This Can't be Real

Chapter 36

"Steve?" Anniella asked, in a voice so quiet that I almost didn't hear her say it. Dad's head lifted, but he didn't reply or make any other movements. Anniella went to take a step closer to him, but Isaac stopped her. "Goddamn it Isaac, let me through!" she said as she struggled against him. She looked to her sister, who was standing completely still and just staring straight ahead. "Cass, why aren't you doing anything? It's him."

"What is my favorite color?" Cassandra asked Dad slowly, stone faced with no expression on her face.

"Well, if I remember correctly you had a pink faze until you were five, then an obsession with purple for a year. After that it was yellow, followed by green, and then orange for some reason. The last color I remember you been in love with would have to be light blue." he paused and smiled. "You had everything in your room that color and you kept bugging me to repaint the walls, but I knew that it would only be matter of time before you changed your mind again. At least Anniella's was easy to remember, rainbow because she loved them all equally." The smile vanished a second later and his face turned serious. "Now it's my turn to ask you something. How?"

"We could ask you the same question." Anniella replied as she rolled her eyes, she had given up on getting out of Isaac's grip. "And to answer your question, well, we didn't die." she added as she shrugged.

Lucas chuckled from behind me and whispered, "That's putting it bluntly and been insanely straight forward," into my ear. 

"Yes, quite direct," I argeed, "but shut up, I'm trying to listen." 

He laughed again and rested his chin on my shoulder.

 "We were kidnapped." Cassandra told Dad, sighing. "What about you? I mean when we escaped we heard that you had been murdered. I didn't want to believe it, but that was what everyone said."

"Grace and I faked our deaths, there were a lot of threats and it wasn't safe." Dad answered as he looked down at the ground and scratched the back of his head. Cassandra nodded and then took a few hesitant steps forward before running at him, then she stopped in front of him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. He stumbled back a few steps but hugged her back. Isaac had let go of Anniella, so she moved to where her siblings were but stopped when she about a metre in front of them. She didn't move from there. Mum walked up to her and pulled her against her. I saw Anniella smile and hug Mum.

"Well," Lucas started, "it looks like everyone here has a lot of catching up to do, and I'm hungry. I'm pretty sure the lasagna I put in the oven before is now no longer edible, so does anyone else want pizza?"

An hour, and countless boxes of pizza, later everyone was sitting in the lounge room with a full stomach. Mason was talking to Isaac and Patrick, Mum was sitting on the ground playing with Sam as she held Tyler, Charlie was reading a book, Nick was sitting in between Drew and Dylan, who seemed to be fighting about something, and finally Lucas was sitting next to me as I talked to Dad and my two aunts I guess I could call them now.

"Is it weird that we were a larger part of your daughters childhood than you were?" Anniella asked Dad with a large smile on her face. He just looked at her, confused. "We were her neighbours."

"That is just weird." he replied. "What were the chances of you living next to the woman who adopted my child? It's like winning the damn lottery."

"I guess we got lucky." Cassandra laughed. Which is something I rarely saw her do, even around Patrick. I hadn't seen any of them this happy before. Smiles stayed stuck to their faces, and it was the kind of smile that made you smile along with them like an idiot.

"She isn't a good as you are making her out to be." Lucas said from next to me. I turned my head to face him, with a glare. "She is even better."

"Nice save." Anniella told him. "For a second there I thought she was actually going to make you regret letting those words slip out of your mouth, and then hurt you some more."