Gemini - 24. Vanished

Finally done! Well, they say better late than never. Thanks to Nostic for translating this from German to English. Pretty well done, I think, if you consider she only started learning German like less than a year ago. ;3

Josh

I had just entered my room when I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I got it out immediately and looked at it, only to grunt disappointedly.

Jacob will most likely come to the park, just like we agreed. Don’t worry too much, that won’t help anyway, Luv u :*

Reading Ethan’s message made me smile and I felt my heart warming. I sighed as I put my phone aside and started to get undressed. As I took off my chain, I stopped for a moment and looked at the silver Gemini pendant in my hand. I was irritated that in spite of several calls from me, he hadn’t called back. He should have gotten home a long time ago and it really wasn’t much of an expectation to charge his phone and give me some sort of sign that he was still alive, was it? On the other hand, I was also worried. What if something had happened?

“What do you have there?” Ian asked from his bed, looking over curiously.

I closed my hand quickly. “Nothing special,” I lied and only then I noticed how suspicious that must have sounded. Ian looked strangely at me for a moment, but luckily dropped the subject. I slipped under my blanket and turned to the wall before he could change his mind. As soon as I made myself comfortable in bed, my thoughts wandered to the past weekend.

After Ethan and I had talked on Saturday noon, we spent the whole afternoon cuddling in the park. Since then a kind of unspoken relationship has developed between us. I had no idea how else to describe it. As long as nobody was watching us, we sat or stood closer to each other. Whether it was at the game console, in the dining-room or during our basketball practice on Sunday morning, every time we were alone, the small, casual touches became something natural and very much pleasant. A hand on the back, an arm around the shoulder, sitting closely together, fingers going through the hair, or even a longer hug when we were saying goodbye.

We hadn’t kissed yet. There were several moments in which I almost did it. For example, when Ethan sat in front of the game console on Saturday evening and I could look at him from the side in complete silence. His tongue was slightly stuck out, so one could see its tip between his lips, as he stared at the screen intently focused on the game. I could still remember the feeling, this desire, to lean towards him and press a brief kiss on his cheek. A kind of burning in the chest, a magnet pulling me to him, but at the same time a feeling of weakness, as if I was firmly anchored to where I was sitting, and I was not strong enough to actually move.

I closed my eyes, curled up under the blanket and imagined Ethan cuddling up with me. Perhaps tomorrow I would dare to kiss him. Or perhaps Ethan would take the first step?

With sunrise came the start of a new week. After a very quick breakfast, I made my way to the park. Ethan was already waiting for me and greeted me with a warm hug. After some moments we separated from each other and I suddenly realized where we were. I quickly looked round, but luckily there was nobody nearby. I turned to Ethan and embraced him again. "Hey," I said. "How are you doing?"

“Now great,” he winked. “And you?”

I smiled at him and sighed. “Good too; apart from the thing with Jacob”

“Has he called yet?”

“Not yet, and if he doesn’t arrive soon, we will have to go without him. We can’t wait forever.” I replied as I took a look at my phone.

Ethan shrugged. “Well if he doesn’t, we can’t help it. We’ll just have to go then. But it’s sort of strange. Did you try to call your parents’ place?”

I pondered for a moment. “No, but perhaps we can reconsider it during lunch break if he hasn’t called by then.”

He nodded. "Good Idea.”

We spent some several minutes looking to the direction Jacob usually came from, but had to leave after a while. I felt a little strange going back to Jacob’s school. Actually my plan was to go to my own school and do my exams. I didn’t have much problems finding my way around the school or acting like Jacob anymore, but I still wasn’t all that comfortable.

It took us ten minutes to get to school, and another five to avoid Ian and Conrad. Cody was already waiting for us at the homeroom and pulled us to the side. “Guess who I saw this morning?”

“No idea,” I answered as I took a look at my watch. “The lesson is about to begin, so spit it out, who did you see?”

“Philip”, he said, stressing the name meaningfully.

“That’s the guy who works for your parents, isn’t he?” Ethan asked me, then turned to Cody, “The one you met with Jacob who got Seth to get into his car?”

“Yep,” confirmed Cody, popping the P. “He dropped off Seth at the school car park this morning.”

“Is Seth okay? Did you notice anything unusual?” Ethan asked anxiously.

Cody started to answer but at that moment our teacher came to the classroom and we had to interrupt our conversation and go to our seats.

The following periods took forever. I could hardly concentrate, and my thoughts always wandered towards Jacob and what could have possibly happened. Only during the third period I realized that Sarah wasn’t there. When I asked Ethan about her, he looked at me strangely. “She is sick, don’t you remember? She told us yesterday.”

Shaking my head, I turned back to the lesson. I tried to distract myself, but unfortunately it was with little success. At last when the bell rang for lunch break, I was free from my torture. I packed my things and left the classroom before the teacher could even manage to finish giving us our homework. Ethan seemed to feel the same since he was right behind me.

“To the park?” he suggested when we left the building.

I nodded and only then I noticed that he wasn’t looking at me. “Yep”.

On the way to the park I tried to think positively. Certainly nothing bad had happened. Jacob had never traveled by plane before, and we usually came back from our weekends late at night, so perhaps he was simply tired from the trip and had overslept in the morning. Or perhaps my father wanted to discuss something with him, so he had driven him to school. As far as I could remember, that had happened at least once or twice.

But deep down I knew that I was deceiving myself. Something serious had happened, otherwise Jacob would have called me a long time ago. Looking at the empty meadow where we usually met, the last spark of hope I had, died. Jacob was not there and he wouldn’t be coming either.

“Crap,” Ethan cursed.

“We have to go to my house and find out what is going on.” Judging by how I felt, my face must have turned a color between deathly pale and vomit green. “We have already gone way too far with the whole game of changing back and forth. I should have ended it a long time ago. Now I’m sure something has happened to Jacob and I’m the one responsible.”

I closed my eyes and tried to hold back the oncoming tears of despair. Ethan put his arm around me and I accepted his gentle embrace. His lips brushed my cheek, and then he rested his head on my shoulder. “Stop it J. We don’t know whether something happened, and even if it did, then it’s not your fault.”

“But…” I started to protest.

“No but. That’s how it is. Let’s think about what we should do now, instead of discussing who’s to blame.”

That worked. I paused for a moment to think it through. “My parents are never at home at this time. If Jacob cannot leave the house for any reason, we should use the opportunity and go there now.”

“Would miss the afternoon period.” noted Ethan, only to immediately add, “OK. What about Philip? Shouldn't he be there?”

“He’s usually gone around noon,” I disagreed. “Even if he was there, I would see his car in the driveway.”

Ethan looked at me skeptically. “Only the two of us? I don’t have a good feeling about that.”

“I doubt anything would happen,” I said, but then gulped.

“As you’ve already said, it seems that we have to reveal your secret soon,” Ethan argued. “If your parents, or Philip, somehow learn about it, wouldn’t it be better if we have someone else with us who is on our side?”

“And who did you think of?” I asked sarcastically. “Cody? What can he really do if something serious happens? Knock someone out with his broken wrist?” Ethan broke the hug and gave me a chastising look. “I’m sorry,” I apologized immediately. “That was inappropriate. I’m way too upset to think clearly.”

“Yes,” he stated dryly. “I was actually thinking of Ian. If anyone can help us, it’s him. Besides, he’s the first person in Jacob’s family that I’d let in on your secret.”

I faltered and looked at him. Ian had been pretty fair so far. He was certainly not perfect, and he had a problem with Cody too, but in the end he was always on Jacob’s side. He always gave his best to be the understanding big brother, but what would he do to me if indeed something had happened to Jacob? And how would he react to the fact that I wasn’t really his brother? That I, a gay guy, had slept only a few feet away from him?

I took a deep breath and decided to do the only thing that felt right. I had to hope for the best. Jacob was more important then and there, and everything else came second. Somehow things would work out, I hoped.

“You’re right,” I agreed and stood up. I had my phone in my hand and sent an SMS in no time Ian .I need your help. Can you come to the fountain in the park?

The message was sent before I could waste another second thinking on it. I handed my phone to Ethan and let him read what I had written.

“Okay, let’s go then!” he ordered and got up, too.

The fountain wasn’t that far away just a few minutes of walking from our hiding place. On the way I checked several times to see if Ian had answered. Once we finally got there, I sat down on a bench only to stand up again immediately. I felt as though there were ants crawling on every inch of my skin. “This is taking too long,” I murmured, and hit the call button.

Ethan raised an eyebrow, but stayed silent. I waited impatiently. As I heard the connection tone, I promptly stopped pacing. A few seconds later Ian’s voice came through the speaker. “I got your message, I’ll be there in a few minutes,” he said breathlessly, “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“It’s… never mind,” I said after a moment. “I’ll tell you when you get here.”

“Okay,” he replied and hung up.

“He’s almost here,” I answered to Ethan’s quizzical look.

Less than a minute later, I saw Ian coming towards us in a hurry. He slowed down his pace a bit after spotting us probably because he could see that we weren’t in immediate danger.

As soon as he was close enough that he didn’t have to shout, he greeted us panting heavily. “Hey guys.”

“Hey,” Ethan replied curtly as he nodded towards him.

I suddenly felt weak in the knees. “Hey Ian, thanks for coming so quickly,” I greeted him. “We have a little problem,” I added, but after that I didn’t know what I should say.

“I sort of guessed that,” he responded, still very much out of breath. “What’s the matter?”

Ethan looked at Ian for a long moment, then turned to me. I met Ethan’s stare and then turned my eyes to the ground. Suddenly I had a big lump in my throat, and when I tried to utter something I had to swallow first. Ian had run here, had left everything, ignored everything else, just because Jacob needed him.

Jacob was his brother, not me. How would he react when he found out that I had practically lied to him all this time? That he had worried for Jacob’s sake and run here to me, a stranger he didn’t actually know? I cleared my throat, and blushed under Ian’s expectant gaze. When he realized I wouldn’t speak anytime soon, he took a deep breath and seated himself on the bench diagonally across from us.

“Err,” I started, and felt more insecure than ever.

Ethan prodded me. “Go ahead,” he whispered into my ear, “You will have to tell him at some point anyway.” He grinned. “It’ll be ok.”

“I have no clue how to even begin,” I hissed back, and felt pretty stupid when I looked over to Ian and realized that he probably heard every word.

As expected, he raised an eyebrow and asked: “Begin with what?”

“With the truth,” murmured Ethan.

“The truth?” Ian repeated. Apparently he had better hearing than I thought.

I gulped again. “Err, yeah, the truth,” I said.

“And what would that be?” Ian wanted to know.

“I’m…...not Jacob,” I blurted out after some hesitation.

“What do you mean by that? You are not Jacob?” Ian asked incredulously.

“I….I am his twin,” I admitted. “We swapped places.”

Ian gave a false laugh. “Are you kidding me? Very funny.”

I stared at Ian. I didn’t know what to say to that. A strange mixture of sadness and rage washed over me, although I knew that I probably wouldn’t have simply believed such a ludicrous claim either if I were him. But then Ethan took out his phone silently, tapped around a few seconds and passed the phone to Ian. He was probably showing him a photo that he had taken of me and Jacob.

Ian stared at the picture for a few moments, then at me and then at the phone again. He shook his head slowly. “Seriously?” He still sounded doubtful, however, he wiped his finger back and forth on the phone a few times to look at other pictures. Eventually he gave back Ethan’s phone and exhaled heavily.

“Suppose that I believe you…,” he broke off. “Okay if you are kidding me…”

“It’s really true,” confirmed Ethan, since I still hadn’t said a word. After looking me in the eye, he put his arm around me and gently pulled me closer. My muscles relaxed instinctively and started calming down.

Suddenly Ian looked intensely at us and how we were sitting. “And you are the reason why Jacob is suddenly so pro-gay rights?” he noted.

I shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe?” I replied meekly. It didn't even cross my mind to disagree with his assumption that Ethan's arm across my shoulder had any special meaning.

“I believe that getting to know Cody and common sense have to do at least as much with that,” Ethan said dismissively. It seemed the whole thing hadn’t shocked him at all. Instead he continued, “But right now that’s not really what is important.”

Ian shook his head and it seemed he was literally shoving the topic to the side so he could concentrate on the problem at hand. “And you desperately needed me to come here, just to tell me this?” he asked, looking a bit irritated. “Where is Jacob anyway?”

“Well, that’s exactly the problem,” I blurted out. “He is gone.”

“Gone?” protested Ian. “What do you mean by that? How can he simply be gone?”

“He is,” I answered. I spent the next five minutes giving Ian a summary of the previous weeks: Ethan had met me at the swimming pool, and introduced me to Jacob. We didn’t exactly know but we assumed that we were both adopted. We had decided to trade places and that went well, until this weekend that is. Since Saturday we hadn’t heard from Jacob, and therefore we feared that something had happened. We just didn’t know what, and now we wanted to go to my parents’ place to hopefully find out. However, considering what my father was like, we would rather not go there alone.

He groaned at that. “This whole role swapping thing was your concept of a brilliant idea?”

“Yes, well,” I gulped, buying time, “only at first.” My guilty conscience and all the concerns I had had rose again, but at that moment I didn’t dare to express them.

“Great!” he commented and pressed his hand to his forehead as though he suddenly had a headache. "You had your fun. Have you also considered what that meant for everyone else? Mom and dad? Perhaps they’d like to know what’s wrong. And now Jacob’s gone and you have no idea what has happened. That’s really great.”

I felt smaller and smaller with each word until I was practically hiding behind Ethan. Despite his voice remaining level, it was clear that he was anything but thrilled about it. Finally, he was done and stared at me expectantly waiting for an answer.

“I’m sorry,” I finally whispered in a thick voice. I felt terrible, and the fact that he hadn’t commented on me and Ethan at all, and how we were hugging each other in front of him, didn’t make it better either. By then I was almost begging with him. “I’m really sorry. We were so stupid. I never wanted something like this to happen.”

Ian’s gaze held me like a deer caught in the headlights and nobody spoke a word. Finally it seemed that he made a decision. Slowly he got up and approached me. I ducked against Ethan as if trying to disappear in the ground. Ian towered over me, but when I looked up he didn’t seem angry. Instead he grimaced and held out a hand towards me.

I looked at him warily, but didn’t dare to move. He sighed when he realized how scared I was. “Look, I...Jacob is my brother, adopted or not. If you are his twin, and the two of you get along well enough, to pull off such an unbelievably stupid stunt…” His laughter sounded more like a snort. “Anyway, Jacob is gone. Once we find him, we can discuss everything else, ok?”

“Okay,” I whispered, as I grasped the offered hand.

He pulled me up from the bench and looked me in the eye for a few seconds, while continuing to hold my hand in a tight grip. “And then we will take the time to have a long conversation.”

“Okay,” I squeaked.

“Good,” he nodded, and then he clapped me on the shoulder. “Let’s go then.”

Less than fifteen minutes later, we arrived at my parents’ house. “Nobody’s there,” I stated with a quick look at the driveway.

We hurried down the street, and I led them through the narrow passage between the garage and fence, into our garden, which was protected from curious looks by tall hedges. It was narrow for Ethan and me, but Ian had to pretty much squeeze himself sideways through the small passage.

I stood on the tip of my toes and felt along the ledge of the back door garage. “If nothing has changed…” I murmured, “Uh huh, here we have it.”

My finger extracted the key and seconds later we were in the garage. I was glad that we hadn’t gone there at night. Without the radiant light of the sun which shone through a small window and the now open garage door, our secret invasion mission would have been much scarier. Even so, my heart was thumping like mad.

Ethan looked a bit pale, but as our eyes met, he gulped and nodded at me. The door closed behind us with an ominous creaking, and we moved on. Although obviously no one was in the house, we tried to move as quietly as possible. When my foot knocked over something metallic with a loud rattle, we froze and I closed my eyes for a long moment to take a deep breath.

“Let’s move on,” Ian urged us. “I don’t want to be here for a second longer than I have to.”

The door into the house at the other end of the garage opened without difficulty, and after a little storage room we found ourselves in the kitchen. Ian stopped for a moment and looked around. Apparently, only now, that he saw spacious, modern, and expensively furnished kitchen, did he realize just how big the difference between Jacob’s and my life had to be. He started to comment, but then shook his head and made a questioning gesture towards the two exits across the room.

When I cleared my throat to say something, the sound appeared so loud to me that I winced. Instead of making any more noise by speaking, I led the way. Luckily the next door opened quietly. Then we were in the hallway, and the only noise that one could hear was the sound of our shoes on the marble tiles.

I paused at the stairs to the upper floor and whispered. “Should we first look in my room or my father’s study?”

“You room first,” Ethan answered just as quietly.

The way to my room appeared agonizingly long. Finally, I stood unmoving in front of my door. I could feel Ethan right behind me. My breath caught for a moment and I didn’t want to press down the handle, fearing what I would find.

Ethan’s nudge pulled me out of my thoughts. Carefully, I opened the door and entered the room.

We were all in the room as fast as possible without making any unnecessary noise, and the door was shut behind us. Only now I dared to breathe and could hear a sigh behind me. Everything seemed normal, only the air was a bit stale, as though the room hadn’t been aired for a few days.

“Strange,” I said my voice back to a more normal volume. Somehow I felt safe here. Ian let his eyes wander around the whole room, examining every detail for a hint, while Ethan and I were just standing there, waiting for our hearts to return to a normal pace.

Suddenly his eyes froze on the floor next to my bed. He took a few steps and knelt down, running his fingers over the floor, but said nothing. Ethan followed him curiously, and then bent down too. “Is that blood?” he asked in an oddly contorted tone.

In a fraction of seconds I was there too, staring at the numerous dark red spots which were spread on the carpet in an irregular pattern. “Perhaps…” I gulped, my breathing suddenly a lot faster. “Perhaps juice? I don’t know,” I said with a thick voice as a heavy feeling built in my chest. What the hell had happened here?

“So this is new?” Ian wanted to know.

I tried to clear my throat. “Yes,” I uttered and I turned to the others. Ethan was oblivious of me and still stared at the blood, while Ian replied to my look with an unreadable expression on his face, and then turned away and stood up.

Instead of staying there and driving myself crazy with worry, I got up and moved Ethan away with me. Ian examined the bathroom too, before coming back to us. “There is nothing noticeable there,” he told us. He opened the door to the hall and gestured for me to show them the way to my father’s study.

Just when we reached the basement, we heard a car parking in the driveway and then the crunching sound of the handbrake.

“Shit,” Ethan said, horrified, just as the engine died.

I quickly pulled them both with me into the closest room, a kind of storage and archive next to my father’s office. A few seconds later we heard the key in the entry door.

When we heard the door slam shut, we huddled closely together unmoving, as if we had been turned into three pillars of salt. Fast steps came down the main corridor in our direction. My hands trembled heavily and Ethan wasn’t doing better. I hesitated for a few seconds, but then forced myself to put my arm around Ethan’s back and carefully pull him toward me. I noticed Ian’s green face as I glanced at him, and asked myself whether it had to do with me and Ethan hugging or with the situation until I realized the absurdity of my thoughts.

“Already done,” we could suddenly hear Philip’s cold voice. “Nothing.”

I winced, although this wasn’t a big surprise. If someone turned up at the house at this time, it was very likely to be Philip. I stretched my head in his direction as if I could understand him better by getting a few inches closer.

“Guess what I’m doing here?” came next, and now he stood right in front of the door we were hiding behind. The sarcasm in his voice was hard to miss. It sounded as though a heavy bag was put down on the floor. Then a zipper was opened.

“Yeah, I just arrived,” Philip sighed after a moment of silence. It was easy to hear that he was annoyed. “Yes, I know. No traces, no fingerprints, nothing that can be proven later on. I’ll be careful.”

Ethan grabbed my wrists and pressed them against his chest, pulling me as close as humanly possible. Meanwhile, Philip seemed to be searching for something in his bag in front of the door. Then it sounded like he was pulling on rubber gloves.

“I’m sorry," Philip said apologetically. “I’m stressed out. I shouldn’t have let it out on you. Sorry.”

He walked a bit away from us and the door to the neighboring room, my father’s office, was slowly opened. “Anyway, I got to go. We’ll talk later. As soon as I’ve found something, I will send you photos. Just to be safe.”

Ethan relaxed in my arms and I slowly began to breathe again as I exchanged a relieved look with Ian. In the room next several drawers were opened and papers rifled through. Philip was murmuring something, but we couldn’t understand anything. A metal plate rattled on the wooden surface of the desk; with a loud, scraping noise Philip moved something heavy out of a drawer, and laid it on the floor. The clicking of the phone camera was loud and clear.

Probably he had found my father’s box of guns and ammunition. A shudder ran down my spine. The thought that he had several loaded guns in front of him wasn't comforting at all.

“What is he doing?” I whispered more to myself. It seemed that Ethan had heard it, and pressed my hand warningly.

Philip cursed and the rustling sound of paper became louder shortly after the copying machine was turned on and began working. Seconds turned to minutes and after a while, I didn’t know how long we had been standing there motionlessly. Ten minutes? Half an hour? We could only hear the rustling of turning pages, scraping of a chair as it was pushed, or opening and closing of files every now and then. I asked myself whether we should have tried to sneak away or escape through the window, but at the same time it was clear to me that we couldn’t have managed doing so unnoticed.

Repeatedly the camera clicked and then Philip closed the drawers and brought everything back into order. He seemed to go one last time around the room before he closed the door behind him. We could hear a zipper again, and then he sighed. The clicking sound of his steps echoed through the hallway as he moved in our direction.

When he was close to our hiding place, his steps became slower, and he put something on the floor again. Then he opened the door in front of us. We were frozen for a long, shocking moment. He had already taken half a step towards us when he looked up, and froze too as he spotted us.

Ian was first to free himself of his paralysis and jumped on Philip instinctively. The fight was over before it really started. Ian was almost as tall as Philip, and he had the element of surprise and momentum on his side. He pinned Philip to the ground almost effortlessly, and used his years of training to pin him down.

“Urgh,” Philip coughed as he tried to catch some air. “Stop.”

“What are you doing here?” I demanded. Adrenaline rushed through my body and every trace of my usual shyness disappeared.

Ian eased his grip, so that Philip could look up at me. “Josh?” he asked, obviously surprised. “Where were you? I have been looking for you everywhere.”

My heart was pounding in my chest as I tried to understand what he meant by that. Suspiciously I looked him in the eye. “What is that supposed to mean? What were you doing in my father’s study?”

“I was trying to find out where you disappeared to,” he panted as he was struggling to get free. Suddenly he managed to succeed.

Ian immediately tried to pin him back to the ground, but Philip rose within seconds and shoved Ian away. Ian tried to take hold of him again, but Philip repelled each try with ease.

“Stop it,” he yelled at Ian in a commanding voice, raising himself up to his full size and spreading out his arms in an attacking posture. Ian cringed at that tone and stopped, while Ethan and I barely managed not to run.

“Sooo,” Philip drawled. “And now we’ll talk like normal humans about what exactly is happening here.”

“What were you doing here? Where is Jacob?” I demanded.

“Jacob?” Philip was obviously confused. “Who is Jacob? Why are you here, and where have you been?”

I faltered, unsure whether or how to explain the events of the previous weeks. Ethan was still half behind me and remained quiet, while Ian stood tensed, keeping his eyes on Philip, ready to attack at any time.

When none of us seemed ready to talk, Philip sighed took two steps back and leaned against the opposite wall. “Okay, so….,” he thought for a moment. “Since apparently you are not willing to tell me what happened, I better start from the beginning. I’m here because your father,” he gesticulated towards me, “informed me that I didn’t have to come to work for a few days. I immediately thought that was suspicious, and therefore I came here this morning. When I saw the blood in your room, I knew something was absolutely wrong. Then I went to your school. According to your history teacher, Mr. Fisher, this morning your father informed the administration that you were changing your school.”

He wanted to continue, but I interrupted him roughly. “What do you mean by changing?” Even as I was speaking a number of ideas came to my mind about what that could mean and none of them were good. “Dammit. That sounds bad.”

Philip nodded. “I thought so. That’s why I tried to find out more. But now, first of all I want to know what you are doing here and why you didn’t know anything about it”

I hesitated. On the one hand, it didn’t seem that Philip was ready to give more information if we didn’t do it, either. On the other hand, I didn’t trust him. Who knew what kind of extra damage he could cause, additionally to what had already happened?

“How do we know that we can trust you?” Ian asked.

Philip raised an eyebrow. “A good question.” His eyes turned to me. “Josh, have I ever wronged you?”

I pondered over it for a moment. I had to admit that even though his behavior sometimes appeared completely strange to me, I couldn’t remember he had ever been against me. He had usually stayed out of most things or sometimes distracted my parents from me if it was possible for him. I shrugged, “Still doesn’t mean anything.”

Philip wrinkled his forehead. “I have known for quite some time that you’re gay. Have I told your parents?”

“I am not…” I denied vehemently, but Philip interrupted me.

“As if! Don’t even try to deny it,” he shook his head. “Do I look as if I were stupid? I have even assured your father that there was nothing suspicious in your browser history.”

I felt my face turning red. “You were at my computer and searched through my things?” I burst out. “How could I still trust you?”

Philip hung his head. “Only superficially. Your father has assigned it to me; and you were sometimes so depressed I worried that you’d do something to yourself, okay? I didn’t know how I should handle it. Something like that really isn’t my specialty and it also wasn’t exactly in the job description. I simply did what I felt was the right thing at the time, even though in hindsight it wasn’t the best idea. I’m sorry.”

“Oh.” Strangely, I believed him.

“And what about Seth?” Ethan asked suddenly.

“How do you know Seth?” Philip wanted to know, and his whole posture was suddenly threatening again.

“We saw you in the park last weekend, you gave him money, he got into your car.” There was a dangerous glint in Ethan’s eyes.

Philip looked at him incredulously. “What? Seth is my half-brother and since he was kicked out of home he lives with me. Of course he got into my car.”

“For real?” Ethan looked at me then back to Philip. “And we should believe you?”

“Do you want to call him?” Philip laughed. Apparently he found it all too absurd to take seriously. “Guess with whom I was talking on the phone before. I supposed that you have heard everything?”

He held out his phone. Ian who was next to him hesitated for a moment, but then shook his head. “It’s ok.”

“Ian…,” I complained, but he lifted a hand.

“I believe him. We have more important things to figure out right now, for example where my brother is.”

“Your brother?” Philip inquired. “Jacob?”

Ian sighed and gestured for me to explain.

“I have a twin who looks exactly like me,” I said briefly. “Apparently we were separated after birth and both adopted. A couple of weeks ago we met each other by chance, and thought it was a funny idea to swap places. Turns out it really wasn’t that great of an idea, though. Whatever happened during the weekend, it happened to Jacob, not me.” I looked down, feeling guilty.

Philip snorted. “That explains a few things. Anyway, as far as I know, something happened that made your father take him out of school during exam time and send him away. From the documents that I could find in his office, he was probably sent to a Christian military school for ‘especially difficult cases’.”

“What?” I shouted horrified. That, combined with the blood in my room brought back my worst fears. “We must do something,” I said desperately.

“No shit!” Philip remarked sarcastically, and then he grinned oddly. “However, the fact that he got Jacob and not you might work out as an advantage.”

“What do you mean by that?” One could hear in Ian’s voice that he wasn’t amused.

“With Josh it would have been legal, but with Jacob…,” Philip pulled a grimace. “Even if he didn’t know it, that’s principally abduction of a minor.”

Suddenly I was hopeful again. It was extremely difficult to intimidate my father, but with this... then it occurred to me that even if we could get back Jacob, it probably wouldn’t improve my situation. My father would hardly leave me in peace, and even if I wanted to leave home, where could I go? I cleared my throat. “We get back Jacob with that, but then what happens to me?”

Philip looked indecisive for a moment before he answered. “That might be complicated. It would be virtually impossible to prove before a court. However, I have already had a few assumptions about your father. When I was looking for some information about your whereabouts in his office, I used the opportunity to confirm them.” He pointed to his heavy briefcase and smiled weakly. “Together with the proof of fraud and tax evasion… somehow we’ll find a solution.”

We stared at him incredulously. “Tax evasion?”

“I was majoring in Business Administration before the whole thing with Seth happened,” he explained with a shrug. “Obviously I had to drop out and get this job here to pay the bills. However, turns out that in the end paying attention during the lessons was worth it.”

“So we simply send my father behind the bars?” The situation suddenly felt completely surreal to me. Did I want that? Would that be the fair solution? What would become of me? What about my mother? Was she involved too, or was she innocent? The thoughts moved so fast in my head that I couldn’t process all.

“We will see,” Philip said. “But that’s the most obvious solution.” He looked at me somehow sympathetically. “Would it be bad for you?

Would it? I gulped. “I don’t know.”

Ethan nudged me. “Perhaps you should call your grandmother? If anyone can help and is on your side, it’s her.”

I nodded, pulled out my phone and dialed her number without waiting or thinking any more about it.

“Yes?” She answered.

“Grandma, this is Josh. I need your help,” I said, and then I told her everything. About changing places, what had happened to Jacob, and what problems my father might be facing soon. She listened to me patiently without commenting further or interrupting me unnecessarily, only asking questions when something was unclear.

When I was done, she only said briefly, “I’ll come to Albany with the next flight. Will you be okay until then?”

I looked up to Philip, then at Ethan and Ian. “Yes, I will, Grandma.”

“Try to collect more information till tonight,” she ordered me. “I’ll let you know as soon as I arrive.”

“Okay, I will. And thank you,” I said and then hung up.

“What do we do now?” Ethan asked.

“Let's call this strange school where Philip thinks that Jacob might be,” Ian suggested.

“And they will simply tell us whatever we want to know?” I asked skeptically.

Philip was already on his way back to my father's study. “If someone calls with your father’s number and name? Why not?”

We followed him and he told us to be quiet as he dialed the number.

“Do you actually know what you want to say?” I asked him quickly.

He shrugged. “I’ll come up with something.” Then we stopped talking, and a few seconds later we heard a secretary greeting him formally.

“Yes, this is Mr. Adams. I wanted to ask about my son.”

After a few seconds of listening, Philip’s face suddenly turned pale.

“What do you mean he has disappeared?”

Hey!
Thanks to all of you who are still with me. I'm really sorry for the long delay. Writing is going slow-ish but there will definitely be new chapters. Don't expect the next one too soon though. (6 weeks maybe?)
Anyway, those of you who can understand German (or have too much money to throw around) might be interested in knowing that there are plans for a German print version of Gemini (Hardcover). It will take some time until the work on that is finished, but if you're interested in buying one or have any questions, let me know in a review, send me a private message here or an email to authorsammyblue@gmail.com
Thanks!