(8) When all else is lost the future still remains

“From the outside you wouldn’t think this place was so big,” Race commented when Shan had finished showing him ground floor.

“Looks can be deceiving, in houses and in people.” When they got to the second floor he pointed the door at the top of the stairs. “That’s my room. There’s two more bedrooms as I said, plus one I turned into my computer room slash office. You play games?”

“I used to,” Race acknowledged. He chuckled, adding, “I haven’t really had a chance to in the last few years.”

“Come on, I’ll show you what I have and set you up.” The grin on Shan’s face said this was something he was eager to do. “You get good enough and I’ll challenge you, and beat you.”

“Hey I was pretty good, if you mean those on-line games.” Race grinned back as he followed Shan into the office. “Wow, that’s quite a setup you have there.”

“Yep. Game playing helps take my mind off of things at times.”

Looking around, Race saw some photos on one wall and went over to check them out. “Friends or family?” he asked, looking at one of a beautiful woman standing arm in arm with a good looking man, two young children in front of them.

“Friends.” Shan saw which one had caught his attention. “That’s Addie. Sometime soon you’ll probably meet her.”

Race nodded as he scanned the rest. One of them stood out like the centerpiece of the collection. It showed Shan with his arm around another man. The looks on their faces said they might be more than just friends. Then Race frowned as he looked at the photo with the woman Shan had called Addie. “Who is the man?”

Shan came to stand beside him. “The one with Addie was her lover. And before you get the wrong idea, the man in the picture with me was his twin brother.” There was a deep sorrow in Shan’s voice that Race picked up on immediately.

“Was, as in they’re…dead,” Race asked softly.

Shan nodded. “Of all the people in these pictures, Addie and I are the only ones left. Sometime, maybe, I’ll tell you about them.” He studied the face of the man in the photo with him, touched it gently with one fingertip, and then turned away. “Come on; let me show you what’s what on the computer.”

Race watched him cross the room, sorrow and pain limning his demeanor, and wished there was something he could do to help alleviate it. Then he shook his head. He was here because the man, for some reason, had decided he trusted him. He wasn’t going to do anything to betray that. Even though, if he was going to be honest with himself, he found Shan extremely fascinating in more ways than just the fact that he was the first Were he’d ever met. He walked over to stand behind Shan, observing what he was doing.

Shan looked up at him and smiled slightly. “I’m fine, so stop worrying. Now, I’m going to…”

He went on to explain as Race watched, all the while wondering if he really was ‘fine’ as he put it.