It was a Thursday evening when he came home after the shooting.
Jay had been gone from home for a few days when it happened. He had been coming home late, sometimes drunk, sometimes with scratches and all beat up. It was slowly driving mum to madness, she would sit on the sofa sipping cold tea with her eyes closed, or she would not stop working, always cleaning her room, my room, the guest room which had never been touched. Me on the other hand, I just thought that he was living his life, being a bit stupid really.
Naive. Stupid. Innocent.
Maybe if I had not been so blind to his behaviour, his constant jumpiness, how he flinched every time I went to hug him then he could have been fine. He would never have been involved in that gang. But then again, we always try to find villains for things that happen to us, our families, our friends. Maybe he just was being stupid. Maybe he didn't listen to mum enough. Maybe we didn't support him enough. Maybe he simply felt lonely.
In the end, there is no villain when something like this happens to a person. There are always things that each person could have done better, all a person can do is not let those mistakes ruin them. I think that Jay learnt that in the end.
When my brother came stumbling home with a bullet in his left shoulder, well lets just say that chaos is the best word to describe mum's reaction. I wasn't an infant, but I was still relatively young, so I wasn't sure what was happening. The main emotion I remember feeling was panic. I immediately called 999, while trying to see through the blanket of tears that had been clouding my vision. Breathe. I grabbed a glass with shaking hands, and poured water into the cup, walking slowly over to mum who was holding a sobbing Jay in her arms. Stay strong. I sat down next to my mum and stroked my brothers hair, and finally allowed myself to break down. At least we were still together.
"Please don't leave us too" I whispered to him, my voice shaking.
"Never " he replied, his gaze meeting mine.
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Ficção AdolescenteAmora Manso hasn't had what many would describe as an easy life; Her dad left her mother for a skinny blonde when she was still young, and her older brother has been involved with things he shouldn't be. In the shadow of her family and outgoing f...
