𝗟𝗨𝗡𝗖𝗛 ☆ 𝗣𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗠𝗰𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗻

000 / Every Little Penny In The Wishing Well

This particular story begins when I am 16 years old but that is not where it truly begins.

This story truly begins when I am 2 years old.
That was the first time, my older brother Luke ran away.

Luke had always been there for me, he was 7 years older than me, so he was 9 at the time.

For some unknown reason, I have an outline of that night when he left.

It had been a warm day, it wasn't one of those running away film scenes where it's raining and miserable. It wasn't like that.

I remember the heat, it was a sticky kind of heat that made you sweat hard and made you want to stay in the water to cool down.

I remember how kind Luke has been to me that, helping me keep cool, and getting me ice cream when I asked for it.

I remember how this didn't phase me at the time, it seemed normal, I was only 2.

I remember how our mother seemed worse than usual that day, almost like she could sense something was going to happen.

That night, I remember hearing Luke rustling things around as he seemed to stuff them into a bag. He snuck out of his room and I heard our mother stop him.

"Luke, where are you going?"

Her voice was almost urgent, offended even, that he wasn't asleep like he should be.

"Just going for a walk, I'll be back soon."

Spoiler Alert, he wasn't back soon.

He didn't come back for a while, I grew up in the shadow of my brother and of my vague memories of him.

From then on, my mother was constantly spewed out prophecies of Luke's doom and it was a terrifying thing to live with.

From then, I started to understand why Luke had left, so I decided that I would be ready to leave the next time he came back.

Finally, the day came.

I was 8 years old when he finally came back.

Luke appeared at our home in Westport, Connecticut. He was now 14, he had grown taller and his hair had got curly since I last saw him.

I spotted him whilst I was sitting on the porch steps, our mother had another of her episode so I had come outside to escape her.

A cooling breeze flowed through the street, providing relief from the spring heat.

Firstly I saw two girls turn the corner.

One was around my age and had her hair in braids. The other was clearly older, closer to Luke's age, she had her hair in puffs. Neither of them were the usual people I saw in the area.

And then I saw Luke.

He was supporting the second girl against him as they limped towards the house.

They all seemed on edge, so I thought it was best to not race up to them and wait for them to reach the house.

"This is your house?"