Fire

One

How do you tell someone something that will break them? How do you crush their hopes and plans for the future and then tell them it was all for their own good? How are we supposed to know what's good for them? Honestly, I had no clue. I had to make something up though because Austin was about to walk through the front door any minute and I couldn't just sit by and let him make a fool of himself any longer.

The door slowly creaked open and when he walked through his eyes were red, his shoulders sagged, and he didn't say a word to me. He wouldn't even look at me. He knew. He had to have known otherwise there's no chance he would ever not greet me when coming home, he even got mad at me when I didn't greet him. He skulked through the hall, pausing at the door to his room.

"How long?"

I was trying to come up with a way to word it, to take away some of the hurt, but I knew that the best way to try and preserve the relationship was to just come out with it. "Two weeks."

He snapped his head in my direction, any residual trace of sadness and hurt now replaced with anger and malice. "You knew for two weeks and you didn't once bother to tell me Amber was hooking up with Isaac?!"

"I—" I tried to come up with a reason why but I knew deep down that there was no way that I could make a good enough excuse as to why I never told my brother that his girlfriend of 4 years was sleeping with her boss. "I was trying to get all the facts first, I didn't want to be wrong—"

"YOU CAUGHT THEM FUCKING, KATHERINE! YOU CAUGHT THEM IN THE ACT AND LOOKED THE OTHER FUCKING WAY! YOU KNEW SHE WAS A CHEATING LYING WHORE BUT YOU STILL CHOSE TO LET ME MAKE A FOOL OF MYSELF, TO LET ME BRING HER HOME EVERY NIGHT, TO LET ME RISK GETTING GOD KNOWS WHAT BECAUSE WHY? BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO KNOW ALL THE FACTS? HERES THE FACTS KATHERINE, YOU LET ME DOWN. YOU LET ME FIND OUT BY WALKING INTO HER OFFICE WITH ROSES AND CHOCOLATES FOR HER BIRTHDAY TO FIND HER BENT OVER ON HER BOSSES DESK!"

My jaw dropped and I dropped my gaze to the floor. I had no clue that's how he found out but he wasn't wrong. I had walked in on them. She rushed outside after I ran out, begging me to keep it a secret. She promised me it was a one time thing and that she felt horrible and that she would break it off then and there. I wanted to believe her. I let myself believe it because I couldn't bring myself to be the one to end Austin's happiness. Yet here we are. I'm at the root of everything, the exact thing I wanted to avoid.

"I'm sorry, Austin I just didn't—"

"Get out."

I looked up from the floor and glanced at him. His jaw was set, all emotion gone. In his eyes I could see nothing.

"Austin, please..."

"GET THE FUCK OUT!" He roared as he grabbed my purse and phone off of the counter and shoved them into my arms. I barely managed to catch my falling phone as he gripped my arm tightly and walked me out the front door.

"Austin, I'm sorry! Please, let me explain!"

" Figure out where you're going. I'll drop your things off once you're settled."

I could do nothing but sob as he slammed the door in my face, the next door neighbors eyeing me through the blinds. It was the middle of February and the snow was just melting into slush. I started walking towards the nearest bus station when a car pulled up next to me.

The next thing I know, gunshots rang through the air. I turned around to look at the car when I felt what felt like a punch to the gut. It knocked me off my feet and made me want to scream.

I've always heard that adrenaline makes you do crazy things, but growing up in a upper middle class neighborhood made it to where I'd never had to actually encounter an experience in which my adrenaline levels would spike like that. Nonetheless, my adrenaline kicked in and I jumped up and tried to run towards my brothers house. I was only about 100 yards away, but with every step I took, the pain became more and more intense. I tried to control my breathing but it became increasingly harder with every movement. I tried to apply as much pressure to my abdomen as I could with my hands, I thought I had seen that on tv and it looked like the right thing to do.