Life's Unexpected Intricacies

Kyle

A millisecond after I pulled the curtain back, I took off running. I didn't need to stand there and hear mom cry out for her son because I could feel that he wasn't there when I didn't hear him respond. I knew exactly where he was and I knew there wasn't much time to waste, so I ran. I bumped into carts, nurses, doctors, babies, dust bunnies, anything in my damn way, but I kept running. Mom could barely keep up with me while crying and repeating the same shit over and over again, but I didn't care if she was next to me or not. I just ran. Hold on just a little bit longer, I'm coming for you Cody, I will save you Cody, I thought. There hasn't been a time in Cody's life where I haven't saved him from himself, and I always say something along the lines of "Hold on just a little bit longer Cody, big bro's here to save you,". I say it as if I religiously study it and mumble it in my sleep, but no, that's not the case. The words are imprinted in my mind, engraved in my heart because that is my duty. Hold on just a little bit longer Cody, I will save you.

 One day when he was five, the three of us went to the park to play, and a family of unfriendly Rottweilers had been set loose. I don't understand why people think it's a good idea to have huge unfriendly dogs living near a peaceful friendly park. I don't get why people thought they should train their dogs to be vicious in that kindhearted neighborhood, but they did. Every child in sight ran and hid, screaming, looking for their parents, climbing up nearby trees, but Cody, Nathan and I ran through the woods to lose them. Somehow, I ended up losing both of them. I froze in the middle of the woods and screamed for Cody first; he'd always freak out in situations like those.

"Kyle! Kyle! I can't make it! They're gonna eat me! They're right behind me!" he screamed coming somewhere from my left side. I took off running in his direction and screamed "Hold em' off just a little bit longer Cody! I'm coming to save you!" Without tripping over any twigs or stones like idiots in horror movies do, I menacingly jumped in front of him, and scowled at the mutts for scaring the little souls outta us. "You won't eat my brother!" I screamed and growled at them. Hey, they were evil and they were going to eat my brother. That was my mentality. I was young. Nathan, always being the smart one, was able to get help from a few adults who tamed the dogs and saved us.

 In middle school, Cody was bullied and teased based on the accusation of him being gay. A close friend of mine came running around the corner into the cafeteria and said, "Kyle! Kyle! Your brother's in trouble! The bullies—follow me!" he took off running while explaining to me that he saw a few bullies beating the shit outta Cody in a back alley. I ended up running faster than him, listening to him yell directions to the destination. Hold on a little bit longer Cody, my fists clenched as I reached the alley, 'cause Imma kill these niggas. Later that day, Cody had to tell me what happened because I completely blacked out when I saw him being pinned against the brick wall by three meaty middle schoolers and beaten to a pulp by four more. He must've put up a decent fight if three lumpy ass overly tall kids had to pin him down, but it wasn't good enough for me. I couldn't sleep for days remembering how helpless he looked against that wall. Throughout middle school every weekend, I would teach him everything I knew about self-defense... some stuff I would repeat over and over again forgetting I already taught him, but he didn't seem to mind much. I guess he liked spending time with me.

      About a year or two later, Cody tried to run away with our cousin Danny. They plotted to go to Japan, but his mistake was that they didn't leave at the same time. I knew Danny would know where he was so I found him and interrogated him.

"Where's my brother."

"Nathan's probably in the house," he responded. I pushed him against the wall and raised my brow. I didn't have to repeat the question; there wasn't any time for him to be playing mind games. Mom and Dad didn't know he was missing yet and at that time we were way too young to be leaving the state alone.. especially going to Japan. He finally gave in after an hour, but to me it felt like five hours. He told me they planned to run away to Japan to live peacefully, relieve us of any burdens, get a fresh start on life, and blah, blah, blah. They were about 12 and 13 at the time, either a year or a few months before Danny's death. I sighed at their childish stupidity and asked where he would be right now, but he swore he didn't know. Right then and there I received a call from Cody.