Disclaimer:
All TP characters and its premise are copyright Tetra Films, Thames
TV, and Nickelodeon. I am only borrowing them for the purposes of
my story. Anything unaccounted for is a product of my own warped
imagination. Comments are after the story, to avoid spoilers.
(This is a new series story. You just have to read it all.)
The late day sun was warm, its heat absorbed by the rocks and reflected back up to the girl that sat upon one, her blue eyes fixed on the sea. She was almost ten years old, and sitting with legs crossed and hands in her lap, she almost looked older. A gust of wind tossed her long, straight brown hair across her sun-browned, freckled face, and with it a bit of sea spray.
She looked down the coastline towards the public beach below. Her friends from school were having the time of their lives, digging in the sand and frolicking in the surf. Unlike them, she didn't quite feel like having fun; that wasn't why she'd come. The hastily written note was gripped tightly in her hands.
The sea was below, seemingly calm, peaceful, and blue. The sun shone down upon it, looking like a picture postcard. Perfect and happy.
She wished she felt that way.
To work out the soreness, she twisted her neck from side to side. Waiting always made her sore, especially long waiting. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and opened them again. This was no good; she needed to hug something. She reached for her hot pink backpack and searched through it frantically. Where was Harold? She'd only had him for a day! She couldn't have lost him now!
"Looking for this?"
The tall, thin young man smiled widely at her, his brown eyes shining as his brown hair fell across his face. She knew him instantly. With a cry of joy, she leapt up and barreled into him with a full-force hug.
The force of the rush was so great that he stumbled backwards. "Hi, Tana." Her older brother hugged her back and handed her a plush stuffed teddy bear. "What's this?"
"That's Harold. Dad got me him yesterday." Tana squinted up at him--something was different. "What happened to your hair?"
His hand flew to the back of his neck. "Oh, that. It's been hot lately." Her brother paused. "Did you say Dad bought you that?"
She hugged the bear to her chest possessively. "Yeah. He's real nice lately, even smiles all the time. Dad even buys me stuff now like Harold. I always used to get old stuff before this." She bit her lip. "Why did he always yell at you? You never did anything wrong."
He sighed. "I wish I knew." Reaching over, he ruffled her hair, and she swatted him away. "I'm glad to know that he's not acting like that anymore."
For a moment, Tana looked away, thinking about her parents. She never understood why her father had always yelled at her brother, no matter what. Neither had her brother, but once he was gone, the shouting and hitting had stopped. Her mother was okay, but she'd never done a thing about Tana's father. Whenever Tana went over to her other friends' houses, it seemed so different. Their parents didn't yell. They listened to them, seemed to care about their kids. Her own parents didn't seem to measure up.
Now, though, her parents were like everyone else's. No yelling, no ignoring. They actually took her places, wanted to know how she felt, seemed to love her. It really felt like a real family.
Tana burst into tears.
She could feel his arm around her, trying to comfort her. Tana turned her head and sobbed into the fabric of his sleeve. "It's all right," he said softly.
"No, it's not, it's not fair, I miss you, please come home," she gasped between sobs. Forget her parents. It had been so lonely without him. While some of her friends complained about their brothers, she adored hers--because he'd always stood by her. When she was starting grade school, he'd suffered more than one after-school black eye from any bully that tried to pick on her. He wasn't good at fighting, but he'd never quit.
And now he'd left her. "It's all right, Tana," she heard him say again. "I'm here now."
She stumbled to her feet and sniffled. "What about tomorrow?" At his frown, she continued. "And next week? And my birthday, next Monday since you probably forgot!" Tana knew she was yelling as he stood up, but she didn't care. "I want to see you again! Not like this, all the time! I don't want--"
"Tana!" Her brother cut her off, taking her elbow. "I know quite well that it's your birthday. That's why I'm here."
Surprised, she looked up. "Huh?"
"I'm here to give you your birthday present." He knelt down so that his eyes were on a level with hers--she was short like her mother--and put his hands on her shoulders. "Do you remember last May? The sailing accident?"
Tana nodded--she remembered it clearly. He'd managed to get out of the house with his friends, since one of them had a sailboat. They'd been gone for a few hours, and a big thunderstorm had come up. Then his friend Seth had showed up at the door with her brother's sopping backpack and an unhappy story. They'd searched for him for a couple of days, but nothing turned up.
A few days later, he snuck back into the house one night and was packing up some of his clothes and camping stuff when she woke up and came into his room.
He'd made her promise not to tell, saying that he was leaving so that Dad would behave. And he had left, and it had worked. From time to time, he'd showed up secretly, again asking her not to tell. She hadn't--her parents really didn't seem to care anyway.
"Yeah," she said. "You swam home and packed up. Why?"
He smiled at that. "Not exactly. I didn't swim home."
"What d'you mean?"
He swallowed, thinking before he spoke. "Tan, I want to show you something. I don't want you to get scared, but if I can show you this, I can visit you all the time."
Tana's face broke into a grin. "Really?"
"Really." He extended a hand. "But you'll have to trust me."
She stared at him like he was kidding. "Why not?" Tana grabbed her brother's hand tightly, and he closed his eyes. Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and the world seemed to blur as the scene changed.....
****
"Wow," was all Tana could say as they stood on the rocks again. The sun had dipped a bit lower in the sky behind them. "Wow," she said again, smiling.
He squeezed her hand. "You promise you won't tell them?"
"No way. They'd think I was nuts." Tana was bouncing up and down with excitement. "Can we go someplace else now? Can we?"
"Not right now," he said with a laugh. "But I'll tell you what. If you leave me a note in the same place that you did today, you'll get me. And I'll check up on you when I can."
Tana hugged him tightly. "I missed you so bad."
"I missed you, too. And I'll always watch out for you."
She looked up at him; his glance flitted towards town and back again. "Always?"
Adam nodded. "Always."
THE END
Ok. This is less a story than my theory about Adam's past. Most people have implied that he lost his family, but I had a different idea. The thought of him having a sister developed into Tana, who changed ages and attitudes a few times before I got done with her. I might use her in further stories, and I might not. E-mail me if you want me to or would rather not see Tana again.
I would love feedback on this fanfic. This is my first TP fanfic that I've written, and comments are definitely welcome. Tell me honestly what you think.
E-mail me at kiarad@netgsi.com
Thanks to ade and Wendy Kelley for the great beta read comments.