Mixed up families, huh?

Chapter One: Tyson's POV

I yawned as I stretched out my arms and sat up. It was too early for me to be awake, in my opinion. But, I had no choice.

Noah was making me wake up early to help him search for Reagan. Reagan is our sister, but she was kidnapped at birth. I don't know much about it, I was only 2 when she was born. Anyway, when I woke up, I knew Noah was already up.

It's like he barely sleeps, sometimes I'm not sure he's even human. I mean, we have our laughs. I mess with him quite a bit. He pretends to hate it, but I know he's secretly smirking when I turn my back.

I guess it must be hard to be Noah. His whole life has been spent searching for our stolen little sister. Not only that, but he has to look after me. I get in trouble at school sometimes and Noah has to take care of it. It's not fair, because Noah shouldn't have to.

I know Noah would do anything for me, that's why he took custody of me when mom and dad died, but he had to grow up too fast. He was still just a kid when he took over what our parents left behind. He had to keep a roof over our heads. When Noah's not working one of his two jobs, he's looking for Reagan or cooking a meal for me or making sure I'm okay.

You see, I don't have many friends. I kind of disconnected with all of them when my parents died. After they died everything just got complicated. Noah shut down and our search for Reagan became even more vigorous and I was still a minor so Noah had to work on getting custody of me. It was all just really messy and I was scared. I didn't have time for friends anymore.

Noah's really my only friend. Which is fine with me, but it can get lonely sometimes. He works a lot and the house is empty most of the time. But, I keep a smile on my face and add the comic relief to Noah's life that he needs.

Anyway, I walked downstairs and rubbed my eyes. I saw Noah cooking bacon and eggs for breakfast. He was clearly tired, and I felt bad. I had offered multiple times to wake up and cook, but Noah refused to let me. He says I need the sleep more than he does. He actually did let me cook dinner once, but that didn't go so well.

Flashback

"NOAHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed for my older brother as I saw the noodles catch fire in the pot. I'm not sure how it happened, but it did. "NOAHHHHHH!!!! THE NOODLES ARE ON FIREEEEE!" I was panicked and ran around for a second in the kitchen. Oh..... this was bad.

Noah ran down the stairs and his eyes widened in shock at the fire. "How did you- HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO SET NOODLES ON FIRE!?" He was scrambling to find the fire extinguisher.

"I DON'T KNOW! OH MY GOD- WE'RE GONNA DIE!" The realization made me sit down next to the fridge with my head in my hands. Tears sprang to my eyes as I heard Noah running around and the fire bursting up. I sobbed. "We're gonna dieeeeeee! It's all my fault!" I wailed in fear and regret.

Noah had stopped the fire while I was still howling in anguish. "I'm so sorry Noah. We're gonna die! Oh my God...I don't wanna die!" I felt a hand on my shoulder and I opened my eyes. "We're not dead..." Noah laughed at me and knelt down next to me. "No we're not dead, you idiot. You're never cooking again though." I giggled and leaned my head on his shoulder.

Flashback Ends

So, yeah.

I don't cook.

Noah saw me and smiled gently. "Look who it is, my little baby brother. Finally has awaken from his never-ending slumber!" He spoke in an amused tone. I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "Ok well..." I didn't get to finish my sentence. I slipped on a step and slid down the rest of the stairs. I could hear Noah laughing and groaned. "Oof... I'm okay thanks for asking."

I rose from the ground and Noah walked over to me. He was still chuckling, but now he had a concerned glint in his eye. "You okay?" I grinned at him in my happy-go-lucky way. "Yep!" I said this with a lot of exaggerated enthusiasm and jumped on Noah's back.

He groaned and ran around for a second while I laughed before dropping me on the couch. "Thanks, big brother." He just rolled his eyes and got back to breakfast. I cuddled up to a pillow and promptly fell asleep.

I woke up 5 minutes later when Noah pushed me off the couch and told me breakfast was ready.

As we ate, Noah did some research on his computer. He always did that during breakfast, I guess he's looking for anything on Reagan, although he never found anything significant. We never stopped trying to find her, even after all these years.

I would love to find our little sister, but I don't want to keep following loose trails. I don't want to spend the next 50 years of my life searching for someone who might not even be alive. I guess I just wish we could find her. If not for Noah's sanity, then for mine.

I know Noah's never going to give up, and I'm not going to give up on him, so I guess for now, we search the internet.

Noah ruffled my hair and took my plate to do the dishes and I went upstairs to get ready.

Noah and I have always been close, even as kids. He looked out for me, and I looked up to him. After our parents died, Noah just got even more protective over me. He didn't want to lose the only family he had left. It makes sense, but sometimes I wish he would calm down and live a little.

I pulled out my own laptop and spent hours trying to find any information I could on Reagan's kidnappers. Noah left for work a little while ago. He came into my room and said he would be back around 9 tonight.

I spent the day looking for anything. We were getting desperate. My blue eyes narrowed as I came across an article from 3 years ago.

12 year old Reagan Patro wins county photography contest with her photo of a snowy winter sky as the sun sets. The youngest to ever win the contest and admittedly the best picture to have ever won.

My eyes wandered over her picture. It was clearly my sister. Same curly black hair as Noah and she had mom's light green eyes that sparkled. She wasn't smiling in the picture, she looked like she was going to throw up, but that's not the point. My breathing picked up and I brought my shaking hand up to my mouth. After all these years, and a simple article was out there waiting. I can't believe we missed it.

I checked the location. Dallas, Texas. We lived only a couple hours from there. We lived in a tiny house in Oklahoma City.

I packed up my computer, some food and money, and a map. I debated calling Noah, but I didn't want to get his hopes up.

So, I started the journey to find my little sister on my own.