To Short For This

Break Ins, Bruises, And a Hot Date

The door creaked as she pushed on it, which was odd since it had never done that before. She inspected the hinges to see they were at a forced angle, with still no sound from inside. She prayed it was a simple break-in and Van wasn't home.

Those thoughts were soon proven wrong as she made her way inside and saw his shoes on the floor where he normally put them after a long day. The apartment was chillier than outside the further she went.

Trying again, she called out,"V-van?" her teeth chattered from the cold. She soon found that the A.C. was on and broken. They both hated being cold. They hardly ever used it, but it looked smashed in.

She stopped at their small staircase and could see his door cracked open. She crept up the stairs and took notice of the multiple marks on the wall. It looked like nail marks on the pale pink paint. She covered her mouth, almost sick.

She didn't know when she started crying but when she pushed his door open she gave a broken sob. He was lying on the floor. He had no shirt on, but truthfully, that was not what worried her.

It was the huge ass bruises on his exposed legs that had her dropping to her knees and crawling to her brother.

He was breathing heavily through his mouth, weezing only every few breaths. She reached her hand out to touch him when he began violently coughing.

"Van?" she whispered, biting her lip as her tears hit the wooden floor. He grunted, and she sighed with relief.

Eventually, he came to, and she helped him get up and limp towards his bed, he layed there looking up at the ceiling. Tears streamed down and dripped into his ears uncomfortably.

"We need to talk about this-" She started picking at one of the many frayed blankets that van had when he interrupted her.

"We don't need to talk about anything."

Her sadness quckly morphed into something ugly. It was as if this beast had burrowed into her chest, lighting it with the flames of rage.

"You can't just let him do this!" she stood and paced his room clutching at her hair," You're letting him hurt you!" she turned and looked at him, her heart breaking at the look in her beloved brother's eyes.

While looking utterly defeated, he said,"You're acting as if i want him to do this shit."

She paled,"No, no, that's not what I meant at all."

"Well that what it fucking sounds like to me, thanks for helping me up but please get the hell out of my room." He struggled but managed to turn onto his side.

She nodded, and went to his door,"I just want my big brother safe...I'm sorry if i dont always go about it in the best way possible but know; i am NOT letting him get away with this. You might think you need to protect me, but I'm not a little girl anymore." she looked at her brother to still only see him curled in a ball.

She closed his door and went to sit on the couch. There, curled up with the quilt from her father, she felt safe enough to bawl her eyes out.

The knot in her chest finally unwinding as she straight up ugly cried. After a few minutes, she pulled herself together.

It was her turn to be strong.

Her brother was hurting and needed a strong hand to hold.

She grabbed her phone and called luther. She needed the support and calmness. He seemed to just radiate.
While waiting for him to pick up, she began cleaning up the trashed house.

"Hey! You've reached my voicemail, I apologize for not being able to answer my phone right now, but leave a message after the beep, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!"