SEVEN
“There is a little boy inside the man who is my brother… Oh, how I hated that little boy. And how I love him too.”
~ Anna Quindlen
WYATT
One week had gone by like it was nothing. So much had happened, and there was still so much more I needed to do…so much I couldn’t do.
“You’ve reached Helen Callahan, please leave a message.”
“Helen, please answer. I need…” Does she give a damn what you need after what you did to her? The thought stopped me mid-sentence. Hanging up the phone and tossing it onto the glass table, I leaned back into the chair, running my hands through my hair and fighting the urge to pull.
“Cain, explain to me why I don’t have access to the family files?” I sighed, closing my eyes.
“Wyatt Callahan, your access had been denied, and I cannot answer your question. Unlock your access.”
“Why?! Why is my access denied if I can get in the fucking room!” I snapped, looking back at the screens, which all had the same password request on them. I was able to look through Ethan’s hard file in his study, but half the damn information was cited in Cain. Which made it only one step above fucking useless.
“Wyatt Callahan, your access had been denied, and I cannot answer your question. Unlock your access.”
“Fuck you,” I muttered, ready to chuck my phone at Cain, the fucking computer was pissing me off.
“Password denied.”
Rolling my eyes and inhaling, I stared. I tried to think, but I didn’t remember setting a password or even being giving one. “Cain, who set the password?”
I waited for Cain to give me the same reply. Instead, it said, “Ethan Callahan.”
Of course, he’d be the one! Even when he wasn’t here, he was being a pain in my ass—wait. “So. I can ask questions about the password.”
“You have three more tries,” Cain replied.
I moved closer to the screen, trying to think…when I remembered what I’d said to my uncle. I’m not the thinker. That’s Ethan. If I knew my brother, he’d thought of this moment…hell, he must have planned it. So this, like everything else he did, was a test…I had three chances to get the right answer…and the purpose of all his tests had always been for one thing… to get me back to where I should have already been. As he had said. He wanted me here. I had access to this room even though I had no access to the data because he wanted me back in the family, and if that was the case and knowing me…he’d give me a hint.
“Cain, my second question is, “What is the hint?” I crossed my arms over my chest, staring at the screen.
“Hint: What you should have said?”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “Cain, the password is…sorry.”
“Password denied.”
Shaking my head, I moved back to the chair, sitting on the edge, hunched over as I tried to go over this again…I was right about the hint. But what should I have said?
“Cain, the password is…it’s my fault?”
“Password denied.”
“Of course, it is.” I grumbled, almost ready to pick up my phone and call Dona…until I realized how pitiful that was. I needed to call my sister for help getting into a fucking computer. I looked up at the top panels…the irony…the three people who I never expected to not be here—Dona, Ethan, Helen—all of them were gone. And now it was just me. I hated how I was starting to realize how useless I was on my own…everything I could do before I did with the belief they’d always been where I left them.
Like they were toys. But I’m trying to fucking make up for it! “Cain, remind me to tell Ethan he sucks at hints.” I grinned to myself, closing my eyes.
“Second hint,” Cain replied, and my eyes snapped back open. “I don’t suck at hints you just suck at understanding me…as always. Just like you did when you came back from camp.”
I wanted to laugh at how he knew what I’d say, but I was still trying to think back to when I went to camp.
I’d never gone to camp. I wanted to, but our mother said that I didn’t need any fancy camp and instead took me to California for three weeks to train with her, just like she’d done for Dona and Ethan. I made it back in time for Dona and my…