"You guys don’t have to blindfold me. I’m just going home, right?" Elijah protested for the umpteenth time as Anne held on to his shoulders to guide him. He had no idea where Isaiah and Anne were bringing him to. Right after Isaiah barged into his room and happily exclaimed that he could go home, Isaiah wrestled him and locked his hands behind his back while Anne giggly blindfolded him, promising him a pleasant surprise. He knew Isaiah and Anne had done what they did in good humor but irrational fear seized hold of him for a split moment and he had the looming thought of certain death. The echoes of the dread reverberated in his mind’s chamber with increasing intensity. When he was not forcing himself to banter along with Isaiah and Anne in the car ride, he was thinking about the fear, feeling it squeezing his chest in a death’s grip.

Maybe it had something to do with his predicament. Someone committed arson on his property and knocked him on his head. Though frustrated at not being able to present Bayport’s finest with clues, he was determined to recover soon and he was sure he would remember the face of the person who did this to him. The culprit might hurt someone else and Elijah resolved to prevent that from ever happening.

"You’re so noisy! Just keep quiet and let us surprise you…" Anne chided him and he kept his mouth shut immediately. He felt extremely comfortable with Anne but at the same time, he would perspire just at the thought of her. Being close to Anne made him smile uncontrollably. Being teased by her caused him to blush.

And being showered concern upon by her caused joy of the purest kind to surge through his veins.

His heart palpitated then and his breathing became heavier. Controlling himself lest Anne thought of him as some sex pervert, Elijah allowed Anne to slowly assist him along.

"Ok, Elijah. We’re here… Elijah?" Anne was practically trying to push Elijah ahead as she called out to him from the realm of reality. The distress he felt- almost like being helpless while on the verge of death- had kept him rooted to where he was.

"Oh… sorry. Can I take down the blindfold now?" Elijah tried to sound cool and unaffected- he did not want Anne to know that he was absurdly frightened of something he could not understand or explain. However, there was no mistaking the tremor in his voice.

He sensed a presence near him.

"Are you all right?" Isaiah asked, his voice thick with concern. Elijah pulled his jacket tighter around his body and smiled reassuringly.

"I’m just a little cold."

"Ok, a few steps more and you’ll be where we need you to be." Isaiah promised and Elijah took a deep breath before nodding. A few more steps and the darkness would dispel.

"Here… TA-DA!" Isaiah exclaimed. Anne peeled the blindfold off for him and he shivered pleasantly at the touch of her soft hands brushing against his cheeks.

His heart also skipped a beat- not only because of her but also because in the anticipation of seeing some other place besides the hospital room and being released from the enveloping claustrophobia the blindfold brought.

The sight presented before him was a small but cozy room. A prince-sized bed was placed on against a wall, at the other end of the room across from the windows which looked out to the streets of Manhattan. Everything was bright and cheery- from the bleached wood furniture to the light blue curtains fluttering like the welcoming wings of an angel. However, they all seemed too happy and new for him. Strangely, he felt he would like it better if it was much plainer without all the frills like the crystal ornaments of various musical instruments.

His eyes strayed to his left and became fixed onto a violin leaning innocently against the foot of the bed. As if in a trance, he walked over to it, knelt down and traced a finger down its curvy side. A melody played in his head and he recognized it as part of a symphony- a faster, angst-filled movement. But he could not recall the name of the symphony though he was struck by the fact that he recognized the violin as a Guarneri-styled instrument.

"This is gorgeous…" he remarked breathily, loving the way the varnished, amber-shaded wood felt to his fingertips.

"If I am rich enough, I’ll buy you the real thing. But this is beautiful too. It has a rich, dark tone. You can play extremely well." Isaiah had softly approached him and knelt down next to him. Elijah looked at him and smiled.

"Now I really want to remember. I want to remember what I’ve done to deserve such a wonderful brother."

Isaiah averted his eyes and the sudden broodiness in the contemplative mien baffled Elijah. Just as he was about to ask Isaiah what was wrong when everything seemed so right, Anne placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Oh… tissue moment…." Anne teased the two brothers in a light, girlish voice. Elijah looked up at her and grinned though his heart was troubled by the fear, the flashbacks and now, Isaiah’s change in temperament.

"Like your room? Your brother, Lynn and I spent a lot of time on it. But Lynn’s not here because she went to Australia for some business and won’t be back until end January or early February."

Elijah glanced at Isaiah who was fingering the violin the same way he did only moments ago and saw that the melancholy had left the handsome face. He placed an arm across Isaiah’s shoulders and playfully leaned his head against his brother’s right upper arm.

"I wuv it, wuv it! Thank you, big bro!" Elijah childishly proclaimed and Isaiah chuckled, shoving his head good-naturedly away.

"You can add your own touches to it… this is something to get you started." Isaiah stood up and gestured around. Elijah stroked the violin and glanced around the room.

"Maybe it’ll be great if I have some of my stuff here. Are you sure I have absolutely nothing left but my wallet?"

There was a pregnant pause before Isaiah answered, almost inaudibly.

"The fire burned everything you owned to ashes, Lijah."

***

"I know what you’re trying to do, Isaiah. It’s not going to work. I know you called his landlord and wired him some money to ship his things back to you. Where did you put them? In a rented storeroom? I’m beginning to think it’s you who’s having the defective memory!" Anne shouted angrily from behind, trying to keep up with him. He could hear the rapid clattering of her heels and heavy breathing from exertion but made no move of slowing down. They had left Elijah alone in Borders which they visited after he got bored of shopping for clothes because Anne wanted to have a talk with Isaiah. She brought him to a small café a street away and when Isaiah knew where the conversation was heading, he simply smiled and told her Elijah should not be by himself for long and left with her hurriedly following behind.

"I can’t hear you! Traffic’s noisy!" Isaiah tilted his head slightly to his left and yelled, feigning circumstantial deafness. He wished Anne could just save him the rhetoric. She did not have to live through an abusive past. She did not have to bear the burden of guilt or suffer through the anguish of abandonment. Isaiah was doing all he could to protect Elijah from himself. Hadn’t she seen his hands and what he was capable of it those sordid memories came crawling back into the crevasses of his brains? No. She could sympathize but she would never know how terrible it was to be at the frontline where bullets of abuse, violence, hatred and despair flayed cruelly through naked souls.

"Isaiah!" Anne grabbed his hand and pulled him to a halt. Exhaling heavily, Isaiah turned around and never felt more desperate before in his life to escape from a conversation.

"Anne, save it. I know what I’m doing!"

"I know he had a terrible childhood, so did you. But this is running away!"

"YES! IT IS RUNNING AWAY! SO?! CAN YOU FAULT ME?! WHY DON’T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?!" Isaiah hollered into her face- the ire rose up his chest and out of his mouth with hurtful words. She stood before him, shell-shocked by his sudden outburst. Some people slowed down for a moment to observe the commotion but none of them loitered behind to watch the show. Immediately regretting his actions, Isaiah took her gloved hand gently and tried to hug her but she jerked away from him.

"If anything happens to him, Isaiah, I’ll love to hear your explanations and defenses." She fumed, shoving her hands into her coat’s pockets. Angry breaths escaped from her nostrils- manifested by misty circles in the bitingly cold air.

"Anne…" Isaiah half-heartedly called her back after she spun on her heels and walked away. She threw a dismissive hand in the air and he decided not to pursue her. He was actually glad to see her leave- it gave him time to be alone with his brother.

Shaking the disturbing thought away with a swipe of the head, Isaiah made his solitude way back to Borders which was just across the road from where he was.