My Brother's Keeper

My brother's Keeper Finished Rough Draft
Chapter 1

Days grow into night and nights grow into day. I've thought this through clearly, I'm ready to leave. But I can't not without my brother. As I write this down I'm thinking of ways to escape...Escape him. The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want. He leadeth me to green pastures...

Chapter 2

There is a sudden knock on my bedroom door and I hurriedly hide my journal. "Who is it?" I call out. It's him at my door. I walk over to the door and unlock it. It's the only comfort I have knowing that it's locked at night... away from him.

I put on the best playing face I can and wait for him to speak. He begins with," Aiden what's this?" As he holds up what looks to be my report card. I feel a drop in my stomach as he waits for me to answer. I already know what my grades were and it wasn't pretty. I struggle badly in school and no matter what I do, the outcome is always the same, terrible.

"I don't know..." I say sheepishly and avoid making eye contact with him. "This is unacceptable in this house. Three f's and two d's. I thought the medicine the doctors thought you needed was supposed to fix you and fix this...pathetic..." he says as he smacks the folded report card.

With what's about to happen, the old dad... the dad I knew would have sat me down and helped me and just be there. But no, he has changed and it saddens me. I squeeze my eyes close and wait for the wrath of his hand.

There is a loud pop sound as his hand comes in contact with the side of my face. Instantly leaving a welp. The sound around me goes muffled for a few seconds and I stand there frozen, waiting for the rest. As I come back to my senses I realize that sprawled out on the carpet in front of my desk.

I lift my hand and place it right above where he had just hit me. There is heat and I know it's going to bruise. I wipe the few tears from my eyes and pick myself back up.

I sit down at my desk and stare at the mirror in front of me. A young man is staring back at me with nice features but sad eyes. From a distance everything is perfect but on the inside, it's the opposite. I stare at my long brown hair; it's beginning to cover my hazel eyes.

Why do I have to be this way? Why can't I be the perfect son, with a father that loves me? I can't even give him the pleasure of having a son who can pass their classes. I think to myself. He always wanted a son to follow in his footsteps. He got the total opposite with his first son. I'm just an average built kid with issues and who can't even pass his classes.

His other son though, Caleb is the star. Built just like his father and is brilliant. He always talks so grand about that son but never the other one; it's as if he forgets he has another son to take care of.

My little brother still isn't good enough for him though. Once we get home, he talks about how he needs to be better and it will never be enough. Dad has him practicing as much time as possible and studying the rest of the time. We can never be good enough for him. I can't even live up to his expectations.

Chapter 3

Taking a long deep breath, I open the bottom left drawer and grab my journal again. I date the top of the page so I won't forget. My memory is terrible and it's embarrassing not being like the other normal kids.

With my pencil, I begin writing. Even though I struggled in school this whole first nine weeks as I do every quarter, I tried my best, and he can't see that. It's so hard not being able to talk to somebody about this and with everything that goes on behind these doors. I did have therapy for a short while before my dad refused to pay for it. He won't even stop and look at anything from my point of view. To my future self, is it better? Anyway, I just need to keep pushing through each day as best as I can.