Chapter 6 home of death

The sound of the wind blowing and of a distant traffic noise. It seems peaceful but that's because it is. Everything else is chaos. No one knows where everyone else lives. Not even the neighbors. Everyone in the city just lives and walks about, looking like they belong to the place they live in. Like everyone else. Just ordinary people, living normal life. Except...they are not normal people. They are special.

"It's true...isn't it?" she whispers. I nod, not trusting my voice. We fall into silence again.

"But...he promised me..." she says in confusion, her eyebrows furrowed, her head tilted to the side. She keeps repeating, "He said he won't ever leave me again!" She starts crying silently. Suddenly, she throws the blanket off her body and climbs over to me. She hugs me and cries into my neck. I hug her back and caress her back soothingly. "I'm sorry Emma..." she says between sobs.

I hold her tightly and caress her back. "Shh..." I whisper. "Let' it all out..."

Suddenly, I hear loud yelling coming from outside the front door. We look up at each other and listen. I can hear my brother shouting out his name, calling for him. I can see my parents' shocked faces behind the wooden doors. Then a gunshot echoes loudly, causing us both to jump up from our seats. I hear my brother cry out in pain before another shot can be heard, followed by my parents' screams, followed by my brother's cries. I quickly run out of my room and towards the stairs. Once reaching the bottom of the staircase, I see my dad clutching his shoulder. He drops to the floor, tears running down his face. I turn my head around and see my mom screaming, trying to pick her husband up. I gasp out loud. He's bleeding so much. He's dying! He's in danger of death! I run down the stairs frantically, taking two steps at a time. "Mom, let me take him!" I yell as I grab my parent's hands. I drag them away from the scene of the crime. They stop struggling when they realize that they're too slow compared to me. Tears roll down their cheeks and fall onto their shirts, creating wet spots.

I rush into my brothers' room and I drop to my knees beside him and cradle his head in my lap. He's dead.There's no doubt about it. He's bleeding out. I gently stroke his cheek. I close my eyes and lean forward until my forehead touches his.

The world slowly fades away. There is only me and him now. Only me and my brother. All I feel is pain and agony in my chest. And there are so many things I want to tell him...things he should have known...so many regrets I should've made him know, but somehow I can't seem to form any words. My throat is constricted and I'm barely able to breathe. I can't even feel my lips moving against his skin. Nothing registers. I hear a sound and I realize that it isn't mine. It's not mine. Someone else is moaning, someone else is crying. It sounds like my brother. Then I realize that I am also moaning and crying, though I don't know if that's me. Someone else. Oh my god...I'm in pain. I try to pull away but my brother grabs hold of my wrist. "Don't...leave...me…" he chokes out. I can't hear my own voice anymore. I try to move my mouth to speak but I can't make sense of my mouth. It's so dry...it hurts so bad...my whole body aches...I can't think about anything. I feel so weak...everything hurts. Everything...except him. He's the only thing that matters. I hold his lifeless hand in mine and stare at his face...his beautiful face...that I spent three nights kissing and touching, smiling and laughing at. It's so different without him. So wrong. My hand squeezes his hand tighter.

I hear voices above my head. I can't hear what they are saying. My brother is crying loudly now. Something heavy lies on my chest. I know that something weighs heavily on my chest, that something is suffocating me and choking me...but...why did I lie? Why did I pretend to hate him so much so that when the moment of truth arrived, I turned my back on him? Why?

I squeeze my eyes shut and then suddenly everything starts spinning and I fall to the ground and I feel weightless. Weightlessness. That's the only way to describe the feeling in my chest. My brother's fingers loosen their grip on my hand. Then I feel lightness. It feels almost like floating. I open my eyes and look at my brother. I smile at his face that is still smiling. His face is pale blue; there are beads of sweat on his forehead. He's shaking. Is he cold? Colder than I am? Is he cold...because he's dead? I start shivering too as tears stream down my face.

I lay down next to him, pressing myself closer to him. My head rests on his stomach. It's so warm. Why am I here?

The light from the moon shines brightly inside my bedroom, illuminating the walls. My body is covered in blankets, but I feel like my arms are being ripped apart. Someone has taken my legs off of me. Somebody is hurting me...someone who can't hurt me anymore...that person is my mom. I hear her screams...my mom's scream. My mom is sobbing and pleading, begging God to forgive her for the sins she committed...for betraying me. For killing me. For being unable to protect me. For loving the monster. For letting her brother die, just like I let him die.

The darkness is closing in and swallowing me whole. I am drowning. I cannot breathe...I try to get rid of the darkness but there's nothing to get rid of. I am drowning. I am choking.

Someone grabs my wrists and pushes them down to my sides. I try to push myself up. I lift my arms to reach for help. I want to fight back against the darkness that's swallowing me but my arms keep resisting. I open my mouth to shout out his name