My Demons

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

            I was still worried that Misaki had broken something, so I laid him down in the backseat and told him not to move. He complained that his ankle hurt a bit, but he didn’t seem to be in too much pain. I still took him to a guy near our condo and let him check it out. Neither of us wanted to move him again, so the doctor examined his ankle from inside the car.

            After a few minutes, the doctor finally spoke. “Luckily, his ankle is only sprained. It’s quite a miracle really considering how high he fell from.” He pulled out a roll of bandages from the first aid kit he had with him. “I’ll just wrap it up a little to make sure it heals a bit faster. It’s best that he doesn’t put too much pressure on it for a few days.”

            I nodded and waited patiently while he put the bandages on, realizing that Misaki’s ankle was slightly red and swollen. I felt bad that he was injured because of my brother’s jealousy. Luckily, I was able to save him before anything happened. He didn’t act like much had happened, so I assumed that my secrets were still safe, thank god. I was definitely going to find out later what all happened and what all he knew.

            When the doctor was done, I helped Misaki into the front passenger’s seat and headed back to our condo. He seemed rather calm considering he had just been kidnapped essentially… Or was he hiding something?? Did he find out??

            Confused and a little frustrated, I pulled out a cigarette. “I can’t believe he took you like that,” I growled.

            “It’s not like he kidnapped me or something,” he said quietly.

            “Don’t defend him, Misaki,” I snapped.

            The boy became very quiet. Out of the corner of my eyes, I noticed that he was staring at his feet. “I willingly got in the car.”

            I almost slammed on the brakes in surprise. “You what?!” I couldn’t control the anger in my voice.

            “Well, you’re the one who told me to get him to stop with the strawberries!” he snapped back at me.

            “So you just follow him wherever he wants you to go?! He could have taken you somewhere and seriously hurt you or killed you!”

            He finally looked up and raised his voice. “Usagi-san, that’s your brother! You can’t possibly think he’s that dangerous.”

            “I can and I do. What if he would have locked you away in there?” I felt like I was a mother scolding her child.

            He groaned. “He did lock me in that house! In that utility room where you would write your novels.”

            My eyes widened. I had never told him that I used to write novels when I was younger, let alone that I used to lock myself in the utility room to write. If he knew that, what else did he know??

            “Is that why you decided to jump out the window?” I asked.

            “I didn’t jump. I was climbing down the rope!”

            “Well, it didn’t work, did it?!”

            I heard him inhale, as if he was getting ready to speak, but nothing came out. I stopped yelling at him as well and tried to get my anger under control. It was just such a shock to me that this was Misaki’s fault just as much as it was Haruhiko’s. We reached the apartment complex shortly after, but neither of us made a move to get out the car after I had parked it.