Moonlight glistened on Telinoss’s rover as he sped through the African desert. He was all alone, as he knew he always would be. He had aches and pains all over his body, and he knew he needed rest. If he could only take a nap…”NO!!!” he yelled aloud. “Must stay awake! Must stay awake!” He chanted to himself. He could stop his mind from wondering and pondering, though. Pondering about the horrific battle he just fought, and then about Tron.

How the hell can someone manipulate my mind like that? He thought. Am I really that weak minded? No, no I’m not! There must be an explanation! No one has those types of powers. No one. So how the hell does he?! And how the hell does he know about my father?! I haven’t told anybody about that bastard!

Telinoss caught himself getting angry. He told himself to keep his composure. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t help but replay his first encounter with Tron in his head, the one where Tron made him see his father. Every time Telinoss thought about his father, he got angry. He tried taking deep breaths to calm him self down, but his rage against his father wasn’t subsiding. He needed something to take his mind off things.

A cold breeze blew in Telinoss’s face. He would’ve given anything for a jacket or blanket or something. Even though he doesn’t like music, he wanted a radio, just for something to listen to to distract him from his own thoughts. Of coarse, I he had a radio, he’d have contacted Aaron and have been picked up by now. Then again, he had no idea whether or not his comrades were even alive.

Telinoss caught himself yawning, so he slapped himself. “Wake up!” he bellowed. He knew he needed a rest, but he wasn’t sure if Tron was following him or not.

That thought brought Tron back to his thoughts. What is his weakness?! Telinoss agitatedly thought. He felt rage and frustration swell up anew inside of himself. He knew he had to calm down, so he closed his eyes and took deep breaths. The only problem was that when he closed his eyes, he accidentally fell asleep. He awoke as his rover crashed to the ground. The rover had no seat belt, so he flew out of his seat. He crashed into the sand hard and lost consciousness, but he could still dream.

His dream consisted of random images from his past and ones that he made up. He saw a one-story white house, then he saw it on flames. Then he was at his six birthday, and he saw some of his childhood friends. He was happy. He looked over to his mother and saw her smiling, then suddenly frowning, then smiling again. The next instant he was hiding under his bed, very scared. He closed his eyes. He was shaking. He could hear footsteps coming towards the bed, and he could see the person's feet. He got exponentially scared. And the footsteps just kept getting closer…

Telinoss snapped awake, sprawled across the desert sand, the hot sun beating down on his worn out body. He checked himself to make sure nothing was broken or injured on him in any way, and he found he was relatively fine. He got up slowly, because he was as stiff as a tree, and looked around. He saw his rover, and saw that it was beyond repair. The front was crunched up like an accordion, and the middle of the rover was bent at almost a ninety degree angle, pinned against a tree. Great, Telinoss thought, I hit the only oasis in sight.

Of course, then he realized that he had crashed, causing the front to be ruined, and the rover had rolled hard into the tree. Luckily, he had been thrown off the rover by then. There were pieces of the rover scattered everywhere. Telinoss went to the rover and salvaged what he could, which consisted of water, maps, weapons, and ammunition, and threw them in a bag. He wasn’t too sure how the maps were going to help him; he didn’t know where the hell he was. He just figured he should bring them in case he did in fact need them. Telinoss proceeded to bathe and drink for a long period of time in the oasis.

Afterwards, he walked to the top of the sand dune he was near to see what he could see. What he saw actually made him smile. He saw a town about a mile away.

As Telinoss started walking towards the town, he started thinking again. He knew he should call Aaron, and get picked up, but part of him wanted to go look for his father. He had been told that his father is dead, but that same part of him that wanted to look for him also never truly believed that he was dead. The new experience with Tron only awakened this part of him, and now Telinoss couldn’t get it out of his mind. He knew he had to settle this father issue once and for all before he went back, and he knew that he had to do it as he always did and always will do things - alone.

Telinoss finished the last of his water as he walked into town. He started drinking the water more liberally towards the end of his walk because he knew he could get more to drink in the town. He passed a sign that welcomed him to a place called Zuba. It was a small town in the middle of nowhere. It was set up like every other town, with the addition of a small airport because it was so far out of reach. As he entered the town, he looked for the closest tavern, and found one a few blocks in. He stumbled into the tavern and found a stool at the bar.

“What'll it be?” the bar tender lifelessly asked.

Telinoss glared up at him. He was hot, tired, and aching all over. “Straight tequila shots,” he growled, pulling out the few inters he had on him. “I don’t want to leave here conscious.” So, Telinoss drank until he passed out, but he lost count after ten.

*                                 *                                 *

A drop of rain hit Telinoss’s eye. He sprang up, but quickly realizing he had a terrible headache, lay back down and closed his eyes. He was soaking wet and lying under the covering outside of the tavern. He rolled into the rain, which was absolutely pouring down. But it was soothing to Telinoss. He lay there for ten minutes before having the sense to get up and find some sort of hotel. Luckily, there was one right across the street. The three-story hotel turned out to be a friendly, accommodating place, and since not many people visited Zuba that time of year, there were many rooms available. After checking in, Telinoss went to the gift shop and bought a shirt and pants. He hung his clothes to dry in his room and went to the hotel room's computer to log in.

He figured he should email Aaron and let him know that he was still alive. At this moment, Telinoss found himself suddenly reflecting on the time he blew up the casino in Las Vegas and then fled into the mountains: he had lost all his money gambling and had gone crazy for a little bit. Telinoss made himself forget the memory as he typed a brief message to Aaron, making sure that he didn’t give any details about what he was doing or where he was. This was a consideration that Telinoss hadn't given in the past.

Telinoss had a name to work with. He didn't know if it was true or real, but it was all that he had. So, he hacked into Headon’s personal files. This was not an easy task, and it took hours. But since the information he was looking for wasn’t important to them, so it wasn’t very heavily guarded. After he had completed hacking into the system, he typed in the name Rahi Mahad. Searched. A file came up. Telinoss’s eyes became watery and a mix of emotions came over him upon seeing the profile photograph - clearly his father. He still had to keep looking through his file because he wasn’t convinced that his mother had been completely honest with him. This file could prove that she had lied to him, like before. He skimmed through the file, looking for the information he sought for. He clicked on the sub-file labeled children. The first thing that came up under that file was one name. The name was Telinoss Ali Cortese: illegitimate child.

A swell of emotions gathered within Telinoss. He became angry, happy, sad, and relieved all at once. This mix of emotions confused Telinoss because he doesn’t like to be emotional, and he wasn’t used to having such a confusion of emotion flowing through him. Telinoss breathed deep breaths, in and out, a couple of times. He decided to check to see if he was still alive, so Telinoss pulled up his main file again and looked for date of death. He found it, and it read: Date of Death: N/A. That meant that he was still alive. His mother lied to him. His father is alive. When he read that line, all the anger he had towards his father took control of his thoughts. Telinoss closed his eyes and took deep breaths again. He decided he knew what he had to do. He muttered to himself, out loud, “I must kill this man. I must kill my father.”

He looked for the address to where his father lived, and found it. He lived in Charleston, South Carolina on 1478 Green Street. Telinoss sat back and thought about how he was going to get there. Telinoss knew he wouldn’t have enough money for two plane rides, so he figured he would just steal one here and buy a ticket in the nearest international airport. He couldn’t go to a bank and check out money because he couldn’t risk it; Headon is in charge of the banks. He had a fake passport he could use at the airport, so that was no problem. He figured he’d get some sleep in his hotel room, so he went to his room and took a nap for a few hours.

            When he woke up in the morning, he gathered all his stuff and wrapped it up in towels. He then took a metal rod from the towel hanger and tied his stuff to the rod. He went to the counter to check out. “Where are you headed for?” The clerk asked.

“The airport,” Telinoss agitatedly answered.

“Well, then you might be staying here for a while,” the clerk answered. “When it rains here, it rains for days, and they close the airport because they ain’t got no one who can fly the planes in this weather.”

“The airport is closed,” Telinoss muttered, surprised. “Thanks for telling me.”

“No problem, come again on your next visit,” the clerk yelled at Telinoss, but he was already out the door.

Telinoss knew he could fly in this weather, but the airport being closed made it a lot easier to steal a plane. When he got to the airport, it was the smallest airport he’d ever seen. The planes were covered and chained down, but no one was at the airport. Telinoss found his way to the planes, unchained it and uncovered it. He picked the lock on the door and climbed into the plane. He checked to see how much gas he had, and he had enough. The closest international airport was Cairo, Egypt, according to his maps. So, Telinoss hot wired the plane and took off. The plane ride took a few hours and was uneventful for Telinoss. He got some turbulence, but less than he had anticipated, and he was able to avoid any problems from the thunderstorm. Halfway through the flight, he got out of the storm, and he could see that there were no weather problems in Cairo as he was approaching. When he got to the outskirts of the city, he looked for open, flatland where he could land the plane. Luckily, there was some just a mile out side the city. So, he landed the plane and walked into the city. He went to a restaurant and ordered a steak with a side of mashed potatoes with gravy and corn. He left without paying.

He hiked to the airport from there. When he got there, he went to the TV screens that listed all the flight plans. His watch said that the time is 3:40 p.m. Looking at the flight plans; he saw that the most optimal flight was the five o’clock flight to Atlanta, Georgia at gate A4. So, he went to go by a ticket. After waiting in line, he asked for a ticket.

The clerk asked, “May I please see your ID, Mr…”

“Smith,” Telinoss replied. “John Smith.” Telinoss searched his bundle of towels for his fake passport, but couldn’t find it. It didn’t take long for him to realize that he didn’t have his passport. “I don’t have it with me, but can you please give me a ticket anyway, I really need to get on this flight.”

“I’m sorry, it’s against airport policy,” she replied. “Maybe you can go and look for it and come back later.”

“I’m not going to come back later,” he sternly replied.

“But I cannot give you a ticket right now,” she sternly told him.

Telinoss put the money for the ticket on the counter and pulled out his gun and pointed it at her, but made sure she would be the only one to see it. “Now, take the money and give me the ticket.”

The clerk’s eyes went wide when she saw the gun. She immediately panicked and called for security as she ran away in fright. Damn it, Telinoss thought, and grabbed the money and put it in his pocket and concealed the gun.

Two security guards came up behind him. One of them tabbed him on the shoulder and friendly asked him, “Excuse me, sir, would you please come with us?”

“No,” Telinoss told him.

The same security guard sinisterly chuckled. “Sir, we will make sure that you come with us, one way or another,” he said, in an unfriendly voice.

Telinoss exhaled and shook his head. Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, he turned around and pistol-whipped the security guard in the temple, kicked his partner in the gut, and pistol-whipped him in the temple as well. Telinoss looked around and saw four more security guards running towards him, who had apparently seen him beat up their two coworkers. One of them was on his radio, no doubt reporting the incident. Telinoss did the one thing they didn’t expect him to do; he ran straight towards them. He closed-lined the first guard and rammed into the second. The third guard threw a punch at Telinoss, but he caught it and broke the guard’s arm by hitting him in the elbow with his pistol. The fourth security guard tackled Telinoss and they both fell to the floor. When they hit the ground, the security guard lost his grip, and Telinoss hit him across the jaw with his gun dislocating it. When Telinoss got up, he saw the second guard charging at him with a baton, Telinoss met ran at him, and the second guard’s eyes opened wide with fright. Telinoss tackled him and took the baton out of his hand and he smacked him on the head with it. He looked at the first security guard, and the guard ran away, radio in hand.  He didn’t shoot ant of the security guards because they didn’t have any guns, just pepper spray and batons.

Telinoss knew now that he had to find another way on to his plane. He also knew that the cops would be coming in five minutes, so he had to get away quickly. He ran out side; he figured he could go around the airport and get to his plane by sneaking on. He knew that he had to be stealthy for this to happen. Suddenly, as he was running, he heard a gun shot. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground and his shoulder hurt like hell. He couldn’t figure out what had just happened at first, but soon realized right then that he’d been shot in the shoulder. He spun around to see who shot him, and he saw that it was an old fat gun with a revolver trying to make a citizen’s arrest. Stupid, asshole vigilante! Telinoss angrily thought. “Put down the damn gun and stick!” the gut yelled. Telinoss quickly picked up his gun and shot him in the forehead before he could react. This is where Telinoss’ anger took over and he stopped thinking logically. He should stopped firing after one shot and just left, but he didn’t. He just kept shooting out of rage. He must have put seven bullets in to the guy when he finally missed. There was a young man, maybe in his late twenties, behind the vigilante, crouching over his daughter trying to protect her from any stray bullets, and hugging her so she wouldn’t be as scared. The missed shot sailed past the vigilante and the bullet crashed right into the back of the man’s head.

Telinoss couldn’t believe what he had just done. He had just killed an innocent man, protecting his daughter. He was being a good father, and he knew how much that little girl would suffer because of Telinoss’ mistake. He started to panic, then he began to hyperventilate, He had trouble breathing, and then one tear flowed down his face. Then another tear slowly fell from his eyes, and then he couldn’t stop the crying. Something in Telinoss knew that he needed to get control of himself. So, Telinoss took a few deep breaths and was able to breathe well again, and then he stopped his tears. He looked around to see if there were other threats around, but there weren’t. There was bunch of scared, innocent people. The cops hadn’t even arrived yet, and he couldn’t see any security guards. So, Telinoss got up and started to run, again. He found his way around the airport, and then he found the gate that the plane to Atlanta was docked at: gate A4. He then climbed onto the plane through the landing gear. He was able to do all of this without being detected.

Once Telinoss was able to safely get onto the plane, he took off his belt and tightened it around his wounded shoulder, to try to cut off circulation. Once the plane took off, he went into the luggage compartment and started looking through the bags, looking for tweezers, a bottle of water, duck tape, two shirts, and two mirrors. Eventually, he found them. Went to a corner of the room, and ripped off his shirt. He placed the belt in between his teeth to keep it tight. He knew that what he was about to do would hurt, but he didn’t care. He knows how to handle pain. He placed one mirror on the wall with his back towards it, and placed the other mirror on the adjacent wall at an angle to where he could see his wound in the other mirror. He poured some water on the wound, to clean it. He located the bullet in the mirrors and he took the tweezers and reached behind himself and pulled out the bullet. This immensely hurt, but Telinoss didn’t scream, he just bit down as hard as he could on his belt, leaving deep teeth marks on it.

He tore his shirt up more and taped it to his back in several layers to act as a bandage. He took off his belt and put it back around his waist. He went back to the luggage and grabbed a few more bottles of water. He used the water to clean himself off; he drank a bottle of water himself, and then put on the two shirts he stole. He took two because it is very cold in the luggage compartment, mainly because of the high altitude. He put back the luggage as well as he could, and he went to a different corner to sleep. Once he lay down, he went right to sleep.

He did not have an easy sleep, though. He kept seeing that bullet going into that man’s head, over and over again, each time was slower and slower. He awoken by some turbulence. It worried Telinoss at first, but it proved to be nothing to worry about. His throat was extremely dry, so he got another bottle of water and drank it. He couldn’t help thinking about that little girl, and how her life is ruined because if him. Tears rolled down Telinoss’s face, but not many, because he didn’t want to. He then started reflecting on his childhood, and how his life was ruined by the selfishness of his father. Telinoss exhaled, and was surprised that he wasn’t getting angry. He then realized that he was just too emotionally drained and couldn’t sustain any emotion at that point. So, he figured he should go back to sleep, so he did, and had a dreamless sleep the rest of the flight.

He was awakened by the landing of the plane. He went to the landing gear and waited until the plane stopped, and then climbed off. He ran to the front of the airport and waited for a bus that takes people to a hotel. He got on one and went to a hotel, checked in, and went straight to his room and took a shower. When he was done with his shower, he took the first aid kit in his room and put a real bandage on his wound. It had stopped bleeding, but Telinoss knew that he had lost a lot of blood and needed a rest. So, he spent the next three days stealing food from restaurants, sleeping, and he even exercised a little bit. One the fourth day, he knew it was time to get focused.

He looked up the bus times for buses going to Charleston, and he got on the one with the most convenient time. On the way there, he was anxious with anticipation. He was trying to get mentally prepared for what he was about to do. He closed his eyes and envisioned what he was going to do. He was going to walk into his father’s house and quickly pull out his gun and shot him once in the head and twice in the chest. He knew he could do it. He knew he could put his emotions aside, and do this. He knew he could…

When he got to Charleston, he took a cab to his father’s house. The cab ride left him with only sixty-four cents change. As the cab drove away, he gazed upon his father’s house. It was absolutely beautiful. It was a two-story white house with a magnificent porch and burgundy door. The shutters were navy, and there were four rocking chairs on each side of the door on the porch. As he walks up to the door, he was slightly shaking. He breathed in and then out, telling himself to keep his emotions in check. He got to the door and he felt his gun in his pocket. One in the head, two in the chest he told himself. He went to ring the doorbell, but his arm didn’t move. He was able to get his arm to slowly move to the doorbell until his finger was a centimeter away. He closed his eyes and pressed the button.

The sound of the doorbell echoed in Telinoss’ mind. He opened his eyes and stared intensely at the door, waiting for his father to open the door. The thought of the sight of his father made his blood stir and rage swelled up inside of him. He felt the gun in his pocket again, reassuring himself that he could do this; that he could kill his father. He heard the door unlock and it opened, but it wasn’t Telinoss’ father at the door. It was a pretty lady in her mid-forties who answered the door. Telinoss became confused, and wondered if he had the right house. “I’m looking for Ryan Miguel,” he snapped.

“He’s right inside,” she responded, surprised. “But sir, who are you?”

Telinoss glared down at her. “I’m his god damn bastard son,” he growled and walked in, without being invited. He rushed into the room at the end of the hall and found his father sitting in a padded leather chair at the other end of the room. The furniture in the room was in the shape of a u, Ryan sitting in his chair on the other end of the room, a long couch with two kids on it in the middle, and a smaller couch in front of Telinoss. There was a table in the middle of the room and a TV that stood against the wall, facing the furniture. Telinoss looked at the children on the middle couch. One of them was a boy in his teenage years, and the other was a little girl. The sight of the little girl reminded him of the little girl whose father he killed. This memory just made Telinoss angrier. The lady followed him in, and she looked at Ryan Miguel and said, “He says he’s your son.”

A calm surprise came over Ryan when he heard this. “Well, hello Telinoss, this sure is a surprise,” he said with a big grin, as he turned the TV on mute. The lady sat down with her kids, worried.

Telinoss was shocked. “You know my name?”

Ryan chuckled and said, “Of coarse I do.”

This made Telinoss even more infuriated. He pulled his pistol out of his pocket and pointed it straight at Ryan. The smile on his face ran away really quickly at the sight of the gun. One in the head, two in the chest, he told himself. Now pull the trigger. Now! He couldn’t pull the trigger, though. He tried to get his finger to squeeze the trigger, but it wouldn’t move. His hand started shaking noticeable, and Telinoss’ eyes started to become watery, but he would let himself get emotional. He would just pull that trigger. But it didn’t happen. His finger still didn’t move. His hand started shaking even more and his gun started to make a rattling sound. Telinoss got even more frustrated and lost his nerve. “HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?!” He bellowed, and started pacing. “I didn’t know your name for most of my life, and I come to you, and you’re sitting there SMILING!” He pointed the gun at Ryan again. He heard the little girl sob, and he thought again about the father he killed. He was now shaking all over.

“It’s alright, stay calm,” Ryan told his family, trying to comfort them.

“NO, IT’S NOT ALRIGHT!” Telinoss yelled in response. He suddenly became jealous of Ryan’s family because he is trying to help and comfort them, when he did neither for Telinoss. “Where the hell were you for me?! Why wasn’t I good enough for you?!” Telinoss paused to try and keep calm, but he lost control and just started yelling random tings that were pissing him off at that moment. “It is all your fault! All yours! I didn’t mean to kill him-either of them! How the hell can you have a family after leaving me, you prick! Everything is your fault!” Telinoss looked at Ryan’s family again, and got even more infuriated. “GET THEM OUT OF HERE!”

The lady looked at Ryan. “I’m not leaving you,” she said.

“No, go, please," Ryan told them.

“I’m not leaving you,” the lady insisted.

“Rose, please, I don’t want to see you get hurt. Now please, ease my mind, and leave,” Ryan asked her.

She nodded, and started to get up with her kids, when Telinoss suddenly didn’t want them to leave. The fact that Ryan wanted them to leave for their sake just made Telinoss even more jealous. “Sit back down!” he order them, pointing the gun at them. They quickly sat back down, the two kids hugging their mom for comfort and protection. Out of jealousy, he got the idea to shoot one of them. Then he looked at the little girl and thought of the little girl that he left fatherless at the airport. It was then that he realized that he was a raving lunatic. It was like reality had suddenly slapped him in the face. He suddenly felt awkward; he almost felt naked. He started having trouble breathing again, and his eyes became watery again. He was on the verge of tears, but he didn’t want to cry, so he got mad again. Then reality slapped him in the face again with the realization that he had the emotional development of a seven-year-old. He looked at Ryan Miguel, his father, and said with a straight face, “I have the emotional development of a seven-year-old.” After he said that, he started to giggle to himself. Rose and Ryan looked at each other, confused and worried. He walked to the smaller couch and flopped down on it, exacerbated. He exhaled and leaned forward, taking out his clip in his pistol and taking the bullet in the chamber. He laid the bullet, clip, and pistol on the table. Telinoss shook his head and laughed at himself as tears flowed down his face. “You know, I always thought I was cool, you know. I don’t know, I’m not good with words. Don’t really say, much, you know, but I don’t have that much to say anyway. I mean, I just realized that I’m a lunatic. For as along as I have been willing to remember, I always kept my emotions in check, always stayed aloof, detached, independent. I mean, emotions hurt, you know, and if I would get emotional with a person, then I’d get close. If I got close, I might get hurt. And I don’t want to get hurt, not anymore. I figured that if I just ignored my emotions, then they’d go away. But it don’t work like that, does it. I have all of this caged up emotion, and this past week, when I found out that you were alive, all my childhood pain resurfaced. I mean, I’ve been blaming you for all of my problems for fifteen, twenty years.” Telinoss got up. “I’m sorry to have done this to you and your family. You can have the gun if you want. I…ah…I think I’m gonna go now.”

“No!” Ryan suddenly said. “No, please, stay. Please.” Rose shot him a look, but he kept talking, saying, “No, honey, it’s alright. Please, Telinoss, sit. I – we - want you to stay.”

Telinoss was taken aback. “You want…me to stay?”

“Yes, please, stay,” Ryan repeated. “Don’t we want him to stay, Rose?”

Rose shot him another look, then turned her head towards Telinoss, with a fake smile, saying, “Yes, please, stay.”

Telinoss, still shocked that they wanted him to stay, sat back down. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, until Telinoss asked, “Where were you for me?”

Ryan exhaled. “Well…”he began, “to be honest, I’m real confused right now. I don’t know what your mother has told you about me. I mean…I don’t know where to start.”

Telinoss laughed. “My mother did nothing but lie to you about me. After you left – or whatever happened – she was poor, with a baby on her hands. So, she found a young, rich man by the mane of Muhammad Cortez, and she married him. He was a mean, cold man, and I really don’t think that they loved each other. My mother spent most of her time drunk, anyway. She told me that he was my real father. But, when I was real young, he lost all of his fortune because of Headon. Then he started to drink, too. As much as she – my mother – did. But he became abusive…to both of us.” Telinoss had to stop for a second, because he got all chocked up.

“It’s alright, you don’t have to continue,” Ryan said, in a very comforting voice.

“No! No, I have to do this. I have never told anybody this before, and I have to now. I have to get this off my chest,” Telinoss responded. “Just, please, let me finish. I don’t know why, even to this very day, but my mom wouldn’t leave him. When I was nine, I think, when she was drunk, she accidentally told me about you. Well, not you, per say. She told me that Muhammad wasn’t my real father. When I asked who my real father was, she said John Lennon. Now, this was before I knew who The Beatles were, mainly because I wasn’t, and never have been, into music. Anyway, when I was fifteen or sixteen, I found out who John Lennon really was. I kept asking my mom who my real father was, and she kept insisting that it was John Lennon. Now, it had been years since Muhammad had touched me, so I got the courage to go ask him who my real father was. Of course, he was drunk, and he didn’t like me asking, so he decided to try to hit me again, thinking that I would just let him. I fought back this time, though. And during the fight...” Telinoss had to stop for a second, again, but once he regained his composure, he continued. “During the fight, the house caught fire somehow. And I accidentally pushed Muhammad into the fire. I watched him die.”

Telinoss paused, again, and then exhaled. “The house was completely burnt down. My mother never forgave me. Not that we had a great relationship to begin with, but this completely ruined it. She made me move out and she never wanted to see me again. At this point, I walled the whole world out. I developed a gambling problem, and I have had my ups and downs with that. It was also at this time that I started blaming you for all of my problems. It started with me not wanting to take responsibility for Muhammad’s death, and, because you were the topic that started the fight, I blamed you. I blamed you for my drinking problem, and I blamed you for my mother marrying such an asshole like Muhammad. I also blamed you, and Headon, for our poverty. And one of the things that just pissed me off is that I didn’t hear one word from you. I have been carrying this hate around me for so many years, that this past week, it has just exploded. Anyway, when I was about twenty, I received word that my mother was dieing. I went to visit her before she died, and she was gracious enough to give me your name. She also knew that I wanted to hurt you, so she told me that you were dead. It wasn’t until very recently that I found out that you were alive. When I found this out, I just lost control. I’m so sorry for what I have put you through today, and I would like to thank you for allowing me to stay with you right now.”

There was a silence for a minute. Then Ryan looked right at Telinoss and sincerely said, “It is I who should be apologizing to you. I did leave you, but I want to let you know, I didn’t abandon you.

“When I found out your mother was pregnant with my baby, I was shocked. I had just met her a week before, but I was willing to stay and be a father. Unfortunately, my job forced me to move here, but I offered for her to come with me. Obviously, she refused. I sent her monthly checks to help support you for eighteen years, but it appears now that she used that money on alcohol. I sent you a lot of letters when you were young, but it is obvious that you didn’t get those. When you would’ve been, o, I don’t know, eight or nine, I sent you a letter asking you if you wanted to come see me. I got a letter back from you, saying that you hated me and never wanted to see me ever, and that you wanted me to stop writing. Clearly, you didn’t write that. I stopped writing to you after that, but you never left my mind. I would like to welcome you into our family, because you don’t seem to have a family of your own. This is my wife, Rose, my son, Gregory, and my daughter, Samantha.”

Telinoss was speechless. He had never been shown such courtesy or consideration. “Its…its wonderful to meet you,” Telinoss squeaked, on the verge of tears. Samantha got up and hugged him, and Telinoss just hugged her back, crying like a baby.

“It’s alright, now,” she told him, but Telinoss just cried.

Ryan let Telinoss stay as long as he liked. They had a guest room, so that’s where Telinoss stayed. They bought him some clothes, and he spent a lot of time with his new family. Ryan was no friend of Headon, and was proud when Telinoss told him that he fights for Ub. The family accepted Telinoss, and welcomed him as a friend, brother, and son. Telinoss, for the first time, felt loved. For the first time, Telinoss wasn’t alone.