my demons more than I feared what secrets the night might hold.
Justin .
Even as a child of seven, I understood my brother was involved in something bad. My parents told me Justin had emotional problems, but from the scraps of conversation I’d overheard through the years, I was able to piece together the truth. My brother had had a serious drug addiction.
By age seventeen, Justin graduated to hard stuff. My parents and my brother argued all the time about it, which usually ended up with Justin storming out of the house. He would stay away for days on end. My parents tried to get him help. Shortly before he went missing, they’d booked him into one of the foremost drug treatment centers in the state. But then one night, my brother simply vanished in the middle of the night, never to be heard from again.
My parents spent the rest of their lives and thousands of dollars searching for the truth behind Justin’s disappearance. I’d always believed Justin was dead and my parents had died without ever knowing what happened to him. But what if I was wrong?
I parked the Expedition in a well-lit parking lot close to the spot where I was supposed to have met my brother last night.
As I started walking, a threat of rain hung heavy in the air, keeping the crowds to a minimum. I glanced up as the moon went behind a cloud, bringing the world around me into shadows. I looked around me in surprise. I’d long since left the lights of Wisconsin Avenue behind. It was then that I felt the first uneasy prickle at the base of my spine.
From somewhere close behind, a noise brought my attention back to my current situation. I was alone and in unfamiliar territory.
It was then that I saw him standing there. My brother. Even from a distance, I could see he was no longer the confused young kid who walked out into the night all those years ago.
“Justin?”
The sound of my voice appeared to startle him for a moment. He watched me warily, not attempting to answer me.
“Justin? It’s really you, isn’t it? You’re alive. Mom and Dad were right all along. They never stopped believing they’d find you alive someday.”
I’d taken another step closer when it hit me. The man standing before me was nothing like the gangly teenager I remembered from the past. A boy of seventeen disappeared into the night; the man who watched me now held only a faint resemblance to that boy.
“Justin, it’s okay. I can help you. Whatever you’ve done, I can help, but you have to trust me. You have to turn yourself in.”
“Stop. Don’t come any closer, Rainie.” Even his voice sent me back into the past. It held a thin reminder of the troubled kid who had very little patience for the sister who always wanted to tag along.
But the fear behind Justin’s words was real enough and hard to deny. I did as he asked, stopping a few feet away from him.
I studied my brother carefully, looking for any familiar telltale signs. I didn’t trust him. After all, what did I really know about the man he’d become? The things I’d read about Jeremiah Silvers made it hard to believe this could be the same person standing before me now.
“Justin, I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you. Whatever’s happened, whatever you’ve done, I promise we can work this out. I’ll help you.”
The sound of his laughter sent an uneasy awareness along my spine.
“You can’t help me. There’s nothing you, or anyone connected to you can do to help me now. It’s too late for me, Rainie. I came back for you. To warn you. There are things happening here that you don’t understand. Walk away from this while you still can. Get out before it’s too late for you as well.”
“Justin, let me help you.”
“Don’t worry about me. Just let me go. You don’t know who I am anymore. Let go of the past, Rainie. It doesn’t exist for either of us.”
“Justin, I don’t understand. What are you talking about?” I took another step closer, desperate to make eye contact. If
Justin .
Even as a child of seven, I understood my brother was involved in something bad. My parents told me Justin had emotional problems, but from the scraps of conversation I’d overheard through the years, I was able to piece together the truth. My brother had had a serious drug addiction.
By age seventeen, Justin graduated to hard stuff. My parents and my brother argued all the time about it, which usually ended up with Justin storming out of the house. He would stay away for days on end. My parents tried to get him help. Shortly before he went missing, they’d booked him into one of the foremost drug treatment centers in the state. But then one night, my brother simply vanished in the middle of the night, never to be heard from again.
My parents spent the rest of their lives and thousands of dollars searching for the truth behind Justin’s disappearance. I’d always believed Justin was dead and my parents had died without ever knowing what happened to him. But what if I was wrong?
I parked the Expedition in a well-lit parking lot close to the spot where I was supposed to have met my brother last night.
As I started walking, a threat of rain hung heavy in the air, keeping the crowds to a minimum. I glanced up as the moon went behind a cloud, bringing the world around me into shadows. I looked around me in surprise. I’d long since left the lights of Wisconsin Avenue behind. It was then that I felt the first uneasy prickle at the base of my spine.
From somewhere close behind, a noise brought my attention back to my current situation. I was alone and in unfamiliar territory.
It was then that I saw him standing there. My brother. Even from a distance, I could see he was no longer the confused young kid who walked out into the night all those years ago.
“Justin?”
The sound of my voice appeared to startle him for a moment. He watched me warily, not attempting to answer me.
“Justin? It’s really you, isn’t it? You’re alive. Mom and Dad were right all along. They never stopped believing they’d find you alive someday.”
I’d taken another step closer when it hit me. The man standing before me was nothing like the gangly teenager I remembered from the past. A boy of seventeen disappeared into the night; the man who watched me now held only a faint resemblance to that boy.
“Justin, it’s okay. I can help you. Whatever you’ve done, I can help, but you have to trust me. You have to turn yourself in.”
“Stop. Don’t come any closer, Rainie.” Even his voice sent me back into the past. It held a thin reminder of the troubled kid who had very little patience for the sister who always wanted to tag along.
But the fear behind Justin’s words was real enough and hard to deny. I did as he asked, stopping a few feet away from him.
I studied my brother carefully, looking for any familiar telltale signs. I didn’t trust him. After all, what did I really know about the man he’d become? The things I’d read about Jeremiah Silvers made it hard to believe this could be the same person standing before me now.
“Justin, I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you. Whatever’s happened, whatever you’ve done, I promise we can work this out. I’ll help you.”
The sound of his laughter sent an uneasy awareness along my spine.
“You can’t help me. There’s nothing you, or anyone connected to you can do to help me now. It’s too late for me, Rainie. I came back for you. To warn you. There are things happening here that you don’t understand. Walk away from this while you still can. Get out before it’s too late for you as well.”
“Justin, let me help you.”
“Don’t worry about me. Just let me go. You don’t know who I am anymore. Let go of the past, Rainie. It doesn’t exist for either of us.”
“Justin, I don’t understand. What are you talking about?” I took another step closer, desperate to make eye contact. If
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