One step before me

-{Chapter 20: Protecting her}-

"You know, if you keep up having bad grades, you will eventually get kicked out of school" The hacker informed me calmly. As if it wasn't obvious to know that. "I know that," I told him tiredly. "Otherwise you will end up like me, some sort of human garbage slave. I am too handsome for this. This should be illegal. Uh don't tell my boss I said that" BJ said. I forced some fake sniffles out of me "But I don't wanna be like you. You are like a stalker" I told him cringing at the thought of stalking people through a screen almost 24/7. "Aey, watch your mouth kid. A stalker will only dream of getting into my level. Maybe you should try being me for a day then you will know." He told me through the television screen. My surroundings were getting somewhat hard to see. It was as if my eyes were slowly being covered by invisible curtains. My body started to feel weak. I was standing no more, but laying on the floor, struggling to gain control over my body. "Okay, no need to be so dramatic. My life isn't that bad" I could hear BJ's unknown voice say. " Vi-sion" I forced the word out of my mouth before blacking out.

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His hands were wrapped around my neck, pressing against my throat, I stared at him. He is crazy. Insane. And worst of all, he is my brother. "You're a psycho" I forced the words out of me while gasping for air. "Shut up! You asked for it. Why did you break the rule? Do you want to die so bad? What if the others saw you huh!?" He said, frustrated. "You're killing me..." I said as the sight of him slowly faded. I wonder what I did wrong. I slowly let go of the grip I had on his hands, realizing that it was no use. I couldn't prevent him from choking me. Ah, yeah now I remember what I did to make him act this way. I wanted to go outside. To see the outside world. To be a part of it. And the outside world is a dangerous place. My throat was now free from his hands and I was now gasping for air. He had let go. A second more and I might have been a goner. I wrapped my hand around my throat, hoping for the pain I was feeling to fade away somehow. And it did for the most part. 

"Don't try to escape again or else you will end up getting us both killed." My brother told me as he exited the entrance of the room. There you go. A single glance outside is deadly, for us at least. Probably more like me. I bearly remember how it was like when the sun used to shine on me. I rose up, checking for my sanity to still be living inside of me. Why is my freedom so expensive?

As crazy as it sounds, my brother isn't a bad person. It's not his fault he is behaving like that. It's everything he went through that made him like this. That day changed everything for us, not in a good way that is. We weren't just kids anymore, we were prisoners of the underground. They use my brother as a slave, reminding him that they have me and could kill me in any second. Dirty tricks are common down here. There are no limits to how low you can go. At first, I couldn't figure out what was going on. I was trapped in a small room with the usual things used on a daily basis: a bathroom, a room and in that room was a small area for the kitchen. That's actually about it. From time to time my brother would come with some books, teddies and at some rare occasions, he would come and read a book with me. Then one day I couldn't help myself. I wanted to go with him where ever he went when he was taking his leave. He always rejected it though. Not only that, but he became angry if I had pleaded to come with him. I really became upset and sad, but then I started to notice all the bruises and scars he would come with when visiting me. And I started to become somewhat worried and scared. 'What is going on out there?' I thought to myself. At some point I overheard some people chat about my brother. Okay, to be honest, I spied on them. But I was desperate to know something at least outside of this room. They were standing right in front of my door, I couldn't help myself. "That boy is pretty stubborn." One of the voices said. I froze at the remark. "Yeah, he must really love his sister to take all that beating and cr** for her sake" Another voice responded. "Poor kid, it would have been easier if she just wasn't there. Maybe he could have escaped from this horrible lifestyle if so" "Shh! Stupid! what if someone heard you say that? How would you explain that to the boss? you would have been a dead man right on the spot" I was taken back for the words that were thrown at me. So it all was my fault?