Graham walked for what felt like hours. He went along the lakeshore path to the nature trails on the west side of campus, it felt more at home than walking the city streets. How could his Aunt, no fake Aunt and possible kidnapper do this? He decided to call and ask her. The number didn't even ring, just an error message that the number was disconnected sounded in his ear. Graham looked at his phone, knowing it was the right number.
The words she had said during his last visit when he mentioned the dna test flashed in his mind.
"I'm sure it will tell you something you don't expect, but I just want you to know I have loved you like a son."
He laughed, he sure hadn't expected this! But he now wondered if that was also a way of her saying goodbye. He decided to call Chase and see what he knew. Maybe he could get in touch with his Aunt. He answered on the third ring.
"Graham, what's up?"
"Uh, just wondering how my aunt was doing, haven't been able to get ahold of her."
"You're joking, right?"
"Nope, why?"
"Uh, she sold the farm right after you were up here, it sold within a week and she was gone the week after that. She said she was moving closer to you, said that you'd discussed it and since you were about to be successful that you'd take care of her. I did think it odd that she gave me some stuff to keep for you though."
"She moved? How long ago?"
"She's been gone for two weeks, are you saying you know nothing about this?"
"Yeah. I guess she wanted to surprise me that it sold so fast." Graham forced out a laugh.
"Oh, she did say she was going on vacation first which is why she left the stuff here in case you needed it before she got back. Maybe she was just waiting until after her cruise to let you know."
"Yeah maybe. I guess I thought she'd move after I graduated. Thanks Chase. I'll have to come up and get it from you." Graham thought the lie was better than having to explain what he'd learned to chase before he fully understood it.
"No hurries man."
"Thanks. Talk to you later."
"Later man."
Graham hung up. Just as he felt his head couldn't get more muddled, it did. He felt as if he were drowning and wondered who he really was. He started walking again just as Aubrey messaged him.
AUBREY: Graham, I'm worried about you.
GRAHAM: I'm headed back right now. I'll be there in a bit.
Graham looked around to figure out where he was. He decided that taking a bus would be faster considering how far he'd walked. He took a campus bus to the east side of campus and then walked back to Aubreys. On the way he decided he would get his stuff he'd left there and go back to the house and work out his frustrations. Even thought he'd walked aimlessly for over two hours, he still had too much vent up frustration.
He knocked on the door and Aubrey opened it.
"How are you doing?"
"I'm not sure." Graham answered. "I'm going to grab my stuff and head back to my place." Graham made his way over to his laptop and packed everything up.
"If you're sure."
"Yeah, I'm sure. But I'll see you later?"
"Am I still okay to come tonight?"
"It's up to you, just know that I may not be able to have the restraint that's needed after today."
"Good to know. Graham is there anything I can do?" Aubrey touched his arm as she asked.
"I'll let you know if I think of anything, right now my mind is spinning like a tornado and I can't make sense of things."
"I can understand some of that, not the same but the unbalanced and the world not feeling right."
"I know you can. And I'm sure once it stops spinning as much I will want to talk to you, but right now I'm sorry I can't."
"It's okay. I'll let you know about tonight." Aubrey said.
Graham smiled, leaned down and kissed her gently. Then walked out the door. He walked the familiar roads home, not knowing how he would handle this. How he wished this would have happened six weeks from now because he didn't know how he would handle the rest of the semester. It was crazy for him to think that just yesterday he was thinking he was in a great place in school and had a great prospect for a job. He really hoped he would be able to keep up with everything and deal with this blow.
Oliver and John were about to leave the house when he walked in. They took one look at him and Oliver asked, "You okay bro?"
"I've had better days."
"Woah, did you just break up with Aubrey?"
"No."
"That's cool if you don't want to talk about it, but we're here for you if or when you do." John said and Oliver nodded.
Graham nodded his thanks and put his things in his room and changed into his workout clothes and went to the basement. At this moment, he was so grateful that they had such a great workout area set up in the basement. He wrapped his hands and started punching the bag. Normally he avoided it, but today it just seemed right.
Twenty minutes later, Noah came in, glanced at him punching the bag and came over.
"Okay, what's wrong?"
"Why does everyone assume something's wrong." Graham ground out .
"Well, first you're punching and going to town on it. I haven't seen you do that for at least a year and you were pretty ticked off last time. Second, John texted and said you looked like your best friend died. And third, you actually do look like crap."
Graham punched the bag. "My whole life is a lie."
"That sounds a bit extreme. You're not having an I'm about to graduate breakdown, are you?"
"I wish it was that simple." Graham hit the bag again.
"Okay, now you're worrying me man. What's going on?"
Graham turned to look at Noah. "You know my aunt and only living relative?"
"What did she do?" Noah asked tentatively seeing the murderous look in Graham's eyes.
"Turns out, she's not who I thought she was." Graham spat out. Noah looked at him in expectation. "She's not even my Aunt."
"You had that DNA test result today. Dude, it would only list her if she'd done was as well, I wouldn't worry too much about it if she wasn't on it."
Graham laughed. "That's not it. My parents are alive."
Noah's mouth hung open. "Come again."
"Yeah, apparently Gina - you know Gina." Noah nodded. "She's my sister. I was kidnapped before she was born. So really my whole life is a lie. My name is really Grant Reynolds."
"No wonder you're attacking that with the fury of hell."
"I don't even know where to go from here...." Graham trailed off and shrugged. "Oh and my biological parents that have been looking for me since I was like 3 or 4 are coming into town tonight and I'm not sure I want to meet them. I'm not sure I don't. I just don't know."
"That was fast, did Gina tip them off?"
"No, she told me they have taken every DNA service test out there just in case I ever did one. Gina thinks they are coming to tell her that there's been a hit. They don't know my current identity but probably sent a message through the dna service to try to connect with me. I haven't even checked. I went on a two hour walk before this trying to wrap my head around it." Graham looked at the punching bag and laughed, "obviously it didn't work that well."
"Have you eaten lunch?" Noah asked.
"I'm not hungry." Graham said.
"What if we go to Culvers and get frozen custard?" Noah asked
"Isn't drowning sorrows in ice cream a girl thing?" Graham asked.
"If it is, I'd say that it's definitely something we should embrace as guys." Noah joked. "Besides, if you might meet your parents tonight it wouldn't be good to be drunk or that's what I would have suggested."
"Maybe just the drive through, I don't feel like being around people." Graham said. "And maybe we can discuss the other option later tonight"
"Why don't I go pick some up and you can beat that bag up some more and shower while I'm gone? And we'll definitely talk about getting wasted tonight later."
"Sounds good. Thanks." Graham watched as Noah left and then pounded the punching bag some more.