Possessive (Completed)

A Not So Good Deed

Simon Matthews sat alone at lunch for the third time in a row.

It was just about the single worst week of his life and everyone at school knew it. To the left and to the right he could see nothing but pitiful glances from onlookers. It was suffocating, like there was a plastic bag covering his head.  

When his brother, Liam, had been at school Simon never sat alone. No, Liam didn't sit with him often, unless he asked the boy too, but others did. Liam was the star quarterback, and Simon had a level of popularity through association, even if he was just the boy's nerdy kid-brother.

Even after Liam graduated a few residual friends remained to keep Simon company so he wasn't so out of place in the sea of judgment. But then everything changed.

When Liam finished high school their father got up and left. One day he simply walked from the room and never returned, not even bothering to make an excuse of grabbing milk from the store. Simon then found out that his life was a lie and his parents were only staying together until the kids were old enough they didn't need them anymore. Their mother thought they had a few more years. Their father didn't.

Simon wondered if maybe their father left because Liam hadn't gone D1 like they'd expected. Mr. Matthews was a huge football fan, and Simon always felt the man resented him for not engaging in the activity. Once Liam was done with football, their father was done with him. As much as the loss hurt, it was only Liam who ever truly had a father to lose.

That summer things only got worse. Mrs. Matthews had overestimated her ability to handle things. As the divorce proceedings worsened, so did her mental health. She was trying so hard to be good for the kids that she was losing sight of the fact that she needed time to grieve.

She started drinking then. Not just occasionally, not over dinner, but all the time. Constantly, and anything she could manage to get her hands on. Alcoholism consumed her soul like the devil and ruined what was left of her intimate relationships.

She pushed her sons away. She pushed her friends away. She pushed her life away.

The neighbors called the police one day when she was seen screaming at Liam on the front lawn. He'd stayed out later than she'd expected and she'd been drinking. She stupidly went out to meet him and ended up throwing her bottle at him. That was the last straw.

She was charged with neglect. Liam was eighteen, but Simon was a minor. So Liam adopted Simon as a care dependent and moved in with their snowbird grandparents to keep the bills low.

And all that led to Simon. Simon sitting alone in a room bustling with people. Hearing and seeing every whisper and nudge.

He wasn't given the liberty to gracefully accept the cards life dealt him in peace, rather the whole school had become aware of their situation.

Neglect cases were sealed, but Liam had trusted the wrong people for counsel. A glimmer truth here. A rumor there. It was all the same. The story had morphed so much Simon couldn't keep track of it.

"Hey." A voice shook Simon from his thoughts and he looked up to see the face of a boy he didn't recognize. Simon wiped his cheek half hazardously and forced a smile so he wouldn't look like he was hurting.

"Hi."

"Mind if I sit?" The boy asked.

Simon didn't, so he shrugged and the boy sat down. He was a larger boy, well built with broad shoulders. Simon had never needed to fear the football boys because Liam was their king, but eyeing the boy's bulk he wondered if he ought to be afraid now that he was so terribly alone.

"You're Matthews brother?"

Simon nodded. Once he might have protested that he was just as much Matthews as his brother and didn't need the association, but the realization that he would have done anything to have his brother to share the weight with him snuffed that notion.