The Brother

Chapter Sixteen

“Tell me the truth” said Jace. They were in his bedroom after coming back in complete silence. “I want  the whole story.”

“Alright”, said Jonathan. They were sitting on the circular bed and he could feel the tension in the room rise. “You deserve to know the truth.”

Oh, I most certainly do. - thought Jace.

“Do you remember us moving from New York to Mysore?” asked Jonathan. Looking at Jace nod, he said,”Well, that never happened.”

“What do you mean…”

“We used to live here in Albik. We had a wonderful home and we were all happy. Stryke was Dad’s friend. They basically grew up together.” said Jonathan. “Things started to fall apart when Stryke went rogue. He wanted Dad to be a part of his plan. This was about twelve years ago from now.”

“Did he…” said Jace. “Did Dad join Stryke?”

“Hell, no! Dad was against the idea ever since it generated in Stryke’s head. When Stryke invented the serum, he wanted Dad to support him.”

“I thought that the serum was an accident.”

“There’s no accidents, Jace. Stryke had managed to keep the serum a secret from Wesley and the Council. It was Dad who revealed it to them.” said Jonathan. “Stryke was banished to the north. He looked at Dad like he was a snitch and vowed to kill him.”

“Is that why we grew up in Mysore?”

Jonathan nodded his head.He knew that this was too much for his brother to take in, but he had no choice. “Dad knew that Stryke would do everything in his hands to take revenge. So he decided to flee with us to the year 2008.”

“How did he have a time machine?” inquired Jace. He didn’t know how to react to this new piece of information which was hidden from him for all these years. “I thought the Wesley department invented it recently.”

A thin smile appeared on Jonathan’s face, giving him a sympathetic look. “Wesley is named after Dad because of his incredible contributions.”

Jace couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “ So Dad’s name isn’t Robert Cooper? It’s Wesley?”

“Yes, after coming to Mysore, we became the Coopers.” said Jonathan. “That’s how we ended up in Mysore. With a new identity after leaving our past behind us.”

“Why can’t I remember any of this?” asked Jace. He felt helpless. He felt like his whole life was a lie.

“That is because Dad altered your memory. You have glimpses of New York because he put it there.” said Jonathan. “He used one of his inventions to do the job.”

Jonathan noticed his little brother’s shoulder slump. He began, “Jace…”

“Continue.”

“We had a normal life for almost ten years until the night Dad died.” said Jonathan. “You think that you were responsible for Dad’s death. But the truth is, you weren’t.”

“So even Dad’s death was a lie?” said Jace remembering the number of nights he couldn’t sleep because of the same nightmare.

“It was Thibaut, the previous Chief, who snitched on Dad. Stryke made a deal with him. According to it, if Thibaut gave up Dad’s location, then Prayot will be saved from the undead.”

“Were you there?” Jace asked. “Were you there when Dad died?”

“Yes. And so were you.” said Jonathan. “We were having dinner when someone knocked the house. Mum went to check who it was. She opened the door, and after recognizing the man on the other side, tried to shut the door.

“Stryke was too strong for Mum. He pushed her aside and came straight into the room in which the three of us sat. He took his g*n and fired at Dad. We were too shocked to react.”

Jace could see tears streaming down his brother’s cheeks and realized that he could feel a lump on his back as his eyes filled with tears.

“And we did nothing?” asked Jace.

“Nothing. We watched him walk out with a smile on his face. When he was standing in front of the door, he turned around to say, ‘You get what you deserve.’” said Jonathan. He wiped the tears on his cheeks with the back of his hand. “I knew where Dad kept his devices from Prayot. So I searched for the mind altering device and removed the memory from your mind.”

“Why? Why just me?” said Jace.

“Because I didn’t want you to blame yourself for Dad’s death.” said Jonathan. “I wanted to protect you from the pain. I thought that a memory of an accident wouldn’t make you feel guilty. But it was too late when I realized I was wrong.”

“So you’re here to take revenge?”

“Yes. I’ve been waiting for almost eight years to kill him.” said Jonathan. “I’ve been planning, carefully. Trying not to falter, but he manages to escape every single time.”

Jace tried to regain his lost composure. But he couldn’t. He just wiped off his tears and said, “I’m with you in this fight. Let’s make sure he gets what he deserves.”

“Aren’t you mad at me?” asked Jonathan with a slight look of disbelief.

“Am I mad? Certainly.” said Jace. “But I know you did it for a reason. You and Dad wanted me to have a childhood that was normal and not the one which was filled with fear. But I do have one doubt.”

“Shoot” said Jonathan as he calmed himself.

“Why didn’t you just go back to the time when Stryke attacked?” asked Jace. “Why did you have to wait?”

“Dad made sure that you can’t be in the same time as another version of yourself. So if I time travelled to that particular moment you mentioned, there’s a good chance that both versions of me will get destroyed.”

“Food for thought” said Jace and headed to his room. A good sleep was what he needed to pull himself together.