The Baneflower

Chapter 8

"Art? Nice graffiti Morley."
We were walking in the alleyway he always talked about. For the past few weeks every Friday at lunch, we met in this place. My friends think I joined some type of club but that wasn't true. I was just stuck with the school's famous problem child.
"Why didn't you join art?" I point out. I knew he was into that sort of thing. All he does is draw on walls all the time without getting caught. He ignored my question and played a song from his phone.
"What song is this?" He asked. He played it loudly, in the dull cold air. It was filled with a sound I never thought I would hear.
I heard it before, honestly.
The guitars sound like grunge. Then I hear the voice again. The electric guitars and the percussionist in the background.
"Yo, it's too loud." I comment, thinking of the neighbors that would surely yell over the music, complaining about the sound.
"Shut up and answer what band." He says, and slightly lowers the volume.
"Nirvana!" I announce, grinning with pride. I was discovering this new music genre.
"Yeah Riley. Except that's not the only band out there. You have to find your own. My band is Nirvana." He says.
"What?! Aha, you can't own them."
"Fake grunge kid. Fake punk rock girl." He would mock me jokingly.
The bell rang from a distance and I quickly ran. Before I took off, he just stood there.
"Come on! We can't be late Morley."
Morley looked lost for a second. A guy walked by, looking down. Morley seemed panicked, because he suddenly decided not to go. Morley continued staring at the guy.
"I can" He muttered, pointing to the school. Morley sat down and looked at me.
"Just go. I don't feel like going." Morley said. I nodded and just walked away.
-
Morley
It was Kody who walked by. I can tell with his cold grey eyes and his battered overall look.
When Riley was gone, I quickly lost track of where he was. I then follow the trail he walked, judging by the muddy tracks he left behind. I quietly follow my older brother, the one who left our house in pieces.
I followed him throughout the alley. Then he just stopped. He stood there, standing still, and frozen.
Then he sprinted away. It didn't help that I was slow. Or that my lungs hurt at this moment. Or the fact that the drugs weakened me entirely.
So I just yelled his name in the empty streets.
"KODY!" I scream. I run and run trying to catch my brother who ruined what was already broken.
I see him in the other end, in the corner. I approach him, and he just glares at me. He looked like bullshit.
"Did you punch Giselle in the face?" I ask, expecting a retort from that rotten mouth.
"Did you break all the plates?"
"Did you break the door?"
"The window?"
"Smash all the beer?"
"Fuck you." I snapped, and he stood there blankly.
He threw a beer bottle at my shoulder, and it hurt like hell.