You Can't Keep My Brother
The News I Heard from Waking
It was late. I crept from my room in the basement up to the 2nd floor where my brother slept. My parents had gone to sleep hours ago. Pushing open his door, I tried not to make a sound. I didn’t want to get caught and have everything ruined. Taking extra care I dodged the creaky floorboards. He slept so soundly, I felt kind of guilty waking him up. Maybe if I had just gone back to my room, things would have been different. I gently shook his shoulder. “Mikey” I whispered “Mikey wake up, I wanna show you something”
The tired 4 year old fussed a bit in protest from being pulled from his sweet dreams. “Shhh it’s ok Mikey, it’s just me” I said trying to calm him, so he wouldn’t wake them. In retrospect it would have been better if he had woken them, then we never would have been outside. He peaked open his eyes, it was obvious I had frustrated him.
“GeeGee it’s sleepy time” he whined and snuggled back into his blankets. I should have just left him, but I didn’t.
“Mikey, there’s something outside I wanna show you, come on, it’s really cool” I said taking his hand and gently leading him from the warm safety of his bed. I smiled down at him as he sucked the thumb of his other hand and shuffled around in his purple footy pajamas.
“GeeGee I thought we can’t go outside after the sun goes to bed” Mikey whispered. It was true, where we lived it wasn’t safe to be outside after the sun set. There where a lot of murders, gang turf wars, drug deals, and other awful things that took place at night.
“It’s ok Mikes” I smiled softly at him “We’re only going in the back yard…we have a tall fence remember? Nothing bad will happen” I promised him. But we would soon find out I wouldn’t be able to keep that promise. We paused at the back door and I helped him put on his jacket and shoes, I had been ready since going down to my room a few hours prior. We slowly opened the door, not wanting the joints to squeak. A tense 10 seconds later we where outside.
Mikey looked around confused “I don’t see anything…” He seemed annoyed, it’s as if he expected to see a freaking unicorn. I lead him across the moist grass. The moon casting shadows on everything. Mikey squeezed my hand a bit, he had never been a fan of the dark.
“It’s over here, I had to hide it so mommy and daddy wouldn’t take it” I smiled at him and lead him behind the garden shed. I let go of his hand to move a rock and reached down in a small hole I had dug earlier. I clasped my hand around a small stone and pulled it out, showing it to Mikey. It was a small red crystal. “I found it in the creek earlier, I wanted you to see it”
Mikey smiled and picked it up out of my hand “It’s so pretty GeeGee” Mikey had always been pretty innocent and loved shiny rocks. “Can I keep it?”
“Of course, that’s why I’m showing it to you” I laughed a bit. But that soon faded as we heard footsteps right outside our backyard gate. Mikey clung to me a bit, anyone who was walking the streets at night in this neighborhood is someone you don’t want to come in contact with. I put my finger to my lips to show Mikey to stay silent. The footsteps suddenly vanished “Come on” I whispered, “Lets get back inside” I took his hand tightly and started to lead him back to the house.
“Hey kid” said a cold voice from behind the gate. We froze and turned to look “Why don’t you unlock the gate…my car broke down a few miles and I need to use your phone to call someone”
“I’m not allowed to open it for strangers….” I answered weakly, remembering my mom telling me this, she said strangers tend to do bad things.
“My name is Roy, see now we’re not strangers, now let me in so I can use your phone” he was getting annoyed. I could see his hand reaching through the slats in the fence trying to reach the lock.
“I’ll go get my mommy and you can ask her” I said firmly and started back towards the house, tightly holding Mikey’s hand. I could feel his hand shaking in mine. Why did I have to bring him out here at night, why couldn’t it wait till the morning? Why had I been so stupid? Oh right, I was 7, no common sense. I heard the lock click and the gate swing open.
“Keep walking and you get hurt” He said walking into the yard. For some reason I couldn’t find my voice to yell for help, my feet seemed planted on the stop. It seemed Mikey was having the same problems. The man didn’t say anything as he approached us. He seemed to be examining us, walking around us, looking me and Mikey up and down. The man, Roy, grabbed Mikey’s arm and yanked him away from me. I instantly jumped after him and started hitting the man
“Let go of him! Leave my brother alone!” I yelled, suddenly finding whatever strength a 7 year old could muster. Mikey whimpered and tried to pull away from a man. Roy grabbed me by the neck and squeezed my throat. I tried to breath but only a gagging sound could be made. He smirked and threw me down the ground hard. I coughed and started to cry. The light in my parents bedroom flicked on. They needed to hurry. The man noticed as well. He threw Mikey over his shoulder and hurriedly headed for the gate. I got up and ran after him, hitting him in the back with my tiny fists. He looked down at me, raised his arm and punched me in between the eyes. I fell backwards. I sat there dazed for a minute. By the time I cleared my head my brother was gone. I screamed, like I’ve never screamed before, I didn’t care that my body ached and was sore, that man had taken my baby brother and it was all my fault.
The tired 4 year old fussed a bit in protest from being pulled from his sweet dreams. “Shhh it’s ok Mikey, it’s just me” I said trying to calm him, so he wouldn’t wake them. In retrospect it would have been better if he had woken them, then we never would have been outside. He peaked open his eyes, it was obvious I had frustrated him.
“GeeGee it’s sleepy time” he whined and snuggled back into his blankets. I should have just left him, but I didn’t.
“Mikey, there’s something outside I wanna show you, come on, it’s really cool” I said taking his hand and gently leading him from the warm safety of his bed. I smiled down at him as he sucked the thumb of his other hand and shuffled around in his purple footy pajamas.
“GeeGee I thought we can’t go outside after the sun goes to bed” Mikey whispered. It was true, where we lived it wasn’t safe to be outside after the sun set. There where a lot of murders, gang turf wars, drug deals, and other awful things that took place at night.
“It’s ok Mikes” I smiled softly at him “We’re only going in the back yard…we have a tall fence remember? Nothing bad will happen” I promised him. But we would soon find out I wouldn’t be able to keep that promise. We paused at the back door and I helped him put on his jacket and shoes, I had been ready since going down to my room a few hours prior. We slowly opened the door, not wanting the joints to squeak. A tense 10 seconds later we where outside.
Mikey looked around confused “I don’t see anything…” He seemed annoyed, it’s as if he expected to see a freaking unicorn. I lead him across the moist grass. The moon casting shadows on everything. Mikey squeezed my hand a bit, he had never been a fan of the dark.
“It’s over here, I had to hide it so mommy and daddy wouldn’t take it” I smiled at him and lead him behind the garden shed. I let go of his hand to move a rock and reached down in a small hole I had dug earlier. I clasped my hand around a small stone and pulled it out, showing it to Mikey. It was a small red crystal. “I found it in the creek earlier, I wanted you to see it”
Mikey smiled and picked it up out of my hand “It’s so pretty GeeGee” Mikey had always been pretty innocent and loved shiny rocks. “Can I keep it?”
“Of course, that’s why I’m showing it to you” I laughed a bit. But that soon faded as we heard footsteps right outside our backyard gate. Mikey clung to me a bit, anyone who was walking the streets at night in this neighborhood is someone you don’t want to come in contact with. I put my finger to my lips to show Mikey to stay silent. The footsteps suddenly vanished “Come on” I whispered, “Lets get back inside” I took his hand tightly and started to lead him back to the house.
“Hey kid” said a cold voice from behind the gate. We froze and turned to look “Why don’t you unlock the gate…my car broke down a few miles and I need to use your phone to call someone”
“I’m not allowed to open it for strangers….” I answered weakly, remembering my mom telling me this, she said strangers tend to do bad things.
“My name is Roy, see now we’re not strangers, now let me in so I can use your phone” he was getting annoyed. I could see his hand reaching through the slats in the fence trying to reach the lock.
“I’ll go get my mommy and you can ask her” I said firmly and started back towards the house, tightly holding Mikey’s hand. I could feel his hand shaking in mine. Why did I have to bring him out here at night, why couldn’t it wait till the morning? Why had I been so stupid? Oh right, I was 7, no common sense. I heard the lock click and the gate swing open.
“Keep walking and you get hurt” He said walking into the yard. For some reason I couldn’t find my voice to yell for help, my feet seemed planted on the stop. It seemed Mikey was having the same problems. The man didn’t say anything as he approached us. He seemed to be examining us, walking around us, looking me and Mikey up and down. The man, Roy, grabbed Mikey’s arm and yanked him away from me. I instantly jumped after him and started hitting the man
“Let go of him! Leave my brother alone!” I yelled, suddenly finding whatever strength a 7 year old could muster. Mikey whimpered and tried to pull away from a man. Roy grabbed me by the neck and squeezed my throat. I tried to breath but only a gagging sound could be made. He smirked and threw me down the ground hard. I coughed and started to cry. The light in my parents bedroom flicked on. They needed to hurry. The man noticed as well. He threw Mikey over his shoulder and hurriedly headed for the gate. I got up and ran after him, hitting him in the back with my tiny fists. He looked down at me, raised his arm and punched me in between the eyes. I fell backwards. I sat there dazed for a minute. By the time I cleared my head my brother was gone. I screamed, like I’ve never screamed before, I didn’t care that my body ached and was sore, that man had taken my baby brother and it was all my fault.
Notes
This is the first chapter. It is short because I want to see what people think of it. Please give me some sort of feed back. I don't care if it's a sad/happy face or a long paragraph describing what i did right or wrong, just give me something haha. Also, this chapter is in italics because it's a memory. Italics will be later on used for private thoughts as well as memories. This is my first fan fic in a few years so be understanding, i'm going to be a bit rusty at the beginning.
Will this be updated?
6/10/14