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Once home, we took showers as Mrs. Atkins made dinner and Mr. Atkins went inside his office downstairs. 

"Jake, you feeling a little better?" Noah asked when I came back to the room, dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt. 

l tugged the towel on my wet hair and forced a nod. I was feeling better than before. I stopped crying and my arm didn't hurt so much. On the inside though, I was feeling numb. I imagined my first meeting with my brother a couple different ways but that wasn't one. In my imagination, I would be the one that was mad. I would scream and yell at him. Or maybe I would give him the cold shoulder and pretend he never existed. 

"Jake, it's going to be okay." Noah got up from his desk and patted my shoulder. "Are you ready to go down for dinner?"