World I Never Knew

A week and a half. That’s now long Nick had been meticulously searching for his brother. He stopped in every small town he passed by checking every single hotel, motel, and bed and breakfast. The picture of Joe he was carrying in his wallet was starting to tear around the edges from being pulled out and slid back in so many times.

The snow had finally stopped falling constantly. It now came at least every twelve hours and thankfully wasn’t growing much higher. The temperature, however, was still extremely frigid causing your breath to turn to fog even inside.

Nick had finally crawled his way through to Vermont. It was late at night and he had stopped at six different hotels and such already that day. The stars shone bright in the sky as a light snow fell around. Nick leaned forward against his steering wheel, trying to make sense of his surroundings on the unlit street he was driving down.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw his headlights reflect off of something. Slowing the car down he noticed that there was a car parked along the side of the road, covered in snow. Nick set his flashers on and climbed out of the car. The dinging of his open door signaling was the only sound that filled the air as Nick approached the car.

Nick could tell no one was inside the car and by the amount of snow on it he figured it had been sitting there for awhile. His heart started to race as he thought of the possibility of this being Joe’s car. Quickly he walked to the back of the car and shoved the snow away with his hands. As soon as enough snow was removed his eyes scanned the plate, muttering the memorized letters and numbers.

Raucous laughter left his mouth as he realized that this was in fact his brother’s car. Looking around Nick saw a gated driveway to the right of the car. Putting two and two together he figured Joe must have gone up to the house for shelter. Nick went back to his car and pulled it right up to the gate. Shutting the car off Nick grabbed his phone from where it rest on the passenger seat and climbed out of the car. Small amounts of snow shook off of the car as he shut the door.

Upon walking up to the gate Nick realized it was locked. Slamming his fists against it he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again he saw a large boulder against the stone wall to the right of the gate.

After dropping down the other side of the wall, Nick brushed the snow from his backside without much luck. The snow on the grounds here was so deep and he could already feel the heat escaping his legs. He slowly made his way through the deep trench around him.

“Joe!” he shouted when he was halfway between the gate and the house.

Through the front window he could see a soft orange glow, most likely a fire. His teeth started chattering together with each step he took. It almost seemed as if the house were getting farther away with each step he took towards it. Finally, his shins bumped into something hard and Nick realized it was a porch step. He tried lifting his legs up but couldn’t.

“Joe!” he shouted again, his body filled with exhaustion. His eyes fluttered closed and collapsed on the front steps.

“Nick!” Joe cried after the initial shock of seeing his little brother there in front of him wore off. “Angela!”

“What is it?” she asked, standing in the doorway all panicked, rubbing her arms to stay warm.

“Get blankets. Lots of them and some of your Dad’s warmest clothes you can find.” He said, slipping down the snowy steps. Angela rushed back inside and Joe pulled Nick up smacking Nick’s cheek with his hand. “Nick. Come on man, wake up.”

That wasn’t working and Nick’s lips were starting to turn blue. Joe stood up and dragged Nick up the steps onto the porch. Angela came back downstairs and helped Joe pull Nick inside. She shut the door and Joe used all his might to lift Nick into his arms and placed him on the couch. As fast as he could he pulled all of Nick’s clothes off his body. Angela dashed into the kitchen and started to boil some water as Joe put layers of clothes on Nick. Blanket after blanket was piled on his body.

“Joe,” Angela said, coming back into the room and kneeling next to Joe. “Joe, go upstairs and change into warm clothes. You’re going to sick if you stay in these.”

“Yeah, yeah, alright.” Joe said, standing up. “Can you try to warm him up more while I change?”

“Of course.” She said softly as he stood up and climbed up the stairs.

Angela inched closer to the couch and started rubbing her hands along Nick’s body hesitantly. In all honesty she felt like this was a bit awkward but she started thinking. This is Joe’s brother and if they didn’t get him warmed up he’d be sick.

“Come on Nick,” she muttered as she placed her warm hands on his cold face. Slowly his cheeks started to pink up and his head turned from side to side. He blinked his eyes a few times before opening them.

“Joe?” he asked, rubbing his eyes with his hand.

“Uh, he’s upstairs. He’ll be right down.” Angela said. Nick’s eyes opened wide and he looked at her.

“Shit!” he cried, scrambling backwards on the couch.

Angela jumped up from the couch, trying to hide her face. She could feel tears spring to her eyes. Nick was breathing heavily and looking around panicked.

“Joe!”

“What? What?” Joe asked, running down the stairs. He saw Nick on the couch wide awake and to his left he could see Angela cowering. “Ang, what’s wrong?”

She waved her hand at him, silently telling him to go to Nick. He hesitated, his fingers grazing against her waist. With a confused expression on his face he turned to his brother.

“Nick, what are you doing here?” he asked, sitting on the couch at Nick’s feet.

“What the hell is up with her face?” were the first words Nick uttered.

“Shut up Nick.” Joe said between his teeth.

“Why? Her face is like… messed up. Has she been keeping you here against your will or something?”

“Nick!” Joe said, standing up angrily. “Don’t be an idiot! Angela has not been keeping me here against my will. God… seriously I’ve never seen you react this way to someone!”

“I’m sorry. It was a shock and… geez.”

“What?”

“You’re… really defensive of someone you barely know.”

“Well… I have my reasons.” He said, running a hand through his hair and glancing back at Angela .who was silently watching the conversation.

“Yeah… okay.” Nick said, sitting up. “So are you going to introduce me and tell me what happened to you or do I get to guess?”

“Sorry. Nick, this is Angela. Angela this is my little brother, Nick.” Joe said. Nick stood up and walked toward Angela, extending a hand. Angela glanced at Joe who nodded his head and she stepped forward, placing her hand in Nick’s.

“It’s nice to meet you.” she whispered. “Joe has told me so much about you.”

“Nice to meet you too. Thank you… for taking care of him.”

“Of course. Would you like some tea to help warm you up more?”

“Yeah… thanks.” Nick said. She gave a slight smile, gave Joe one last glance, then turned and walked into the kitchen. Nick waited until she was completely out of sight before turning back to Joe. “Explain. Now.”