Stay Strong

Chapter Eight

Brennan just stares, he says nothing. Carlotta has finally released her grip on me and just looks at my tear stained face. I wipe my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt, knowing I've broken down, knowing that I'm unable to Stay Strong.

Carlotta is the one who first speaks up, "Well, you're going to be fine now because you've got us, right Bren?"

Brennan freezes, "I dunno man, this is deep. I've heard talk about your brother, people say he's violent, what's to say you aren't the same?"

I can feel my face heating up in rage, "I. Am. Nothing. Like. Peter." I growl. Already wanting to knock some sense into him, not because I am like Peter though. I ball both of my hands into fists.

"He's not worth it Drew." Carlotta whispers in my ear. "Just walk away with me." She grips my bicep and starts pull me away.

I follow her shooting one last ugly look to the one who compared me to that monster. He just looks back at me with the same look that everyone give Peter, ugly and full of dislike.

Carlotta pulls me away and down the halls. She stops in front of the library and opens the door, pulling me inside.

She pulls out a chair at one of the tables and sits. I follow in suit and sit across from her. "I'm sorry about him Drew. He's always been like that." She sighs.

I rest my forehead on the table, "Its fine Car. It was bound to happen." I sigh deeply.  How am I supposed to be able to deal with this? Constantly compared to Peter and shadowed by a past that will always follow me.

I pick up my forehead from the table. Carlotta sighs, "Its not fine Drew. I get you've been isolated your whole life but that doesn't have to continue, you can make friends."

I look at Carly and her face shows a small smile, the kind you greet friends with, family.

I shrug, "I don't know Car, it's just who I am, I'm not used to letting people in. Nobody."

Carly bites her lip, then breaks into a huge grin. She pulls me up from the table, "Come on, we're getting out of here."

I shrug, "Okay."

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"So what was it like to live in orbit?"

I look up at the ceiling of the bedroom I stay in at my parents house, "I dunno, it was nice for a while. The view was always spectacular though. Sometimes you could see the earth, moon, or Sun. But sometimes, if you caught the rotation of the station just right, you could see the deep, dark nothing of space."

Carly turns her head and looks at me, "That sounds awesome."

"Sometimes up on the station I would look out and think about what my sister was doing, or my parents, if they missed me. If they didn't." I sigh, "I was gone for eleven years, No one remembers who I am." No one knows what I've done.

I hear a slam of a door from across the hall. I sit up and lean against the wall as Carly remains laying on the floor. "I was supposed to go up there, when I was like seven."

I laugh, "Good thing you didn't."

Carly sits up and gives me a peculiar look, "What do you mean 'good thing you didn't?'."

"Life up there was hell once you were there for long enough. Days without sleep, if you were good enough everybody, even the ones you thought were your friends hated you."

All of a sudden the door flys open and there sits the blonde haired devil. "Hey, Ender, how's my favorite little bugger lover?" Peter laughs, evily. "How about a little game? Just for old times sake."