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A/N- Hey readers, here is the latest update for you. I’m really hoping you all like this story. If you do, well do me a favor, REVIEW! I’d really appreciate it. Like it, love or hate it, that way I’ll know what you think! Anyways, go on and read now. Go on. *Grins* You know you want to…



“Blind Within The Shadows”



‘Well you can climb to the top of the highest tree. You can look around, but you still won’t see, what I’m looking for.’ – Nickelback, “Good Times Gone”



Chapter Two: Stranger With My Face



Nickolas Gene McLean relaxes in an old hammock out in his backyard. A gentle breeze blows about him, tenderly rumpling his long, shaggy golden tresses. Nick’s hand flies across his drawing pad, rapidly sketching a clearly detailed picture. It’s of a tall, muscular teenage girl about his age. Everything about her is drawn with painstaking detail. The face however, is for some reason blurry and unclear. All you can make out from it is the faint smirk she wears, and her bright sapphire eyes. Nick’s aquamarine orbs focus intently on the sketch, his tongue sticking out of his mouth slightly with concentration. As if the sketch tells more that what is seen, holding a dark unknown secret of his past. Or his future. Or his happiness. His subconscious tells him that it can’t be possible for it’s just a drawing. Yet, he’s still captivated. Then, a familiar voice frees him from his reverie.



“Nick? Nick? You there?”



“Huh? Oh, sorry Alex. What?” Nick asks startled, as he turns to see his older brother beside him.



“Never mind. Well, now that you’re back here on earth with me, I haveta ask, whatcha drawing?” Alex questions, looking at him quizzedly. He runs his hand through his short spiky brown locks, his dark tan eyes meeting Nick’s distracted bright sapphire blues.



Nick glances at the sixteen-year-old with surprise. He shifts his gaze down to the sketchpad at what he had drawn. “Wow, what’s this?”



“You feeling okay? What do you mean what’s this? You drew it.”



Nick shakes his head. He has no idea what he’s talking about. He loves to draw; it’s his passion. If he drew something, he knows he’d remember it. “I don’t know man. I don’t remember drawing this.” He explains, handing the illustration over to his brother.



Alex McLean stares at it for a moment, trying to find some kind of answer. He whistles softly, it was an amazing depiction of someone. He thinks about it, wondering whom it could be. He hands it back to Nick. “No clue. She looks a lot like you bro. That’s what freaks me out most. I kinda wish I could see the face.”



“Same here. But forget it.”

“Why?”



“Cause, it’s no big deal.” He lies, trying to get away from the troubling subject. He honestly doesn’t know why he drew a picture of the unknown girl. It troubles him that he doesn’t have any recollection of even drawing minutes before. So all he wants is to forget it.



“Wait, you sure?”



“Yeah, I just spaced out for a sec.”



“C’mon-”



“I’m cool. Of course I drew it.”



“But she looks so much like-”



“Probably me drawing myself as a female without realizing it.”



Alex grins at him wildly, “Or maybe what your twins sister would look like. If she existed.”



Nick smiles; thinking that just might be it. He had always wondered what it would be like for him to have a twin sister. What she’d be like. How she’d look. It’s always been on his mind in some way or another. Of course he knows it can never happen. But maybe this is just him being crazy and letting his imagination getting away from him again. It sounds reasonable to him, and he knows it wouldn’t be the first time.



“Yeah, that’ll be the day.” He jokes, smirking, “Could you even imagine having two of me around here?”



“I know, this house would have nonstop madness. It’s crazy enough having only one of you around.” Alex cracks, laughing softly.



Nick climbs out of the hammock with his sketchbook, rubbing his eyes tiredly.



“Where’s mom?”



“Shopping.”



Nick turns, walking over to the fence. To distract himself, he watches the birds soar beautifully above them in the peaceful, powder blue sky. Alex goes to him, throwing his arm around him with concern.



“You alright?”



Nick mutters a string of curses under his breath angrily.



“I’ll take that as a no. What’s wrong?”



“I’ve been doing it again.”



“Doing what?”



“You know how I’ve started working out again so I can keep in shape for basketball?”



“Yeah, so?”



“I keep passing out the moment I relax after a hard work out. You know, like I used to as a kid. It’s so weird. So I went to Howie’s dad, since he’s a doctor, right?”



“Mmhmm…”



“He gave me a check up. I told him what’s been going on. He just told me that there’s no reason for it. That I’m perfectly healthy. I f that’s true, then why does it keep happening?”



“Damn, that’s the third doctor who’s said that. Mom hasn’t found out has she? No reason to scare her yet.”



“No.”



Alex sighs, walking with Nick out of the backyard. They back into the house, sitting down on the couch in their family room as Nick sets down the drawing pad on a nearby coffee table. He turns to face Nick, trying desperately to him with something neither of them understand.



“Kaos,” he begins, using his nickname for his usually hyperactive sibling. “I have no clue of what to tell ya. I really hate to say it, but we both know you’ve never really um…been normal.”



“I know but-”



“Man, I still love you and all and I don’t care as long as you’re okay. But this, this scares me. Maybe it’s about time we bring mom into this without her ever knowing it. Uhh, well, maybe we should ask her more about your, uh, your, well you know-”



“Birth family.”





“Right.”



“You can say it. I do remember you guys adopting me six or seven years ago. Trust me, it doesn’t bother me now.”



“Nick, I-”

“Nah, I’m fine!”



“I know you better than that.”



“I’m okay. Shoot, at least you guys want me. They went and abandoned me the first chance they got. I’m not a little kid anymore. It doesn’t upset me like it used to. I can handle it now.”



“You sure?”



“Course I’m sure.”



“Whatever.”



Alex rolls his eyes at him sarcastically. He doesn’t believe and Nick knows why. The truth is, it does bother him still. It’s been a thorn in his side his entire life, and still is. Denise McLean adopted Nick from the Sparkling Waters Adoption agency when he was seven. They had made him feel like family right from the start. He knows blood, or no blood, his mother and brother both love him dearly. And he loves them both with all his heart. But, it still bugs him sometimes knowing Alex wasn’t adopted as he was. That his mom actually gave birth to his brother. He cares for his Alex and knows he can never hate him though. So, he always tries to ignore that fact.



Nick’s never really asked about his birth family. He sees no reason to. He knows they ditched him as a baby. He doesn’t even know his real last name. They didn’t want him, so why should he even want to know about them? To Nick, he knows he’s a McLean. His mom and Alex have always made him aware of that, always making him feel loved. And any bit of curiosity he’s ever gotten about his birth family is always squashed, for he’d never want to hurt his mom by asking. He loathes knowing he’s unwanted by the people who gave him live, people who are supposed to love him. All he wants to do is forget it, but knows he never can.



Nick also knows he’s not like everyone else. He found that out when he was eight years old and fell out the top of a tree two stories high, landing straight on his neck. It should have killed him. He didn’t even get a scratch on him. People saw it happen and freaked out. They tortured him and his family with ridicule and abusing their home with rocks and such. Rejected them extremely. It got so bad, that they had to move. They left their home in Las Vegas, Nevada, and went back to her former home: Huntington Beach, California. Where Nick had been adopted from and Alex had been born. Denise had no idea what to make of the event, since she had been yelling for Nick to get down when it occurred. Now in her mind, it never came about, for she loved her adopted son, and didn’t ever want to think of him as a freak. Similar events have occurred to Nick, but only Alex and Denise have seen it. No one ever talks about it, but they both know Nick’s different somehow. They love him no matter what though. However, the passing out spells never happened to him before. At least, not until he started working out.



“Ah, forget it.”



“Why?”



“Cause it’s useless.”



“No it’s not Nick.”



“Yes it is. Normality for me is a dream that will never come true. I know I’m different, I know I’m a freak. We all do. No way around it. There’s no one else in this world that knows what I’m going through. Nobody who even comes close to understanding what it’s like to be me.”