Chapter 9 – Adam

Makayla playfully chases Adam down the long hallway leading from his bedroom.

He’d managed to escape from the dreaded chore of having his shining, silvery hair brushed after taking a bath. She laughs and gives up as the soft rustle of feathers and a warm, golden glow accompanies the manifestation of angelic wings; allowing him to hover just out of her reach.

Let’s ignore, for a moment, the evidence suggesting that Adam Barimen is some sort of inter-dimensional, alien being. For the most part, he’s still just a kid.

Granted, he’s a kid with silken, chrome-like hair and magnificent, glowing wings that appear whenever he’s feeling particularly feisty. Of course, it only seems to happen when he’s at home at home with his parents (the wing bit, that is. The part about feeling feisty actually seems to be the case most of the time).

Although he has not yet developmentally acquired the cognitive ability to understand why, Adam has always felt a very close bond with his father. The time they do spend together is always very special. But unfortunately, Luke is forced to spend most of his time with with Noah.

Every minute of every day is a competition with Noah for a sliver of Luke’s attention. It’s a competition that Adam loses nine times out of ten. If the inequity bothers Adam, he does not seem to show it. And he gives away nothing to impress upon his brother that he is unlike the rest of the family. Whether he is consciously protecting his secret or not is unclear. But he seems to instinctively know to keep it hidden from everybody except Luke and Makayla.

Adam is the first to understand that Makayla isn’t their mother. He’d deduced this through interactions he’d seen between other kids and their mothers, either at the park or out in the stroller. Besides, Makayla has always just been “Kay” to Adam and Noah, and never “momma”, “mommy”, or “mum”. Not only that, but Kay and their father aren’t smoochy like the other kids’ moms and dads are.

Still, Kay is really great. She spends a lot of time with Adam. He can’t really fault her, because most of the time he doesn’t like being around Noah either. There’s really no nice way to say it. He’s just a bad sim.

As the boys grow older, Noah’s difficulties become more complex and troubling. Luke begins to lose his patience with his son’s flippant and arrogant demeanor. There are many threats of sending him away to boarding school. Kay often tries to reason with Noah, but it never helps.

Nobody but Adam seems to be able to stop Noah when he’s on a rampage. They’d shared their mother’s womb; and there is an unspoken, understood hierarchy in place. All it requires is an intense, penetrating stare-down for Adam to shut his brother up for a good, long while. Adam does not assert himself like this very often. But when he does, Noah immediately complies.

Noah Barimen (Evil, Excitable, Daredevil)

And he also resents it.

It is a situation that could quickly develop into trouble. Each recognises the potential for disaster, and they each manage it in their own way. For now, Noah does not possess the maturity to understand that he occupies a position of power and control over the family.

—

That, however, will soon change. And when it does, Adam’s survival may require something more than his own supernatural nature alone. Admittedly, finding the only other living being in the universe like himself may prove to be impossible.

Adam Barimen (Good, Brave, Family Oriented)

But as events unfold, both their lives may depend upon it happening before time runs out.