Death Wish

Chapter 23

We're all back in the living room again.

Mikey flips through the notes he made, pondering on what he might want to put down next. Who knows what small thing might be important later.

He sighs as the pressure packs on but he's left with nothing profound to put. He stops the pages from turning to stare at the first few and review what's been said.

I glance away from Rose in the kitchen with Ray and Bob to my brother and his troubles. I look from him to the notes a few times before finding myself unable to figure out what it means. I point, "What's that?"

"Stuff I don't wanna forget." Mikey simply closes it. He begins to stow it away in his jacket when I stop him with a pleading look of curiosity. He stops to hand it over for me to snoop through in answer to the puppy dog eyes. "Add in anything I might've missed." He says.

I skim through the scribbled lines without a reply. The following list goes on for only a handful of pages.

'Remember

Your brothers, Gerard, Ray, Frank

...I guess Bob, too. He's not bad, he's just kind of an asshole sometimes.

Your hometown...Blueville, New Jersey or something. 

Your'....

It trails off before a varied style of handwriting comes in - it's most likely from the others trying to help the words come easier.

'Your absurdly vast knowledge of DC comic books

When you puked in Mrs. Wexley's new shoes freshmen year

When you watched that Peter Pan play ten times just because your brother was in it for every single production

When you'd get your head shoved in any available open locker by Preston Goldstein

Beating the living hell out of Preston no more than a month later

How your hair is already straight but you still flat ironed it in high school

Literally dying before you got a decent first kiss

How you'd blatantly double dip and ask anyone who complained if you looked diseased in the slightest

The way you go from 0-100 real fast when family is concerned

You could have married Doom Patrol shamelessly

You never have and never will care about what others have to say

How you look exactly like your brother but nobody else sees it

How Ray noticed ninety percent of this stuff but said nothing

You had more books than friends

You were always assumed to be the oldest because of your height

Seriously what are your legs

How you hoard everything that means something

How you're still the coolest out of all of us.'

I smile to myself at all of it; we never talked in high school but we still saw each other in classes and the hallway. It was a small school, admittedly, but I didn't realize my brother stood out as much to others as he did to me.

I want to add something too. I mumble to myself and pat myself down for a pencil. After finding one in my coat pocket I pull it out and think of something good to say.