A Brother Lost to Silence
His name was Ryan Reed.
They hadn’t spoken in six years.
Six years shaped by stubborn pride.
Six years of silence so heavy it erased addresses, phone numbers—almost even the memory of where one life ended and the other began.
Lucas had no idea if Ryan was still in Oregon. Or if he’d drifted somewhere else entirely.
He knelt down until he was level with the boy.
“What’s your name, buddy?”
“Mason,” the boy replied with confidence. “I live over there… with Ms. Harper.”
He pointed toward a pale brick building Lucas recognized immediately.
The county children’s residence.
Lucas’s pulse quickened.
A child in state care.
A tattoo only his brother shared.
He swallowed, steadying himself.
“Do you remember your dad, Mason?”
The boy nodded eagerly.
“Yeah. He was tall, like you. Brown hair. Green eyes.”
He hesitated, his expression shifting.
“But then he got strange. He forgot things. Mom cried a lot.”
Something tightened painfully in Lucas’s throat.
Green eyes. Brown hair. The same build.
Ryan.
