A Familiar Stranger

A Familiar Stranger is a slight shift from my usual stories. Most of them lean toward the darker sides of human nature. Instead, this story is quieter and focuses on the small moments between a family—the routines, assumptions, and misunderstandings that come from loving someone for so long that you forget to update your knowledge of the human they are. No harm is intentional, but it happens.

There is a specific kind of loneliness that comes from being loved by people who haven't quite noticed you've changed.

Noah isn't intentionally pushed away by his family. They love him just as much as anyone else in the family—his little brother maybe a little more. However, they are still operating from an older version of who he is: the child who refused to do something simply because he felt he was expected to enjoy it. Now, assumptions are made about what matters to him, including forgetting how important family time has become.

The monthly visits with his brother, the books, the sodas, and the quiet time under the trees. Sometimes, the smallest changes to those rituals hurt more than anything intentional.

Part One: Before Dinner is posted below. The second part will be finished shortly, once I work through the more technical aspects of it.

For now, I hope you enjoy.

Read A Familiar Stanger