Unlikely Lovers

30%

Andrew drives, very carefully and it's actually peaceful. He sits in silence, not knowing what to talk about. I know he went into this breakdown because of abuse. I don't want to talk too much about it, but I need to know what he is doing. It's not my business, but it's effecting the man I'll only love. Plus he's my brother. He's my big brother, he's always defending me. He needs to be open to me, no matter what the case is.

Finally, I break the silence. "What happened?" I ask, hoping he would get that I'm trying to bring up the abuse. He licks his lips, but doesn't look at me. "What happened that day when you found-" I'm cut off by Andrew sighing.

He bites his lip. "I don't know what happened to me that day. I never thought I would lash out at Justin, especially when I l-love him so much. And you know, since the whole thing with Angelica. I vowed to never use violence as a way to get out my anger at a single person." He explains, trying not to cry. He glances at me for a second before looking back at the gravel road.

"How did you feel?" I ask, trying to forget the whole violence. I would never be able to forget when Andrew lashed out at Angelica. The whole family was shocked, but it somehow brought us together. We knew, that day, we should be careful around Andrew. "About the Angelica thing." I specify the date.

Andrew shrugs, "I felt angry, I felt furious. Words cannot describe my anger for that girl. I'm still furious at her. We've all moved on from that day, but it still gets me. That incident, really shaped much of my relationships. I didn't even know I had that in me.. I despise our sister, Jason. I really do. I do have remorse for her now, but I still can't help but to despise her still. After I did that to her, I felt relieved and pleased. I was proud of myself. I feel guilty now for feeling that. But..she deserved it. She deserved for every child of hers to be taken away." Andrew hisses, clutching harder onto the wheel. Angelica was the first to have children. She was a teen mom, and she didn't know what to do. In a fit of anger, she dropped my niece into her crib. Andrew witnessed it, and did the first thing that came to his head. He kicked her out, and took our niece back to New York. 2 years later, she had another child. When Andrew found out, he immediately took our nephew, and the next niece. He raised them until 2010, when he was chosen to be in a cast on Broadway. Their ages were, 12, 10, and 7.

~~~

I sat downstairs, drawing a random sketch. I hoped it would be good enough to win at a contest at school. I'm not the best at shading, but it still was good looking for me. My sister was upstairs with her daughter, Jordan. My niece is cute, but not really cute. She still looks like a worm.

I roll my eyes, hearing a cry from the baby. I guess it's good though. That'll distract my family from babying me too much. The whole family is back together in the small house in Omaha. Even my big brother, Andrew, he's 20 now. He just finished college. Apparently, he did summer classes. Well, it's year-round college. He's really tall too, I feel like I'm a midget around him.

I jump when I hear shout from sister, and a louder cry. I see that Andrew was standing outside of the bathroom, looking in at the baby's room. His eyes are wide open. My mouth drops when he dashes into the room, and there's yelling. Doors open from downstairs. My other 2 sisters run up, and my parents run out of the kitchen.

Our mouths are wide open as we watch Andrew have a fist-full of Angelica's hair. My mom starts to scream at the both of them. We all scream when Andrew glares at all of us, and throws Angelica down the stairs. We hear a bunch of thuds when Angelica's head hits every step. Andrew follows, still with an angry expression plastered on his face.