The Secrets My Mother Kept

Brittney awoke to tears streaming down her face. In her lap, an old book with scratches on the back and front cover. Alexander lay still in the bed next to her, a monitor beeping every so often to the rythm of his heart.

Marcus sat in the chair across the room his head slumped silently. It was late and getting later by the time Syn and Sydney showed up.

Brittney wiped at her tears, unsure when they had begun or why. The book in her lap felt heavy with something more than just paper and ink - memories, perhaps. Or secrets.

The book's cover was worn, its edges frayed and scratched as if it had been handled countless times, dragged through places it shouldn't have been. Faint markings along its spine looked almost like water stains, but not quite. More like someone had traced liquid patterns across its surface.

Alexander lay motionless in the hospital bed, each beep of the monitor a steady reminder that he was still, technically, alive. But alive felt like too simple a word for what was happening to him.

Marcus hadn't moved in hours. His head hung low, chin nearly touching his chest, looking more defeated than Brittney had ever seen him. The fluorescent hospital lights cast harsh shadows across his face, aging him beyond his years.

The door creaked. Syn and Sydney entered, their own faces etched with a mixture of exhaustion and something else. Something that looked like fear.

"He hasn't moved," Brittney said, her voice a dry whisper. "Not since..."

She didn't finish the sentence. Didn't need to.

Sydney approached the bed, her hand hovering just above Alexander's pale face. "What happened?" she asked, though Brittney knew the question wasn't really meant to be answered.

Not yet.

"I'll get to that. Where have you been?" Brittney asked Syn.

Syn didn't meet her eyes. His hands, always steady, now trembled slightly at his sides. "Tracking down what happened," he said, which wasn't an answer at all.

"Tracking down what?" Marcus spoke for the first time in hours, his voice rough from disuse.

Sydney watched the exchange, her body tense like a coiled spring. Something passed between Syn and Brittney - a look that suggested years of unspoken history.

"The research," Syn said finally. "Airi's research. What she was working on before..." He didn't finish the sentence. Didn't need to. Everyone in the room knew what hung in the unspoken space - before she died.

Brittney's hand tightened on the old book in her lap. The scratches on its cover seemed to shift in the harsh hospital light.

"And?" she asked. Just that. One word loaded with everything she wasn't saying.

Syn remained quiet now, looking at Alexander.

The silence stretched.

Alexander's monitor beeped. A steady rhythm that suddenly felt like a countdown.

"He spoke a name," Sydney broke in, her eyes never leaving her nephew. "Before he... before all this. Lochlehm."

Marcus shifted in his chair. Brittney went very still.

"You know something," Syn said. It wasn't a question. His eyes were still fixed on Alexander, but now they were sharp. Knowing.

Brittney's fingers traced the scratches on the book's cover. They looked like water marks. Like something had been trying to escape.

Or something had been trying to get in.

“It's not a name it's a place.” Syn paused. His thoughts changing direction.

"A place," Marcus repeated. The word hung in the air like fog.

Brittney's hand tightened on the book. The scratches on its cover seemed to ripple, just for a moment.

Syn continued, his voice low. "Not just a place. A boundary. Something ancient." He looked at Syney with a half smile, a silent conversation passing between them. "Something our family has always known about. Always protected."

Marcus leaned forward. "Protected from what?"

But no one answered. Alexander's monitor continued its steady beep. The room felt suddenly smaller. Colder.

"Tell me," Brittney demanded.

Brittney closed her eyes. When she spoke, her voice sounded like it was coming from very far away.

"Some boundaries are not meant to be crossed.” Syn said omnisciently,

“Sydney i know you don't remember it, just like Tyler won't recall too it. It's one of those things we bonded over. But we're from a place-”

“Don't.” Brittney shuttered at the thought.

The air in the room changed. It felt thick, almost liquid.

Sydney's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about? What place?"

Marcus shifted uncomfortably, his gaze darting between Syn and Brittney. Something unspoken hung between them - a history that predated everyone in the room.

"Some memories are protected," Syn said carefully. "Deliberately forgotten."

Brittney's hand gripped the book so tightly her knuckles turned white. The scratches on its cover seemed to move, tracing patterns that looked almost like water currents.

"Deliberately?" Sydney's voice rose. "By who?"

Syn didn't answer. Instead, he looked at Alexander, still motionless in the hospital bed. The monitor's beep suddenly felt like a countdown to something neither of them wanted to admit.

"Not by who," Brittney whispered. "By what.”