Her Brothers ✔️

chapter 19

Alaric

it's been probably goddamn 31 days since he just up and left, why? I had no idea.

the moment he left I got flashes of our father walking towards his car, and just leaving us all in his past.

my little izzy tries to pretend to be okay, but I can read her like a book, it's so painful to see her trying to act strong, when i know that she's really fragile.

it breaks my heart to see her like this, she's almost become a whole different person, i have as well.

i still don't understand why I am quick to defend Silas in his absence.

this was a stab of betrayal I never thought I'd taste from him, one things for sure is betrayals always committed by our close ones.

a revelation happens, and I understand how Silas felt back then.

so why the hell did he go all missing in action on us?

then a selfish part of me is happy that he's away, i don't have competition to fight for whose the favorite brother.

our days have been pretty spontaneous, sometimes we'd play video games, hang with internet people, then we'd watch some movies, we became the definition of homebodies, besides going to the beach.

Silas really is the one that makes the family move along and enforce rules, and without him here things have become drastically different.

no structural dinner times, getting up whenever, I'm just grateful it's summer break for Izzy, i know I'd sleep in and not wake her up.

"hey. we probably should touch bases with society" i gently shake Izzy awake, and she's rubbing the sleep away.

i was quick to notice the tear stains on her pillow cases, and I felt myself just feel immense anger and sadness.

angry that she's hiding her pain and crying alone, and just sad that we've become like this.

"where will we go?" asking in her groggy voice as she gets out the bed.

"well, you know that boy you met a few weeks ago, well we could hit him up and go out for dinner" i suggested, i have no goddamn idea why i just felt a gravitational pull towards that boy, he seems alright, i knew he was a good one when he wanted to make sure she was safe.

"really? I can send him a message" now she's excited and the sleep is evidently gone, we played war of warlocks with that boy over the days, we'd just hop on call and it was such a blast.

"He just responded, said yes!" she reads off as she doesn't even bother to go get changed, "Sounds good. I'll be getting ready, and you little missy, need to take a shower" i tell her, and she groans at the thought, before setting her phone away.

"hygiene is really important you know" i tell her, and she begrudgingly walks off towards her bathroom sticking her tongue out at me before she closes the door.

a sigh is let out before i exit her room to get myself ready, although i already know what to expect, I still check my phone to see if anything came from Silas, but none at all.

Who am i kidding? i know that he has his reasons, I've always kept that in the back of my mind or tried to, i have to be strong for the both of us, it's clear izzy is already trying to move on from his absences, more often than not I find her sleeping in his room.

The first time i noticed she wasn't in her room, i was on high alert, but that vanished away when i see her sleeping soundly underneath his covers, and it was so adorable i took a snapshot of that.

she still doesn't know, she'd throw a fit over it, and it's hilarious to get her all riled up.

i got myself put together, and as usual I am waiting on her, and so i ended up digging around Silas' room, i respected his privacy, I've always did, but today i just wanted to find some answers, maybe it's somewhere in his room, or it's in blindsight.

i skimmed through his drawers, nothing except for collection of watches and ties neatly placed, then in his closet was screaming out tidy-and-neat, everything i was not, my closet looks like a tornado hit.

seeing as nothing is useful in his room, i ventured towards his office, and when i approached the office door, it was this heavy feeling in my chest, i never stepped foot in his office unless it's something urgent, i mustered the courage and i finally hit the button but an error pops up

"ACCESS DENIED" a female robotic voice sounds, and i just step back, What the fuck?

the high tech got me so excited, forgetting why i was trying to break into his office, then i hear Isabella calling for me and so i swiftly moved away from the office, and then headed towards my little izzy.

"ready?" and she gives a nod, i have to keep reminding myself that i'm the adult and i have a little human with me to take care of.

this time we took my car out for a ride, it was just the BMW 7 series, pretty simple for our commute.

I love driving my car, i love speeding through the roads as there's really no posted speed limit, perks of living just slightly out of london.

we made it to this nice restaurant, and i had to actually dress up, "you look great" i open the restaurant door, "thank you, you don't look too shabby yourself" she responds with that sassiness, and it was great to hear her act like that, and we met up with her friend.

"Hey." we all just said, it was awkward since we've all just talked on call, and to be in person after a long time was weird.

"i got drinks ordered, already. You guys ready to order?" the teenage boy asks, he's quite formal.

"wow, you're really prepared." i was astonished, this boy is acting like he's lived at least 4 life times, "Yeah. My dad wants me to take over his head corporation, he's been training me since i was 5" the boy explains as if he's read my mind, "That's impressive." and sad at the same time, that kid probably never got to act like a kid then.

"What business does your dad do?" i inquire, and i started to notice how quiet isabella has gotten, she hasn't uttered a word since we've arrived, "It's a box company. We do the detailed boxes, such as godiva, and we work with L'oréal." he says in a nutshell, "Oh that's wonderful, You're going to have a bright future" i tell him, he was going places.

I love meeting with aspiring young teenagers, nothing can stop them from wanting their end goal, "Well I'm ready to eat" i feel like i'm talking with another adult than a teenage boy, it was so strange to me.

"Izzy, what do you think of it?" i turn to her, and she just gives a shrug, "Not talkative tonight" i continued, hoping she'd say something, but nothing comes out.

"Names, Vincent by the way" he says, and i make a mental note of that, then i see him doing something incredible, like one of those old magic tricks, vincent had a quarter and he pulled a rose from behind izzy's ears, which he receives a reaction from her.

"Whoa! how did you do that" now she was lively, "a magician never reveals their secret" Vincent responds and i really wanted to know the secret, how do they do those?

"unfair. but that's cool" she says, and the two of them begin to converse, and i knew that if Silas was here, we'd both get out asses whipped.

the evening went nicely, i feel like a human again, not floating through life in a fog.

By the time we said our goodbyes, we agreed we'd have a raiding party this week, and we were all stoked for it, and of course izzy was against it, she's the type that will venture off to collect trinkets in the game and somehow doesn't end up getting killed..

"it's called making friends with the monsters" she tells me as we make our way home, "The monster is what we kill!" i retort back and now we're like how we used to be, arguing over trivial little things.

As we pull into the driveway, my eyes blinked twice as if i was seeing things, and i looked to izzy, but she was out like like a light after defending herself.

published: 3.19.23

vote
comment
follow