Once His [ON BREAK]

Four

I woke up to a nightmare. My breaths came quickly and I reached for the first thing I could find- a pillow- and squeezed, keeping my eyes shut and trying to find something happier to think about, maybe not the relics of times when I thought my brother actually may have been crazy, from the times he locked himself in his room to the times when he never told me why he had the silver knives under his bed. I had known he was going mad.

Well, I had been right, hadn't I?

A pained moan erupted through my dream, then a scratchy voice: "Ouch, Casey. My bruise is still healing." Bryce. I peek one eye open to see the disgruntled boy laid out across my bed, his raven hair splayed across his sweaty and feverish forehead, and his blue-green eyes pale with illness and lack of sleep.

I quickly wiggle my arms free from his torso, then open both eyes to look out the window: snow. I sit up straight and yawn.

"Sorry, I had a nightmare and was scared." I say quietly, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Bryce groaned again, stretching his arms out carefully, trying not to move his chest to harm it anymore. He peeked up at me and frowned.

"Nightmare?" he asked, running a hand through his hair, causing it to spill across his forehead. I nod, then look at his injured torso, tilting my head slightly.

"I'm pretty sure you have a broken rib." I say, gesturing to his stomach. Bryce scoffed, as to say he doubted it. "Watch and learn, really, you do." I add, gently pulling his shirt up to his collarbone.

I'd seen Bryce shirtless before, plenty of times actually, and I was totally fine with it today, but the large bruise that ran from his upper stomach to his hipbone bothered me. I reached a finger out a placed it lightly on the side of his stomach, causing him to flinch and close his eyes tightly. I picked my finger up, then ran it a few inches down to a bone that seemed a bit out of place.

Placing the finger onto the bone lightly, Bryce sucked in a large breath, then groaned in pain as I pressed down on the bone. I frowned at the sight. Tugging his shirt back down, I let out a sigh, then smiled warmly in Bryce's direction.

"I told you," I said to him, then laying down beside him, "Two of them are broken." He cringed as he tried to get up, and I helped him, then stiffly brought the pillows underneath him for comfort of his injury.

"Now, for your nightmare." he said, closing his eyes, as he adjusted himself to the upright position. "What happened in it? Was Jacob there?" I uncomfortably pick at my fingernails, trying to ignore the conversation: I didn't want to talk about my dream, I wanted to talk about something that didn't involve my family issues (probably more then issues, as I found out a few days ago).

"I don't want to talk about it." I whisper, brushing a loose strand of my brown curls from my eyes, which were trained on the bedspread, "Can we talk about something happier?" I look up at Bryce from under my eyelashes, giving him a small pout. He chuckles and sticks his tounge out in my direction.

"Fine, but first lets get some food." he says hopefully, wobbling from the bed, his injured leg failing to keep him up. "Shit."

I laugh. Food always comes first in that boys mind.

But what came first in mine?

+++

"We have no school today?" I say excitedly, grabbing at a piece of sizzling bacon from the pan, but my father slaps my hand away.

"Yep, Casey," he says, focussing on his bacon, "But should I take Bryce home so his mother can help him with his-" he breaks off and looks at Bryce, who's leg is completely bandaged, and chest is exposed for my father to examine, "- injures."