The Stranger

Chapter Seventeen

+ Rachel +

Thomas.

Thomas Jake Bailey.

My brother.

I called him Tommy, he was my best friend. Why didn't I remember him? He hasn't come to my mind since before I got in that car crash. Were my parents using my memory loss to rewrite history? Even if that is true, where is he?

The last thing I can remember is us playing in the park. The park we went to everyday after school. The park where I met Josh.

I remember it vividly.

I was fifteen and Tommy was seventeen. He had been acting different lately. He started to care more about what others thought about him than what he thought. He just started hanging out with a new group of guys who just seemed like bad news.

The last memory I have is of us sitting under a tree. He was reading a book about Broadway with me.

"Hey, Jake," one of his new 'friends' walks up to us. His new group insisted on calling him Jake because apparently Thomas is a lame name. "Reading that lame book again?" He laughs.

"No," Tommy laughs nervously while shutting the book closed and  shoving it over to me.

"Hey, why don't you come with me to meet up with some of the guys,"  the boy says.

"Well, I'm hanging with my sister," he says.

The boy's eyes dart to me. He looks me up and down and nods.

"She can come too," the boy smirks and Tommy's eyes go wide.

"Um, no," he says.

"Why? Sounds fun," my naïve self says, not realizing what the boy was implying would go down if I went.

"Yeah, let her come," the boy smirks on the last word making my brother cringe.

"No," he says. "She has dance tonight anyways, which she should probably get her to the studio now," he says while standing up and pulling me up with him. My studio is in walking distance and he is right, it is about time for me to go.

"Well, maybe another time," the boy shrugs and winks at me. "Come on, Jake we'd better get going," he says to my brother before walking off.

"I'll see you at home," Tommy says to me before going to catch up with his friend.

"Bye," I call after him as I watch him walk away, getting smaller and smaller as he slips away.

I have no memory of him after that. What happened to him? Why is that the last memory I have of him? Where is he now? Why was everyone trying to hide this from me?

"There you are," I hear someone say. I look over to see Sky walking towards me. "What are you doing out here?" He asks while sitting down next to me.

"I just wanted to be alone," I shrug, I mean why else would someone be sitting outside the back of their hotel. "But thinking about it now some company couldn't hurt," I shrug.

"Well, I'm always here for you," he says while wrapping an arm around me and pulling me close. "Whenever you need someone to talk to, know that I'm always here."

I don't know how to respond to that. It takes me everything not to tell him I love him right then. It's too soon to say that.

I'm not sure if I should tell him about my brother. I don't know the whole story yet and maybe I should wait until I do know everything. While the whole thing could be fine it could also be terrible. I don't think I want to bring anyone else into this until I know all that I need to know. Though how am I going to find out everything? I'm going to have to ask someone who already knows.