"What the hell are you doing here?!" I lowered my voice halfway through.
Zach's jaw tightened and I half-noticed a bruise on his eye and down his jawline.
"You keep blowing me off Zeke." His voice was loud and echoed down the hallway.
"Be quiet, Christ, come with me," He followed me up the stairs and into my bedroom. I closed the door behind me and watched him look about my room. "How did you even find out where I lived?"
"You are not the only one who can follow someone, you know." He pulled off the guitar case that was on his back and propped it against the wall.
"My Mum could have answered the door. You know the situation, this is not cool." I started to pace the room, wiping my sweaty hands on my trousers.
He turned to me and glared. "No, Zeke, what is not cool is you saying you will talk to him about me, and then changing the subject whenever I bring it up."
My face flashed red instantly. He was right, I had been avoiding it. "It's complicated..."
He cut me off. "I know; which is why I waited for your Mum to leave just now," He rubbed his hand through his dark hair. "I can't wait any longer to meet him. What if the Dr's are right? Then I don't have much time to get to know him. I need to, Zeke."
His blue eyes glistened as they met mine and I had to look away. He suddenly moved towards the door. "Where is he?"
"Wait, wait!" I stood in front of him. I had never seen this side of Zach before. He was so determined that I knew there was no way of talking him out of this, even if that were the right thing to do.
"I'll go down and tell him you are here now," He looked at me suspiciously. "Please just give me...give him...a few minutes to get used to it..."
He didn't stop looking sceptical but he stood back. My mind was empty as I walked out of the room and down the stairs. My legs moved me forward but I didn't feel like I was in command of them.
I walked into the lounge and Dad was on the couch. The TV was on but I couldn't hear it: the thumping of my heart drowned it out.
"Zeke?" After a moment I realised I had been stood there staring at him for 30 seconds. His blue eyes stared back at me and I saw again how much both Zach and I looked like him. No one would doubt that we were closely related.
"Zeke, buddy, are you okay?" The TV went off and Dad was closer to me now: I could make out the faint smell of whiskey on his breath.
I shook my head and felt tears threaten my eyes.
"Has something happened?" His voice sounded strong then. Like the Dad I had always known. His hand gripped my shoulder.
"I didn't mean to...I found out by accident....with everything that is happening I thought it was the right thing but, but..." My words tumbled out and Dad's brow furrowed.
"Zeke, you aren't making sense..."
"He's here," I breathed. " Zach, Zachariah...he's here."
His eyes widened into saucers and he exploded and pushed me roughly. I fell back, half over the arm of the couch, slamming into the sideboard: pain bursting through my cheekbone as it connected with the edge.
Before I could reach my hand up to the pain, Dad's face was in mine, a mask of anger painted across it. He gripped me by the t-shirt as he shouted:
"What have you done?! Does you mother know? Does she?"
I shook my head. "No s-she doesn't Dad, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I found the stuff by accident..."
YOU ARE READING
The Burden of Secrets
Teen Fiction"Each secret you carry has a weight all its own. They add up, secrets, to a burden you must carry all your days" Ed Greenwood Look around you. See your friends, your family. You can go a lifetime thinking that you know someone, and then BAM. ...
