Holy Terror

Heartache

When Ray and I were small he wasn't even small. Ray was born weighing in at nine pounds six ounces where I weighed seven pounds thirteen ounces, Ray got more nutrients as a fetus. Ray always had at least four inches on me at any given time and I wasn't a short kid either. Right now I stand between five seven and fight eight, I can never remember which one, but Ray stands easily at six foot eight.

All my siblings were close but Ray and I were closer than the others, I mean we are twins after all. We did everything together as kids, like when it came to kicking the crap out of each other we fought hard but we fought together better. We used to come home with matching black eyes or busted lips.

Ray knew I could handle myself but he was always the first to defend me or Grace, no one was going to touch us if he was around. This one time in high school when CC Deville was Bruce Johannesson, he tried to get in Grace's pants and he was kinda a dick about it (Grace said that he's apologized since then) anyways CC grabbed her ass in the hall of our Catholic school. When Ray caught wind of it he beat the shit out of CC and was suspended for a week and had to go to a meeting with the school board. I wonder if CC remembers it.

But seeing Ray laid up in the bed here is weird. His feet hang off the end of the bed and there's a hole in the toe on the left sock, the thin white blanket doesn't cover his whole body. Ray is almost too broad across the shoulders to fit in the little twin bed. There's IVs going into his arm and tubes going into his nose and mouth. I feel like this isn't my brother, not even a little bit.

Ray always wears a big smile and his laugh always echoes, he's such a happy individual. Ray was always making jokes or making fun of someone or talking in a stupid voice. He could never be serious for long and he was so much fun to be around, I love my twin brother.

We've been in DC for a week and a half now and it's not looking good. The doctor is talking to my parents about pulling the plug on him. It's almost certain that Ray will be brain dead and a vegetable if he even makes it out of this stage. We all know that Ray wouldn't want to be like this but it's just so hard.

"Ray, I don't want to say goodbye to you. We've been together since we were babies and I don't want to live without you. I need you to wake up, Ray." I mumble. "I love you so much, idiot."

The nurse walks into the room and smiles sweetly at me, she knows me and all my family members by name now. She starts to check Ray's vitals and crap like that before looking at me.

"Have you eaten anything today, Rey?" She asks and I half smile.

"The days kinda run together." I say.

"So that's a no. Have you called that boy yet today?" She asks referring to Nikki.

"No not yet." I admit and she smiles.

"Eat and call that boy, he's crazy about you." She says and walks out of the room.

Nikki

I miss Rey, I miss her a lot. I know she's going through a lot of shit but I miss seeing her. I miss her laugh and she hasn't been in a laughing mood for the past week and a bit. I just want to be with her again.

Right now I'm sitting at the bar with Tommy and Vince, we lost Mick somehow, and Poison is sitting along the bar too. CC has been Grace's, well, her saving grace for lack of a better term. He's been calling her like I've been calling Rey and we've been talking the girls down and making sure that they don't do anything reckless like stabbing a doctor (Rey has talked about that if you were wondering).

"So what's going on with the girls?" Bret wonders. "Like I know Rey's brother is in the hospital but that's about it."

"Well it's not looking too good for Ray, like Reyna's twin. Reyna said something about the doctors wanting to pull the plug." I explain as I look into the bottom of my shot glass.

"Grace is worried about Reyna, she says that Rey is barley talking to anyone. Not Grace or Superman, whoever that is, or any of her other siblings." CC explains.

"She's talking to me, maybe it's just easier because I'm not going through it with her." I guess.

"Maybe." CC agrees as he takes another shot. "But I still think Ray had it coming." He mumbles.

"What did she ever do to you?" I say a little more defensively than I meant to which makes Tommy and Vince laugh.

"Not Reyna, Raymond. He kicked the shit out of me in high school." He mumbles.

"He's like three years younger than you." Rockett laughs.

"Raymond stands at six eight." CC says simply. "He's a huge dude."

"That huge dude is on death row and the girl you wanna fuck is upset because her uncle is dying." Bobby tells him. "Maybe you should take your hatred down a couple notches."

"Yeah." The blonde guitarist mumbles.

"Do you think Rey will come back to LA if something happens to her brother?" Tommy asks as he sips his beer. "I mean she might want to stay in Brooklyn with her family."

I never really thought about that as a possibility, Rey might not want to be this far away from her family after losing her twin brother. Rey says that her family and Brooklyn drive her insane but she might...

"Nikki, are you okay?" Tommy asks and hits my shoulder.

"I, uh, I don't know." I admit quickly. "I think I'm going home, I'll see you mother fuckers later."

By the time I get home my phone is ringing but the answering machine is flashing too. I don't get to the phone in time so the machine picks up.

"Nik, please call me as soon as you can. I know it's fucking late in LA but I..I need someone to talk to...this is like the third message I left....call me when you can." Rey's voice says quickly and frantically.

I dial the number back and she answers first ring.

"Nikki?" She answers.

"Yeah Rey, I'm right here." I promise her. "What's going on?"

"They're pulling the plug on Ray tomorrow morning." Rey says and she voice cracks. "Then we're flying home so he can be buried with Joey."

"Who's Joey?" I ask like an idiot.

"My brother that died before I was born." She explains quietly. "Nikki, I'm sad and I'm scared and I don't know what to do."

"Baby, I--" I stop when I realized that I called her 'baby'. "I wish I could make you feel better."

"Tomorrow is going to suck." Rey admits. "I wish I could make this hurt go away."

"I wish I could make you feel better." I tell her.

We talk literally until Rey puts herself to sleep, I didn't want to leave her and talking to her on the phone was as close as I could get to being with her. As soon as the line was dead for half an hour I figured that she was dead asleep and I was comfortable with hanging up the phone.

I no more than hang up the phone and it's ringing again. I pick it up and this time it's CC.

"Did Rey tell you about Ray?" He wonders.

"Yeah, she's really broken up about everything." I say.

"I'm going up to Brooklyn, I haven't seen ma and dad in a while and I figured I could take Grace a some too." CC explains.

"That's a good idea." I admit and he laughs.

"Want to come with me? Since Lonnie moved out there's a spare bedroom and my parents wouldn't mind." He offers.

"You're serious?" I ask.

"Yeah." CC states.

Looks likes we're Brooklyn bound.