CHAPTER ONE: SPRING
I stepped out of my pickup truck, dust billowing out in all directions from under my feet.
I was home.
They say you can never go home again. There's definitely something to that statement, something that holds true when reflecting on time passed. A sad nostalgia, maybe.
I looked at the old, weathered house on the hilltop amidst some tall trees. The fields surrounding it were dry as a bone.
Someone was waving from the driveway.
It was spring, and I had recently found out that my dad had passed away. This was the catalyst that reunited Summer and I, after almost two decades apart. Actually, we'd never been together in the first place.
I walked up the road a little, and I was waiting for some kind of instinctive recognition to kick in, but the young woman before me was a total stranger.
I'd never even seen a photo of my sister before, and only a single shot of the house in a box of tattered Polaroids. Both were standing before me now.
She was a very shapely girl, with sturdy arms and legs, and wide hips. Her sandy blonde hair was tied in a ponytail. She had faded freckles from last year's sun. She wore overalls. and a white shirt.
"Wow," she said, wiping dirt from her hands, "this is super weird, huh?"
She had a rustic accent, something I kind of expected from a girl who grew up on a farm.
"Hey, Summer," I said, still several feet from her.
"Hi...Daniel?" she said, tilting her head.
"Dan," I said, smiling awkwardly.
She approached me first, wrapping her arms around me, hugging me close to her.
"Good to meet you, little brother."
I laughed. I was two years older than her, but she did stand a few inches taller. I was also pretty trim.
She let me go. "Comin' inside?"
I followed her into the house, surveying the surroundings of my distant past, not that I was old enough to remember. A dilapidated shed, an old outhouse, and a sandbox, still intact. Nothing felt familiar.
Other things were a newly renovated, like the barn. An outdoor pool looked new except for the hole in the side of it. More than twenty years had passed since I was born here.
Walking into the older house, I found nothing that jogged my memory. That made sense, given how young I was back then. Summer and I sat down at the kitchen table, and she poured me a glass of milk.
"Cows are all gone, so we buy from the grocery store now." She poured herself a glass, downing half of it.
"Gotcha," I said. I drummed the table with my fingers.
We both knew the backstory by now. Dad divorced Mom was I was two. He got custody because of a recent fender-bender Mom caused while drinking one night. I wasn't with her, fortunately.
So, Dad left Mom, and took me along with him. Mom never told him she was pregnant before he left. Dad used to tell me that Mom lived in Mexico. Mom actually stayed in the same farmhouse, the only thing he had left her in the settlement, and she had raised Summer alone. Mom never called Dad, and that went both ways.
Summer and I never knew about each other until after Dad died.
Mom reached out, finding me through Facebook, and brought me up to speed on the fact that A: she existed, and that B: I had a sister. I decided I wanted to see my family, and so I drove across two states to meet them.
"Where's Mom?" I asked.
Mom. It still felt weird to say, as if I knew anything about my own mother. Like she and I were close.
"Out with her boyfriend, Pat. They spend a lot of time at his place, in town."
"Oh," I said.
"But she'll be here this weekend. Probably tomorrow. Don't take offense, she's a creature of habit."
Summer finished her milk, and leaned towards me.
"I cannot believe I have a little brother," she said, grinning.
"I'm two years older than you," I stated plainly. I was 21, and she was 19.
"But I'm like, bigger than you." She kept her eyes locked on me. They were a muddy green.
"Fair enough...big sis."
She beamed with pride.
"So, you guys have crops?" I wasn't really sure what kind of farm this was.
"We're selling the farm next year," she said, looking out at the fields. "Land's gone to shit, a factory up the road fucked up our water source. Animals gone too."
"Wow, that's terrible," I said.
She looked back to me, and sighed.
"I'm okay with it. Been here a long time. Looking forward to moving away, probably next year. Mom gets on my nerves. Drinks too much."
"Where would you go?" I finished my store-bought milk.
"Anywhere," she said. "So, I appreciate you coming to meet us. Sorry about your dad. Our dad."
"Thanks. He got sick pretty fast. I'm still processing."
"For sure. Are you working right now? How long you thinking of staying?"
Summer had an interesting look. Sure, she was on the heavy side, but she was strong, and seemed pretty confident in her body. I didn't see any resemblance to me or my dad.
"Well, I just finished a semester of college recently. I took time off when Dad..." I trailed off, lost in thought.
I wasn't sad exactly, but it was a lot, dealing with his absence. We weren't the best of friends, but we had some good memories.
Summer reached out, and grabbed my hand.
"So," she said, guiding me, "You took time from school, which makes me think you weren't working before, and you're not rushing back to anything?"
"Pretty much," I said, surprised at her intuition. If I was honest, I hated school. I never wanted to go back.
"Got a lady back home?"
I shook my head.
"I ride solo too. Not a lot of selection around here," she said, laughing at some truth only she herself knew.
"Mom mentioned you needed help around the farm. Said I could stay as long as I wanted. Guess you're fixing things up to sell it off next year?"
She nodded her head, and let go of my hand.
"You don't have to pay rent, but you have to earn your keep. Mostly cleanup and maintenance. You could stay here until next spring if you wanted to."
I pondered this. I had moved out of my small apartment already. I had no furniture of my own. I had no prospects back home.
"I'll stay for a bit," I said, offering a weak smile. I felt aimless. My whole life was ahead of me, but I didn't know where I was heading.
"Okay, Danny," she said, crossing her arms, and leaning back in her chair. "We're gonna have some fun."
We spent the remainder of the day wandering around the farm, cleaning up debris from a recent and unprecedented storm. It wasn't fun, but it cleared my head.
I had filled a couple buckets of shingles, scrap metal, and other random bits. My arms were getting tired.
"We'll call it a day soon," said Summer. "I don't want you useless for tomorrow. Lots to do."
I was trailing behind her. I looked up, immediately glancing away from her wide backside. For someone who did labor all day, she sure had a full figure.
"I can take it," I said, almost wheezing.
"Naw, let's go inside. Sun's setting. We can watch a movie."
I wasn't upset about the promise of rest and relaxation. The drive was a good twelve hours straight, and I was drained.
We went back to the house. Summer said she was going to shower off first, and that she'd save some hot water for me.
I looked around the first floor, inspecting my surroundings. Cupboards full of canned food. Tools and equipment scattered around. Clutter everywhere.
The pipes rumbled as Summer started her shower. I definitely needed one myself.
I checked my phone, and realized there wasn't any service. No Wi-Fi either. Huh.
Summer came downstairs wrapped in a big beach towel, her hair dripping.
"All yours, I left it running. Better hurry, it's getting cool."
I smiled, doing my best not to size up my own sibling, and I hurried up the stairs. I stripped, and hopped into the old tub and pulled the curtain behind me.
The water wasn't very warm, so I cleaned up quick.
I toweled off, but had to put my dirty clothes back on. I had left my duffle bag of clean clothes in the truck.
I joined Summer downstairs, and she had changed into a pair of grey sweat shorts and a clean shirt, one with Elvis on the front.
"Same clothes?" She looked unimpressed.
"I just need my bag from the truck, be right back."
"Watch out for wolves," she said solemnly.
I paused by the door. She shook her head, grinning.
I faked a laugh, and walked outside.
It wasn't totally dark out, but the stars were so vivid and numerous that I stared for several minutes. I went to the truck, got my stuff, and came back inside.
"Stars are cool," I said, watching her walk to the couch which sat in the small living room. Stacks of magazine surrounded the leather couch. An old wood stove sat dusty next to the stack. She sat down, and the couch grunted a little.
"Indeed," she said. "So, there's no cable, no internet, and barely any cell service. But we got hot water, power, and an alright DVD collection!"
She patted the couch.
"Just gonna change, so..." I looked around. "Where do I sleep?"
"I'm sitting on it," she said, raising an eyebrow. "It looks rough, but it's long enough, and with a blanket on it, it'll do the trick."
"Oh," I said. It looked like hell.
"Kidding. Yours is down the hall to the left. Spare room just for you. I'm upstairs next to Mom."
"Funny," I said, dragging my stuff to my new room.
It was an old room, with a small bed and a window. There was a table, a lamp, and a stack of boxes that took up half the room.
I changed into jogging pants and a clean shirt, and came back to Summer.
"Join me," she said grimly. "Let's watch something scary."
She put on a copy of The Mothman Prophecies. I had seen it before, but it was a good choice.
The couch was indeed long, but there was a stack of magazines on one end, which left a spot right next to Summer.
