Those Who Walk Beside Me

"May I help you?" A young looking girl asked as she opened her apartment door. She was tall and had dark brown hair with a few blond highlights in certain areas. Her brown eyes were surrounded by black eyeliner and she was dressed in a black and white zebra print t-shirt along with bright red skinny jeans.

"Are you Kandice Wesly?" I asked. She let out a small laugh and nodded smiling.

"But please, call me Kandy. What can I do for you Mr. Sullivan?" She asked, knowing who I was.

"Call me Jimmy," I chuckled. "I'm to young to be called Mr. Sullivan, you make me feel like my dad."

"Alright, what can I do for you Jimmy?" I could hear the humor in her voice.

"Kandy, you're my little sister." I stated bluntly. She bursts into a fit of laughter and looked at me as I was crazy.

"That can't be possible, I mean you're the Rev." She laughed again.

"I'm serious, you are my sister Kandy."

"Alright, come on in and we'll talk about it." I stepped inside her apartment and she shut the door behind me. The ceiling looked as if it was about to fall and you could see the mold from were there was damage. I caught a glimpse of her carpet in the living room before we walked into the kitchen. It had big dirty black spots all over and it smelled like someone had pissed on it. But the kitchen was the worst out of it all. Cabinet doors were missing, the sink was leaking, and the tile floor was cracking on each piece.

"It's nothing special," She commented and I nodded not knowing what to say.

"Please, take a seat Jimmy. I'll be right back, I just want to grab my birth certificate."

"Okay," I said as I pulled out a chair from her kitchen table and sat down.

I wasn't sure if she knew about me or not and I had no idea if her mother put my father's name on her birth certificate but I was about to find out. "Here it is," She muttered as she walked back into the kitchen and sat down across from me.

"Can I look at it?" I asked. "Sure, I don't see why not." She shrugged and handed it to me.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" She asked directly after. "No, thanks."

I looked down at her birth certificate and my dad's name laid upon the line. "You're dad's name is Richard Sullivan." I stated looking up at her.

"I hate to break it to you Jimmy but there are a lot of Sullivan's out in the world." She smirked.

"I'm not stupid, I know that thank you very much. But my dad's name is Richard Sullivan, I'm telling you we are brother and sister." She chewed on her lip before walking over to a drawer. She rummaged through a few things and came back over to me with a picture in her hand.

"This a picture of my father, my mother gave it to me a few years ago." She said before handing it to me. It was a small picture of my dad and her mother standing on the beach together looking happy as ever. I smiled and looked up at her.

"That's my dad," I said as I handed the picture back to her.

"But my mother never said anything about my father having any other children." She said confused.

"I don't know to tell you," I laughed. "Were obviously related." She sat down and stared at her lap.

"You know, you should move to Huntington." I suggested. Her head snapped up in my direction.

"Are you crazy, Jimmy? I can't just up and move." She said as she arched an eyebrow at me.

"Sure you can!" I exclaimed. "You can stay with me if you want. Don't you want to meet our father and have a brother and sister relationship?" I asked as I stood up and put my hands on hips.

"Of course I do. But I can't move there Jimmy."

"Yes you can." I stated slowly with a grin on my face. "What do you have here that's holding you back except for a shitty apartment?" I asked.

She though about it for a minute but couldn't come up with anything. "Well, nothing." She finally admitted. "Exactly,"

"You're crazy Jimmy." She said. "I know, but it's okay because you are crazy as well considering we are related." I pointed out. "True," She mumbled.

"You'd like it in California. It's a nice place and the guys would love you." I said and she smiled softly at that. "I like the beach," She said.

"I live right near the beach, you could go there everyday if you wanted." I could see the hesitation her eyes held but it instantly switched to excitement.

"I guess moving to Huntington wouldn't hurt anything. I don't have anything here anyways and I could always find another job there." She thought out loud.

"Does that mean you're going to?" I asked a little confused.