The Traitor

Chapter Thirty-One: Reasons To Endure The Worst

We continued down the aisle in between cells and I held my breath as we approached the last few cells. I stopped right before I reached the last one, then cautiously peeked inside. To my complete and utter relief, I saw Brandon lying on his back across his make-shift bed, which was more like a piece of wood hanging out from the wall. His hands were over his face and his feet were propped up on his bed. It was way to short for him, and if he were to lay completely flat across it, his legs would hang off the end at the knees.

"Brandon?" I whispered. He removed his hands from his face and looked over at me, his expression changing from confusion to utter relief.

Then, to my relief, he stood up from his bed and walked over to the bars that stood between us. "Teya, what are you doing here? How did you get away? And where are the other two?" He bombarded me with questions as he looked around skeptically as if expecting to see Jasper and Savannah following us. 

"Long story," I replied. Then I realized just how much Brandon had missed and everything I would need to fill him in on. But that could wait; the important thing at the moment was getting him out of there. "But we need your help."

"I owe it to you," he responded. "What's going on?"

I took a deep breath, then let it all out in a long sigh, trying to figure out how to explain it all to him in a short, summarized version. "A lot," I finally resorted to. "A lot is happening right now and I don't have time to explain. I just need you to trust me, even though what we're about to do might seem totally crazy."

Brandon nodded and didn't ask any questions, which I was surprised by but grateful for. "Okay," was his response. "Let's do this."

I smiled. "Great. Now I'm just going to need you to step back."

Again, he obeyed with no questions asked. I took a deep breath and glanced over at Connor, who had also taken a few steps away from me. Then, without another thought, I created a large enough force field and reversed the energy, causing it to blow down the barred cell wall that separated Brandon from Connor and me. Brandon stood against the wall opposite where I was standing, so the bars barely missed him as they collapsed, kicking up dust that had been on the floor for what looked like ages. His jaw dropped and his eyes grew to the size of quarters. I gave him a look that reminded him 'no questions' and his mouth quickly snapped shut.

But he didn't move until after a couple of seconds had passed when his eyes finally returned to their normal size. "Okay, then," he replied hesitantly as he stared down at the fallen wall.  His attempt to be casual was surprisingly successful, and he almost convinced me that he wasn't totally blown away at what he'd just seen me do. But the shock that still lingered in his eyes gave him away. "Shall we go?"

I laughed out loud at how casual that all sounded, then nodded. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea." I noticed for the first time that Brandon's once black and purple bruises on his eye and upper forehead were now faded to a lighter blue, and the cut which had been bleeding on his bicep was scabbed over. They hadn't touched him since.

"So," I began casually, as we started walking out of the prison, though I knew this conversation would be anything but casual. "How are you doing?" My words hung in the air with a heaviness that could only present itself when the question requires a sincere answer, instead of a one-word confirmation that everything is going "well."

But Brandon avoided the long response, giving only the short, laid-back reply of, "Pretty good, you?" I stopped walking and put my hand out in front of him until he too stopped. Then I just stared at him. "What?" he asked innocently. 

"Brandon, you have been captured, beaten, held as prisoner multiple times! You haven't even been home in days and you've barely eaten anything since you left, and you're doing 'pretty good?'" I asked in utter disbelief. 

He shrugged. "Yeah, so?" But this time, it wasn't casual. He knew the weight of everything he'd been through.

"So? Brandon you've been through way more in the last few days than most people have to go through in their lifetimes!"

"Yeah, and I'm sure you've been through much worse! Look, Teya this is all part of war, and I wasn't expecting to be exempt from it just because some people are lucky enough to be. I'm fine, I'm alive, and I can walk. That's more than most people who've had this happen can say for themselves." He begged me with his eyes to drop the conversation, and I saw a whole level of inner and outer strength that I had never seen in my brother before. But no person, even with that amount of strength, could be fine after going through what he did, especially if it wasn't even his fault.

I lowered my voice. "I know, but Brandon, it wasn't even your fault. I mean you had absolutely nothing to do with this. How can you not be shaken up by everything that's happened to you, especially because you don't even have a clue why it happened?"

"You don't think I was shaken up? I was terrified, but not because I was worried about what they would do to me, or for my own life. After I found out they had you, I was scared because I thought they would do something to you. You have no idea what it's like being locked up in that cell, knowing they had captured you, but not knowing what was going to happen to you. It was driving me insane wondering if you were okay. That's what I was thinking about while I was up there. That's why I'm fine now, because I know you're safe."

I didn't know what to say. The whole time he was being beaten, and mistreated, and locked up, he was wondering if I was okay. That was why I loved Brandon so much. He was the most selfless person I had ever met and probably would ever meet in my lifetime. "Really?" I managed to ask and he nodded, then pulled me into a hug.

"I love you, Brandon. Thanks for sticking with me, and I'm so sorry you had to endure what you did."

"Don't apologize, and I will always be glad to help out my little sister. Now, what do you say we carry on with your crazy plan?"

I smiled and nodded. "Let's do it."