Up on Cloud Nine

Brother Blues

Millie sat on her bed with her latest book at hand. She rather liked this new one. It was a perfect size and fitted in her back pocket easily as well as being very informative. It wasn’t that Millie didn’t already know what she was reading, but it was nice to rediscover the information.

It had now been 2 weeks since her mother’s funeral- and for Millie life had almost turned back to normal. She still missed her mother immensely- she missed her smile, and her laugh but she had come to terms with her mother’s death.

Her father had said her mother had died from a heart attack and Millie had recently been doing research into what type of heart attack she might have had, as her father had not been very clear. Millie had decided that today would be the day that she would present her findings first to Maverick and then later to her father. She could feel the nervous anticipation, and couldn’t wait to tell him. She was sure that Maverick would also be very happy to hear her findings, as her father really hadn’t been very clear.

Millie looked around her room, happy to see that it was clearly in order. Her pencils were all arranged in height order on her desk; her bed was neatly made and her wardrobe was colour co- ordinated, into all the different shades of blue and green clothing she wore. Millie only wore blue and green because they were sea colours, she liked sea colours. However, rather displeasingly, at the far right hand side of her wardrobe she had one black item which ruined her colour scheme- it was the dress she had worn to her mother’s funeral. At first this new addition to her wardrobe had really had unnerved her, but after a visit and constant reassurance from her father that it would be okay, she had allowed it to remain there.

Millie chewed her pencil pensively as she added more to her notes on her mother’s heart attack. The book balanced on her lap, was a book she had most recently got from the library. It was a Collins Gem all about the heart. She disliked its use of colour and pictures however the information which it relayed was fairly useful.She twirled the pencil carefully in her fingers as she read the following passages.

‘Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of deaths worldwide. The causes of cardiovascular disease are diverse however with ageing the chance of death is increased. Even healthy individuals have a risk of cardiovascular disease.’

Millie considered this cause of her mother’s death thoughtfully. Her mother was not old as the article suggested however the article also suggested that healthy individuals could be at risk from the disease, this therefore did not rule this disease out- her mother could very well have died from it. Millie continued to make notes in her notebook and moved onto the second passage.

'Coronary heart disease is the narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries usually caused by the hardening or clogging of the arteries, this occurs due to cholesterol or fatty deposits on the inner walls of the arteries. Without an adequate blood supply the heart becomes starved of oxygen and the individual will die.’

Millie considered the second passage biting so hard on her pencil that it split in the middle. Her mouth was soon filled of lead and brittle splinters; she coughed erratically until her mouth was cleared: and continued. From what the article was saying this didn’t apply to her mother, as her mother had a relatively healthy diet so wouldn’t have had high cholesterol. That only left cardiovascular heart disease as the cause of her mother’s death.

She smiled at her findings, now everything would be clear. She circled the words cardiovascular disease repeatedly on her notebook until, a thick graphite line isolated that word from the rest of the page. She could feel throat begin to tighten but she pushed her thoughts away and prepared to go and find Maverick.

Millie collected her notebook and her new book on hearts and headed downstairs. She soon found Maverick. He was locked inside his bedroom- he had not left his room for weeks now. He had become so reclusive that Millie’s Dad, Arthur, had been forced to push Maverick’s dinner through the gap under the door so that he wouldn’t starve himself and join his mother in the ground.

Millie hovered outside his room jerkily for a few minutes before she knocked twice on Maverick’s door.

‘Go away!’ Maverick moaned into his pillow, his voice was muffled and slightly squeaky as if he had been crying.

‘No,’’ Millie stated simply, ‘I want to tell you something important.’

‘Go away!’ Maverick repeated, his sobs could be heard in the silence that ensued.

‘It’s really, really important,’ Millie whined.

There was a silence.

‘Maverick,’ she tried again, ‘Maverick please.’

He blew his nose loudly and continued, ‘It had better be damned important, come in then.’

Millie took her cue and quickly tip- toed in. the room was in ruins. It looked like the apocalypse had just incurred inside it. Millie could feel the mess make her legs begin to shake, her eyes darted around rapidly, she was sweating. Millie glanced over at Maverick, he was slumped across his bed, his duvet huddled around him like an igloo.

‘What do you want?’ Maverick barked, ‘get on with it!’

‘Oh, oh okay,’ Millie stuttered, ‘I know how Mum died,’ she hesitated. Maverick didn't stir. 

‘Exactlyhow she died,’ she added as an afterthought as if it would clarify the situation.  

Maverick stood up from his bed and walked towards her. She didn’t need her emotions book to know that his intentions were not friendly, ‘I don’t have time or this,’ he said exasperated.

Millie could feel her panic blinding her, she switched to an automatic sequence and said, ‘Mom died on the 25th June 2011 this year, exactly two weeks, 4 hours and 15 minutes ago. She died on a hospital bed in ward three on bed 207. She died of cardiovascular disease because anyone is prone to getting it, but she did not die of coronary heart disease because she had low cholesterol not high cholesterol. I have used 3 books and four websites to check that I am correct, and I am correct.’ Millie nodded and was about to turn around and leave, her mission was completed, but Maverick had other ideas.

He raked his fingers through his hair and exhaled deeply, his face began to slowly turn purple. ‘YOU LITLE PIECE OF SHIT!  YOU CAME IN TO TELL ME THAT?’

Millie blinked furiously; she didn’t understand why he was so angry, she had only clarified the situation. She began to moan and shake violently.

Maverick screamed, ‘DON’T START THAT LITTLE CHARADE ON ME AGAIN’.

Millie put her fingers in her ears and began to cry in her terror. She felt like she would be sick. ‘Stop, stop, stop,’ she moaned pathetically.

Maverick turned around and kicked the door closed behind her. He kicked it again, and again until his big toe was bleeding heavily, ‘I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!’ he bellowed into the chaos of the unfolding events. Millie still continued to sob into her sleeves, Maverick could hear his father’s footsteps up the stairs. He was fed up of taking the blame, fed up her, fed up of life. Suddenly, he no longer saw the sweet little sister that he loved deep down, but a monster. A filthy, evil little monster. He shuddered violently before bringing his knuckles across her cheek with his full strength. She fell to the floor, not moving.

His Dad walked in just as she hit the floor. They both stared in silence at the limp rag doll between them. Maverick fell to the floor, his voice hoarse, ‘What have I done?’ he looked at the purple bruise blossoming across Millie’s cheek and turned to his father distraught, ‘Dad, what have I done?’