Sanity- Chp1 Stranger

A Story by Taylor

When you forget something, maybe it's with good reason. But why can't it just stay that way?

Chapter 1: Stranger

I slammed the door to my apartment. The walls shook, but I wasn't in the mood to care. When I walked into my loft, I knew something was different. The energy of the whole place had changed. I already knew he was gone. Kenneth never could be upfront with me about anything. I walked over to the counter and there, just as I expected, was his goodbye letter. If you could even call it that, it was written on the back of an old bill. The paper was torn in half and smudged. His goodbye didn’t even take up half a page. Coward, I muttered to myself as I tore up the note and tossed it into the trash. I collapsed into an angry heap of sobs on the floor of my kitchen. I knew we were coming to an end I just didn’t know when. It’s hard to imagine such things when you don’t want to. After an hour and a half of crying, blaming, and acceptance, I managed to will myself off of the floor and into bed.

The next morning I woke to the sound of pounding on my bedroom door. I rolled over and put my pillow over my head. “Come on Jules, I know your up,” came the singsong voice of my brother. I groaned and snuggled deeper into my covers.

“No you don’t and no I’m not.”

“See you just blew your own cover, now open up.”

“No.”

I could hear him sigh, then came, “I have breakfast.”

I laughed. “Bribery was never your strong suit, Devyn.”

“But is it working?”

I thought for a moment, “Hmm…. that depends. Where is it from?”

“Your favorite place of course.”

At that thought I practically sprang out of bed. He was standing at the door, to go bags in hand. His hair was a mess, like always. I never could say no to my brother, even when we were younger, he always found a way to make me do what he wanted. He was always the more dominant twin, and I had no problem with that. We both had the same auburn hair, and jade eyes. Our builds were slightly similar, but I was always the smaller, more fragile one.

I snatched the bag from him, and peered in. After a few moments of inspection, I raised my head and looked him straight in the eyes. “You can come in on two conditions,” I said.

He smiled at me, “And those are?”

“Okay. The first condition is that if you say one word about my appearance, I can kick your butt.”

He chuckled, “And the second?”

“The second is,” I continued, “that if any of this has onions on it I can kick your butt twice as hard.”

“Do any of these conditions involve me not getting my butt kicked?”

“No.” I said dryly.

“Well then I guess that’s fine with me.” He said as he walked around me and into my room.

I closed my door, and walked over to my bed. After a few moments of silence, and a couple of rude comments, he finally asked what happened. “I’d rather not talk about it, Dev.”“Come on Julia, you know you can tell me anything.” I sighed and pulled the covers into my lap. “You know, I really don’t like your kind right now, so I wouldn’t be making demands if I were you.”He slouched back into the rocker, and stared out the window. I knew he wouldn’t push it if I told him not to. After a few more minutes of silence, I opened up the to-go box and grabbed a little plastic fork out of my nightstand. I was half way done with my pancakes when Devyn interrupted me. “Kenneth left you didn’t he?” He asked with genuine curiosity. I groaned and pushed my plate away. “Did he?” he asked again, this time more fire in his voice. “Yes.” was my reply.

He stood up and slammed the rocker into the wall. I flinched, and I could feel the lump forming in my throat. I closed my eyes and tried to fight back the tears. He was pacing somewhere at the foot of my bed now. “Did he at least have the courage to tell you why?” he demanded. Silence. “Julia? Did he?”

“Yes,” I gasped.

“And what reason would that be?”

“Another woman.”

After that I heard the bedroom door slam. I didn’t try to chase after him there was no use. It wouldn’t help the situation; it would only make him angrier. I actually felt bad for Kenneth if Devyn found him, but I knew there was no way. He was already miles away with his wife. See, in actuality I was the other woman. Had I known, there was no way I’d have been with him all these months. His letter said that he was leaving me for his wife. I was only a little play toy for him while she made up her mind. They were probably somewhere exotic like Jamaica or the Reefs.

I lay back in bed, my head swimming with revenge plots. A slam of my front door shook me out of my revenge fantasies. I pulled back the covers, and ran out of my room. “Devyn, look I have something ----, “ I stopped mid-sentence. The person in my living room was not my brother. He was slightly taller; 6’7” maybe, long dark hair, violet eyes. I stood there dumbfounded, my jaw slightly open. He smiled at me and something in his face was familiar. “Do I know you?” was all I could manage. He chuckled and stepped closer to me, “Yes I believe you do, Julia.”

“How the hell do you know my name?”

“Oh I know much more than that, love.”

I took a step back from his approaching figure, “Look just take anything you want and leave.”

“Anything?” he asked, his gaze was penetrating.

“Yes. Anything.” I said, sternly.

“Well then, come with me.” I could feel my eyes widen, and my heart skipped a beat. My head was screaming run, but my body wouldn’t move. He approached me and his face stopped an inch from mine. “Don’t be frightened, love.” he said, as his arms wrapped around my waist. I heard him whisper something to me, but I just don’t remember what.