chase stares at the ground as I focus all my attention on him again. I kick sand at his legs.

His eyes trail to my face. "Where did all this confidence come from?" He smirks, wiping it away quickly with his hand.

"I've been through a lot lately. Now tell me what the hell is going on!"

"Okay, please calm down," he says, looking up at the stars. Clearing his throat, he manages to look at me, again. "Listen, when I was just a kid, I lost both of my parents. My real mother had cancer, it was unbearable. Her and my father made a pact together, and wrote a nice little letter to me saying how much they loved me, yet they still took their own lives." He becomes misty-eyed. "Apparently, my father didn't want to live without her. What a beautiful love story, don't you think Iris?"

"I'm sorry, Chase..."

"Don't feel sorry for me, I pretended to be your brother. You probably didn't even mourn my death, did you?" Chase walks closer to me. I look down at the ground, not wanting to make eye contact.