I Was Hoping For A Quiet Life, But You Gave Me So Much More

I Have An Idea

Isaac shot up out of bed as a loud crack rang throughout the house like thunder. He got up quickly and made his way into Liam's room. The light was off, but when he turned it on he found Liam's bed empty. He felt his breath hitch at the sight in front of him. The sheets had been thrown to the floor in a disheveled pile. The bed was covered in blood, a trail of it leading to the window, which was left open. A crisp breeze flowing through the room. He ran to the window quickly, looking out over the forest in the backyard, but all he saw was darkness. A void of never ending fear and loneliness.

"Isaac!" the voice rose quietly out of the woods. He recognized that voice.

"Liam!," He called out into the woods.

"Isaac!," it yelled again, louder this time.

"Liam, where are you?!" Isaac's vision started to fade.

"Isaac! Please!"

He felt his head get heavy

"Isaac!"

He braced himself on the window still.

"Please!"

He fell.

"Isaac!"

He felt himself being shaken. His eyes blinked open just long enough to be blinded by the light filling the room, like staring into the sun. He felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

"Isaac, oh my god, are you awake?"

Liam.

He could tell. For one there was no one else in the house last time he checked. And two he recognized the fear in his voice. He didn't sound like Liam when he was scared. Not the loud, funny, bordering on obnoxious, brother of his. He sounded like a child. The same way his voice sounded the first time he could remember his father hurting him. Isaac had gotten in the way for years. He was older, he told himself, he could handle it. But seeing the look on his young brother's face when his father shoved him was almost worse than the pain of the slap that followed. He was always more physical with Isaac. He tended to attack Liam more mentally than anything. It took Isaac so long to get Liam to understand that the emotional manipulation could be just as bad, if not worse, than the physical attacks. He used to feel guilty about calling it abuse. He'd hit Liam sure, but how could he say he had it bad when his brother was going to school covered in bruises and scrapes every week? He'd started hurting both of them when they were older, not purposefully. They both agreed he just went after whichever one of them was home and closer to him at the time. Whenever he passed out or just never came home, Isaac found that the boy he knew was still there. Somehow, after all they'd been through, they managed to keep smiles on their faces whenever things were good.

He felt the shaking continue.

"Isaac come on, please at least open your eyes!"

And Isaac did. His vision blurring again but after a few moments focusing on the scared boy sitting beside him.

"Li, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Liam punched him in the shoulder, "Scare me?" he yelled, "jackass you were yelling my name in your dream. I don't know what the hell happened but please just don't worry about me for 5 seconds. What the hell happened?"

Isaac sat up slowly resting his head against the wall. "I'm not really sure, I can't remember much, just blood. And I felt like I was falling."

Liam nodded slowly. "We still have about an hour before we have to leave. I know this is a stupid question 'cause I already know the answer, but do you wanna try and sleep?"