I forgot about the pain in my body when I ran away. I forced my limbs to move because I couldn’t bear to be there any longer. I had to get away—I had to calm down, catch my breath. Wrap my brain around the situation.

I only went down the block before I crouched down on the sidewalk, burying my face into my hands. People could be looking at me but I didn’t care. My head was spinning. I couldn’t believe what I had seen. It kept replying in my head, the image was static-y and flickered like a horror movie. My entire life, flickering, dimming out, the noise of feedback louder than my own fucking heartbeat. What was real?

Mike kissing Drella.

I felt dizzy with heartbreak—or maybe it was from getting beat up but the pain was mainly in my chest so it had to be the former.

I sighed loudly, trying to calm myself down. It was kind of working. Drella and Mike were my family. Surely this was something we could fix—right? Mike wouldn’t do that to me, as brothers. And Drella wouldn’t do that to me, either. We’ve all been through too much together for things to end like this.

Unless it’s all been a lie, the entire time…

“No!” I yelled out loud. It couldn’t be a lie. There was no way. If what Drella and I had wasn’t real, then I didn’t know what was.

I stood up straight and clenched my fists. Anger powered through me—this was Mike’s fault. My own fucking brother was trying to steal my girl friend—my fiancée! The woman carrying my child. My child. It had to be mine, ours. If it wasn’t…

I took a deep breath. I wasn’t going to start doubting Drella and our relationship now, not after just becoming engaged. That wouldn’t be fair to her, or us. It hadn’t been an hour with the prospect of marriage looming in the air and we were already being tested. I sighed again. The best thing, I realized, was to just go and talk it out with them. Nothing would be accomplished any other way.

When I walked back towards the park, I wiped my face with my sleeves and manned up a little, expecting a fight with Mike. But I didn’t see Mike—only Drella, sitting in the grass, her legs crossed and her head bowed. Her shoulders shook and immediately I felt horrible for accusing her of cheating. Maybe I was too trusting for my own good but Drella wouldn’t do that to me. No matter what, I shouldn’t have jumped to any conclusions.

I knelt by her side. She didn’t pick her head up; she only sniffled a little. I gently twirled some of her hair in my fingers, the texture soft against my calloused skin. She didn’t respond. I gently ran my fingers down the side of her face, picking her head up tenderly by the chin. When she looked up at me, I saw her blood shot and puffy eyes. They widened a little and then she started to cry even harder.

“Don’t cry, Drella. I’m sorry,” I said softly.

“Y-you did nothing wrong,” she shook her head.

I bit on my lip. “Talk to me,” I said gently. She whimpered a little and nodded.

“Vic, I swear I’m not cheating on you.” She placed her hands on her stomach. “This baby is all yours—ours,” she murmured. She reached up and grabbed my hand, bringing it down to her belly. My hand instinctively spread out against her skin, feeling where her—our—baby would grow. “I know it looks bad, but I promise you—”

“I believe you, Drella,” I interrupted with a small nod. “What happened?”

She lifted her hand and wiped her face with her sleeve. “Mikey’s confused, Vic,” she cried a little more. “He thinks he’s in l-love with me,” she said. I couldn’t stop my face from hardening with jealousy and protectiveness. “Maybe he is, I don’t know. But I don’t love him like that…” She shook her head.

“He’s confused…” I said quietly. “I found drugs in his apartment….” I swallowed thickly. “And his great influence of a roommate,” I added bitterly.

Drella’s mouth dropped open. “Drugs?” she repeated quietly. I nodded, my face twisting. More tears built up in her eyes. “Really bad…” she assumed, it wasn’t even a question. It was really bad. Nothing about the amount of cocaine I saw there, in addition to whatever else they had, was good. She gently touched my sore face, and I winced. Her bottom lip quivered.

“It’s okay, Drella. We’ll fix it, okay?” I cooed gently. I was slightly afraid of her fragileness. I didn’t want her to look at me differently after accusing her of something I knew she would never do in a million years. And then the pressure of Mike’s actions, along with the knowledge of her pregnancy: she had a lot going on.

“How?” She asked. I bit my lip.

“I don’t know, baby. But we always make it work, right?” I encouraged with a small smile. I stroked her cheek with my thumb, bringing her eyes back up to mine. She smiled a little back and nodded, sniffling.

“Yes, right. Yes we do,” she agreed.

“Should we go talk to him?” I asked. She nodded and wrapped her arms around my middle. I kissed the side of her head and held her for a moment, before lifting us both up off of the ground. I twined my fingers through hers and I was glad that they still seemed to fit perfectly. I loved my brother but I loved Drella, too. I couldn’t compare the two to each other, I could never pick one over the other. We had no choice but to make it work.

“Sorry for running off,” I mumbled, ashamed. She was out here alone, and although it wasn’t near nighttime it still wasn’t a particularly safe area and anything could have happened to her.

“I understand, Vic. I would’ve reacted the same way,” she said, squeezing my hand. “How do you feel?” she asked as we walked towards the direction of Mike’s apartment.

“A little shitty,” I laughed shortly. Drella dropped my hand and rubbed my back soothingly instead. It hurt to breathe and walk but I was more worried with my brother’s well being at this point—“Fuck!” I muttered.

“What is it?” she asked, alarmed.

“Mike. I don’t want him to get messed up with drugs… he probably went back in there, shit,” I mumbled. It hadn’t even occurred to me before hand that he might have run off back to get high or drunk. But Mike was reckless these days and I had no idea what he was capable of.

Drella returned her hand to mine and squeezed hard, fearful for him, too. We walked as quickly as we could—me, half-limping—back around to the front of the apartment complex. My heart started beating fast for no reason—well, fear being the reason. Fear and urgency.

“Vic!” Drella let out a gurgling sound, as if she was trying to scream but it wouldn’t come out. My heart rate spiked as I turned to her more directly—just in time to see her getting sick on the pavement.

“Baby,” I said softly, rubbing her back and holding her hair as she vomited. Her shoulders shook and she cried hard. “It’s okay, let it out,” I said, simultaneously wondering if this was the first of many morning sicknesses to come.

“N-no!” she yelled.

“What?”

She coughed a few times and straightened out, falling into me for support. She extended her arm weakly and pointed past me, her eyes spaced out, vacant almost. I furrowed my eyebrows and turned my head to see what she was pointing out. In that instant I wished that I didn’t. I wished that I never turned my head—I wished that I never walked out here, I wished that I never ran away from the issue in the first place. I almost wished that I never proposed to Drella in front of him—if I had only known. If I had known, we would have been able to solve the problem before it got to this point. Before it tore our little, twisted family apart.

“Mike!” I screamed. I peeled away from Drella and she let me go as I darted across to him, ignoring the way it felt like my bones were splintering. “Mike,” I let out his name in a throaty gasp, horrified. I knelt down next to his mangled body, not knowing what to do, if it would hurt him if I touched him or even breathed next to him. My eyes wide, I looked up at the couple standing a few feet away, their eyes wide and their mouths open. “What happened?!” I yelled.

The woman blinked while the man opened his mouth once, closed it, then opened it again. “The truck…he was running…and then…” he finally said, turning his head to look down the street. There wasn’t anything in sight, just a red light and streaks of tires.

“An accident?” I croaked out. They nodded. “Police?” I asked, numb. They nodded again, one holding up a phone, indicating that they had called. They backed away, I guess staying as a witness but I focused back on my poor brother, who was half on the sidewalk, his torso twisted across the curb and his head cracked on the road. I placed my hand firmly on his chest, there was a heartbeat and he was breathing, but his eyes were closed.

“Mike, Mike, Mike,” I mumbled lowly. I turned my head, to look at Drella. I didn’t see her behind me and turned my head again, spotting her to my right. She was next to Mike just like me, her eyes in that vacant place. Staring at Mike but she probably wasn’t even seeing him. Maybe she was seeing him in a better way, not in the way I was seeing him—

His current state. His head snapped to the side, opposite of the rest of his body, his neck elongated in a direction it shouldn’t go. Half of his face bruised already, the other half stained with blood. His hair going in many different directions, unnatural for him. His arms and legs twisted in ways arms and legs shouldn’t twist. His middle, where his rib cage was, cracked and crunched, twisted, mangled, crushed. It was amazing that he was breathing. His lips were dry and slightly parted, slow breaths of air wisped out between them.

“M-Mike,” I mumbled his name again. I looked up at the couple from before, they were standing a few more feet away, still staring in shock at my mess of a brother. “You called? You’re sure?” They nodded robotically. I looked back at Mike. “Mikey,” I cried. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”

“It was an accident. Nobody’s fault except the driver’s,” the man spoke up again, and although I appreciated his effort I hardly even heard him or processed the words. I couldn’t even bring myself to feel anger towards the hit and run situation—I only felt panic and despair.

I felt something cold touch my leg. I looked down; it was Drella’s hand. Her fingers curled into the top of my thigh and then loosened up. I watched as her hand crawled against my pants, holding onto the fabric for support. Once her fingers had found the inside of my knee she used that to pull herself close into my side. I pulled her in and she leaned into me, turning her head into my chest, crying hard. “Oh, God, oh, God,” she cried over and over. I held her tightly as she held me even tighter. She couldn’t look at him but I never broke my gaze from my brother’s body. Waiting for something to happen. For him to open his eyes, for him to cry a little, groan in pain, cough. Maybe for the fucking paramedics to show up. How long has is been? Thirty minutes? Or more like thirty seconds?

He coughed.

Drella’s head shot up, we both stared at him expectantly. Mike’s eyes creaked open and he hissed through his teeth.

“Mike,” I sighed, leaning closer to him but I didn’t know how to help him. “Stay still, Mike, it’s okay. They should be here any second now,” I promised.

“What happened?” he asked, his words a slur.

“Y-You were hit. I’m so sorry, Mike. I’m so, so sorry,” I cried.

“Vic,” he muttered. “You’re my brother.”

“Stop that,” I said, shaking my head, my eyes burning with tears. “We can talk about it after the doctor’s fix you,” I said, my voice unsteady.

Mike frowned a little. “No,” he breathed. “No, no.”

“Mike—”

“She’s yours, Vic,” he smiled weakly and closed his eyes briefly. My throat closed up and I went to say something—to scream at him, but his mouth dropped open again so I paused. The yells of terror for his life dangled off of my bottom lip, waiting to be spit out. But I let him speak again first, disappointed when they were just the same ones as before. “She’s yours,” he repeated.

“I-It doesn’t matter, Mikey. We’re all family. We’ll make it w-work,” I choked out. Mike slightly shook his head; he coughed a little but the action made his face twist in agony. He craned his neck even more than it already was, trying not to cry out. “Mikey you gotta stay still buddy,” I mumbled, holding his shoulders.

“S’okay,” he shook his head again. He squinted his eyes to look at me—they were red around the rims and full of water. Tears bubbled out and dripped onto his bruised cheek. I could hear the ambulance siren’s ringing in the distance but that was the problem—they weren’t close, not close enough.

“It’ll be okay,” I promised. “Right, Drella?” I turned to look back at her; even though she was leaning against me I forgot she was there. “Right, babe? He’s going to be okay? We’re all going to be okay?”

She nodded, her eyes wouldn’t peel away from Mike and I didn’t blame her. It was a sight you didn’t want to see but one you couldn’t stop looking at. “See, Mike. It’s going to be okay. It always is. Always. It always is,” I rambled.

But Mike wasn’t listening. His eyes were closed and he had an eerie smile on his face. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I growled. I didn’t know how to help him. If I touched him, it’d hurt him. But I hated to sit there helplessly.

The sirens were getting louder but everything was simultaneously getting quieter.

“This isn’t how it’s supposed to be!” I cried as Mike’s face fell completely, the sad smile gone, his eyes closed.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Everything was supposed to be okay. We were all supposed to make it; we were all supposed to work things out. It was supposed to be us three, against the world, always. We always made it. We were always supposed to make it…

Drella sobbed, reburying her head into my chest but I couldn’t feel her. I couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t feel or see or hear. Maybe the sirens were so close that I couldn’t hear them anymore. Or maybe they were here, maybe they turned them off after arriving and seeing that they were too late. We were all too late.

We weren’t going to make it.

Notes

Second to last chapter D:

Twist ahead, just warning youuuu. Don't hateeee meeeeee

Thanks for reading! Loveeee ya