Finding Love

Chapter 1

"If only your brother was still here. If only you were more like your brother."

Dylan Smith didn't know how many times he had heard his dad say that. He could hear it, smell the alcohol on his breath as he said it, see the dead look in his eyes. Mr. Smith may technically be alive, but he really died a long time ago. He died when Thomas died, two and a half years ago. Thomas was Dylan's older brother, and his parents pride and joy. Or at least he was. Thomas was the definition of the perfect son. He was an A student in college, he was the star football player, he had a beautiful fiancee that he planned on marrying once out of college, he came home every weekend to visit with Dylan and his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Smith adored him. In fact, everybody adored him. Nobody understood why his best friend was Bobbey Hendricks. Bobbey was the exact opposite of Thomas, always getting into trouble, nobody really liked him. Nobody in the Smith family will ever forget the night when there was a hard knock at the door. Thomas had been out with Bobbey earlier that evening. Dylan laid in bed and listened as his parents got up and answered the door. Next thing he knew his mom was screaming. Dylan went downstairs and found out that Thomas had been in a car accident and was in the emergency room. Apparently Bobbey had been driving. Dylan remembered rushing to the emergency room, where the doctors and nurses were all running around, doing everything they possibly could for Thomas. Mr. Smith held Mrs. Smith in his arms as she sobbed. Dylan couldn't help wonder if they would be this upset if this were him rather than Thomas. He knew Thomas was older, but at times he couldn't help but feel as though there was favoritism between them. He never felt like he measured up to Thomas. Thomas did end up pulling through the head injury, but he never fully recovered. The doctor said that he was concerned that the injury may eventually cause Thomas to act weird, maybe even start to go insane. His parents of course were in denial about that and refused to listen to the doctors advise to get him some help. Thomas wasn't the same after that. He always had a distant look in his eye, and he was mean. He would just sit in the dining room with the lights out and mumble. Dylan never knew what he was mumbling, but one day he heard him say something about Bobbey. Bobbey never came around anymore. Thomas' condition seemed to get worse and worse. One day he became very short of breath and had to be rushed to the hospital. Dylan never forgot the what happen the next five minutes. The doctor came out and said that when Thomas had been in after the accident a few months ago, they had missed something with his head injury. He said it so matter-of-factly that they all just sat there, stunned. Mr. Smith demanded what kind of hospital would miss something like that. He just about slammed the doctor up against the wall, when a nurse came out and told them that Thomas had died. Life had never been the same since then. Dylans parents changed. In a sense they died when Thomas died. And in a sense Dylan was alone. But Dylan would rather be alone than live with these people who use to be his parents. His dad turned to alcohol, his mother got a job as a manager at the local grocery store. They were both abusive. This was Dylans senior year in high school, and he planned on getting out as fast as possible. He hated his life. He hated Thomas. But what he hated the most was knowing that all he had really wanted was to be loved, and nobody was there to love him. So he turned the desired to be loved into hate.