7 Minutes ✧ Syndisparklez

Siblings

"I'm excited to see Alice!" Jordan smiled for what seemed like the first time in forever, dragging a small bag behind him.

Tom balanced two duffle bags on his shoulders, grinning gleefully from ear to ear. "Yeah, me too. Thank you for agreeing to come with us, Ingrid."

"My pleasure..."

~~Fun Fact~~
It wasn't my pleasure.
I wanted to be at home, planning for the murder of Oliver Thompson and James Hayes, and yet I had to take a detour.

Cars honked at us as we passed busy streets. We wanted to walk and take public transport to Alice's place. If we avoided showing our license plates in Alice's driveway, we avoided people finding us.

Tom wasn't afraid to flip off a couple lovely citizens who decided to stop their cars in the crosswalk, then proceed to honk at us as we passed when we were supposed to. Being inside of a car is like being hidden behind a wall of protection. Being a pedestrian is so different, like being in a different universe. A vulnerable universe, where any distracted moment could result in a horrendous, unforgettable accident.

There are vulnerable universes like that everywhere. I just think we all get so used to being behind protective screens, we forget what it's like to be powerless.

"HEY!" A loud voice screamed out behind us, as a man in a red puffy coat sprinting right towards me. A younger kid was chasing behind him, but was trailing far behind him at this point.

I watched the red coated man strip out of his jacket, throwing it in the street, the pedestrian's wallet in his hands.

~~An Unfortunate Event~~
Pickpocketing
The crime of stealing things out of people's pockets or bags, especially in a crowd

Holding my breath, I stuck my foot out directly in the path of the thief. He fell to ground, scurrying to get up, but not before I tackled him to steal back the wallet. I let the pickpocketer run off, never to be heard from again.

Giving the wallet back to the distressed teen, I watched as everyone's face around me froze in awe. I had to practically drag Jordan and Tom with me to get them moving again, reminding them to hold their bags a little tighter.

"How'd you do that?" Jordan whispered.

"Do what?"

"Get that guy's wallet back?"

"Were you watching?"

"Well, duh, but how'd you learn to fight like that?"

"My brothers."

"They were fighters?"

"No, actually. Mason was a nerd who spent all his time at the library and refused to defend himself, and Damien was gay; I had to step up to the plate to defend them."

"Oh. Well that's badass."

"Yeah, I guess," I laughed. "There was this group of football players that would chase Damien everyday after school, and they would throw rocks at him because they caught him holding hands with some kid. So this one time I filled my backpack full of Mason's heaviest books, and I made a plan with Damien. I waited in this one spot, and Damien ran past me, so I spun my bag around with all my might and ended up hitting the guy running in the front of the pack in the balls, so he was down. Then I tackled the second one to the ground, and the third one ran off before I could get to him. It was funny. Needless to say, they didn't pick on my brother anymore."

"That's awesome! What do your brothers do today?"

"Oh, um... They died 7 years ago," I mumbled, kicking a small pebble on the ground in front of me. "Drunk driving accident."

"Oh, did anyone else get hurt-"

"A drunk asshole crashed into them, Mason and Damien were together. They were sober... They were leaving my place, we always had a sibling dinner on Sunday nights. Both of them were killed, Mason on the scene, Damien in the hospital. The drunk guy who hit them walked away with a broken wrist. I couldn't make it to the hospital in time to tell Damien I loved him... He died alone. And now, I'm alone too, but that's okay. I've got you guys."

"What about your parents?"

"My dad committed suicide after the boys died, and my mom left. I haven't heard from her since, so I'm the only Mulaney left."

~~A Wish~~
I wish I could've carried the Mulaney legacy to a new generation.
I couldn't.