Time Escape

Chapter Two

I wasn't keen on making this phone call to my brother because I assumed it wouldn't really work the way Dad expected it to. Since I wouldn't be able to see his facial expressions, it was going to be rather difficult to read his thoughts. I'd have to rely on recognizing subtle hints in the changes of his voice and I wasn't sure I'd be able to do that. But this case seemed serious to me, which is why I decided to at least give it a try. So I sent David a text which said I wanted to talk to him and it'd be great, if he could be in on Sunday evening. Fortunately, David replied immediately and agreed on having a chat with me on Sunday. Frankly, I was wondering if he suspected anything or if he just thought it was a regular call to catch up on what he had been up to. Since his text only read "I'll be there" and he didn't use any emojis, I had a hard time interpreting his mood. This made me a bit nervous about the call later. In order not to mess everything up, I had to casually bring up the topic I wanted to talk about.
Our conversation began as always: exchanging the obligatory "how are you" and "what have you been up to" and all that kind of stuff. I was surprised that David didn't act any differently than usual. By what my father had told me the previous evening, I was prepared for my brother to show an odd behavior. My assumption turned out to be wrong. I might even have thought that my Dad was hallucinating or telling me lies... As our conversation went better than I thought it would, my nervousness gradually faded. Until David brought up his question and I felt somewhat accused.
"So, what is it you'd like to talk to me about?" David asked curiously. Or was it suspiciously? I couldn't quite put my finger on the meaning of the tone in his voice.
"Why do you think there's something particular I want to talk about?" I said defensively. "Can't I just have a nice little chat with my brother?" I tried to play it cool and to make it seem as if it was no big deal. My intuition told me he wouldn't tell me anything, if I made a fuss about it. "However, since you're bringing it up, I'd really like to ask you something particular."
"Well, then go on. What is it?" he asked. If he had had any idea of what I was aiming at, he did a pretty good job at hiding it.
"Err... this is a bit difficult. I'm not sure where to begin," I stalled my question, "but would you promise me you won't be angry with me for asking this?"
"Now you're really making me curious," he said with a laugh. "Ask right away. I guess you won't have to fear anything from me."
My nervousness suddenly found its way back to me and I was quite insecure then. 'How should I approach him?' was all I thought. 'What will he say?' I decided to tell him directly because I had no other option. After all, I had already brought up the topic somehow... or rather, he did.
"Okay, listen, I'm telling you right away. Dad called me yesterday. And, yeah, you know how unusual this is." I swallowed, waiting for his reaction. When he didn't say anything, I carried on, "He told me about what happened last Friday night, about the police bringing you home at 2 a.m. and about you 'getting in trouble a lot, lately'. Don't be offended. These are not my words..." I had to choose my words carefully, since I knew my brother could get sensitive sometimes. Having him become upset wouldn't help me at all.
"I'm not offended," David interrupted me, but I could hear a slight change in the tone of his voice, "what else did Dad tell you?" He sounded rather cold, which scared me little, since I had never seen him like this. Crap, I was obviously too straightforward with telling him the details about Dad's call. Then I realized how ridiculous this was. Why was I afraid of my little brother? Where did this mistrust come from, all of a sudden? I tried to make the best out of it. Maybe it wasn't too late to get some useful information from him.
"Really not that much, actually... He wanted me to ask you the reason for you being caught by the police," I answered honestly, trying to act as casually as possible. "So, what did you do?"
"Ugh, they're all overreacting. I haven't done anything seriously bad," he replied, sounding irritated. I didn't blame him for his annoyance though. It must be tough to have your family turned against you and suspect you of having any dark secrets. But still, I was attentive enough to notice the choice of his words. What did he mean by 'nothing seriously bad'? By then, I was so caught up with wanting to find out what was going on that I forgot about being nervous or scared. If my brother really was in some sort of trouble, I had to act on it. So I gave the interrogation another shot.
"But what happened exactly? Just tell me, please," I urged. "If you don't want me to tell Mom and Dad, I won't do that, I promise. But please tell me! I couldn't be more curious." Playing the 'I'm just curious'-card was probably my best bet. Somehow, I sensed that he didn't want to reveal his secret to me. He seemed to try turning my questions down and avoiding to answer them. 'This is very untypical of him,' I thought. What could possibly have happened that my brother didn't want to talk about it? Had he been humiliated by someone? Did someone threaten him, so he wouldn't tell anyone? Was he a special agent who wasn't allowed to talk about his missions? I must admit, my imagination was going crazy in the few minutes before David finally answered my question.
"Alright, if you insist that much, I'm going to explain to you what happened," he sighed, "but promise me not to make that big of a deal out of it. It's really not that extraordinary... it's actually not even worth talking about it." When I heard those words, I wasn't so sure anymore if David was really going to tell me the truth. Sure, I always trusted my siblings, especially my sweet little brother, who couldn't do anyone any real harm. But the moment I realized he was rather refusing to tell me what happened that night, I didn't know for sure if he was lying to me. That would be very unusual of him. Again, what else is going to surprise me that weekend? I already got used to the thought that everything David did back then wasn't typical of him. I could sense him struggling for words. He cleared his throat.
"Laura, you know me well enough. I wouldn't do anything seriously dangerous," he began. Again, there was this 'nothing seriously dangerous'. He was obviously playing down the situation. "Well, I've been out with a group of other students," he continued. "I guess Dad already told you that. And, you know, we've been going to that pub..."
"What kind of pub?" I interrupted him, yearning to finally make sense of this whole mystery. My head was already spinning from imagining the possible scenarios of what could've happened.
"Ugh, it doesn't matter, Laura. It was just an ordinary pub," he replied in an irritated manner. Fortunately, he proceeded with his story nonetheless. "And about 1 a.m., the guys were so drunk, it wasn't funny anymore. I didn't have more than two pints, you see, I was rather sober... So, in lack of anyone who could drive me home and also in lack of a car to drive myself, I waited for a cab in front of the pub. But at 1 a.m., cabs aren't really waiting on little corners in that small town. All I could find was a police car and two police men who were having a break just then." He took a little break, probably expecting me to reply. But I remained silent, waiting for him to continue his story. When he understood the meaning of my silence, he went on.
"I thought those buddies could help me, I wasn't really sure how. But I just went over and asked them, if they knew when the next bus or so was coming along or if there was any payphone around the corner where I could call Dad from."
"What about your cell phone?" I suggested.
"It didn't have any load, unfortunately," he answered. "However, the policemen were really friendly and told me their shift was over anyway, so they had some spare time to drive me home. That's it, no big deal." His explanation sounded so reasonable. Also, would he have been able to make up this story in such a short amount of time? Still, I had an uneasy feeling about all of this. If the explanation was so simple, why would David refuse to talk to Dad about it? It just didn't make sense as a whole.
"But Dad said you were caught by the police!" I exclaimed incredulously.
"Laura, please think! If I had been caught by them, they would've had a word with Dad. Don't you think? They wouldn't have left waving and wishing me a good night, would they?" David said, slightly raising his voice. "What is all that fuss about? I feel, as if my whole family goes mad, thinking I was a criminal or something..."
"I'm sorry," I mumbled. I really was sorry, but I just couldn't help it. "I was just worrying..."
"It's okay, I don't blame you for that. But it's all quite exhausting having to explain to all of you over and over again that I'm still me...," he sighed. Even though I was still suspicious about him telling the truth, I understood what he meant. Therefore, I tried to lighten the mood a bit by joking.
"Well then, I guess Dad was a bit too tired that night to figure that out, right?"
"Maybe...," was all he said, before trailing off. But my brother didn't laugh at my attempted joke. I could hear in his voice that there was something else bothering him and I didn't know how I should ask him about this one. Not knowing what else to talk about after this awkwardly silent moment, we bid each other goodbye and hung up.
If Aurélie had been home, I probably would've talked to her about what was going on. But since she wasn't,I had to sort my thoughts all on my own. I could've called my sister, Emily,but I felt as if she wouldn't be able to help me out as long as I hadn't entirely grasped the situation myself. As I realized how tired I was anyway, I decided it was no use to try to figure out a solution in this condition. So, I got myself ready for bed, sent my boyfriend a short text about how my day went – leaving out the family drama though – and tried to sleep. Just as I expected, my brain was too busy processing the bits of information I had gained about my brother's situation that evening. I must've been lying awake there for at least an hour, biting my thumbnail and staring at the ceiling, until I finally calmed down and fell asleep.