My Brother.

Chapter 2. Monday.

"Ellie,Eli, get down here" Dad yells. I wait until I hear Eli's footsteps trodding down the stairs before I leave my room and follow.
"Breakfast! Now eat up I gotta take you both to school a bit earlier today as I have work and your mum's...well she's sick"
"Hungover you mean" Eli mumbles. He's right,mom has been drinking a bit more than usual recently. I stare at my sickly mother laying out on the sofa in a blanket,I cant help but scoff. "Aren't you having breakfast ellie?" Eli interrupts my thoughts.

His mouth is full of dads burnt toast and he seems to be scoffing down orange juice inbetween bites,just looking at him puts me off breakfast,but I sit at the table and poor myself a bowl of cereal,sugary cocoa puffs,if mum wasn't in such a state right now she would scold me for the sugary option,yet she drinks alcohol like it's water,hypocrite.

I heap spoonfuls of cereal in as I notice my dad looking inpatient and then I feel a hand on my thigh.
I want to recoil into myself as I freeze dropping my spoon making it 'clink' against the bowl and I look over to my brother,Eli.
His smiley face disgust me, I want to remove his hand but I can't stand to touch him right now, so I stand up and walk away from the table.
"Dad can we go now, I'm ready" I grunt.
"Hold on! I'm still having my breakfast" Eli shouts still scoffing food down, I give him a scowl and storm out telling dad I'll be waiting in the car.
///////

School so far today has been so tediously slow but at least I feel safe here, sitting in the cafeteria during lunch with my best friends Clara and Ryan. Clara is a tall slender girl with straight blonde hair and pink pouty lips, most of the girls here are jealous of her,she's smarter than most and really talented at makeup, I want her to do my makeup one day.
And Ryan is a little shorter,a little rounder,he has cute dainty glasses and afro hair he sometimes plaits.
He's not all that smart but he's really artistic and sings beautifully.

Clara brought homemade peanut butter jelly sandwiches in today, Ryan got some of the cafeterias pasta and I got the cafeterias cheese and tomatoe panini with a small strawberry milk.
"So Ellie what are your birthday plans? Are you having a party? Going out?" Clara asks, I tear at my panini eating it piece by piece as I think "well, I haven't been looking forward to it" I say. "Your turning 16! Ellie! You have to do something special" Ryan adds, Clara looks at me with pity that I haven't planned anything. "Well what about I come over and give you a makeover!" She says. I smile at the idea and at my friends and then think about how I don't want to be in that house and start to frown. "Or what if you come over mine and we have a sleepover movie night, my dad will be cool with it" Clara adds as she notices my frown. I think about it for a minute, if I sleep at claras then Eli can't ask me or force me to give him a weird kind of birthday present, and a movie night with Clara and popcorn,nails and face masks sounds really nice,I smile at the idea and nod at my friend's.
"Sorry Ryan unless you can convince my dad your gay he won't have you over, sleepover at mine for your birthday ellie! Great it's a date!" Clara yaps excitedly. Then I'm startled as I feel a pressure on my shoulder and hear a familiar voice interrupt us.

"What's a date" Eli sternly buts into our conversation putting his hand on my shoulder the other carrying a bag. "Umm it's not an date,date,its just an expression" Clara snaps back clearly irritated by Eli's rude interruption,I smirk at her putting him in place. Ryan looks up at me and looks as uncomfortable as I do,he then looks at Eli's pissed off face and turns his attention back to his pasta. "If you have to know everything then me and your sister were just planning a birthday sleepover" Clara rolls her eyes as she explains this. I look down at my food trying to avoid Eli's gaze as I feel nerves come up in my throat,I don't want him to keep me at home with him on our birthday, the less time around him the better.
"Birthday sleepover? But I thought we were gonna, hang out, you know? Like when we were kids?" Eli leans closer to me as he speaks "were twins,we have a special connection and our birthday is that day" I look the opposite way to his face holding my breath as I try not to breath in his.
"Hey Eli! You guys live together you can hangout whenever, if she wants to hangout with me for her birthday she damn right can!" Clara yells shoving eli lightly away from me. "Did you just shove me?" Eli says hurt "I barely shoved you" Clara snaps back, Eli's eyes meet mine and I grimace," aren't you going to say anything? She shoved me,if someone did that to you i'd" Eli is cut off from ranting by the bell. "You should get going" I say sternly and he starts to walk away. Ryan gives me a strange look and Clara too, "god your brother is weird,no offense" Clara blurts out hand to her lips. "Yeah I guess he's just super protective,but must be annoying for you" Ryan adds, "You have no idea." I mutter.
/////

Mum wasn't going to pick me up today as she's gone to the pub again,she sent me a text saying to either walk the 2½ miles back or get the bus. I did neither, Ryan dropped me off instead.
"Thanks Ryan,I'll see you tomorrow!" I smile as I wave him off and then head toward the front door. The lights are on,I'm guessing mum came back earlier.
"Mum?" I yell stepping into the house and closing the door. Mum isn't lying on the sofa anymore and she doesn't seem to be in the kitchen, she must've left the lights on,and the door unlocked?. "Hey sis" It's Eli.
"Hey, is Mum not home?" I ask pushing past him to hang up my bag and coat.
"No,she's not. And dad's still at work" he says as he grabs my coat from me and hangs it up,he is taller than me but I can reach the hangers fine. "Thanks" I say turning away from him and before I can head up the stairs he grabs my wrists. "Stop,I want to talk to you"Eli grunts.
I shake my wrist to get free and he let's go, I stop and turn to him "What" I cross my arms and wait for his response.
"Look I'm sorry if I embarrassed you at school today" he says shyly looking genuinely embarrassed at his outbursts with Clara. I take in his expression and he does look sorry,maybe he is.
"Eli, thank you for apologising" I smile as I feel like the brother who took care of me when our parents were constantly bickering was back. Eli smiles at me and nods walking towards the couch turning on the tv. I feel a bit of relief,maybe Eli is going to be a better brother and stop the weirdness he's been like lately. I turn to go upstairs to my room when Eli says something "only thing is sis" he says confidently as he starts to walk over to me again. "You didn't stick up for me" he sputs out as he face starts to contort to anger. I start feeling fear rising in my throat "what do you mean?" I comment. Eli wags his finger in my face as he says "you didn't say anything when Clara shoved me,you didn't say ANYTHING" he gets louder, I start to shake a little as he gets closer to my face "Clara barely shoved you" I mutter quietly unsure on whether or not it's a good idea to correct him. "What?!" He shouts and I start to run up the stairs but only get a few steps up until he grabs my arm tightly "let go Eli!" I cry, "your hurting me!". He looks guilty for a split second and loosens his grip but still doesn't let go. "I'm sorry,I'm sorry I will stick up for you next time" I spurt out whilst still trying to tug my arm out of his grip. His face changes and I think he's going to let me go but instead he starts looking around before saying, "show me.show me your sorry,prove to me that you care about me and your sorry" he looks me dead in the eyes and I feel scared and confused. "How do I-how do I prove I'm sorry?" I ask confused. Eli loosens his grip on my arm and worms his hand around my wrist pulling my hand towards him, my brows furrow as I watch him take my hand and force it down his pants, I squirm trying to get my hand free and yell "stop! Stop Eli!" I cry as he keeps tugging my hand down. "This way I'll know your sorry, you brought this on yourself for not sticking up for me after your friend Clara shoved me" he yells at me. I feel tears form in my eyes as I still try to fight off his grip and stop what is happening "please,please stop eli!" I plead at him just as I shout the sound of a car pulling up stops Eli dead in his tracks and he let's go adjusting himself to look less frightening for whoever is about to come in the door "if your really sorry,stay quiet about this" he pants out tapping my back as he runs up the stairs. I shiver in thinking what he might do if I don't stay quiet,so I cover my mouth to muffle my crying and head up to my room,closing my door just in time with the front door opening.
"I'm home! Kids?" I hear dad yelling.
I lean against my door taking deep breaths to try and calm myself down from the terror I've just felt,I slide down my door and sit against it wiping my tears with my sleeves and trying to breath as calmly as I can.
"Y-yeah,I'm home dad,just c-catching up on some homework" my broken voice tries to yell down to him.
He must've noticed the cracks in my voice as I hear him yell up and start to walk towards my door "are you okay ellie?" He asks knocking on my door "yeah,she's fine." I hear Eli on the other side of my door talking to dad "she's just not feeling well,bad lunch I think" he says in a phony compassionate voice like he cares that im sick,but he and I know that's not true. "Oh okay well" I hear my dad trail off as he talks to Eli and they walk downstairs.
I feel like I'm going to be sick,once I can't hear anyone upstairs I head to the bathroom and scrub my hands,trying desperately to erase the memory with soap.