My Brother's Keeper #1

        Todd lay on the bunk. Once more he found himself behind bars, and this time his own son had put him there. A long time ago he had told Marty that he felt Fate had it in for him, and today was one of those days when that was certainly true. He wasn't sure why he had gone to the cemetery. When he had walked into that chapel, it had just been weird. Staring out at the room, the huge picture of his brother held dominance. That sounded so strange, his brother. He had had an identical twin brother and hadn't known it. Todd wondered what his life could have been like if their father had acknowledged them. It didn't really take much imagination to know it probably would have been a disaster. Todd covered his eyes as he lay there and before he realized it, he was drifting asleep.

         He and his brother were racing to the house. It never failed, Victor had found another shortcut and had pulled ahead of him but only for a short time. Todd soon overtook Victor and reached the front porch first. He stood there trying to catch his breath, then his brother barreled into him causing him to fall roughly to his knees on the front steps.

       "Hey why did you do that? Look, you tore my slacks." Todd exclaimed turning to confront his brother.

       "Get over it Todd, you should know better than to beat me. Don't worry, Mom only has eyes for me, she knows you're hopeless when it comes to the finer things in life. A pair of torn slacks won't phase her, she'll just make sure that Father keeps his eyes on me. See she's coming now, she won't even notice I bet." Victor turned his back on Todd and swaggered to meet their Mom. Todd looked down at the tear and shrugged his shoulders. Vic was right about their mom, she definitely looked on him as the favored of the two. It didn't matter to him, no matter what his mom did she couldn't seem to get their dad to pay much attention to Victor. Todd was the favorite son, torn slack and all. Of course that wasn't saying much. Their father was a cold fish and his whole mantra was 'Be strong you're a Lord'. He had little love for weaklings and that was why Victor rarely found favor. Victor tended to cry foul a lot and his mother was always babying him. Todd usually let his brother get away with things, it made his life simpler if the attention was focused on Victor. Be it good or bad.

          Todd wandered closer to his mom and watched as she stroked his brother, much like a master stroking a pet cat. Then she turned her eyes on him and they got hard. Her face took on a grimace as she frowned, taking in his torn slacks. "I should have known you couldn't even keep one pair of slacks from getting ruined. It seems the only thing you're good at is ruining things, just like you ruined your brother's chance to be the sole heir. You pushed your brother aside to get out of me, now you've pushed him aside and taken your father's attention too. You should have died at birth."

           Todd stepped back, his mother had never been that mean before. What had happened. Then a hand landed on his shoulder. He recognized that hand and the ring on it. From behind him, he heard.

        "Enough Irene I told you to leave. Take your spawn with you, the one you're so fond of, and don't worry this one won't miss you. I have big plans for this one." his hand dug into Todd's shoulder. Todd looked at his twin in disbelief, the hatred he saw directed at him from both his mother and brother was palpable. He didn't want this but even as he tried to tell them that, he found he couldn't talk.

          All he heard as they walked out of sight was his mother's final statement.
"On your father's grave, Todd, you'll regret what you've done and Victor will have everything he deserves."

         Victor suddenly spoke in Todd's head, "See brother, it was always supposed to be mine."

          Todd jerked awake, for one moment he was sure Victor was standing next to him. Victor's last line was probably part of the dream but it had seemed so real. Todd sat up on the bunk. That had felt so strange. Like a new voice in his head and it wasn't one of his alters. He had heard stories of identical twins having a connection but he had never experienced anything like that. Why, now that Victor was dead, would he feel like he was connected to him?

          "You know, I've been asking myself the same question. Why now are we connected and you know what, I think it's because for the first time we're on the same wavelength. Both of us hate our mother. So now you're stuck with me brother. " Victor began to chuckle.

          Todd shook his head, this wasn't happening. Things were bad enough, he was facing prison for killing his brother, his son hated him and his Mother had the proof he was innocent but wouldn't help. Now he was hearing the voice of his dead brother. Was he going crazy?

          "Relax, you're not going crazy and I don't think I'm dead but we definitely have a problem," replied Victor.

         Okay, that was enough. Todd closed his eyes and decided to see if he could talk to this imaginary voice. "Alright hold it right there. What do you mean you don't think you're dead? They buried you yesterday."

         "They did huh, nope, don't think it was me. I can't see a thing, but I know I'm somewhere. I was sleeping and found myself dreaming of you. It was strange. So I thought what the Hell might as well put my two cents worth in to see if you were paying attention, and presto here I am. This is kinda cool actually."

          Todd could almost hear the smile in his brother's voice. Could it be true, was Victor alive out there somewhere? "You say you were sleeping and dreaming, what was the dream about."

         "Pure fantasy, you had just beaten me in a footrace. Would never happen pal. Then you got upset because I messed up your clothes. Then dear old dad kicked mom and me to the curb. Was he really that much of a bastard?"

         "You should know, you've been living my life for the last eight years.

         "Hey, it wasn't my idea. You've met her. She's wacko our mom."

         Todd's head was spinning, maybe the shock of returning after all these years had split him once again and Victor was really another Alter.

        "Hold it right there brother, I'm not one of your alters. Those guys are yours alone. I got to admit I thought they were faked, but hey if you believe them, and from what I've seen of Vicki and Jessica,...well I'm sorry brother, but you're welcome to them. Listen, I tell you I'm not dead, but I have no idea where I am so you got to get out of there and come find me."

        "You're serious. You expect me to believe I'm sane and talking to my not so dearly departed brother, even though I'm in prison for his death."

       "Sure why not, have you got a better explanation. We're identical twins, maybe it took this kind of trauma to connect us. I don't know. I need help. You free me. Then that frees you. So, are you willing to help your brother? Once we're free, we'll figure out who really deserves Victor's millions."

       "What have I got to lose. You got any bright ideas on how to get me out of here to look for you."

       "You'll get out, you're good at that. By the way, when you see mom tell her, Victor sends his love, that ought to shake her up."

        Just like that, the voice was gone. Todd opened his eyes and made another contact. "Tom, any of you guys, tell me the truth, do I have a new alter?"

        Pete replied, "Are you crazy! Where did you get such a cockamamie idea? I know those shocks were rough but the four of us did all we could to help you keep it together. You're stuck with just us and be thankful there aren't more."

        Todd heard a door clang open and realized Irene was coming back from another talk with John. As they locked her door he stared at her. Was Irene capable of staging Victor's death from here in jail? Hell yeah, she was. He looked his mother straight in the eyes. "I've got a message for you. Victor sends his love."