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Reggie had a little brother growing up. His name was Daniel, affectionately known as Danny, and he’d only been a few years younger than Reggie. He was the only thing that kept Reggie from running away permanently. If he had, who would watch out for Danny?
So, now over twenty-five years later, he stood on an unfamiliar front step, hands trembling in his pockets, too afraid to step inside. Finding Danny had been easy once Julie showed him how Google worked, but finding him wasn’t the issue. The issue was facing the quarter of a century of changes between the Danny Reggie knew and the Danny now.
A shriek rang out from the house and without a thought, Reggie poofed inside. But it was only a girl, maybe five or six, squirming from an older brother of her own. She was laughing now, cheeks rosy and gapped teeth showing as she wriggled from the older boy. But Reggie only watched for a moment before his eyes were drawn to a tall man in the doorframe.
Danny. He looked vastly different, of course, but those piercing eyes and the birthmark near his eye would always give him away. He was leaning against the door, smiling down at his two rugrats, looking completely content. Happy. It was a good look on him. One Reggie had never truly gotten glimpses at growing up.
Danny had been a handful growing up, always fussy and looking for an adventure. Unlike Reggie, curbed by his parents fighting, Danny wanted more out of life, more out of every day. Often, he would wander from the house and down the streets, but not looking for solitude and quiet, but instead a thrill. Reggie was terrified every time he left the house.
But Danny didn’t seem to have changed much. Glancing around the house there were photos all over. Photos of Danny climbing mountains, getting married to his partner, swimming in deep oceans with sharks. In every one he glowed, from the inside out, perfectly happy with how his life had shaped up.
And maybe that’s what hurt the most. That Reggie didn’t get to see that. That he’d spent so much time stuck in his own head, stuck fighting to survive, so he never got to see what was right in front of him. Or maybe it was the time spent apart, ripped away from one another because fate had plans that couldn’t be changed. The aching pain in Reggie’s chest only intensified.
Danny had a life here. A happy one, by the looks of it. And Reggie couldn’t beg for him back, couldn’t upturn everything he knew and fight against fate. Reggie wasn’t even alive. He had no rights to anything and no powers to change what had happened and what would happen. Danny had lived a good life, one without Reggie in it, and it wouldn’t be fair to fight against that.
Reggie turned to leave, the tears streaming down his face in a cascade of salt. He loved his family, but maybe it was time to let go. Maybe it was time to pick what was best for them rather than be selfish.