Page 162 of Family Affair

Died, what a sick joke.

Died.

Cade had died tonight.

He was gone forever.

“Ward, no.” The words came out strangled, and the voice was too thin, not his voice. “Why? How? He couldn’t… Please. Oh, please tell me this is a joke. Please,” he begged. He had never begged, but he couldn’t stand this new pain that was blossoming deep inside, taking over, replacing his essence with its unbearable pressure. “He couldn’t have died! I’m still here…”

Heart hammering, he attempted to wrap his brain around the news, and failed. Surely he’d have felt his brother dying. Cade always existed, a part of his life, a part of him. And if he kept on living, that meant Cade did too. Didn’t it?Didn’t it?

“Ward, he’s… he’s…” He bent over, not feeling his ribs anymore behind the pain of loss, and heaved, moaning.

“Frankie, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Cade is in a happier place now, much happier. God called him to his eternal repose, and the call has been answered. He didn’t suffer.”

Ward was consoling him, gently moving his hair away from his bruised face, rubbing his shoulder, but nothing helped.

“How did he die?”

“He was in a car accident. He died instantly.”

He wanted to cry. He burned to shed tears, to double over and wallow in grief, to curse God for His callousness, to… he didn’t know what. Maybe he needed to get some sleep, a good night’s sleep, and then this unbearable pain would go away, and Cade would wake him up with some inane prank, like in the good old days when they were still in grade school, still living together in their parents’ house.

Yeah, a great idea, all he needed was to turn back time, and reverse his ugly, ruined life, to start over, to start fresh, and his brother would remain his friend, and they would go through life side by side, like brothers were supposed to.

Gone. Cade was gone.

Ward was talking, saying something, making no sense.

With effort, Frank focused his one functioning eye on him and tuned in his hearing. And listened. And recoiled.

“No. Out of question. I can’t do it. I don’t even want to try.”

“Opportunities like this happen once in a lifetime. You have one chance. You miss it – you can’t get it back.”

“No. Christ, Ward, are you out of your mind? People will know.”

“You underestimate the power of persuasion. You tell them you’re Cade – they’ll see Cade. It’s important, Frank. Concentrate. Stay with me.”

It was hard.

Cade was gone. The thought dominated his brain and threatened to crush his entire being.

“I don’t want to talk about it. I will think about what you said. Later. God, Ward, I can’t concentrate right now.” He was about to hyperventilate.

He crawled to the couch and climbed in. Sitting cross legged, he buried his face in his hands, measuring his breaths, slow, steady.

“Go, Ward. Just go.”

“Cade.”

The name cut into the bleeding wound on his soul. “I’m not Cade!”

A silence stretched, and his scalp tingled, the skin tightening.

“What have you done already?” he whispered hoarsely, terrified of the answer.

“I didn’t have to do anything. Cade didn’t have an ID on him. He drove your car. He was drunk. The police already assumed…”