This choice: --Nick and Nate were back to normal size, both sleeping in their beds. • Go Back... Patrick was surprised to see both Nick and Nate, not only back to their normal sizes, but now tucked away quietly in bed, sleeping. The only evidence that anything extraordinary had happened were the bits of shredded cloth on the floor from their pajamas. He hesitated slightly before walking over to Nick's bed. He wasn't nearly as rambunctious and wild as Nate could get (though he could give him a run for his money when he got wound up) so Patrick felt a little more comfortable approaching him knowing that he could change himself so drastically...but then again that was only possible while they were touching...Patrick shook his head, feeling exhausted. This was all just...way too much for him to process right out of the blue! Maybe being confused was part of his "training" as a caretaker to these god like boys.
He gently shook Nick's bare shoulder, the younger boy groaning slightly before turning over onto his back, opening his eyes blearily. He grabbed his glasses and put them on, squinting at Patrick. "Patrick? What are you doing? It's past our bedtime..."
"I know it's just that...I got a note from Mom and Dad and..."
"Oh." Nick said, nodding, a bit of a sad, sympathetic look on his face. "Yeah...I thought I heard them leave."
"You knew this was going to happen?" Patrick asked, blinking slightly.
"Well...yeah! I mean, ever since we were little we knew what was going to happen. We really, REALLY wanted to tell you Patrick, HONEST, but Mom and Dad made us promise not to. They said if we told you, you wouldn't be able to take care of us as good."
"If you know more about this than I do though I'd really like to learn." Patrick said, sitting down on the bed next to Nick. "Should we wake Nate up?"
Nick looked over at his sleeping twin, a loud snore emanating from the other bed. "Nah...let him sleep. He's not as good at explaining things as I am anyway. Not too long though, okay? I don't want to be tired for school tomorrow..."
Patrick felt a shiver pass through his body at that thought. Two mischievous twins, who shared every class together and sat next to each other, with the ability to grow at will and no supervision? Things could SERIOUSLY get out of hand! "We'll talk about that more in the morning. It might be better to keep you guys out of school for now until we can set some ground rules."
Nick giggled and said, "Hey, you're already starting to sound like a caretaker! I knew you'd catch on fast."
"What exactly...IS a caretaker though?" Patrick asked, scratching his head. "What am I expected to do?"
"Uh...take care of us?" Nick said, like it was obvious. "To be honest, we don't really know all that much about it either. Mom and Dad told us when we were little about what was going to happen but they said they couldn't tell us much of anything at all. Apparently we're supposed to all learn together, all three of us. All I know for sure is that you were always going to be our caretaker so we had to be adopted while you were young, so we'd grow up together and get close."
"How long am I supposed to be your caretaker though?" Patrick asked, almost dreading the answer.
"Well...forever...I mean, one of our kind hasn't existed for thousands of years! You need to be there to help us!"
"F-Forever?!" Patrick shouted, Nate snuffling in his sleep at the sudden noise, turning over. "That's...insane! I can't...what about MY life?"
"Come on Pat...it's not going to be THAT bad is it?" Nick said, looking a little hurt at this negative reaction. "We all get along don't we?"
"Yeah, but....but...I never agreed to this! It's not fair! What if I didn't WANT to be your servant?"
"Caretaker...you're not going to be a SERVANT that's stupid!" Nick said, getting a little heated himself now. "You're gonna be the only one who can control us! If we didn't have you then...then...we could just do whatever we wanted and things would get nuts!"
Patrick took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. He knew Nick was right but this whole situation had just become even more impossible. His academic and professional life wouldn't waver but his personal life was pretty much gone. Who would want to be with him if it meant babysitting an increasingly powerful set of god like twins? Into their adulthood? Wait...if they could change their physical characteristics would they ever necessarily age? The way their powers had been described (the phrase "god like" being employed) seemed to point to them being able to be as young or as old as they liked.
"What's going to happen if I'm gone?" Patrick asked.
"You're not going to LEAVE us are you?!" Nick shouted, starting to look incredibly upset.
"No! I mean...you know...I..." He didn't want to actually say the word, but Nick slowly understood.
"Oh...I...I don't know...we're going to have to learn all this stuff together." Nick said, tears shining slightly in his eyes. The enormity of this situation finally seemed to be weighing down on the young boy.
Patrick sighed and hugged his little brother, those thing arms wrapping tight around him. "Don't worry...we will. We're in this together now, better or worse, so...we'll make the most of it."
"Okay...can I go to bed now? I'm really tired..." Nick asked, yawning loudly, taking off his glasses again.
"Yeah, sure. I'm going to be downstairs for awhile. I need to think about some stuff." Patrick said.
"Okay. Night bro." Nick mumbled, already sleeping again.
Patrick slowly crept over to the door, closing it quietly behind him before making his way downstairs. He made a beeline for the kitchen and started making a pot of coffee. There was no way he was going to be getting sleep any time soon. "Might as well have something to do while I think..."
As the coffee percolated in the kitchen, a mug with sugar and cream already added to it sitting on the counter, Patrick sat down in the armchair in the living room and started to collect his thoughts about his new life.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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