Brothers
You step into his room quietly and walk over to him. He doesn't seem to notice you as you stand beside him. You're very uncomfortable with him weeping and are unsure of what to do and how to comfort him. You rest a hand on his shoulder and he jumps at the contact.
He stares at you with big eyes full of pain and misery. Tears are welled up in his red eyes, streaked down his red cheeks. Snot runs from his nose and he wipes at it with his sleeve.
You swallow hard. You're not sure what to say, but you know that you must say something. You don't know where the words come from, but they begin to flow from you.
"It's all right," You say, "You're home now. You're safe now. You're with your family again and we love you."
Sure it doesn't sound like such an amazing speech, but your words obviously had an impact on your little brother as he got to his knees and wrapped his arms around you, sobbing all the more. You hug him back for a length of time that you are unable to track.
Things get a little better for Kenny after that. With you and Paul anyway. Your father is usually too drunk to care about anything, and your mother has become practically non-existent.
You apologize often to Kenny, but either he doesn't hear it or doesn't acknowledge it. You spend your days wondering if he will ever forgive you. You know that even if he does, you can never forgive yourself.
A year passes before your father approaches you one night in a drunken stupor. He screams at you for God knows how long about your stupidity, your bad grades, your bad attitude, and because he found a beer can in your room.
He raises his hand, ready to strike and you start to flinch. Looking into his eyes you see that he is second guessing this action. He has never struck you before, even when you let Kenny get kidnapped, and he doesn't appear to want to now. But his drunken rage is almost uncontrollable.
He stares at you with big eyes full of pain and misery. Tears are welled up in his red eyes, streaked down his red cheeks. Snot runs from his nose and he wipes at it with his sleeve.
You swallow hard. You're not sure what to say, but you know that you must say something. You don't know where the words come from, but they begin to flow from you.
"It's all right," You say, "You're home now. You're safe now. You're with your family again and we love you."
Sure it doesn't sound like such an amazing speech, but your words obviously had an impact on your little brother as he got to his knees and wrapped his arms around you, sobbing all the more. You hug him back for a length of time that you are unable to track.
Things get a little better for Kenny after that. With you and Paul anyway. Your father is usually too drunk to care about anything, and your mother has become practically non-existent.
You apologize often to Kenny, but either he doesn't hear it or doesn't acknowledge it. You spend your days wondering if he will ever forgive you. You know that even if he does, you can never forgive yourself.
A year passes before your father approaches you one night in a drunken stupor. He screams at you for God knows how long about your stupidity, your bad grades, your bad attitude, and because he found a beer can in your room.
He raises his hand, ready to strike and you start to flinch. Looking into his eyes you see that he is second guessing this action. He has never struck you before, even when you let Kenny get kidnapped, and he doesn't appear to want to now. But his drunken rage is almost uncontrollable.