An Unexpected Protector

Chapter 2

HUNTER!”

“MR MATTHEWS PLEASE LOOK THIS WAY” The flashing bulbs of the cameras going off in front of me blinded and dazed me. The buzz of the paparazzi had become like the humming of flies to me. Annoying and unwanted. Photographers all stood massed behind barriers patrolled by many different security officers and police officers with their long snouted cameras pointed directly at me, trying to get their angle that they wanted and that would make the most money. Snow fell steadily on the heads, shoulders and gloved fingers of all the men and women calling my name. Everyone kept wiping their lens trying to make sure they would get the best picture. I couldn’t help notice the journalists that were stood ahead of me waiting to do the contractual interviews that my manager had promised. Some of them were stood with their hands being warmed on the flasks of hot drinks. The contempt I felt for them outweighed the sympathy.

When I decided I wanted to become a singer I wanted have the type of fame that the old-school singers had rather than the bling-bling hyper version we see in modern media. I want to leave a legend that lasts generations and stands up well to the greats like Elvis, the Rat Pack and even Michael Jackson. I want to stand tall in my lifetime and have earned my way there by fighting the good fight, being dependable and steadfast. Instead of being a singer I was now an actor, a singer and a model as you had to be a triple threat in today’s market. In a crumbling world, this must give way to the time of the titans. I couldn’t help but think that sometimes I wanted to go back to when times were simpler and it was easy for me to run away from my troubles.

Through the fog and snow a figure moved in front of a camera so bundled up in a thick jacket that I couldn’t tell if the person was a man or woman. The face that peeked out of the thick parka at me was a face I recognised. It couldn’t be her surely. Her cheeks and nose were rosy from the cold and you could see strands of her caramel hair escaping the hood. She smiled at me the way all of the girls do when they see me. The nervousness telling in her eyes. I make my way across to her hoping with everything that I have it was her. I lift my hands to sign. “Hey, how are you?” She looks at me with a blank stare. I realise immediately that she wasn’t who I thought she was.

“Oh I am sorry I don’t sign Hunter.” The woman in front of me replied.

“Oh okay.” You can hear the disappointment in my voice. I turn to walk away disappointed. My memory kicks in.......

10 Years Earlier

“Hey Mrs G” I burst into the school’s front office excited to meet the new student that was going to need my help. “How ya doing?” I like the way Joey from friends always said that with a New York accent. I couldn’t pull of the New York part but tried to make it cute and work for me.

“Well Hello Mr Matthews I am good thank you for asking.” The heavyset receptionist replied. She always had lipstick on her teeth which didn’t make sense as she always was chewing gum like a cow chewing on grass. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh I am here to pick up a new student who needs my support!” I tell her proudly. It was the first time I had ever been asked to help with anyone and was pretty excited about it.

“Oh let me find out who you are meeting?” She told me turning around to slam on her computer keyboard. I turn around to see the cutest girl sitting on a chair waiting for someone. My eyes met her face and I was sure she held all of the cuteness a girl of 12 could possess, it wasn’t for her features I couldn’t really see her face, and it was pointed down to the floor. “MR MATTHEWS!” Mrs G shouted bringing me back down to earth with a thud. I got lost purely by staring at her.

“Oh sorry” I apologised. I turned bright red as she gave me the side eye as if she knew what I was doing.

“You are here to assist Miss Dorian.” Mrs G pointed to the girl who was sitting with her head facing the floor. “I didn’t know you knew sign language Hunter.” She told me trying to get me to elaborate. I didn’t like talking about myself especially my home life, but sometimes I found myself telling people more than I wanted sometimes.

“Yeah” I replied. “My mum is deaf and not a lot of people can speak to people with hearing difficulties.”

“Well that is very admirable young man.” She praised me but I didn’t see the need. “Just think of the difference you are going to make in this girls life.” I just nodded trying to escape the shamelessness of her praising. I walk up to the girl who hasn’t moved an inch since I walked into the office and looked like she was about to jump out of her skin at any moment. Her hair fell across her face the sun softly reflected showing the different colours of red that shimmered with each strand moving freely in the breeze of the fan that was rotating around the office. It was a lovely compliment to her stillness. I approached her and lifted my hands to start to sign and she jumped. You could tell I had scared her, her breathing accelerated and her muscles and contracted with the sweat evident on her forehead.

“I am sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” I signed to her. She looked up at me with eyes the colour of the river waters. Her serenity seeped into the air between us and as she looked up at me a warm homely feeling swept across me. “I am Hunter. I’m going to be your friend showing you around school. Is that okay?” A smile slowly spread across her face and it caught my breath when her face warmed. “What’s your name?”

“Lydia.” She replied. I didn’t understand what was happening to me. Why did I want to be near this girl so badly? I only met her 2 minutes ago.

Present Day.....

“You really don’t recognise me?” The girl bundled in the parka asked me. I would have said 5 minutes ago she was Lydia but I knew that wasn’t now.

“No sorry.” I apologise I hate not recognising people. I think that sometimes people expect that of a celebrity for them not to recognise you.

“I am Blair Dorian, we went to junior high together.” I couldn’t help but get excited at hearing her surname.

“Dorian?” I knew what I was going to ask before the words had even formed in my head. “You’re Lydia’s cousin?” She rolled her eyes in annoyance and nodded with a grimace on her face, showing me that she wasn’t happy with the way I reacted to her. “How is she? Where is she?” I asked. I hadn’t seen Lydia in 10 years since her Dad pulled her from school ceremoniously.

“She’s good.” She nodded unimpressed, “She’s still living with her dad.” She leaned in to tell talk to me. “You know her being dumb and not being able to speak.”

“The Lydia I knew wasn’t dumb, she was kind and clever.” That is probably what drew me to her. My heart broke the day she was dragged from school.......

10 years earlier....

It’s been about 10 months since Lydia came to school and we have been inseparable since. I found out she can hear but can’t speak so I find that pretty cool, I don’t have to sign to her I just get to watch her in all of her glory sign to me. And when we want to have private conversations we both sign. She was my best friend. I know she had a hard time at home, her mum was sick and she had to take care of her dad and cousin. It irritated me why they couldn’t look after themselves.

“So why did you move to Panama City?” I asked her. The more I got to know her the more the protective instinct in me came out.

“I have always lived her.” She told me, my mouth fell open in surprise. I had never seen her before and I was sure I would have remembered a person like this.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah I got sick with Laryngitis and had to leave school just as I was about to start junior high.” She told me and I remember that Laryngitis was a problem with your throat, I remember my mum had it once.

“But you don’t normally lose your voice right?”

“Yeah, I just had a really serious version of it and nearly......”

“Hunter! There you are.” Blair squealed the way teenage girls do barging in and interrupting the conversation I was deep in. “We are having a party at our house this weekend you should come?” Lydia looked up at Blair with confusion as if she hadn’t known anything about it.

“Are you going?” I turn to Lydia and ask.

“Probably won’t be allowed.” She signs back to me. “I will have to make the snacks and clean up the mess.”

“OF COURSE SHE’S COMING!” Blair announced. I looked at Lydia who shrugged not knowing what to do or say. I had noticed that when her cousin was around Lydia was a lot more withdrawn.

“Do you want me to come?” I signed to Lydia.

“I mean it would be cool to see you at the house.” She smiled at me. “But don’t feel you have to, I will probably be on clean up parade.”

“I can help you.” I told her to which she nodded. I turned back to her annoying cousin and told her that I would be there. Little did I know that the party wouldn’t happen!

Lydia and I were making our way to our 6th period class which was English. I hated it but Lydia loved it. She loved writing her own stories and reading. When I wasn’t with her in school she would always have her nose in a book. We were in the hall when a booming male voice erupted. “LYDIA DORIAN YOU COME HERE RIGHT NOW!” She stopped in her tracks. She had a look of sheer panic in her eyes and on her face. Her breathing quickened and her arms began to shake. She was terrified. We both turned and saw her Dad in a fit of rage storming towards her.

“You should go to class” She told me

“Are you going to be okay?” I asked, unsure if she would be by the look of her dad. He was a big burly guy who did not look like he was going to be nice to her.

“Yeah I will be fine.” She told me. “Go honestly you will make things worse.” As she turned to greet her father grabbed her by the arm that made her face grimace in pain. The look in her father’s eyes was not one of patience and love, it was cold and emotional indifference to the person that was supposed to be his child. I wanted to take a step forward and try to protect her but I knew I couldn’t. My hero self had to take a back seat for this fight until I was old enough and big enough to protect her. That day would come and I was hoping sooner rather than later.

I watched as he dragged her to the car by her arm and he threw her into the car with no worry for her safety. It hurt me to watch and I promised myself that day that when I was big enough and old enough to look after her I would.

Present Day......

“Oh well, maybe you didn’t know her that well.” Blair replied to me. I just nodded not wanting to entertain this conversation any more than I had to.

“Hunter?” My manager, Austin, came up from behind me; he was my best friend and one of 2 people I trusted the most in the world.

“Yeah Bud.” I replied

“You have to start these interviews or we are never going to get through them.”

“Okay.” I replied “Two seconds. Do you have Lydia’s number?” I asked Blair who looked at me with disgust on her face.

“Yeah.” She replied. “Give me your number and I will pass it on to her.”

“Erm no!” Austin interrupted. “He doesn’t give his number out.”

“Well, I can’t give you hers without asking her.” Blair said with a smug look on her face. I looked towards Austin and put his mind at ease and told her who the girl was in front of us was and who I was giving my number to. He knew that I had always wanted Lydia back in my life. She was the reason I chose to be a singer.

10 Years Earlier.......

“You have such a nice voice.” Lydia praised me. We were having lunch in the music room today because I was trying to decide if I should audition for the school talent contest. “You should go for it! You will win first place.”

“You’re just biased.” I tell her. She thinks I can walk on water, She has only been at school for a month and I worry she has a view of me that is not really there. I get scared that one day she is going to see me for whom I really am and not want to be near me anymore.

“NO!” She protested. “You have an amazing singing voice. I love to listen to music. It relaxes me and it takes away the pain.”

“What pain?” I ask her. We have been getting closer and she is beginning to open up to me but I know I have to patient with her.

“My mum is still not waking up and things are getting worse with my dad and cousin.” She told me. “Music is my escape. I want to write songs that can help people.”

“Oh you could so do that.” I told her. That was what I expected her to do end up writing books, movies, television programmes or song.

“We will see.” She told me. “I need to wait to see what happens with my dad.” I watched as the emotions begin to fill her eyes and decided to try and distract her.

“What song do you want me to sing?” I ask her.

“Any song?” She asked

“Anything I know.” She laughed and chose Frank Sinatra. I was happy to oblige and broke out into full song.

“LYDIA!” A girl I didn’t know ran in. “I have been looking everywhere for you.” She walked up to Lydia and put her arm around her shoulders. Lydia immediately tensed up. “Uncle D said I was meant to look after you.” I look at Lydia who doesn’t look comfortable with whoever this was.

“Who are you?” I asked and I didn’t care about manners at this point. Every hair on my body was standing on end watching the girl that I wanted to protect with every fibre of my being. I didn’t understand what this protective streak in me was but I am going trying to figure it out.

“I am Lydia’s cousin.” Blair announced. Lydia looked at her with shock. “Nice to meet you.” She held her hand out with a smile on her face that was showed me she wasn’t here for her cousin. She was here for me

“Oh Hi.” I looked at both girls. It was day and night. Blair was tall, skinny with every hair in place. She wore designer clothes from head to toe. Lydia was on the shorter side and slightly curvier, even at 12 she was developed in places you wouldn’t expect. She wore clothes that looked like they came from the local thrift store. I shook her hand hesitantly.

“Soooo.... what are you guys doing?” Blair asked.

“Nothing.” Lydia signed.

“I don’t understand sign language idiot.” Blair told her.

“Woah!” I chimed in. “She said that we were just hanging out.”

“Well you can come and find me if you want to hang out.” Blair told me.

“It’s okay.” I reply, not wanting to encourage this anymore than I had to.

Present day.....

I put my number into Blair’s phone hoping that it would get to Lydia. I wanted nothing more than to see her again. I missed her. I waited for her to come back to school patiently and it never happened. I didn’t know where she went. I remember trying everything to find out where she had gone.

When I finally worked out that I was in love with her it was too late. She had been taken out of my life and didn’t come back. I was now 23 years old and had never been in a relationship because nobody lived up to Lydia. Oh I had flings and one night stands but nothing ever went past that one night. I was determined nothing would either. The only person that I was going to end up with was her and if it wasn’t her it was no body.......

10 years earlier.....

“Yo Austin.” I called to my best bro in the world. “Have you seen Lydia today?”

“No dude, why?” He replied.

“I haven’t seen or spoken to her since her dad came and dragged out the other day.”

“That’s weird.” Austin replied. “You two are normally joined at the hip.”

“You know where she lives?” I asked him. I thought it was weird that we were as close as friends could be and I didn’t know where she lived.

“Why would I know man?” Austin asked panicking about what I thought was going on.

“Blair” I replied. “That’s her cousin that lives with her.”

“OH s**t!!” He shouted. “NO WAY!”

“You wanna keep it down. I don’t know why but she didn’t tell us before so there must be a reason why she didn’t want us to know.”

“Yeah I know where she lives.” He told me. I knew he would, he had been crushing on Blair for months and never quite could seal the deal and make her his girlfriend. I think I knew why that was though.

“You wanna show me after school?” I asked him

“Yeah dude, in fact I haven’t seen Blair either.” Panic ran through me instantly. I hope that nothing happened to cause Lydia to get hurt. What if she was in the hospital or what if something happened to her mum? School seemed to drag that day. I have never been so anxious for a day to end in my life. As soon as the bell rang to indicate that class was over I ran out of the class room and made my way to find Austin.

“You ready?” Austin asked me as I walked to where we locked up our bikes.

“Yeah” I told him. “I’m worried dude.”

“I am sure, she’s fine.” Austin tried to console me. “She probably just ill.” We made our way through the centre of town and rode to the small suburb area that Lydia lived in. We pulled up in front of the house and it was empty. There was no car in the drive way and the door was open with movers moving all of the furniture into vans that were parked where there should have been cars.

“NO!” I shouted. “Lydia?” I ran inside the house looking for her. I felt my body tremble with chills. How could I feel this magnitude of grief for a girl I had been friends with for 10 months. She was gone. My soul felt wafer thin and as my heart broke I swore I bled an ocean through my eyes. The day that I lost her was the day that I decided I was going to build enough power in who I was to be able to protect her in any way I had to.

Present Day.....

I walked back into my house; I had bought a larger house in the suburbs of Panama City and would travel wherever I needed to for work. It was nestled in the woodland and was humble with the greenery around it. The mansion was all concrete and had tall glass windows that gave me an overview of the city and the woodland around me. It gave me a chance, when I wasn’t working to relax and relish the changing seasons from the comfort of my deck chair. The larger house had become my home year after year and a small world unto itself, where I could be myself and not have to worry about the persona that I put on for the outside world. Yet whenever I walk out of the gates or drive home from an event everyone turns their heads to watch me pass with my name on their lips. This is why I moved into a bigger home with a gate around it. It is my own little world and the amount of space that I had became all the space I had to exist. I have two housemates. That I adore.

“Hey honey.” My mum came through the living room and signed as soon as she knew I could see her. She made her way to the front door to greet me the way she always does.

“Hey mum, how was your night?”

“Good baby.” She replied. “I won $53 at bingo.”

“Cool. Don’t spend it all at once.” Even though I was able to support my mum in every way possible she would never let me. Sure she lived with me but she was determined to buy all of the groceries and she fed Austin and I as if we were kings. She had become my chef and as much as I loved having her with me, it broke my heart she would not let me support her. She never took a dollar from me.

“How was your event?”

“It was okay!” I replied not wanting to tell her the more I went to these things the more I have started to hate them. “But I did run into someone unexpected.”

“Who baby?” She was always so interested in everyone and everything in my life and that was my favourite thing about our relationship. I can tell her everything. I explained and she looked at me with both hope ad trepidation. “Honey, don’t get your hopes up. You told me Lydia doesn’t get on with her family before right?”

“Yeah.” I sighed knowing that what she was saying was right.

“Just please don’t think that she is going to come back into your life with happiness and open arms.”

“I know.”

“We don’t know what she has been through and we don’t know if what she thinks about the situation.” She continued to warn me.

“So if she does call you, just remember to be the understanding man you are and listen to her.”

“Okay Mama.” I know she is right and I promise myself that is what I am going to do. “I am tired I am going to bed.” I kiss my mother on the head and move towards my room. “OH Austin may not be home tonight so don’t wait up.”

“Okay baby.”

I walk into my bedroom and the longing hits me all at once. When I first realised Lydia had disappeared there was a time where I was angry at everything and everyone in the universe. Why would fate introduce me to the person that I truly believe now is my soul mate, only for fate to take her away from me. I haven’t found peace with it yet. I don’t think I ever will. The days of missing her were long and hard. I couldn’t even entertain the idea of anyone else. Missing her had turned into my secret hobby. The thoughts of her had become stronger over the years. I had to push them back into the depths from which they came knowing it might never happen. I could only react to her absence. In truth I wish she was here with me for better or for worse.

There were times that I would even Google her name or search for her on social media for nothing to come up. It broke my heart every time that the search turned up nothing. It was as if she had never existed and I dreamt of her. This is what made it worse for me. When you have this much heartache it’s like the sun won’t shine for you anymore. I stand at my bedroom window staring out across the city sky line thinking how lucky I am to be in this position but wishing I could be with her to love, protect and cherish her. She would be the only person I called my wife. I keep letting this heartache creep back in at intervals and I don’t know why. But the truth be told I would rather forgo the comfort of a woman that I don’t love and wait for the one that I do. So I will let this heartache be my teacher and use her as the reason to keep going. All of my songs were written with her in mind, hoping that she would one day hear one of them and keep it closer to her. I hoped that one day she would turn up at one of my meet and greets or concerts and tell me that she missed me.

My phone starts ringing waking me up from emotional rollercoaster that I seemed to be having a hard time getting off. I pulled it from my pocket and it wasn’t a number I knew or recognised. “Hello.” I answered. The phone line went immediately dead. I thought it was weird and put the phone on my night stand to charge. I walked away and went to turn on the shower when my phone rang again. “Hello” The phone line again went dead. I became annoyed thinking I was going to have to change my number again. I reached for the phone to turn it off until I could get a new number when a text chimed in.

“Hi Hunter, it’s been a while. How are you?” There were so many thoughts that ran through my brain.

“I am good thank you.” I typed out. “Who are you?” I hit send. I was sitting on tender hooks waiting for the reply.

“It’s Lydia.”

“WHAT THE FUCK...........”