Higher, Faster, Stronger

The lady who was manning the coffee place must have thought we were nuts. There we were: me with my red and kind of blotchy face from crying dragging Nathan, who was still protesting, "It was nothing Sarah! He's fine, really! You can ask him yourself! I didn't mean it!"

I promptly hauled him up to the counter, "Stop announcing and order."

I turned to the lady, who was obviously sleep deprived and running on the same coffee we'd be and asked for a hot cocoa and a donut. Nate wanted a large iced coffee and a muffin. As soon as we got it, I promptly hauled him back to my car. I then took the road down to a little park. Its was getting colder outside, so hardly anyone was there. I wasn't surprised. I found this spot early when I moved here. I always come here to think or just to relax. Look at the trees and feel at peace, you know?

Half a muffin later, I got him to put down the coffee and looked him straight in the eye.

"Spill."

"Fine, just don't tell him. He'd kill me. Derek had a long past. He….,seeyoulater!!" Before Nate could run away, I buckled him in and took away the rest of his coffee until he told.

It was a stupid thing to do, to deprive a man of his coffee. But Nate knew when he was defeated.

"Lost in a fight with a tiger?" I was laughing now. "You think I'm that stupid?"

"No…but it would have made a great story! Why do you need to know anyway?"

"I have an insatiable urge to know. Especially when you pique my curiosity like that. By the way, before, that's called a Freudian slip." I took a long sip of my drink, sat back and waited. When he didn't say anything I grinned. "What's next, lost an eye to an elephant and his kneecap to the hairy bearded lady?"

"I'm weighing the pros and cons of my death. He'd make me suffer but then again, so would you…." He raised an eye at me. "Ok ok fine. Sure you don't believe the tiger story?"

"NATHAN!"

"Fine! Ok! But under pain of death, you can't say a word to ANYONE. Got it?" He took a deep breath and sighed. "Now, you've got to understand, where we come from the Thomspon's are pretty prestigious as a family. Rich and huge. They're made of old money, because their family is really old. The founding old guy was some sort of business mogul and it's still going today."

"Derek himself was born into a family of 3 others, besides him. His mom's name was Meagan, his dad's was Frank and his brother is Alexandor."

"They named their child after Alex the weasel? From the zoo?"

"I dunno, maybe they thought he was cuddly at birth. Now, don't interrupt. Like I was saying, that was his family. He had lots of aunts and uncles and cousins. Like I said, their family was huge."

"Derek himself was born second, 6 years younger than Alex. Now, this seems kind of weird but the were both born geniuses. Both of them learned really fast anything that was taught to them. Derek always grew up in Alex's shadow. He was the clan's golden boy: a genius and a prodigy. Derek didn't get the respect that he wanted from his dad. He knew he had his mom's love but he wanted his dad's respect."

I cut in. "It's no different from girls. Mom will always love us but Dad, we have to generally prove ourselves to."

He nodded. "Derek grew up in his shadow, like I said. He was always…hmm...emotionally neglected, let's say. Alex was well on his way to being a policeman, his ideal career. Now, Derek looked up to his brother. He always wanted help in his martial arts training but Alex'd just flick his forehead and say he was sorry and he'd do it another time. Derek got used to this disappointment constantly from his dad and his brother. His grades were never really good enough for his dad. His mom saw this but couldn't really do anything about it. He was always top of our class and everything! I guess they wanted perfection." He stopped and sighed, remembering. I didn't rush him.

"The thing about Alex is that he was really deceptive. Sometimes he'd defy his parents to help out Derek but mostly he just ignored him. Sometimes he'd act like the proper big brother and that's how Derek thought of him most of the time, I think."

"Then it happened. Some people call it a massacre but I prefer genocide."

I felt the blood drain from the face. He had to be kidding me. Genocide?

"I know what you're thinking." He had seen my face.

"Let me just finish, ok? I said Alex was deceptive. Trust me, no one ever suspected what was going on in his mind. First, there was the apparent suicide of a kid named Sam, who everyone thought was Alex's best friend. To this day we don't know how he really did it. Derek came home from martial arts late one day, just as the sun was setting. The family always had their own section of town, gates and all. He ran home but no one was out on the streets. That was weird for that to happen. He raced to his house and couldn't find his parents. Derek looked in their bedroom last and found their bloody bodies on top of each other. Alex was in the shadows." Nate was having a hard time keeping the anger out of his voice. I was nearly sobbing. Twice crying in one day was hard for me.

"He came out and Derek broke down. He asked him why, and that….weasel….(he was refraining from swearing) merely said it was to test his power. If he ever wanted to defeat him in any way, he'd have to run and cling to life. He said he only played the big brother because that was what Derek wanted. Derek, as a little kid, begged to die, to join his parents. Alex just said he wasn't worth killing. Derek ran outside."

"He ran to his aunt's house and found her dead. All of his cousins and uncles and family members. Everyone he ever cared about save his brother was dead in cold blood right before his eyes. He kept running and found himself in the middle of the road. Alex just told him to run and cling to life and knocked him out."

"When Derek woke up, he was in the hospital. Alex was missing, the entire family was dead." Nate's voice cracked at the last part. I made no move to disguise the fact I was sobbing.

"It was a mass murder, and to this day, Alex is missing, still presumed alive but he's wanted by Kelowna as public enemy number one."

"How exactly did they die?" I heard myself asking. Wow…I'm seriously masochistic, aren't I?

"Their throats were all cut." Nate shuddered and pulled his jacket closer to him. I nearly turned green just imagining it. But something didn't make sense….

"But you'd have to be pretty fast…" It clicked. Derek's speed, Alex, martial arts; it all fit together. I felt sick to my stomach.

"They never had a chance." Nathan's muffin and coffee lay forgotten. We just sat there in my car staring at the lake with the evergreens blowing in the wind. My mind was whirling faster than the speed of sound. Suddenly I'd never felt so alone. Or so guilty. After all I'd put him through and vice versa.

"Is that why…?" I couldn't even finish the sentence. Nate nodded dejectedly.

"After the massacre, he removed himself from the hospital. He's hell-bent on defeating Alex, even if it doesn't look it."

"But he was only a kid! How did he survive?" I shivered at the thought of living alone. "How did he stand it?"

"He was consumed by grief and anger. Could you imagine it? Asking your older brother to kill you like he had your parents? He once told me, every time he looked into a mirror, he saw his brother's face. Anyway, they put him under a guardian's care. Until he was 12 he stayed with Kellan. At age 13, he got his own apartment. I guess they bent the rules for him, you know, considering the circumstances. It's not like he couldn't afford it, he inherited ALL the Thompson's wealth. The land lady felt bad for him. He couldn't stand being near her. She reminded him of his favorite aunt."

I was getting a sinus headache for all the blockage I had in my nose from crying. It was depressing and liberating at the same time. I hadn't cried in years. I didn't intend to for a while after this.

"Anyway, we just kind of clicked. 2 loners at one school."

"I can't even imagine what both of you have been through…I feel so selfish…" I murmured. It was true. Nathan was the kindest and most sincere person you'd ever meet and yet he went through life with no one really. Derek was one of the brightest and smartest people I'd ever met. He at least didn't deserve what he went through.

"Sarah? Please smile. I didn't want you to end up crying." He looked so pitiful I nearly started again.

Then he poked me in my side: my tickle spot.

"Way to ruin an angsty moment with laughter," as I giggled.

"You're welcome. Now, we're going to do something fun. There's way too much angst in this car right now."

"Say, let's call up Hannah and Neil and do something!"

"Like what," Nate asked. "Football?"

"How about something Hannah will do too, ok?"

"Eh…Sarah? Why does Hannah always turn bright red? Is she sick or something?"

I deadpanned.

"You BLOCKHEAD! Are you serious?"

"Eh, yes?" He was scratching his head in confusion.

This was going to be another long car ride.