The Touch Volume 1
"The Void"
By: Myke D
Part 2: Connections
Chapter 8: The Missing
"Gentle, now." Natalie's voice was soft as I drifted back to consciousness. "Put him on the sofa."
I opened my eyes and gasped when I saw myself looking back at me. My heart raced in my chest as the panic attack began to set in. It was the other me from my dreams. He smiled down at me with tears in his icy blue eyes and placed the palm of his hand against my chest.
"Relax, baby brother." His voice broke with a slight sob at the end before he pulled me into his chest. "I didn't think that we were ever going to find you."
What the fuck is going on?
The panic continued to grow inside of me, and I couldn't stop myself from calling out for my foster mother.
"Natalie..."
The other me frowned slightly for a moment.
"I'm right here, Zachary." I glanced over to see Natalie crouched next to the couch. She squeezed my hand gently. "Just relax, baby boy."
"That's not his name..."
"We know, Kyan." I heard a baritone voice say from behind me. "You have to give him time, though."
"What's going on?" I asked as fresh tears streamed down my face. I tried to sit up, but Natalie put her hand on my chest to hold me down on the sofa.
"Not yet, Zach." She said softly. "Just relax and breathe for me. You're beginning to spiral again, baby boy."
"I don't understand," I whispered. "It's him..."
Natalie nodded in understanding and wiped one of the tears from my cheek.
"I know, baby boy." She said. "We all have hundreds of questions. You have to take some deep breaths for me, though. Okay?"
I nodded and struggled to regain control of my breathing for a moment. The other me disappeared from my vision, so I focused solely on Natalie's face as she smiled down at me. She had tears in the corners of her green eyes and I frowned. Natalie saw my expression and pulled me into her arms to hold me tightly.
"They're tears of happiness, baby boy. You finally found your family."
I looked over at the boy they called Kyan. The man with the brown hair was holding him tightly while he cried. The man just stared at me in disbelief. Greg stood beside the man and patted his shoulder softly. His own brown eyes were filled with tears.
"Why are there two Zach's?"
Natalie laughed at the sound of Toby's voice, and she turned towards him. The boy stood in the doorway with Geoff and Gavin directly behind them.
"Are we early?" Geoff asked with a confused smile.
"Sorry, Geoff." Greg said quickly as he stepped over to them. "We had some shocking news come up in the last couple of hours."
"Obviously, Greg." Geoff said with a chuckle.
Greg lifted Toby up into his arms and hugged the boy as he motioned towards the front door.
"Let's go outside for a moment, guys."
Gavin followed the two men outside after he took a long look at me.
"Sorry, David." Natalie said softly. "That was our other foster son – Toby. He stayed with Greg's brother last night. I forgot that he was due back already."
"It's really not a problem, Natalie." The man reassured my foster mother quickly as he continued to stare at me. "We've waited ten years for this day."
Natalie carried me over towards the man and his son, and I began to tremble nervously. My foster mother rubbed my back softly and nodded towards the two.
"Zachary, there's a few things you need to know before we continue." She kissed my cheek. "Just remember to breathe. First, your name isn't really Zachary Brody."
"What?" I gasped. I turned to see the boy's eyes fixated on me.
"Breathe, baby boy." I did as Natalie instructed. "Your real name is Zyan Montgomery. You were kidnapped when you were ten-years-old, and this is your father and brother."
The boy reached out towards me as tears began to roll down his cheeks. I hesitated before I reached my hand towards him.
Natalie continued softly. "This is your father David, and your brother Kyan."
"I really need to call your mother," my father said with a happy chuckle as he reached out and stroked my cheek. I pressed my face into his hand and sighed.
"I already did," Natalie said. "The moment Greg told me he was on his way here. I think she was getting Sarah and heading this way."
My father nodded and smiled at me. Kyan reached out and wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me tightly. Natalie and David were suddenly left holding us between them as we held each other.
"I told you that I was close to finding you, baby brother." Kyan whispered in my ear.
The front door opened, and Greg stuck his head inside.
"Hey, Nat?"
"Yeah?" Natalie asked softly.
"Can you come out here for a moment?"
"Give me just a second," Natalie replied. "Zyan can you stand on your own for a few minutes?"
"I'll take him," my father said quickly. "Kyan?"
"Okay, dad." Kyan let our father place him back on the floor, but he kept one of his fingers wrapped through the man's beltloop.
Natalie handed me over to David and he immediately pulled me into a tight hug and began to sob happily.
"I never thought we would find you, baby boy." He whispered in my ear as he held me. Then, I said something I never thought I would ever get to say.
"I love you, daddy." I whispered softly.
My father held me even tighter as he moved around to sit on the sofa – refusing to let go of me for even a second.
"I love you, too, baby boy."
I felt the lump form in my throat as I buried my face in his neck. My head was spinning with what Natalie had told me, but deep inside I knew that it was true. I hadn't just been having dreams... I was remembering the day I was kidnapped from the safety of my own loving family.
"Happy birthday, boys." My father said once he had managed to stop crying as hard as he had been.
I sniffled and leaned into him again as I felt my brother hug me from the side.
"Happy birthday, baby brother." Kyan whispered. Softly.
My mother and my father took turns holding me for the remainder of the afternoon as Greg and Natalie put together a dinner for everyone. Geoff manned the grill while Gavin made friends with my older sister Sarah. She was sixteen and had long brown hair with green eyes. She was very pretty and would stop to kiss me on my cheek whenever she passed by me. Greg had even gotten a hold of Deedra, Sheldon, and Chad to invite them over. Deedra scolded me for nearly twenty minutes for not informing her that it was my birthday. Sheldon stared between my brother and I for a moment when he first arrived, but he was quick to shrug it off and introduce himself to Kyan. They quickly became friends while Chad and Deedra tried to insert themselves in Gavin and Sarah's tiny group.
My father would walk around with me in his arms while he visited with Geoff and Greg, and my mother would do the same whenever she was helping Natalie. My mother and Natalie would chat quietly while I breathed in deeply of my mother's flowery perfume. Something about it seemed familiar to me and I slipped into a dream between breaths without even realizing it.
My mother was there – sitting beside me at the kitchen table in my dream. She was helping me cut up a burger into smaller pieces so my toddler self could manage it better.
"Thanks, mom." I heard myself say happily before I grabbed the first bite of burger and stuck it in my mouth. My mother kissed the top of my head and ruffled my blonde hair before the dream morphed into another one.
I was lying in bed and my mother had her arm around me while she read me a story. The scent of her flowery perfume along with the soft sound of her voice lulled me to sleep and my dream moved on.
It was earlier in the day when my father was talking to Greg while holding me tightly in his arms. The doorbell rang and when Natalie answered the door, my mother walked in followed by my sisters. I had recognized her immediately and all I wanted was to grab on to her and never let go. My eyes filled with tears as I cried out for her. She didn't even hesitate to come over and hold me tightly. As she fell to her knees in tears, a gray mist swirled around us, and I was suddenly at the park with Kyan again.
We were both smiling happily as we played in a sandbox together. I had this dream once, and I knew where it was heading. I wanted to scream out to the boys and tell them to run, but nothing I did mattered. They couldn't hear me. I saw my mother sitting nearby with the novel in her hand as she enjoyed the warm sunny day. As the younger me rose to his feet and toddled off on shaky legs, I started to scream for my mother. Anything I could do to make her look up from the book before I stepped around the corner of the bushes.
I sobbed as my mother's cries of terror echoed off of the nearby houses. I couldn't stop it from happening. She didn't hear me. I had been taken from my mother at the age of two. Taken by the people who just dumped me off with someone else. I screamed as my mother searched for me frantically. My senses were suddenly filled with the smell of her perfume, and I could hear someone talking nearby.
"Does it happen often?"
"Only when it's been a stressful day," Natalie replied quietly.
I opened up my eyes to find my mother holding me in her arms while she sat at the kitchen table. Natalie was handing her a cool cloth to press against my forehead.
"There he is," Natalie said with a smile.
I smiled and sighed happily as I realized my mother was right where I needed her to be. Natalie sat down on the couch next to us and brushed my hair off of my forehead.
"Just think," Natalie said softly. "If Greg would have taken you to work any other time, you could have already met your family."
"What do you mean?" I asked quietly.
"Your father has been down to that poor man's office nearly every day for the past two months, Zyan." My mother explained with a light chuckle. "If only he would have shown Greg a picture of our kids, but no. It doesn't matter anyways... I have you back in my life now."
I heard Natalie sniffle from beside me.
"What's wrong, Natalie?"
"It's not important, baby boy." My foster mom said sadly. "Trust me. All is right in the world at the moment."
"Did I miss something?" I jumped slightly at the sudden sound of my father's voice, and my mother rubbed my chest gently to keep me still.
"Just a bad dream, David." Natalie explained.
I blushed and buried my face in my mother's neck.
"Sorry," I mumbled quietly.
"There's absolutely nothing to be sorry for, baby boy." My mother whispered as she rubbed my back. "Absolutely, nothing at all."
My father chuckled lightly.
"I take it that I have to wait a little longer before I get another turn holding our son, Lauren?" He teased my mom.
"Oh, hush, you!" She chided him with a giggle.
My dad leaned over and kissed my mother before he kissed the top of my head and squeezed my shoulder.
"This is quite possibly the happiest day of my life," he said.
"Mine, too." I whispered quietly as another tear slid down my cheek.
Nothing mattered at all at that moment. I was happy. Even the strange sensation in the back of my mind seemed to fade into the background as my mother held me. I sighed deeply and smiled. I would never be able to get enough of this...
*********Thanks again for reading "The Touch". If you wish to be notified of this or any of my other stories, please feel free to email me and make sure that you let me know which story you want to know about. – storymyke@outlook.com
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