Greyhound Bound for Nowhere

There's some things we can't share

Bellamy was fourteen when they finally decided to send him off to boarding school. I was over at their house the day his mom dropped the bombshell. Octavia and I were about thirteen, in that stage where we liked to know what was going on in the house, but pretended not to care. but this was Bellamy, Octavia always cared about her brother. So when she heard the screaming, we walked into the living room to see what was happening.

"Bell, we've decided to get you some help, we can't handle this anymore. So you're going to a school where they can straighten you out," she kept her voice flat, no emotion on way or the other. Her face didn't show whether she would miss him or not either. It was like they weren't related at all.

Octavia took it worse than he did. She started crying and Bellamy had to comfort her. It should've been the other way around. She threw a fit, she called her parents unfair, she told them he wasn't out of control. They shot back with questioning eyes, asking if she enjoyed his pranks, his torture. When she didn't answer they turned to me for conformation of how horrible he was. In that moment, hated being so close that they felt like I could be included in moments like these.

I looked at Bellamy and I knew what they were thinking, why they were doing this. They knew one day his pranks wouldn't be funny. Most of them weren't funny now, but they were harmless. They weren't dangerous. Soon he'd be old enough for the pranks to get bigger, and he's wind up in jail. He didn't listen to them, he would do whatever he wanted, claiming he was old enough to make his own decisions since they weren't around much anyways.

He sat there stoically listening to them talk about the new place he would live at for the next however many years. He kept his arm around his sister, her tears soaking into the shoulder of his shirt. I sat there watching this family moment unfold, completely dumbfounded as to how I could help my best friend. I didn't know how I could ease her pain, but I wanted to. I hated seeing someone I cared about in pain.

He didn't even get to take anything with him. We sat there trying to calm Octavia down for over an hour. When the tears were almost dry, his parents said it was time for him to go. The water works started again. He stood, hugging Octavia for a long time. She swayed in his arms, mumbling something between the two of them. She never did tell me what he whispered to her, making her laugh and forget her tears for a moment.

He came to me and I thought he was going to give me a speech about looking after her. We might have had our differences, but we both had one thing in common. We were fiercely loyal and protective of Octavia. We both loved her unconditionally. But he didn't lecture me, he stood there staring at me, his tall stature shadowing my petite one. Then he took me by surprise and pulled me into a hug much like the one he had given his sister.

We never had moments like this, where we weren't fighting long enough to enjoy each other's company. Still even if he wasn't my favorite person, that didn't mean I wanted him sent away. Especially not when it hurt Octavia as badly as it did.

He had his arms wrapped around me, I couldn't help but hug him back. I smiled, burying my nose in his shoulder for one second too long. I took in his scent, remembering all the summers he would spend carrying us around on his back, laughing as he giggled and then throwing us into the pool. I remembered the tan he would get when we stayed out too long, the freckles that would line his nose by the end of the summer. The little moments I thought never mattered, where the ones that played in my head. The Bellamy I rarely got to see, smiling and happy with the two of us.

I knew him almost as well as I knew Octavia. They were a packaged deal, and now they were being separated. My heart hurt for her, and for him.

"Take care of her for me," he whispered, his breath hot in my ear. Then before he took a step back he kissed my cheek.