The Lengths Of Love (ON HOLD)

Chapter 10

(Picture is of Mrs.Marten, Austin's grandmother.)

"Sandra?" But it couldn't be. She's been gone for more than a decade.

"Hi Letty," she said, timidly.

"Hi? You've been missing for a decade and all you say is hi?" She opened her mouth but I continued. "How are you here right now? No. Why are you here?"

"I..." She began, but I couldn't hold back any longer. I ran and hugged her, squeezing as tight as I could, as if I loosened my grip she'd disappear and this would just have been a dream. I could handle the Austin being in a car accident as a dream but not being reunited with my sister.

"Ouch!" I squealed. "What'd you do that for?" She'd pinched me.

"I know what you're thinking. This is not a dream. So, I pinched you to prove it. You can be as mad at me as you want later."

"Whatever. Just never do that again." She nodded." Now, you didn't answer my question. What are you doing here?"

"I met Austin a few months ago, in February. I was heading here to see if I could see you, not talk to you, just see you when I saw him. He passed by me but I felt like he looked back at me. Then a couple of months later, I tried to come see you again when I got a break from work. Austin saw me again and yelled 'Letty!' I guess he'd finally met you. He started walking to me, but I couldn't let him see me. I knew if he already knew you and saw me on the street, he would think we were the same person. But I knew you were in this mental hospital and that his grandmother was a patient here too. I knew he'd begin to piece things together if he met you in the hospital, met me in the street and came back to see you still here. I couldn't risk everything I've worked for these past few years."

"What are you talking about? Austin didn't even know I had a twin until I told him when he said he thought he saw me walking down the street."

"I know. I thought it would be safe to come back two and a half weeks later. That's when he surprised me."

"Surprised you?" She nodded. "How?"

"I was across the street, contemplating on whether to see you when he surprised me from behind. Thankfully, I didn't punch him." I stared at her like, 'Really?' I knew she was talking about the time she snuck up on me and I instinctively swung my arm back, punching her in the stomach. "Anyways, he convinced me to talk to him and he told me that he'd met you and that you had told him about mom and what happened to her. I knew then he must have been special if you opened up to him so quickly. That alone made me trust him. You don't trust easily, so I knew he was okay. Before we talked, I had no idea you were investigating mom's death. He told me and I told him that I was also looking into it."

"You're looking into her death too? You don't believe Uncle Brian did it either?"

"Nope, and here's something very interesting I thought you'd want to see." She grabbed a bag off a chair that I hadn't noticed before and took a book from it. "It's a yearbook from Palmdale High School. That's where..."

"Mom, dad and Uncle Brian went to high school."

"Exactly. But, they weren't the only ones." She opened the book to a page she'd marked with a neon sticky note.

I couldn't believe it. "Jakob Tuller. He went to school with them?" I looked up at Sandra.

"Yep. But that's not it. He has a son."

"Who?"

"Aiden."

"Aiden Ratcliffe is Jakob Tuller's son?" My possible stalker was the son of my mom's possible stalker.