She stayed in a small little house close to the swamps of Louisiana, and he had some difficulty finding her. When he did, he almost could not bear to pursue the truth. Like his aunty who was his mother’s only confidante said, the truth was terrible.

He introduced himself and realized she was deaf. Knowledge of sign language, a skill picked up by the brothers because they wanted to talk in the dark in their bedroom but was afraid the sound of their voices would anger their father, came in handy then.

Oh my… She took his hand in hers and tears streamed down her cheeks. How’s the precious baby?

He’s all right. Don’t you worry. I just want to know why did the letters stop? Didn’t he get mine? I never got his last one. Isaiah signed back to her and watched her face fell in shame.

I’m sorry… his father made me pass it all to him. He found out the two of you are communicating through me. He took Lijah’s letters to you and yours to him and burn them in the fireplace, laughing as he did so. Your father really hated your little brother but I can’t do anything about it. I can only clean Lijah’s wounds, make sure he got food and save him from killing himself. I tried… I’m sorry… your letters were the only things that could make him smile.

She buried her face in her hands and could not stop crying. Isaiah waited until she calm down while he placed a hand on her knee, comforting the old lady the best he could.

He tried to kill himself? Isaiah asked her, gesturing with increasing trepidation to prod her to reveal more when she finally stopped sobbing.

***

"Saiah?" Elijah knocked on Isaiah’s room door which was opened. Isaiah looked up from Elijah’s notebook which he was ransacking through for a glimmer of a hint to Elijah’s connections with the two personalities Fenton dug up. However, Elijah seemed to use his notebook for nothing other surfing and checking emails. Even his inbox was barrenly empty.

"Yes? Had fun with Anne today?" Isaiah closed the notebook as causally as he could, stood up and hid the notebook from Elijah’s view by blocking it with his body.

Elijah grinned sheepishly as he leaned against the side of the entrance with dreamy eyes looking inwards into his mind. "Yah… I think I’m pre-dating her."

Isaiah let out a low chuckle. He would have thought Elijah had never dated before had it not been for Elijah’s confessions at their mother’s grave more than a year ago which told Isaiah that Elijah used to have a passionate albeit doomed affair with a married woman in his college years.

"Pre-dating?" Isaiah walked Elijah out of his room and closed the door behind him gently. Elijah plopped himself down onto one of the beanbags thrown haphazardly on the floor and grabbed a cushion to his left, hugging it close to his chest.

"Until I find a job, earn some money and properly date her. The talk show said women must be romanced right with wine and dine."

"Ah. TV. The guru for everything." Isaiah sat down next to his brother and ruffled Elijah’s hair. Every brotherly action he did so far seemed so casual but to him, they were as precious as drops of angels’ tears. He had to face the truth that Elijah’s condition, though prolonged, was not permanent and when Elijah find his own past again, Isaiah must be prepared for an eventual let down though he kept praying that Elijah would remain as happy as he was now and not let his past bother him anymore.

"Great invention. Dulls the mind. Ha. Actually, I have something to ask you. Anne said I should just ask you and not be afraid for any horrible truths…" Elijah asked softly, his speech was laced with uncertainty. Isaiah’s heart sank as his mind did quick run through of all the lies he fed Elijah with, hoping against hope that he would not contradict himself.

His mien though remained calm. He even had a smile plastered on his face.

"So, what’s on your mind?"

"Nothing. That’s the problem. I know it may sound callous but… nothing you told me so far seemed… seemed familiar in any way. I had a most disturbing flashback but it was in this fuzzy abstract manner and I can’t make sense of it. Maybe you can help me?" Elijah looked at him almost begging doe-eyes.

Isaiah cleared his throat. "Flashback?"

"Yup. Anne tried some ways to see if I can remember anything… something she did work… but we did not continue…" Elijah choked on his words and let out a heavy breath. "It’s a little too overwhelming. I remembered how mom looked like. And I heard a boy crying in a corner. I think it’s you… I don’t know. I felt like I made him cry… it’s a terrible feeling. Then there’s like these questions like why are there scars resembling welts caused by whips and knife wounds on my back and hands … I mean, normal people don’t get them… Now I’m feeling like crap all over again." Elijah tilted his head up to contain the sudden tears which were slowly and tortuously drowning Isaiah’s heart drop by drop.

Please, Elijah. Fall asleep or something.

"If you don’t regale me with some heroic deed I’ve done, I’m going into a state of depression."

"You once saved a bird when your arm’s broken. You were six and saw this little baby sparrow on the ground, struggling to fly but it was too young and its wings too weak. Holding on to it the best you could with your cast arm, you tried to climb up the tree where it fell from with your good one and fell down again right after you delivered it back home safely. That’s why your left hand’s a little crooked." Isaiah nodded his head at Elijah’s left hand which was a little bent but unless someone took a close look, no one could really tell the difference. Elijah stretched it out and compared it to his right hand. Soon after, he smiled.

"Then how did I break it in the first place?"

Dad broke it when he hit your arm with a baseball bat. Actually, he was going to crush my skull for spilling water on his cigars but your hand got in the way.

"I think we were playing and I pushed you a little too hard. You fell on your arm and broke it." Isaiah lied with an apologetic mien, something he was very used to by now.

"Oh…" Elijah mumbled, his brows knitted as his face set in a frown. After a while, his features relaxed. "And the scars?"

"You… you… you were kidnapped before and the kidnapper was a sadist. He made those scars."

"I live such an interesting life…" Elijah stared at Isaiah incredulously. "Are our parents rich or something and I’m taken for ransom?"

"It’s this case… Lijah, you used to be my partner in this outfit called the Network. It’s a secret intelligence agency so you must keep mum about it. We go after terrorists and other more insidious groups that the government will like to keep from public’s eyes…" Isaiah closed his eyes and decided to throw in some truths to make his lies sound more credible. As he reiterated the case of the Cult of Hitler to Elijah, he thought he saw Elijah’s deep blue eyes blazed with wonder, amazement, anger and then disbelief when Isaiah told him that he sacrificed himself to save a girl he did not even know. Besides the real tortures Elijah went through under the hands of his tormentor, Isaiah too added some creative afflictions to explain those scars that Daniel inflicted on him.

As well as those Elijah inflicted on himself.

"Yes, that explains these weird stitches-like scars at my side… so I got shot huh? Betcha they don’t want me back now. I resigned because I was too traumatized? Man, I was such a wimp." Elijah shook his head miserably.

You are braver than most of us, Lijah.

"You’re not. You saved the bird and the girl." Isaiah put an arm around Elijah shoulders and gave him a brief half-hug.

"Brave, happy and at peace."

Elijah nodded slowly, almost like he was in a trance. "Saiah, can we go visit what was left of my mansion? I mean, I can’t stay without my memories forever."

Isaiah squeezed Elijah’s shoulder and nodded lightly. "Well, I need to make a trip somewhere first. I’ll be leaving a couple of day’s time but don’t worry; Lynn’s coming back from Australia then. When I return, I’ll bring you to the mansion."

"A promise is a promise." Elijah extended his left hand’s pinky and looked expectantly at Isaiah. With a heavy heart but a feigned, open smile, Isaiah hooked his around Elijah’s, feeling like the most despicable traitor when he saw Elijah’s satisfied smile and complete trust in him.

***