I Write Sins Not Tragedies (A Collection of Short Stories)

{Story 1} Sarah Smiles 1.3

I stared at the boy at the foot of my bed in a mixture of confusion and curiosity. He was staring ahead, at the photo of my brother, Tyler, and I hanging over my computer desk, his lips parting and smacking back together in a repeated motion that made me question whether he was processing his thoughts or trying to figure out what to say. I shook my head to myself when I realized he wasn't going to speak and touched the image of myself on the paper.

"How can I save you from yourself?" I asked.

He shrugged a shoulder carelessly, eyes still on the wall. "You tell me. I'm your Bryan, you decide what to do with me."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you have created my world, Sarah. I am yours. You have put me through hell in each and every setting you've put me into, but I promised myself I'd find my way to you before you ended it all."

I shook my head. "Ended it all? What do you mean?"

Before Bryan could say another word, my bedroom door creaked open and my mother peeked into the room with a weary smile. "How are you doing, sweetie?"

My eyes darted from her to the boy beside me, "You don't see him?"

Her dark eyes narrowed.

"See who?" she looked around my room. "Is this some kind of test?"

Bryan looked over at me. "I'm yours, Sarah."

I waited for my mother to jump back fearfully, or catch sight of the boy sitting at my side. When I didn't say anything, she set the hamper on her hip in the door frame and crossed the room to my bed. Once on the bed at my side, Bryan jumped up and moved so he was directly in front of me, inches in front of my closet.

"I spoke with the detective this morning." she rested a hand on the small of my back. "They were finally able to rule Tyler's death as foul play. Justice has been found for him, honey."

I bowed my head. My mom brushed her fingers along the cover of my drawing tablet before she opened it to the first page. The images of the girl had dissipated back into my sketches of Bryan. Tears began to pool in my mother's eyes as she touched her fingers to her lips.

"Sarah." she set the book on her lap. "Is there something you haven't told me about Tyler's death?"

I watched as she continued to look through my tablet, my heart sinking deeper into my chest as I was finally forced to confront the reality of what I'd been trying to outrun for a long time. My eyes drifted from her state of shock to Bryan in front of me, hand starting to touch the birthmark on his neck. The ashen color of his skin had worsened, color gone entirely. His blue eyes had begun to dull with every passing second, knees giving out after a moment as my mother neared the end of the book.

"No!" I lurched forward toward his crumbling figure, scaring my mother. "Please don't go!"

He outstretched his hand, but he faded into nothing before I could fully grasp on to it. My mother tangled her arms around my waist, face buried in my dark locks as my body ravaged with sobs.

"Ssh, it's okay, Sarah." she comforted. "I'm here. I'm right here, honey."

But she wasn't. And my father wasn't just outside the door, standing in the hallway with my sister hiding behind him. I was alone. I was trapped in a never ending loop of Tyler's death in my own head.

I had created Bryan on my eighteenth birthday, but he had been with me for far longer than that. He was my other half, my hand to hold, my reassurance that what happened in this world was far beyond the both of us. Bryan hadn't just been a figment of my imagination, but the ghost of my brother trapped within himself, not able to escape. 

****AN***

Unedited

Hope you guys enjoyed!

~ChasingMadness24