Her Brother, The Maniac 02

All of this information was too hard to swallow or handle. But she knew that Shane had to know. It all made sense as Camille had done everything in her power to start limiting the time and freedom that Shane had to hang out with her. It especially made sense each year they grew older. Rachelle realized that Camille had been trying to keep them apart perhaps because Camille feared that they would fall in love and she did not want to expose the truth and reveal her lies.

Rachelle realized that Camille had been lying to him for a majority of his life. Although he was four years older than Rachelle, he had no recollection of their biological parents as they had both been convinced that Camille was his mother when the reality was, that she was their biological aunt.

When nobody was around, she crept back into the attic to look through the boxes once more to find any sort of evidence that would prove to be true because this was going to be hard to convince him. She stumbled across not only her original copy of her birth certificate but a copy of Shane's as well.

As she examined the birth certificates, she found out that the name of their biological parents was Selena Garrison-Crow and Michael James Crow. Sure enough, the same names were listed on Shane's birth certificate as well. Those certificates proved that they were indeed brother and sister. She folded them up and slipped them into her jeans, followed by the suicide note of their mother.

Ignoring everybody around her, she left the house. She had to find Shane and he had to know the truth.

Dusk had hit. The sky was lavender, with a sunset that glowed over the horizon. She couldn't help but to marvel with awe as the hot pink halo swirled into the sky like a cyclone of mist. The hot pink aura reflected off into the clouds that resembled an inferno of blazing flames.

The summer breeze flowed through the red bud trees; dancing and swaying side by side, granting the beautiful fuchsia petals their freedom as they gently glided throughout the air and rained upon the ground, flooding it with its glimmering beauty.

She had to find Shane quickly, so she sprinted throughout the valley of the redbud trees. She sprinted in such a frenzy that the breeze flowed through her hair like she was Pocahontas.

When she finally reached Shane's house, he was already walking out the door with the car keys in his hand. He paused and looked over at her, flashing his beautiful smile that lustered under what was left of the sunlight. He let out a laugh.

"Glad to see you here!," he declared. "It's a beautiful evening and I want some good company!"

"Okay...," Rachelle agreed.

"Come on." He climbed into his nice black hybrid, and opened the passenger door for her, beckoning for her to come forth. She complied and climbed inside as he sped off. "Man, it's really hot... I'm thinking our swim hole?"

When they were little children they would take walks together through the woods and explore. In the center of the woods, they discovered a remote little pond surrounded by a beautiful variety of wild flowers and Magnolia trees.

That was their favorite spot whenever they needed to get away. Although they were four years apart, Rachelle was able to trust him even though he was a teenager before she was and a legal adult before she was.

She agreed to go with him as the spot was remote and nobody would be able to hear them. It was hard that she was going to have to tell him the truth in a place that brought them happiness and joy.

By the time they reached their destination, it had become nightfall. They left the vehicle, and as usual, he took his shirt off and handed it to her. They would swim in their underwear as they didn't want to ruin their dry clothing. Shane was always a gentleman and gave her the shirt off his back so she could stay modest each time they took a swim in the pond.

As they walked through the thick woods, the night sky glowed with a golden super moon and the stars glittered across the night sky. As they walked closer to the pond, they were greeted with with a flock of lightning bugs that flickered their obsidian lights. They gracefully floated in different directions.

She heard the crickets serenading their beautiful songs under the moonlight. In the distance far away, you could hear the owls crying as the lunar aura of light graced them with its celestial presence by awakening them.

When they reached their destination, Shane removed his shorts and started sprinting towards the pond. He jumped onto the giant rock and used it as a dive bomb, splashing Rachelle's legs with the cool water.

As he sunk underneath the surface, Rachelle quickly removed her clothing and pulled on Shane's shirt over her bra and panties.

He propelled himself back up above the surface as if he was a majestic mermaid. He was treading in the water to keep himself up as he exchanged looks with Rachelle.

"Are you coming in?," he asked her. She took one long look at him and paused. She let out an exasperated sigh because she still didn't know how she would tell him.

"Are you okay?," he asked her with suspicion. "You are awfully quiet today..."

"I am fine, Shane...," she lied. "I am just admiring the view... it's such a beautiful night."

Shane looked at the surrounding environment as he admired it as well. "It is beautiful.," he agreed. To make him happy she slowly walked into the water so she could steadily adjust to the change of the temperature. She felt relief as it was a hot summer night and the breeze subsided. As she carefully walked in, Shane playfully grabbed her and pulled her into the water wrapping his arm around her waist to ensure that she wouldn't submerge under the water. He didn't let her waist go and walked toward the deeper end of the pond. Rachelle floated helplessly as she tried to break free from his grip and she started laughing.

"Damn it, Shane!"

She splashed him with water, when he let her go and began to splash her back. She had the time of her life with him just the way she did whenever they were children. It was the smallest things in life that made her the happiest, but unfortunately, she had to talk to him. Whenever they calmed down and floated around aimlessly, she decided that now was the time to talk to him and it was now or never.

"We need to talk, Shane..."

"What's going on?"

"We need to sit down and talk because this is a serious matter between me and you..."

They left the pond and sat down on the rock to dry off.

"Is everything okay? Are you mad at me?," he asked.

"No... it's something I found out. You know that I am adopted, right?"

He exchanged a puzzled look with her. "Of course I do, Rachelle... I've known you all my life. I know everything about you..."

"Shane, you don't know everything about me... I didn't even know anything about myself until recently..."

"Have you been snooping around the attic again?," he asked her with disbelief. "I told you that we are better off without looking into the past. You have a loving family and you have me. What is the point, Rachelle?"

"I needed to know! I have the right to know where I came from and so do you..."

"What are you talking about? What does this have to do with me?"

"I need you to listen to me and listen good," she firmly demanded. "I did go through the attic and I found some things...we have been lied to our whole lives..."

"What do you mean we?"

"Shane, I didn't want to be the one to tell you this but you need to know and it's not right if I leave you in the dark."

"What in the hell are you talking about? This isn't making any sense at all."

"I found out that my biological parents died... my father overdosed on heroin and my mother found his body and she committed suicide... I found out I had an older brother that was four years old when they died and we were separated..."

"Okay... but what does this have to do with me? How am I in this equation?"

"I am trying to tell you, that I am your sister, Shane! Camille is not your mother! She is our aunt- our mother's sister!"

"There is no way in hell that this is possible! My mother has my birth certificate!"

"I knew you wouldn't believe this... I couldn't believe it myself, but you have to believe me!," she pleaded. "I have better things to do than to make something like this up! I even have proof!"

Rachelle had never seen such confusion and fury in his eyes until this moment. "Show me."

She rose from the rock and she grabbed her shorts. She pulled the important documents from her pocket. And she joined him back at the rock they were sitting on.

"These are our birth certificates... and my mom kept her suicide note." Shane grabbed his shorts and removed a lighter from his pocket. He flicked the lighter and he gently hovered the flame near the certificates so he could carefully read them and compare the two.

"This has to be some kind of mistake. There is no way that this can be..." She pulled out the suicide note from their mother and she handed it over for him to read. He read the note and dropped it in self-defeat.

"Oh god, I can't believe this!"

"Its the truth, Shane! Do you remember when a lot of people asked if we were brother and sister? We even look alike!"

"But why would everyone go through great lengths to lie to us?" "Because they thought we were too young to know..."

"But why did my mom adopt me and not you?"

"She gave me to my mom because she couldn't pay attention to both of us. Apparently you had a lot of problems and Camille had to focus a lot on you to help you catch up. She couldn't give me the attention I needed. So she handed me over to my mom and they didn't want to separate us so they raised us to be friends... why do you think they had us spend all this time together and made sure that we knew each other? My mother and father did not know Camille at all. They found us in one of their hotel rooms. Our parents died in that room!"

"Oh god!," he moaned. Suddenly he broke down and he started sobbing. She had not seen him cry since they were young children.

"I am sorry I had to let you know like this... I wish this never would have happened but I had to let you know or Camille would have never told you!"

"Look Rachelle, I don't give a Damn about any of that..."

"Then why are you crying? I'm trying not to cry myself and you are making it hard for me..."

"Rachelle, I am crying because I love you... I don't just love you like family but I am in love with you... I have always loved you..." he confessed. "I had to spend a lot of time away from you not because I didn't love you or care about you. You were so special to me... I always felt like you were my soul mate and it killed me on the inside when I realized how much I had loved you. I realized I was in love with you when I was fourteen and I knew it was wrong because you were so young and innocent... I didn't know if I could control myself around you which is why I had to stay away from you... I could only love you from afar... there wasn't a night that went by where I didn't think about you. You were always on my mind. Every girl I tried to date, all I did was think about you... I couldn't stop thinking of your beautiful face... I couldn't stop thinking of your beautiful eyes and your smile that lit up the world... it drove me crazy when you would wear that pearly pink colored lip gloss and the glitter you wore on your cheeks... it drove me mad as I watched you grow up and develop into a woman who had only become more beautiful as time went by... I love you more than words can ever explain and now I will never get that chance to have you..."

Tears continued to flow from his beautiful eyes. Rachelle reached out to wipe his tears away and as she did that, she could no longer stay strong. No matter how hard she tried to hold back, the tears made their way out. She sucked in some air and she held her breath trying not to cry out loud. But she couldn't help it. Before she even had time to thoroughly think, it just all came out...

"I have always loved you too, Shane..." she confessed. "I have loved you for as long as I can remember and it kills me deeply because I will never have the chance that I always wanted to be with you and to love you and to have your love..."

It was that moment when Shane embraced her in his arms and he pulled her into his lap, holding her as tight as he could. He never wanted to let her go. She melted into his arms, wrapping herself around his torso and resting her head against his chest. Even though he was her brother, she was not certain that she could hold her feelings back for him despite these circumstances.

How could something so wrong feel so right?