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Could that be true? Had she centered her life on a self-made fantasy? “What truth?” she asked in a whisper, feeling a little sick.
“Are you sure you want thewholetruth?” he queried, unemotionally. “Or do you need the customary ‘whitewashed for Paige’ version? I swear, sis, you’re looking a little green.”
She didn’t understand. Where was all this coming from? “Austin. You’re scaring me. I…I don’t know who you are,” she mumbled, fearful she might really be sick.
“Then let me inform you,” he said coldly. “I’m the boy who lost everything. Parents, home, future. The only thing I inherited when our parents died was a kid to take care of. I thought I’d gotten rid of the burden when we went into foster care and were split up. But no, you had to keep clinging to me, expecting me to fix your world when I couldn’t even handle my own.”
Paige’s heartbeat stuttered in her chest. That was true, she supposed, remembering that terrified six-year-old. She’d been so lost she’d lived for Austin’s reassurances that everything would be okay. And maybe he was also right that she’d never stopped doing that.
“You just never let up,” he spat out.
“I was six years old, Austin! You’re all I had! I wanted, needed, my big brother.”
“Yeah? Well, I had to figure things out for myself. You needed to do the same. I kept hoping you’d be better once you grew up a little, but you only got more demanding. You wanted more than I could give, Paige, that’s why I left. Why I went to Europe. At least with an ocean between us, I could breathe a little.”
A moan slipped from her throat as she finally understood the meaning of the crossed-out letters in the cave; a symbol of removing her from his life.
“So, it wasn’t about the adventures, at all,” she managed to say. “Was anything in those postcards true? The hiking? No access to phones? The odd jobs to keep you going?”
He shrugged. “I did some hiking and spent some time exploring caves. I needed to be in unreachable places.”
“You were hiding? From what? From whom?”
Another shrug of indifference. “From you, initially, and then from…others.”
“Others? Why? Were you in trouble?”
He gave her an exasperated look. “Do you have any idea what it costs to always keep on the move?”
“I see. You lied about the jobs,” she stated, beginning to believe he was right; she didn’t know him at all.
He played with Paige’s dirk, tossing it in the air, catching it and tossing it again. “It’s what you wanted to hear wasn’t it?” he challenged. “That I was engaging in anhonestliving?”
“Which meant you weren’t.” He was right again. She didn’t like the truth.
“Oh, I was working, right enough. Just at less traditional jobs. That’s what kept me moving around. I couldn’t very well pawn the things I stole in the same city now, could I?” he laughed, tossing the knife again.
“Please stop doing that,” Paige whispered.
“Stealing?” he taunted, “Or this?” He laughed and tossed the knife again.
“So, what the villagers said about you is true.” She was sick. Truly sick to think she’d been so gullible. So blind and naive.
“Probably,” he shrugged, still flipping the knife. “Sheep deserve to be fleeced.”
She held out her hand. “Give me the knife, Austin.”
“Sure.” He held it by the tip and as she reached for it, tossed it the other direction.
“Oh, Austin,” she cried. “How could you?” The force of his throw had driven the short blade clear through her treasured little basket, knocking both basket and blade from atop her backpack, to the floor. Paige picked them up and extracted the knife, running a finger over the shredded edges of the basket.
“You should have given me the knife,” he said tightly.
“Please leave, Austin,” she whispered, still fingering the cuts in her beautiful basket. Fixing the ones in her heart would be far more difficult. “We have nothing in common anymore.”
He laughed. “See? You missed the point again, sis. We never did.”
Halfway through the tent opening, he paused and backed up. “Look, just for old time’s sake, I’ll do you one last favor.”
